Athena(ancient Greek - Athenaia; Mycenaean atanapotinija - “Atana the Lady”), in Greek mythology, the goddess of wisdom and just war, military wisdom and strategy, knowledge, arts and crafts. Athena is a warrior maiden, patroness of cities, sciences, skill, intelligence, dexterity and ingenuity. One of the 12 great Olympian gods.
Family and environment
Myths
In the sources there are references to the birth of a child associated with Athena and Hephaestus. The first part of this story is contained only in later sources. According to them, Zeus vowed to fulfill any desire of Hephaestus and the Blacksmith God asked Athena as his wife. The King of the Gods could not break the oath, but advised his maiden daughter to defend herself. According to the main legend, the daughter of Zeus came to Hephaestus for weapons, and he tried to take possession of her, and she began to run away. The Blacksmith God chased after her and overtook her, but while defending herself with a weapon in her hands, Pallas wounded her pursuer with a spear. Hephaestus spilled the seed on Athena's leg, after which the goddess wiped it with wool and buried it in the ground, after which Gaia the earth gave birth to a baby. Therefore, Erichthonius was called both the son of Gaia and the son of Athena, and the name was interpreted from “erion” - wool (or “eris” - discord) and “chthon” - earth.
Athena secretly raised Erichthonius, wanting to make him immortal, she gave him in a casket for safekeeping to the daughters of Cecrops Aglavra, Gersa and Pandrosa, forbidding him to open. The sisters opened the casket and saw a child entwined with snakes, which the Warrior assigned to the baby as guard. They were either killed by snakes, or Pallas drove them mad and they threw themselves from the top of the acropolis into the abyss. After the death of his sisters, Erichthonius was raised in the temple of Athena. When he grew up, he became king, erected a xoan (statue or idol made of wood) of Athena on the acropolis, and established the Panathenaea, holding a procession in honor of Athena on the acropolis for the first time. Erichthonius was buried in the sacred site of the temple of Athena Polias.
Also, according to one version, together with Hephaestus, by the will of Zeus, she created the first woman - Pandora, who opened the ill-fated vessel called “Pandora’s Box”.
A powerful, terrible, owl-eyed goddess of the archaic, the owner of an aegis, during the period of heroic mythology she directs her strength to fight titans and giants. Although, according to the early mythological scheme, the Titanomachy occurred even before the birth of Athena, later authors, starting with Euripides, often confused giants and titans. Her participation in gigantomachy is a popular plot. Hyginus cites the story that after the death of Epaphus, Zeus, together with Athena, Apollo and Artemis, threw the titans into Tartarus, prompted by Hera. Together with Hercules, Athena kills one of the giants; she drove a chariot with a pair of horses towards the giant Enceladus, and when he fled, she brought down the island of Sicily on him. Pallanta peels off his skin and covers his body with it during battle.
The goddess of war demands sacred respect. There is a well-known myth about how she deprived young Tiresias (the son of her favorite nymph Chariklo) of sight. One day Athena and Chariklo decided to swim in a spring on Helikon, Tiresias saw the goddess and she blinded him (according to another version, he became blind from the sight of Athena). Having deprived the young man of his sight, she at the same time endowed him with a prophetic gift and gave him the ability to understand the language of birds, as well as the ability to maintain reason in Hades. Ovid, in Book VI of Metamorphoses, outlined the myth of how Athena severely punished the weaver Arachne when she questioned the piety of the gods by weaving love scenes with the participation of the gods on the bedspread.
Classical Athena is endowed with ideological and organizing functions: she patronizes heroes, protects public order, etc. In the myths of ancient Greece, stories about Athena helping heroes are common. She helps Perseus by guiding his hand in decapitating Medusa. One of Athena's epithets is "gorgon killer." Perseus sacrificed a heifer to the goddess and gave Athena the head of the Gorgon, which she placed on her shield. Athena later placed Perseus, Andromeda, Cassiopeia and Kepheus among the constellations. She inspired and gave strength to Cadmus, and also gave him a stone to fight the Theban dragon. On the advice of the wise Goddess, Cadmus sowed the dragon's teeth and threw a block at them, which caused a fight between them. Athena made Cadmus reign in Thebes, and for his wedding with Harmony she gave him a necklace, peplos and flutes.
It is believed that Asclepius received the blood of the Gorgon from Athena, with which he raised the dead. According to Euripides, at birth she gave Erichthonius two drops of the Gorgon’s blood, which he gave to Erechtheus in a golden ring, and the latter to Creuse (one drop is healing, the other is poisonous). Athena appeared in a dream to Pericles and indicated a herb to heal his slave who had fallen from the roof of the Acropolis Propylaea under construction, the herb was nicknamed parthenium, and Pericles erected a statue of Athena Hygieia. The base of a statue made by the sculptor Pyrrhus was found on the acropolis.
Pindar mentions that Bellerophon saw Athena in a dream while sleeping on her altar, and erected an altar to Athena the Rider when she handed over Pegasus to him. She also helps Nestor against Ereuthalion and in the battle with the Eleans. The goddess Menelaus protects from the arrow of Pandarus (according to Plutarch).
Repeatedly the wise Goddess helped Hercules at the request of Zeus. Athena threw a stone at the mad hero, which saved Amphitryon; this stone is called Sophronister, that is, “bringing to reason.” She gave him a cloak (according to another version, armor) before the war with Orchomen. There is a version that it was Athena who told the hero how to kill the Lernaean Hydra and gave him rattles made by Hephaestus to scare away the Stymphalian birds. With the help of Pallas, Hercules led the dog Cerberus out of Hades, and later she took the apples of the Hesperides from him and returned them to their place. Athena gave the hero the cubit of the Gorgon, which the hero gave to Sterope, daughter of Kepheus, for protection. The dying Hercules appeals to Athena with requests for an easy death (according to Seneca) and she leads him to heaven.
