How Did Athena Influence The Modern Day World

Greek mythology is something that everyone knows of, not only because it is so interesting, but because of the many gods and goddesses. One of the most well known goddesses being Goddess Athena who portrayed so many good characteristics. Although Goddess Athena is best known for wisdom, military skill, and crafts, she is also known for her mythological influence on the modern day world and her acts of heroism.

Athena was Zeus's daughter, and his favorite to be exact. Athena's mother was Metis, goddess of prudence, and she didn't give birth to Athena the way other mothers gave birth to their children. When Athena was born she sprang out of Zeus's head, when Hephaestus "struck his father's skull," fully grown and in full armor wearing the "robe

and helmet" her mother had made for her. (Ingri and Edgar D'Aulaire 34) Athena came out of her father's head because Zeus had swallowed Metis when they were "playfully playing a game" of shape shifting. (34) Zeus had swallowed Metis because Mother Nature had warned Zeus about Metis bearing children to him. Saying that "if Metis were to bear a boy, that boy would dethrone Zeus." As Zeus had dethroned Cronus, his father, as Cronus had dethroned his father.

(34) So Zeus decided to trick Metis and play a game, and that's how Metis got into Zeus's head. While Metis was in Zeus's head she became pregnant and she made her baby girl a robe and helmet. Zeus swallowed Metis because he was afraid of getting dethroned and because he wanted to keep Metis for her wise council. (34) When Athena was born her grey eyes flashed,

and that's why she is sometimes known as the "flashing eyed goddess." (34) Zeus favored Athena so much that he trusted her to "carry the awful Aegis, his buckler, and his devastating weapon, the thunderbolt." (Hamilton 25) "Athena is known as the goddess of wisdom, military skill, crafts, peace, and purity." (Encyclopedia of Columbia) Although Athena was a virgin she did happen to have a child named Erichthanuis.

Hephaestus, the god that split his fathers head, "became very attracted to Athena." (Wickersham) Hephaestus tried to force Athena to bear his children. However, Athena being the powerful goddess she was, "resisted him and his seed fell to the ground." (Wickersham) From that seed Erichthanius was born "a half-man, half-snake." Athena put Erichthanius into a box and told two woman to "watch the box and not look inside." But the two woman looked inside and were driven mad, thus causing them to commit suicide. (Wickersham) So Athena took Erichthanius and watched over him herself. Erichthanius grew up to "have a great deal of respect for Athena and later became the king of her city, Athens" (Wickersham) Athena invented many things to help others. She came up with the "horse

bridle, chariot, ships, numbers, mathematics, spinning, weaving, rakes, plows, and the method of using animals to help the fields." (Wickersham) Athena even invented the flute, except one day she saw her "reflection and was so disgusted she threw the flute away and put a curse on the next person to touch it." (Wickersham)Athena was known for many things, one being her mythological influence on the modern day world.

The greek myths about Athena and her wisdom influenced the modern day world. The way she always had an owl around her inspired the famous saying "wise as an owl." (Roberts 8) Athena, her wisdom, and her constant companion Nike played a role in the modern day world. Nike was the spirit of victory and was Athena's best companion. Athena "led armies but only those who fought for just causes." (Ingri and Edgar D'Aulaire 36) While Athena led armies Nike was always by her side to help (Hoena and Bowman 21) That is why there is a famous shoe company called "Nike," because the shoe company is promoting the way Nike was victorious in battles and the way Athena was wise and put thought into her every move. (Hoena and Bowman 21) Another way Athena influenced the modern day world would be how she was very strong and how she broke the gender barriers in Greece. She did things that men were only allowed to do, such as rule over a city. Her city being the city of Athens. Athena became the ruler of Athens when the people voted that her gift of an olive tree, which gave the people "food, oil, and wood", was better than Poseiden's gift of a "well with salty water." (Ingri and Edgar D'Aulaire 37) She was also always in a suit of full armor, in fact, when she was born she came out a warrior. (Roberts 21) The way Athena ruled over a city and was seen as a warrior broke the gender barriers, which influenced the modern day world, because still to this day woman do things that people think men can only do. The story of Athena and Arachne also influenced the modern day world. In the story of Athena and Arachne, Arachne believes that she can spin better than the goddess of arts and crafts herself. So when Athena hears Arachne she "makes a visit to the village Arachne lives in." (Evslin and Hofmann 10) Arachne sees the goddess and "gives Athena a cloak that she spun to show how sorry she was for disrespecting Athena." (10) Athena then decides to accept the cloak "saying how Zeus likes to sleep warm" so she will give it to Zeus. (Evslin and Hofmann 11) Athena then decides that her and Arachne will have a contest to see who truly is the best at spinning. "Arachne will spin in the meadow, while Athena spins in her place." (11) A week goes by and the contest begins. "Arachne goes first and spins a scene of children, marriage, sunsets, and all joyous things." "She spins so good that everyone watching begins to things she's not actually spinning." (Evslin and Hofmann 12) When Arachne is done the people begin to weep and go crazy, because what she weaved was just so beautiful. (12) When Arachne is done "she curtsies toward the low hill and Athena begins to spin." (12) Athena uses "the finest of the finest to spin." (Evslin and Hofmann 13) Athena spins "scenes from Olympus, things that mortal man had never hoped to see, almost too horrible to see." (13) When Athena finished the crowd went completely insane, "they got down on their knees and start bawling their eyes out." (13) Arachne walks away from the crowd quietly and "hangs herself." Athena walks to Arachne's hanging body and pays no mind to the mortals. (13) Athena touches Arachne's arm which causes "her face to grow blacker, her eyes to bulge even more, and her body to shrink." (Evslin and Hofmann 14) Arachne becomes a spider and the thread she used to hang herself became a "shinning strand." Athena turned Arachne into a spider, because she disrespected a goddess, lost the spinning contest, and because Arachne will now be able to spin for the rest of time. (14) This story influenced the modern day world, because this story "influenced the way scientists named certain animals." "Arachnida is used for the group of animals that includes spiders, scorpions, and ticks." (Hoena and Bowman 21) Another way Athena influenced the modern day world would be with her inventions. She invented the "horse bridle, chariot, ships, numbers, mathematics, spinning, weaving, rakes, plows, and the method of using animals to help the fields." (Wickersham) These inventions influenced the modern day world because, although people don't spin and weave anymore, they sew which is similar. The horse bridle is still used today by many people, and people still use the tools and methods she invented for farming. Everything she invented has been either modernized or is still being used. Not only is Athena known for her mythological influences on the modern day world, but she is also known for her acts of heroism.

