Athena (mythology)

"I begin my song of Pallas Athena, illustrious goddess with sharp grey eyes. Crafty one, She, with a heart relentless, modest Virgin, Protectress of the city."

- Homeric Poem

Athena is the goddess of Wisdom and Warfare in Greek mythology. She is the daughter of Zeus, God of Storms and Metis, Titaness of Prudence. Greece's capital of Athens got it's name sake from Athena who was the city's patron goddess. The ancient myths portray Athena as cunning, brave, and caring if occasionally elitist. She is likened to both a teacher and general.

Birth
The story of Athena goes back to that of her father and mother, Zeus and Metis. Zeus had met the titaness Metis, on his way to slay his father the titans Cronus, Metis and Zeus had fallen in love and Metis was willing to help Zeus get close enough to overthrow his father and her king. Thanks to a con by Metis involving a poison passed off as a vitality potion Zeus was able to defeat his father and free his siblings from Cronus. With all his children freed Cronus called for the titans to defeat them, thus began the Titanomachy, a battle between the gods and titans. In the conflict Metis, along with a few other titans sided with the gods against Cronus. The gods eventually won the conflict and sentenced the defeated titans to an eternity in the fiery Tartarus, with exceptions made for the titans that had sided with the gods, including of-course Metis. Zeus married Metis and served as his wizened adviser. Over time Zeus' attention wandered and he became enamored with the goddess Hera. After Zeus seduced Hera Metis saw the romance was more than a passing fling agreed to step-down as Zeus' wife, she however, stayed on as Zeus's adviser.

Zeus soon found though that Metis was pregnant, while Zeus was happy at first he became worried when the Titan Prometheus, another who had originally sided with the gods, warned Zeus that his first child would become even greater than he, just as he had to his father before overthrowing him and his father had to his grandfather; This was Prometheus' last prediction before being banished by Zeus for stealing the fire from the gods, and so the final warning left an ominous and serious implication over Zeus' future. Zeus wanted to secure his rule but he did not wish to banish Metis. Zeus decided to trick Metis. Metis and Zeus would play a game in which changed their forms to fit certain criteria one day Zeus challenged Metis to one such game with the criteria being who could come up with the smallest animal and Metis was happy to play. Zeus turned himself into a rodent but Metis had assumed the form of a mayfly. Zeus congratulated Metis, but then quickly breathed her in and swallowed her whole. Zeus's plan had worked, he had removed the threat of Metis giving birth but without sentencing her to Tartarus and being able to constantly hear her advice with her in his head. Over time Metis was completely absorbed into Zeus' brain, granting him great wisdom and for a long time Zeus considered it the best solution for the situation for though he might have many children his first would would never actually be born.

One day Zeus began to have great headaches. Zeus' elder sister, Hestia, gave him nectar and ambrosia to help clear his head, but they only seemed to delay the pain and before long the pain was back. One day at a feast the pain flared up uncontrollably and neither nectar nor ambrosia seemed to help any longer. Hera told Zeus to wait for the pain to pass, but it would not. Soon Zeus was in monumental pain. Quickly Zeus and Hera's son Hephaestus, god of the forge, grabbed one of his blades and neatly carved open his father's head at the point of the pain. From the single point exploded a fully clothed and armored woman. Hestia quickly healed her brother's wound and Hephaestus took back his blade and stepped aside. When Zeus asked who the woman was she said her name was Athena, the daughter of him and Metis, though Metis had been absorbed as part of Zeus' brain she was still born separately from him. Athena had been clothed, educated, and cared  for by Metis in the back of his mind until she was too big to be contained in his head any longer. As Zeus waited for his daughter to declare her intentions she pledged her loyalty to Zeus, she was not angry or vengeful, but had been raised to be loyal to her father/king. Zeus still feared Prometheus' prediction that she would become greater than he but would not raise a hand to her if she had no plan to do so to him, so was Athena welcomed as one of the Twelve Olympians.

Athena taught mortals arts and crafts, she showed women how to sew, sculpt, and paint and men how to read, write, and fight. She introduced the concept of democracy as a form of government and taught mortals the value of winning wars with strategy instead of pure strength. Athena was attentive to her followers and encouraged them to be open-minded and honorable. As a result of her gifts to mankind she became hailed as the most popular goddess in Greece, a celebrity among deities. Though some mortals considered her greater still than Zeus, she made sure they knew to praise her father still as the king of all Olympians, her included. Zeus saw that the prophesy had come true but not in the way he had thought. Though Athena was greater than he in the eyes of mortals, she had no intent to oppose her father and her glory simply reflected upon him, thus did the cycle of child overthrowing parent come to an end thanks to Athena's loyalty. Far from being his enemy, Athena became Zeus' favorite child.

Athena vs Poseidon
When a new settlement was being formed in Greece, Zeus saw it would be a great city and called forth the Olympians to ask who wished to be the patron of the city. Athena wanted to be patron of the city to prove her capability to her father, but Athena's uncle Poseidon, Zeus' eldest brother, also wanted to city, for with it he might be praised even higher than Zeus. Both Poseidon, as Zeus's elder brother and Athena as Zeus' first daughter, were of equal rank among the Olympians and so Zeus proposed a contest, each would present one gift to the people of the city, the one with the more beneficial gift would win the city. Poseidon presented a magnificent warhorse, strong, fast and obedient, it and it's kind would grant the people of the city a great advantage in combat. Athena presented and olive branch. Poseidon mocked the simple gift and asked what good an olive would do. Athena explained to Zeus that with olives as a main crop the city-state would have food and oil, the trunk made a fine lumber and it's roots fertilize the soil, with such a crop the city-state would not only never run low on the basic amenities but they would had a stable trading resource. Zeus was impressed more by Athena's forethought in the simple gift than Poseidon's brazen beast of burden and gave the city-state to Athena and the people took on the name Athens for their city-state. Ever since the contest Poseidon considered Athena to be a rival and many Athena plays portrayed him as her envious uncle constantly looking for a leg up on her.

Trivia

 * Athena was one of three virgin goddesses in Greek Mythology along with Hestia and Artemis.
 * While Hestia remained a virgin for purity sake and Artemis remained a virgin because she refused to be objectified, Athena remained a virgin specifically because no god ever met the standards she had for a mate.
 * Athena's Roman equivalent was "Minerva".
 * Roman stories say Minerva was the one who cursed the priestess Medusa, turning her into a monster, however Greek tales assign this act to Athena's sister Aphrodite. This has lead to different modern interpretations of the myth.