When the Thebans ambush Tydeus, Athena warns him against returning to Thebes. During the campaign of the Seven against Thebes, the Warrior Goddess is present next to Tydeus in battle and deflects some of the arrows from him and covers him with a shield. When Tydeus was mortally wounded, she begged from her father a potion of immortality for the wounded man, but when she saw that Tydeus was devouring the brain of his enemy, she hated him and did not give him the medicine.
Athena's help to Tydeus' son Diomedes is described in detail in Homer's Iliad. The goddess gives him strength, inspires him to fight, including against Aphrodite, directs the spear of Diomedes against Pandarus, inspires Diomedes to fight with Ares, takes the peak of Ares away from the hero and directs the spear of Diomedes into the stomach of Ares, protects Diomedes during the storm. Horace says that Diomedes was elevated to gods by Athena.
The same Iliad mentions that Athena helped Achilles destroy Lyrnessos, she also tames the anger of Achilles at the request of Hera, lights a flame around Achilles’ head, frightening the Trojans. When Achilles mourns Patroclus, refusing food, she gives him nectar and ambrosia at the request of Zeus. During the fight with Hector, he protects Achilles, taking Hector’s spear away from him. It was she, in the form of Deiphobus, who advised Hector to meet Achilles; before that, she appeared to Achilles and promised to help him in this battle. Achilles says to Hector: “under my spear Tritogen (i.e. Athena) will soon tame you.” After the death of Achilles, the Goddess mourns and comes to mourn him and rub ambrosia on his body.
In Homer's poems (especially the Odyssey), not a single important event takes place without the intervention of Athena. She is Odysseus's constant adviser, helps him calm the people, protects the hero from the lance of the Trojan Socus, helps him in running competitions, and supported him on the night of the capture of Troy. However, Athena never helped Odysseus during his wanderings (in the songs of the Odyssey dedicated to this period, she is not mentioned even once); assistance resumes after the crash of Odysseus’s raft. She calms the winds, helps him get ashore, and then sends him sleep. Athena often takes on the guise of mortals to advise or help Odysseus and at the same time transforms Odysseus: she elevates him in stature, gives him strength in competition, if necessary, turns Odysseus into an old beggar, and then restores his beauty again, and hides the hero on the island of Pheakov cloud, in Ithaca hides him and his companions in darkness and helps him leave the city.
She is the main defender of the Achaean Greeks and the constant enemy of the Trojans, although her cult also existed in Troy. Athena is the protector of Greek cities (Athens, Argos, Megara, Sparta, etc.), bearing the name “city defender”.
The warrior goddess promotes the capture of Troy from the very beginning of the Trojan War. She participates in the Judgment of Paris and loses the argument to Aphrodite. The Trojan horse was made by Epeus according to the plan of Athena, she appeared to him in a dream, in three days the horse was completed and Epeus asks Athena to bless his work and calls the Trojan horse an offering to the Goddess. The inhabitants of Metapontum showed in the temple of Athena the iron tools of Epeus, with which he built a horse. She took the form of a messenger and advised Odysseus to hide the Achaean heroes in his horse. Next, the Goddess brought the food of the gods to the heroes who were about to get on the horse so that they would not feel hungry. When the Trojans think about destroying the horse, Athena gives bad signs (an earthquake) and the Trojans do not believe Laocoon, who insisted on this. She rejoices when the Trojans drag a wooden horse into the city and sends snakes to kill the sons of Laocoon. Trifiodorus describes how Helen of Sparta came to the temple of Athena and walked around her horse three times, calling the heroes by name, but the Goddess of War, visible only to Helen, appeared and forced her to leave. And on the night of the fall of Troy, Pallas sat on the acropolis, her aegis shining, and when the beating began, she screamed and raised her aegis.
Athena is always considered in the context of artistic craft, art, craftsmanship. She helps potters, weavers, needlewomen, and working people in general; she helped Prometheus steal fire from Hephaestus’s forge; Daedalus learned his art from her. She teaches girls crafts (the daughters of Pandareus, Eurynoma and others). Her touch alone is enough to make a person beautiful - this is how Penelope acquired the amazing beauty of meeting her future husband. She personally polished Peleus' spear.
Her own products are genuine works of art, such as the cloak woven for the hero Jason. She made her own clothes and even Hera's clothes. She taught people the art of weaving. However, Plato points out that Athena's mentor in the art of weaving was Eros. The spinning wheel is another gift of the Goddess to people; weavers are called those serving “the cause of Athena.”
Athena is credited with inventing the flute and teaching Apollo how to play it. Pindar says that one of the gorgons, Medusa, moaned terribly as she died, and the other Euryale moaned while looking at her sister, and Athena invented a flute to repeat these sounds. According to another story, the Patroness of the Arts made a flute from deer bone and came to the gods' meal, but Hera and Aphrodite ridiculed her. Athena, looking at her reflection in the water, saw how ugly her cheeks were swelling, and threw the flute in the Idean Forest. The abandoned flute was picked up by the satyr Marsyas. Later, Marsyas challenged Apollo to a competition in playing the flute, was defeated and was severely punished for his pride (Apollo flayed the satyr). Aristotle believes that the Goddess abandoned the flute for another reason: playing the flute is not associated with mental development.