Athena is known for many things, the most important one being her acts of heroism. Athena had many acts of heroism. Such as the way she unblinded Tiresias, even though the gods and goddesses never undid any punishment they put on the mortals. Athena blinded Tiresias, because "he saw her naked bathing in a stream." (Wickersham) "But then she realized it wasn't his fault, so she unblinded him and gave him the gift of prophecy." (Wickersham) Another one of Athena's acts of heroism would be Ajax, a greek warrior, "who was jealous of Odysseus for getting Achilles's armor." (Roberts 28) Ajax believed "he was twice as good as Odysseus and that he deserved the armor." (28) So Ajax said that "he was going to get revenge on Odysseus and the other greeks." When Athena heard about Ajax she decided that she was going to protect Odysseus because she admired his cunning and courage. So Athena made "Ajax go insane and she watched as he wondered into a pen of goats and sheep that was the greeks food source." (28) "Ajax began to murder the animals thinking he was killing the greek people in his state of insanity." "When the madness was lifted from his mind Ajax saw the horrible thing he had done. He saw how he killed the animals, not for food, but for his own personal interest." (28) Ajax was "driven by so much guilt, that he threw himself on his sword" thus killing himself. (28) This was one of Athena's acts of heroism, because she stopped Ajax from killing Odysseus and the other greek people. Another one of Athena's acts of heroism would be when she helped in the Trojan War. The Trojan War happened, because Eris, the spirit of strife, threw a golden apple of discord into the middle of the floor during a wedding saying "the fairest of goddesses shall have it." (Ingri and Edgar D'Aulaire 179) Eris was upset and threw the apple because she had not been invited to that wedding." So Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite all rushed to pick up the apple each thinking that they were the fairest of the goddesses." (179) Eventually the three sisters begin to fight, because they each wanted the apple for themselves, the goddesses fighting caused "the wedding to end badly and the goddesses left to go back to Olympus." (179) The three goddesses still bickered about who deserved the apple, "so Zeus picked Paris, who was the prince of Troy, to pick which of the three goddesses was the fairest." (Ingri and Edgar D'Aulaire 180) So "Paris was given the apple and told to pick which of the three were the fairest." All three goddesses tried convincing Paris to give them the golden apple. Aphrodite tells Paris that if she gets the apple "the most beautiful woman would be his." So Paris picks Aphrodite without thinking about the wisdom and power he could have gained if he hadn't picked Aphrodite over the other two goddesses. (180) Aphrodite takes the apple without thinking about how "the most beautiful woman already belonged to someone." (180) From there Helen is stolen from her land and the Trojan War starts. Athena was a hero in the Trojan War because she was the one that built and came up with "the famous wooden horse that the Greeks left on the shore for the Trojans." (Ingri and Edgar D'Aulaire 184) Because of Athena and her wooden horse the Greeks were able to defeat the Trojans by destroying Troy. "Helen was taken back to Sparta where she continued her life happily." (184) Another act of heroism Athena contributed in was when Perseus went to kill Medusa, "Athena guided Perseus's hand and he was able to kill Medusa." (Roberts 32) Although Athena was known for her acts of heroism, but she was also known for her influence on the modern day world which is just as important.

Goddess Athena was known for her influence on the modern day world and her acts of heroism, but she was also known for her wisdom, military skill, and crafts. In the end, it is good to have wisdom and truly think before any action is done to achieve many great accomplishments, just like the Goddess Athena.