The Greek Goddess Athena

The Greek Goddess Athena

Greek gods and goddesses live very interesting lives, some are more interesting than others. Greek goddesses were always looked up to for their strength to be at the same level of authority as men. Athena, daughter of Zeus, was one of the most interesting out of all the Greek gods and goddesses. Athena did not live a normal life from the time she was born, but she definitely took advantage of who and what she was throughout her lifetime.

Zeus, the god of gods, was told that if his wife, Metis, and him had a baby boy, that he would overthrow Zeus from being in power (Hoena 39). The second he found out that Metis was pregnant; he swallowed her whole in fear that she was having a boy. He didn't want to give up being the ruler, no matter what ("Athena"). He didn't want to risk having a kid and it being a boy, so he would have rather kill both his wife and the child she was bearing. To his surprise, swallowing Metis didn't stop him from getting that child that was growing in her stomach ("Athena").

A short few months after swallowing his wife, Zeus started getting bad headaches. Some were to the point that he couldn't even think or concentrate at all (Turnbull). He got to the point that he asked Hephaestus to split his head open with an axe ("Athena"). To everyone's surprise, something flew out of Zeus' head as the axe made contact: A woman. Athena was fully clothed and fully-grown when she emerged from her father's head. She ended up becoming Zeus' favorite child (Turnbull).

Zeus had a soft spot for Athena, but who would have thought otherwise? She was born straight out his head! She was the only child of Zeus that knew where his secret hiding place was that held his lightning bolts (Turnbull). She was also the only one that was entrusted in taking care and holding possession of a magical shield (Turnbull). She was so much like her father, and that's why she was his favorite ("Athena"). After all, she was the goddess of many things, just like her father.

Athena was portrayed as holding a spear, meaning that she was the goddess of war, which she was. One of her main abilities was her ability to strategize while under pressure and not under pressure. She was also the goddess of strength, which made her highly respected as a woman. Just warfare helped earn her a reputation better than the other two mentioned previously. She was always helping out whenever she had the power to do so, or whenever she found it was the right and just thing to do (Hoena 109).

Although she was known for fighting in wars and war strategies, her main trait was as a mediator (Turnbull). She was always the goddess that would help solve problems, rather than starting them (Turnbull). She was known for being fair in any and all of the decisions that she had to make ("Athena").