One of the most important mythological stories about Athena is the trial of Attica. Athena argued with the god of the seas, Poseidon, for the possession of Attica. At the council of the gods, it was decided that Attica would go to the one whose gift on this earth would be more valuable. Poseidon struck with his trident and gushed out a spring from the rock. But the water in it turned out to be salty and undrinkable. Athena stuck her spear into the ground, and an olive tree grew from it. All the gods recognized that this gift was more valuable. Poseidon was angry and wanted to flood the earth with the sea, but Zeus forbade him. Since then, the olive has been considered a sacred tree in Greece. Varro cites a later version of the myth, where Cecrops put the question of the name of the city to a vote: men voted for Poseidon, and women for Athena, and one woman turned out to be more. Then Poseidon devastated the earth with waves, and the Athenians subjected women to triple punishment: they were deprived of the right to vote, none of the children had to take the mother’s name, and no one had to call women Athenians. The trial took place on Boedromion 2 (end of September) and the Athenians removed this day from the calendar. The dispute between Poseidon and Athena was depicted on the back side of the Parthenon, and in Ovid's account, Athena depicts this scene on fabric during her competition with Arachne.
Sophocles calls the Goddess Athena the Virgin, mistress of horses, her epithet is “Parthenos”. Argive girls sacrificed hair to her before marriage. According to Nonnus, Avra, suffering in childbirth, wants Athena to give birth herself. And the wise Goddess feeds the son of Avra and Dionysus Iacchus with her milk, as Erichthonius did earlier. The women of Elis prayed to Athena to get pregnant. And she helped Penelope delay her new wedding day. When Penelope asks Athena for Odysseus, the Goddess sends the ghost of Ifthima to her to reassure her. She inspires Penelope with the idea of arranging a competition for the suitors.
Already in Homer, Athena appears as the patroness of shipbuilding and navigation. According to her instructions, the architect Argos from Thespiae created the ship Argo. On the bow, Pallas strengthened a piece of the trunk of a Dodon oak tree, which could prophesy. After completing the voyage, the ship was placed in the sky by Athena. On the advice of Athena, Danaus, the son of the Egyptian king Bel and Ankhinoe, the father of 50 daughters, built a 50-oar ship with two bows, on which he fled with his daughters. According to myth, Danaus received a prediction that he would die at the hands of his son-in-law, Danaus’ daughters took up arms and killed their husbands in one night, fleeing revenge Danai built his own ship. Perseus, whom Pallas also willingly helped, was a descendant of Danaus. The image of the Goddess was on Athenian ships; according to myths, she often sends a fair wind to ships (Telemachus, Theseus, the Achaeans returning from Lemnos).
Name, epithets and character
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| Athena. 470-465 BC Red-figured amphora. Attica. St. Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum |
The etymology of the name "Athena" due to the pre-Greek origin of her image is unclear. In modern Russian, a form close to the Byzantine pronunciation of the name, through “and”, has been established, but in the classical era the name of the goddess was pronounced approximately like “Athena”. Homer sometimes calls her Athenea, that is, "Athenian."
Athena is the goddess of wisdom, Democritus considered her “reasonableness.” Her wisdom is different from the wisdom of Hephaestus and Prometheus; she is characterized by wisdom in state affairs. For late antiquity, Athena was the principle of the indivisibility of the cosmic mind and a symbol of comprehensive world wisdom, thereby her qualities are sharply contrasted with the riot and ecstasy of Dionysus. As the legislator and patroness of Athenian statehood, she was revered as Phratria (“brotherly”), Bulaya (“councillor”), Soteira (“savior”), Pronoia (“provident”).
There is numerous information about the cosmic features of the image of Athena. She keeps the lightning bolts of Zeus. Her image or fetish, so-called. palladium, fell from the sky (perhaps hence her epithet Pallas). It is also possible that the epithet Pallas comes from the Greek “to shake (with weapons),” that is, it means a victorious warrior, or it means “maiden.” Athena was identified with the daughters of Kekrops - Pandrosa (“all-moist”) and Aglavra (“light-air”), or Agravla (“field-furrowed”).
Homer calls Athena "Glaukopis" (owl-eyed), the Orphic hymn (XXXII 11) - "variegated snake." In Boeotia, she, the inventor of the flute, was revered under the name Bombileia, that is, “bee-like,” “buzzing.” The epithet Parthenos is the name of the Virgin Athena, hence the name of the Parthenon temple. Athena is called Promachos, that is, “advanced fighter,” as the patroness of war and fair battle.
The main epithets of Athena, endowed with civil functions, are Polyada ("urban", "patron of cities and states") and Poliukhos ("city ruler"). And she has the epithet Ergan (“worker”) as the patroness of artisans.
Cult and symbolism
Athena's ancient zoomorphic past is indicated by her attributes - a snake and an owl (symbols of wisdom). The chthonic wisdom of the Goddess has its origin in the image of the goddess with snakes of the Cretan-Mycenaean period. Athena's predecessor, according to Martin Nilsson's theory, was the "shield goddess" depicted on the Larnaca of Milato, as well as on other monuments, whose symbol was a figure-eight shield. According to I.M. Dyakonov, the single image of the warrior maiden was divided among the Greeks into three: the warrior and needlewoman Athena, the huntress Artemis and the goddess of sexual passion Aphrodite. The myth of the birth of Athena from Metis and Zeus belongs to the late period of Greek mythology. As Losev points out, she becomes, as it were, a direct continuation of the King of the Gods, the executor of his plans and will. In the temple dedicated to her, according to Herodotus, there lived a huge snake - the guardian of the acropolis, dedicated to the goddess. An owl and a snake guarded the palace of the Minotaur on Crete, and an image of a goddess with a shield of Mycenaean times (possibly a prototype of Olympian Athena).
