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Athenas importance to the Greeks
Athena roman goddess
Athena roman goddess
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In Greek mythology, Athena is known to be the goddess of war and wisdom, and Zeus’ favorite child. When Zeus was told of the prophecy stated by the oracle of Gaea, he was afraid that Mentis’ children would overthrow him from his throne. With this prophecy in mind, Zeus hunted Mentis and swallowed her right when she was about to give birth to her first born. Thus, giving Zeus an unendurable headache that made him screamed so loud that the whole world heard it. With this, Hermes directed Hephaestus to use a wedge to split the skull of Zeus open in hopes of curing him, instead they found a baby dressed fully armed holding a sharp javelin (“Birth”).
As the goddess of war, Athena also took part in various of battles. One of the many battles she
bravely fought was against the Gigantes, or Giants. In this battle, she killed Pallas and made the goatish skin that she stripped off him into a shield. This shield is popularly known to be as the aegis. Athena, then, flung her chariot averse to Enceladus and crushing him beneath the Sicily island. Athena also used Diomedes’ chariot as she grasped the whip and restraint herself when she hurled the horses against Ares (“Athena”).
Athena’s interesting life started by a very strange birth. When Athena’s mother Metis was impregnated, Athena’s father, Zeus, swallowed her. (2) Soon Zeus had great head pains, so he got Hephaestus to cut open his head with an axe. (5) When he sliced open Zeus’s head, Athena emerged fully grown and with a set of armor on. (2) Even though Zeus had many other children, Athena became his favorite. (8) She had many half brothers and sisters to compete against for this title including Hermes, Hephaestus, Apollo, Ares, Hebe, Artemis, Aphrodite, Persephone, and Tityus. (3)
Athena, the Greek goddess of both wisdom and war, is often considered the craftiest of all Olympian gods. She was born of a headache, and erupted from Zeus’ head fully armed and ready for battle. However, beside all this pomp, she is a rather caring, if war-loving, immortal. Throughout the entirety of The Odyssey she conveys an entirely platonic, almost motherly love for Odysseus. It is this that makes her significant character in Homer’s work. In The Odyssey, Athena is portrayed as a, if not the, major female figure throughout the entire epic poem. With her affection for Odysseus and her frequent appearances she plays a major role throughout the entire poem. Evidence of this integral role will be presented as proof of her importance to the story.
Women in ancient Greek times did not have equal or political rights. Athena and Antigone, who were both very heroic women went above and beyond the stereotypical woman. In society today, women are still not looked as an equivalent to men. Athena and Antigone share the Greek heroic traits of honor, perseverance, and of living in a higher class. In Sophocles’ Greek tragedy, Antigone, and Homer’s epic, The Odyssey, the female characters, Antigone and Athena are not solely traditional female characters, instead, they embody the heroic characteristics, honor, perseverance, and high social standing.
Athena was the goddess of war and wisdom. Daughter of Zeus and Metis, but born from only Zeus. Gaea the Earth goddess told Zeus that his child would u...
Calypso feels that her sexuality makes her susceptible to unfair treatment by the gods. This further proves the point that women were objectified, sexually and otherwise, in Greek culture. It is important to note that Odysseus’ relationship with most goddesses throughout The Odyssey involves the act of sex. Athena, on the other hand, personifies both feministic and non-feministic traits, although they are not necessarily masculine traits. This is quite strange, however, as most women are represented as solely feminine and completely inferior to men. Athena is the goddess of wisdom and war. According to Homer, in the Iliad, Athena is portrayed as a fierce and ruthless warrior, characteristics that women were not generally assigned during this time period. At the same time, Athena is illustrated as being emotional, acting on her emotions. She has a
The Aegis was a breastplate made of goatskin that bore the image of a gorgon to instill panic in foes (Buxton 79). She was born fully grown and already dressed in her full outfit, ready for war. Furthermore, Athena was the only Olympian not born of a mother. She sprang directly from her father, Zeus’s, head (Lies 47). She was different from the others of her kind, which may be why she was so honored so highly in early Greece.
Women have given birth to new generations for centuries and have the common stereotype of being caring and gentle. But in the creation myth, women were given to man as a punishment. In the book of collected Greek tales, " Mythology Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes", by Edith Hamilton, women take up important roles that shape each story. Although women are usually characterized as being helpful and motherly, Greek mythology, on the other hand, portrays them to cause distress, fear, and anxiety to numerous men. Women’s actions are shown to be influenced with jealousy and vengeance which gives them an evil nature.