Pallas is one of the most important figures not only in Olympic mythology, she is equal in importance to Zeus and sometimes even surpasses him, rooted in the most ancient period of the development of Greek mythology - matriarchy. She is equal in strength and wisdom to her father. Along with the new functions of the goddess of military power, Athena retained her matriarchal independence, manifested in her understanding as a maiden and protector of chastity.
She is easily distinguishable from other ancient Greek goddesses due to her unusual appearance. Unlike other female deities, she uses male attributes - she is dressed in armor, holds a spear in her hands, and is accompanied by sacred animals. Among the indispensable attributes of Athena is the aegis - a shield made of goatskin with the head of the serpent-haired Medusa, which has enormous magical power and frightens gods and people; helmet with a high crest. Athena appeared accompanied by the winged goddess Nike.
Athena's olive trees were considered the "trees of fate", and she herself was thought of as fate and the Great Mother Goddess, who is known in archaic mythology as the parent and destroyer of all living things. Among the Megarians, Athena is revered under the epithet Ethia (“diving duck”), according to Hesychius, since she turned into a diving duck, hid Cecrops under her wings and brought him to Megara.
She is credited with the invention of the chariot, the ship, the flute and trumpet, the ceramic pot, the rake, the plow, the yoke for oxen and the bridle for horses, as well as the invention of war in principle. She taught weaving, spinning and cooking and established laws.
Although her cult was widespread throughout mainland and island Greece (Arcadia, Argolis, Corinth, Sikyon, Thessaly, Boeotia, Crete, Rhodes), the Goddess of War was especially revered in Attica, the Greek region where the city named after her was located. A huge statue of Athena Promachos with a spear shining in the sun adorned the Acropolis in Athens, where the Erechtheion and Parthenon temples were dedicated to the goddess.
The first priestess of Athena was called Kalyfiessa, the priestesses were also Pandrosa, Theano, Phoebe (one of the daughters of Leucippus, kidnapped by the Dioscuri), Hersa, Aglavra, Iodama, the last three suffered an unenviable fate. Groves and many temples were dedicated to Athena in Athens, Argos, Delos, Rhodes and other cities.
Agricultural holidays were dedicated to her: procharisteria (in connection with the germination of bread), plintheria (the beginning of the harvest), arrephoria (giving dew for crops), callinteria (ripening of fruits), scirophoria (aversion to drought). During these celebrations, the statue of Athena was washed, and the young men took an oath of civil service to the goddess. The celebration of the great Panathenaia - state wisdom - was universal. Erichthonius was considered the founder of Panathenaia, and Theseus was the transformer. The annual Panathenaea was organized by Solon, the great ones were established by Pisistratus. Pericles introduced competitions in singing, playing the cithara and flute. At the Panathenaea, sacrifices were made to Athena and the goddess's peplos was handed over, which depicted her exploits in the gigantomachy. In Athens, the third decade of each month was dedicated to the Goddess. According to myths, when all the gods fled to Egypt, she remained in her homeland.
In Rome, Athena was identified with Minerva. Two large passages from Ovid's Fast are devoted to the Roman festivals of Minerva. Throughout antiquity, it remains evidence of the organizing and directing power of reason, which organizes cosmic and social life, glorifying the strict foundations of a state based on democratic legislation.
Influence on culture and art
The XI and XXVIII hymns of Homer, the V hymn of Callimachus, the XXXII Orphic hymn, the VII hymn of Proclus and the prose “Hymn to Athena” by Aelius Aristides are dedicated to Athena. She is the protagonist of the tragedies of Sophocles “Eantes”, Euripides “Ion”, “The Suppliants”, “The Trojan Women”, “Iphigenia in Tarvid”, Pseudo-Euripides “Res”.
She acts in the prologue of Sophocles' tragedy "Ajax", talking with Odysseus and Ajax. A monument to the glorification of the wise ruler of the Athenian state, the founder of the Areopagus, is the tragedy of Aeschylus “Eumenides”.
There are many known statues of the Goddess of War, the most famous of which are Phidias “Athena Promachos” from the 5th century. BC e., "Athena Parthenos" 438 BC, "Athena Lemnia" around 450 BC. have not survived to this day. The most accurate copy of the Athena Parthenos is considered to be the statue of Athena Varvakion in the National Museum in Athens, and the Athena Promachos is probably the Athena Medici in the Louvre. The Vatican Museum houses "Athena Giustiniani" (a copy of the original from the 4th century BC)
The painter Famuel, who painted the Golden Palace of Nero, created a picture in which the Goddess looked at the viewer from any point. Cleanthes' painting "The Birth of Athena" was in the sanctuary of Artemis Alfionia at Olympia.
In Western European painting, the Goddess of Wisdom was less popular than, for example, Aphrodite (Venus). She was often depicted in the "Judgement of Paris" plot along with Aphrodite and Hera. Botticelli's painting "Pallas and the Centaur" of 1482 is well known. It was depicted mainly in works of an allegorical nature, multi-figure compositions ("Minerva conquers ignorance" by B. Spranger, "Victory of virtue over sin" by A. Mantegna). She was depicted together with Ares (Mars) ("Minerva and Mars" by Tintoretto, Veronese), rarely in sculpture (Sansovino).
Supposedly, Diego Velazquez's famous enigmatic painting "The Spinner" illustrates the myth of Athena and Arachne.
In modern times
An asteroid is named after Athena - one of three asteroids discovered on July 22, 1917 by German astronomer Maximilian Wolf at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl Observatory, Germany.
Athena is the name given to the American light-class launch vehicle.
The city of Athens is the capital of the state in Southern Europe of Greece.
Pallas Athena (ancient Greek myth)
Pallas Athena differs not only in her wisdom from all the other immortal gods who live on Olympus. Not only because from her very birth she loves military pleasures more than anything in the world. But also because, unlike other immortals, she did not have a mother. Of course, she had a mother, but at the same time, it was as if she didn’t have one. Pallas Athena was born by her father, the thunderer Zeus himself. And this is how it happened.
The great Zeus has long reigned over the world, and there is no one who could compete with him in power. But all this time the great thunderer’s heart was restless. The goddess Gaia predicted to him that the fate of his father, the great Cronus, awaited him.
“Like his father, he will also lose power over the world,” the wise goddess said, and it was impossible not to believe her.
The mighty titan Prometheus constantly talks about this.
“You think, new kings, that you will bliss in peace forever.” But didn't I see two tyrants fall from Olympus? And I will see how soon the third one will fall!
In vain Zeus sought for Prometheus to reveal to him the fatal secret, which of his sons would overthrow him from the throne and when he would be born. But Prometheus persisted:
- Let him throw lightning as much as he wants, let him thunder with terrible thunder. Even if the whole sky turns into a white-winged blizzard and destroys everything to the ground, he will not break me, and I will not say from whose hand he will lose power!
What could Zeus do? He decided to defend himself as best he could. The goddesses of fate Moira, who never make mistakes, told Zeus that the goddess of reason Metis would have two children from him: first a daughter, Athena, would be born, and then a son of extraordinary intelligence and strength. And when he grows up, he will take away the power over the world from Zeus. Zeus was worried: after all, the goddess Metis was about to give birth. He put her to sleep with gentle words and swallowed her along with the unborn child.
And everything went as before. He was feasting and having fun in his golden palace on Olympus, when suddenly, after a while, he felt a strange headache, such that it was literally tearing him apart. He calls his son, the glorious blacksmith Hephaestus, and orders him:
“Hit me on the head with your sharp ax and cut it in half.”
Hearing such an amazing request, Hephaestus asks his father:
“You seem to want to make sure I’m sane?” Tell me to do something else you need.
“I need exactly what I ask of you,” the angry Zeus answers him, “if you don’t do this right now, then you will have to experience a lot of grief.”
Hephaestus fulfilled the strange demand of his royal father, he waved his ax and lowered it on the head of Zeus.
“What is this,” exclaimed the amazed Hephaestus a moment later. - The maiden is fully armed! There was a heavy thing sitting in your head, Zeus, no wonder you were in a bad mood. Carrying such a large daughter under your skull, and even fully armed, is no joke. So, do you have a military camp for a head? Oh, look, in an instant she has already become an adult, and what a beauty! Zeus, as a reward for helping you give birth to such a daughter, let me marry her!
“This is impossible, my glorious Hephaestus,” his father answered him, “she will never get married and will want to remain an eternal virgin.”
“It’s a pity,” Hephaestus said, “but if you don’t mind, I’ll still try to deal with her.”
While they were discussing the future fate of the newborn goddess, she had already jumped out of Zeus’s head and, out of joy that she was born and seeing the light, began to jump and dance a war dance, shaking her shield and waving her spear. Looking at his warlike daughter, Zeus answered the blacksmith:
“I don’t mind, but I think it won’t be easy for you.”
This is how Pallas Athena was born. But she was famous not only for her military courage, defending all those unjustly offended. She patronized the Greek heroes, guarded fortresses and cities, and in intelligence and wisdom she soon became equal to Zeus himself. That's what they called her - the goddess of wisdom and just war. And she also had one favorite thing, in which she had no equal. She loved to weave linen, and no one could surpass her in this art. And it was dangerous to compete with her. Everyone knows how Arachne, the daughter of Idmon, paid when she wanted to become higher than Athena in this matter.
The myth of the birth of Pallas Athena. - Goddess Athena and Erichthonius (Erechtheus). - The myth about the dispute between the goddess Athena and the god Poseidon. - Type and distinctive features of Pallas Athena. - Statue of Pallas Athena by Phidias. - Goddess Athena and god Eros. - The myth of the flute of the satyr Marcias. - Athena the worker: the myth of the Lydian Arachne. - Great Panathenaea.
The myth of the birth of Pallas Athena
One of the oldest Greek myths tells the following about the origin and birth of the goddess of wisdom. Pallas Athena(in Roman mythology - goddess Minerva) was the daughter of Zeus (Jupiter) and his first wife Metis (translated from ancient Greek as “meditation”). The goddess Metis predicted that she would first have a daughter and then a son, and that this son would be the ruler of the universe.
Zeus (Jupiter), frightened by such a prediction, turned to the goddess Gaia (Earth) for advice. Gaia advised Zeus to swallow Metis, which he did.
After some time, Zeus (Jupiter) felt a severe headache. It seemed to Zeus that his skull was ready to shatter into pieces. Zeus asked God (Vulcan) to split his head with an ax and see what was happening there. As soon as Hephaestus fulfilled his request, Pallas Athena, armed and in full bloom, emerged from the head of Zeus - “the mighty daughter of a mighty father,” as Homer usually calls the goddess Athena.
Several monuments of ancient art (among others, the Parthenon frieze, which no longer exists), depicted the birth of Pallas Athena.
Pallas Athena is, therefore, the personification of the divine reason and prudence of Zeus (Jupiter). Pallas Athena is a strong and warlike goddess, intelligent and judicious. Since the goddess Athena was born not from her mother, but directly from the head of Zeus (Jupiter), all female weaknesses are alien to Pallas Athena. The goddess Athena has a serious, almost masculine character; she is never embarrassed by the excitement of love and passion. Pallas Athena is an eternal virgin, the favorite of Zeus (Jupiter), his like-minded person, although sometimes, as, for example, in the Trojan War, the goddess Athena acts against the will of her father.