The people of Greece believed in mythology and believed they were blessed by the deity which inspired the artists’ creation of the spectacular sculptures including Athena Parthenos, the goddess of wisdom. Wisdom during this period was highly regarded. Most of the sculptures in Athens were made of different types of bronze. (See Figure 1.)
The society in which classical myths took place, the Greco-Roman society was a very patriarchal one. By taking a careful gander at female characters in Greco-Roman mythology one can see that the roles women played differ greatly from the roles they play today. The light that is cast upon females in classical myths shows us the views that society had about women at the time. In classical mythology women almost always play a certain type of character, that is to say the usual type of role that was always traditionally played by women in the past, the role of the domestic housewife who is in need of a man’s protection, women in myth also tended to have some unpleasant character traits such as vanity, a tendency to be deceitful, and a volatile personality. If one compares the type of roles that ladies played in the myths with the ones they play in today’s society the differences become glaringly obvious whilst the similarities seem to dwindle down. Clearly, and certainly fortunately, society’s views on women today have greatly changed.
What makes the depiction between Athena and Aphrodite interesting is the different ways they are portrayed even sharing the similarity of being born strictly from male only. Athena from the all-powerful king of the gods Zeus and Aphrodite from Ouronos. Though they were both born from man alone, the content of these births caused Athena to be expressed in a more dignified, respected, and superior way. Hesiod’s recount of the births of Athena and Aphrodite in his Theogony reveals the source of Athena’s superiority. According to the Theogony, Ouranos’ genitals are thrown into the sea where they mix with the sea foam to result in Aphrodite (Hesiod 180-192). Aphrodite is said to be called, by Hesiod, “Philommedes, fond of a man’s genitals” ( Hesiod, 200-201). In contrast, Hesiod writes that Athena is born from Zeus’ head (Hesiod 924) after Zeus consumes her mother Metis, the goddess whose name means wisdom, for fear of her giving birth to someone who was destined to be his match in wisdom (Hesiod 894-900).
I will give you 3 examples of how Athena used he military cunning to pass challenges:-
The mythological story of “Athena” and the biblical story of “Solomon” both develop the theme that the wise are intelligent. One story that stuck to me was Athena aiding Perseus. Perseus needed guidance from Athena to defeat Medusa. She answered by giving him a shield to use as a “mirror”, so he would be able to cut off Medusa's head off. Athena was intelligent to think of using the shield as a mirror, so Perseus wouldn't be affected by her power. Solomon was the other wise counselor that showed intelligent conclusions. He had to make a fast ruling over two women arguing over and infant. Solomon made the decision of cutting the baby in half to determine who the child belonged to. While announcing this decision the real
The Role of Women in Greek Mythology In learning about the feminist movement, we studied the three articles, discussed and reviewed the different authors perspectives on the topic, and learned how important the role of woman in Greek mythology is. In presenting the feminist theory to the class, we analyzed the three articles, Women in Ancient Greece; Women in Antiquity: New Assessments; and Women in Greek Myth, and discussed how although the three articles provided different views on Feminism in mythology, they all essentially are aiming to teach the same basic concept. In order to understand the feminist theory, we have to understand the notion that although myths are invented and that they involve fantasy, the concept of mythology does not necessarily imply that there is no truth of history in them. Some of the humans may have lived while some of the events may have taken place. Most importantly, the social customs and the way of life depicted in the myths are a valuable representation of Greek society.
“Goddess of wisdom, war and the crafts, and favorite daughter of Zeus, Athena was, perhaps, the wisest, most courageous, and certainly the most resourceful of the Olympian gods.” (Cartwright) She is goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, law and justice, strategic warfare, mathematics, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, and skill. Athena was known to many as the protector of the people and was viewed as a powerful goddess. She gave hope to the people of Greece and restored faith in the higher power. She is known to give encouragement to warriors and heroes during times of crisis. Odysseus was a major heroic figure that Athena is credited for giving advice to. Legend says that it was Athena who gave Odysseus the ideas for the Trojan Horse. Douris, the artist for this painting, was known for using themes that were popular during the time period to recreate scenarios to make them more understandable for people to