Pallas Athena has a healthy and clear view of humanity and willingly takes part in all life manifestations of people. Pallas Athena is always on the side of a just cause, helps brave heroes win victories over their enemies, is the patroness of Odysseus and Penelope, and the leader of Telemachus.
The goddess Athena personifies human culture. The goddess Athena invented many useful items, such as the plow and rake. Athena taught people how to harness oxen and made them bend their necks under the yoke. The myths of ancient Greece believe that Pallas Athena was the first to subdue a horse and turn it into a pet.
Pallas Athena taught Jason and his companions how to build the ship "Argo" and patronized the entire time their famous campaign continued.
Pallas Athena is the goddess of war, but she recognizes only a prudent war, waged according to all the rules of military art and having a specific goal. In this way, Pallas Athena differs from the god of war Ares (Mars), who enjoys the sight of blood and who loves the horrors and confusion of war.
The goddess Athena is everywhere a strict enforcer of laws, patroness and defender of civil rights, cities and harbors. Pallas Athena has a keen eye. The poets of antiquity called the goddess Athena “blue-eyed, bright-eyed and far-sighted.”
The Areopagus was founded by Pallas Athena. The goddess Athena was revered as the patroness of musicians, artists and all artisans.
Goddess Athena and Erichthonius (Erechtheus)
When the goddess Gaia (Earth), having given birth to a son, Erichthonius (aka Erechtheus), from the god Hephaestus, abandoned him to his fate, Pallas Athena picked up Erichthonius and raised him. According to Greek myth, Erichthonius resembled one half of his body, namely its lower part, like a snake.
The goddess Athena, constantly busy with wars, put the child in a basket and entrusted Erichthonius to the daughters of Kekrops for a while, forbidding them to open the basket. But two of the daughters of Kekrops, contrary to the advice of the eldest, Pandros, tormented by curiosity, opened the basket with Erichthonius and saw there a sleeping child entwined with a snake, which immediately bit the curious girls.
Erichthonium was entrusted to the goddess Athena Pandrosa, daughter of Cecrops, and grew up under her supervision. Wanting to show his gratitude to Pandrosa, as well as to the goddess Athena, Erichthonius built a temple in the city of Athens, one half of which was dedicated to Pallas Athena, and the other to Pandrosa.
The myth of the dispute between the goddess Athena and the god Poseidon
When Kekrops founded the city, later called Athens, he could not decide who to choose as the patron of the named city - the goddess Athena (Minerva) or the god (Neptune). This indecision of King Kekrops caused a dispute between the gods - Athena and Poseidon.
The ancient Greek sculptor Phidias depicted this dispute on both pediments of the Parthenon (Temple of Athena). Pieces of these pediments are now kept in the British Museum.
To reconcile the goddess Athena and the god Poseidon, Kekrops decided to choose the one who would invent the most useful item. The god Poseidon (Neptune) struck the earth with his trident, and a source of sea water appeared. Then Poseidon created a horse, as if wanting to make it clear that the people, whose patron he, Poseidon, would be chosen, would become a tribe of sailors and warriors. But the goddess Athena turned the wild horse into a domestic animal, and from the blow of Athena’s spear on the ground an olive tree appeared, covered with fruits, indicating that the people of the goddess Athena would be strong and powerful thanks to agriculture and industry.
The king of Athens, Kekrops, then turned to the people, asking them to decide for themselves which of the gods the people of Athens wanted to choose as their patron. The people resorted to universal suffrage, with all men voting for the god Poseidon, and women voting for the goddess Athena. One woman turned out to be more, the goddess Athena won, and the city was dedicated to her. But, fearing the wrath of Poseidon (Neptune), who threatened to swallow Athens with his waves, the inhabitants erected a temple to Poseidon. This is how the Athenians became farmers, seafarers and industrialists at the same time.
Type and distinctive features of Pallas Athena
Pallas Athena was the main deity for the Athenians, and the Acropolis was considered her sacred mountain. The ancient cult of the goddess Athena existed for a very long time and ceased only under the influence of Christian teaching.
Many ancient coins have been preserved with the image of the head of Pallas Athena (among the Romans - the goddess Minerva). One of the ancient coins also depicts an owl - the bird of the goddess Athena, her symbol ( Minerva's owl).
The famous scientist Gottfried Müller says that the ideal type of Pallas Athena is the statue of Phidias - Parthenon Athena. The facial features of the statue of Pallas Athena by Phidias became the prototype for all statues of the goddess Athena among the ancient Greeks and the goddess Minerva among the ancient Romans. The famous sculptor Phidias depicted Pallas Athena with strict, regular features. Athena Phidias has a high and open forehead; long, thin nose; the lines of the mouth and cheeks are somewhat sharp; wide, almost quadrangular chin; eyes downcast; hair simply thrown back to the sides of the face and curls slightly over the shoulders.
Pallas Athena (Minerva) is often depicted wearing a helmet adorned with four horses, indicating that the goddess was reconciled with the god Poseidon (Neptune), to whom the horse was dedicated.
Goddess Athena always wears auspices. On the aegis of Pallas Athena is the head of the Gorgon Medusa. Athena is always adorned with jewels and her outfit is very luxurious.
On one of the antique cameos on Pallas Athena, in addition to a shiny aegis, she wears a rich necklace made of acorns and earrings in the form of grape bunches.
Sometimes on coins the helmet of the goddess Athena is decorated with a fantastic monster with a snake tail. Pallas Athena is always depicted with a helmet on her head, very varied in shape.
The usual weapon of the goddess Athena (Minerva) is a spear, but sometimes she holds in her hand the thunder arrows of Zeus (Jupiter). Pallas Athena also often holds a statue of Nike, the goddess of victory, on her arm.
The artists of antiquity most readily depicted Pallas Athena. On the most ancient monuments of ancient art, the goddess Athena is depicted with a raised shield and spear.
Aegis of Pallas Athena, which the goddess always wears, is nothing more than the skin of a goat, on which the goddess attached the head of Medusa the Gorgon. Sometimes the aegis replaces the shield of the goddess Athena. Personifying lightning in the physical order, Athena must wear the aegis as a distinctive sign. On ancient Greek archaic statues, Pallas Athena uses an aegis instead of a shield. During the golden age of ancient Greek art, Pallas Athena wears an aegis on her chest.
The head of Medusa the Gorgon is also one of the distinctive signs of the goddess Athena and is depicted either on the aegis or on the helmet. The head of the Gorgon Medusa was supposed to hint at the horror that seized the enemies of Pallas Athena when the goddess appeared before them. In one ancient Roman fresco discovered in Herculaneum, the goddess Minerva is dressed in peplos, falling onto her chiton in rough and ungraceful folds; Minerva covered her left hand with the aegis and is ready to fight.
Statue of Pallas Athena by Phidias
The famous statue of the ancient Greek sculptor Phidias, Athena of the Parthenon, was sculpted from ivory and gold.
The goddess Athena of the sculptor Phidias stood at full height, her chest was covered with an aegis, and her tunic fell to her feet. Athena held a spear in one hand and a statue of the goddess of victory Nike in the other.
On her helmet was a sphinx - an emblem of the divine mind. On the sides of the sphinx were depicted two griffins. Above the visor of the statue of Athena by Phidias there are eight horses rushing at full speed - a symbol of the speed of thought.
The head and hands of the statue of Phidias were made of ivory, and two precious stones were inserted instead of eyes; the golden draperies could be removed at will so that the city of Athens could take advantage of this treasure in the event of any public disaster.
On the outer side of the shield, placed at the feet of the goddess Athena, the battle of the Athenians with the Amazons was depicted, on the reverse side - the struggle of the gods with the giants. The myth of the birth of Pandora was sculptured on the pedestal of the statue of Phidias.
The goddess Minerva by the sculptor Zimart, which was at the exhibition at the Salon of 1855, is a repetition of Phidias’ masterpiece, possibly an accurately and carefully reproduced copy according to the description of the ancient Greek author Pausanias, which has come down to us.
The beautiful bronze statue of the goddess Minerva, located in the Turin Museum, is one of the most remarkable and beautiful ancient statues that has survived to our era.
Goddess Athena and god Eros
The chaste goddess Athena was never depicted naked by ancient artists, and if some modern artists present Athena in this form in their works, for example, “The Judgment of Paris,” this is due to ignorance of ancient traditions.
The goddess Athena never touched the arrow of the god Eros, who always avoided her and left her alone.
The goddess of love Aphrodite (Venus), dissatisfied with the fact that her playful son did not even attempt to wound the chaste goddess with his arrow, showered Eros with reproaches for this.
Eros justifies himself, saying: “I am afraid of Athena, she is terrible, her eyes are sharp, and her appearance is courageous and majestic. Every time I dare to approach Athena to hit her with my arrow, she again frightens me with her gloomy gaze; Besides, Athena has such a terrible head on her chest, and in fear I drop my arrows and run from her trembling” (Lucian).
Flute Marcia
The goddess Athena once found a deer bone, made a flute and began to extract sounds from it, which gave her great pleasure.
Noticing that when she played, her cheeks swelled and her lips protruded unsightly, the goddess Athena, not wanting to disfigure her face so much, threw away her flute, cursing in advance the one who would find it and play it.
Athena's flute was found by the satyr Marsyas and, not paying attention to the curse of the goddess, began to play it and began to boast of his talent, challenging the god himself to a competition with him. Marsyas did not escape terrible punishment for his disobedience and arrogance.
Athena the worker: the myth of the Lydian Arachne
When the goddess Athena is the patroness of crafts and all kinds of women's work, she is called Athena the Worker, or Ergana (in ancient Greek).
Weaving various fabrics was one of the main crafts of the Athenians, but Asian fabrics have always been valued higher for their subtlety and elegance of work. This rivalry between the two countries gave rise to the poetic myth of the rivalry between Arachne and the goddess Athena.
Arachne was of humble origin. Arachne's father was a simple dyer originally from Lydia (a region in Asia Minor), but Arachne was famous for her art of weaving beautiful and delicate fabrics. Arachne knew how to spin evenly and quickly, and also decorate her fabrics with all kinds of embroidery.
The universal praise turned Arachne's head so much and she began to be so proud of her art that she decided to compete with the goddess Athena, boasting that she could defeat her. The goddess Athena, taking the form of an old woman, came to the proud weaver and began to prove to Arachne how dangerous it was for a mere mortal to challenge the primacy of the goddess. Arachne boldly answered her that if the goddess Athena herself appeared before her, she would be able to prove her superiority to her.
The goddess Athena accepted this challenge and they set to work. Athena-Ergana wove on her loom the story of her feud with the god Poseidon, and the daring Arachne depicted on her fabrics various love affairs and transformations of the gods. Moreover, Arachne’s work was performed with such perfection that the goddess Athena could not find the slightest flaw in it.
Angry and forgetting that she should be fair, Athena-Ergana, in the heat of anger, hit the weaver Arachne on the head with a shuttle. Arachne could not bear such an insult and hanged herself.
The goddess Athena turned Arachne into a spider, which forever weaves its finest webs.
This myth of ancient Greece points to the superiority of oriental fabrics: Arachne, Lydian by origin, nevertheless defeated the Athenian Ergana. If the Lydian Arachne was punished, it was not as a worker, but only for her arrogant desire to compete with the goddess.
Great Panathenaea
The holiday, known as the Great Panathenaea, was established in Athens in honor of Pallas Athena, the protector and patroness of this city.
The Great Panathenaea was undoubtedly the largest and oldest folk festival. The Great Panathenaea was celebrated every four years, and all Athenians took part in it.
The Great Panathenaic holiday lasted from the 24th to the 29th of the ancient Attic month of Hecatombeon (half of July and August).
The first day of the Great Panathenaia was dedicated to musical competitions that took place in the Odeon, built by order of Pericles. All kinds of singers, musicians with their various instruments and poets gathered at the Odeon.
Other days of the Great Panathenaia were dedicated to gymnastics and equestrian competitions, with the winner being awarded a wreath of olive branches and beautifully painted vessels filled with precious olive oil.
The most solemn part of the Great Panathenaic holiday took place on the birthday of the goddess Athena - the 28th of the month of Hekatombeon. On this day, a procession was organized in which not only all adults, but also children took part.
At the head of the procession were young Athenian women, they carried a new dress for the statue of the goddess Athena - saffron-colored peplos. For nine months, all the noble Athenian women worked on it, decorating it with all kinds of embroidered and woven patterns. Other Athenian girls followed them ( canephora), carrying sacred vessels on their heads. Following the canephors, the wives and daughters of Athenian freedmen and foreign women appeared - they did not have the right to carry sacred vessels and could only hold vases and vessels with wine, as well as folding chairs for noble wives.
The venerable elders, luxuriously dressed at the expense of the city, followed them with olive branches in their hands; then - the organizers and managers of the holiday; men with branches and vessels with olive oil; bulls intended as sacrifices to the goddess Athena; children leading a decorated ram; musicians and singers.
The procession was concluded by magnificent chariots drawn by fours; they were driven by noble youths and riders on beautiful horses, in memory of the fact that Pallas Athena was the first to teach how to harness and drive horses.
Individual groups of this procession were sculptured on the pediment and frescoes of the Parthenon by Phidias, and some of these bas-reliefs have survived to this day.
The following were dedicated to Pallas Athena:
- olive tree,
- the rooster, whose early crowing wakes up working people,
- snake, symbol of intelligence and deliberation,
- an owl, from whose penetrating eyes nothing remains hidden in the darkness of the night.
The epithet “owl-eyed” was given by ancient Greek poets to the goddess Athena herself.
ZAUMNIK.RU, Egor A. Polikarpov - scientific editing, scientific proofreading, design, selection of illustrations, additions, explanations, translations from Latin and ancient Greek; all rights reserved.
Pallas Athena (Παλλάς Άθηνά) - the ancient Greek goddess of war and victory, as well as wisdom, knowledge, arts and crafts, was one of the supreme deities and was revered throughout the ancient Hellenic world. Athena symbolizes the clarity of the ether, the heavenly force that controls lightning, clouds and luminaries, fertilizes the fields, gives birth to all living things and educates humanity. Subsequently, Athena became the goddess of spiritual activity, artistic thinking and science.
In ancient Greek mythology, the fifth child of Zeus, according to legend, was the daughter Athena, who was born in a very unusual way. Zeus, in secret from Hera, married the daughter of Ocean, the Nereid Thetis, but fearing that he would have a son who would surpass his father in power, Zeus swallowed his pregnant wife. The ripened fruit ended up after some time in his head, from where, with the help of Hephaestus (according to other legends, with the help of Prometheus and Hermes), who cut the head of Zeus with an ax, a warlike goddess was born in full armor in the terrible confusion of all nature. According to another version of the legend, Zeus and Hera decided to try whether it was possible to produce offspring without marital embraces: Hera gave birth to Hephaestus, Zeus gave birth to Pallas Athena. As a child, Athena amazed everyone with her intelligence, zeal for learning and gaining knowledge, so it is no coincidence that when Athena grew up, her father made her the goddess of wisdom, the patroness of sciences, crafts and inventions.
As the goddess of courage and militancy, Athena is known in the Homeric legends of the epic Iliad. Perseus, Bellerophon, Tydeus, Jason, Hercules, Achilles, Diomedes, Odysseus are her favorite heroes. In contrast to Ares, the deity of mad courage, Athena personifies conscious courage and bravery; she gives help to her favorites in moments of extreme danger and leads them to victory; therefore, the goddess Nike is her constant companion. As a goddess - a woman with traits of masculinity and courage, Athena is contrasted with Aphrodite, a purely feminine goddess.
Athena taught Erichthonius to tame and harness horses; maintained friendly relations with the wise Centaur Chiron, whom Athena herself endowed with a brilliant mind and much knowledge; taught Bellerophon to tame the winged Pegasus. She had a close relationship with horse racing and maritime affairs; So, with her help, Danaus built a fifty-oared ship for crossing to Greece, and the Argonauts built the ship Argo; The wooden horse that served to destroy Troy was built as a gift to her. Later, myths of an ethical nature were included in the legends about Athena, and new features were added to the mentioned features of her divine character. Athena became the goddess of peace and prosperity, sanctified marriages, helped during childbirth, sent health to people, averted illness and misfortune, patronized the reproduction of families and clans, and promoted the prosperity of cities.
Star atlas "Uranography" by John Hevelius, 1690
One day, Athena entered into a competition with her uncle Poseidon, the god of the seas, for the right to give her name to the capital of Hellas - a beautiful white-stone city with giant palaces, temples built in honor of the gods, and sports stadiums. The competition was judged by the city residents themselves. Poseidon promised to give them a lot of water, and Athena gave the city an olive tree sapling and said that with it they would always have food and money. The townspeople believed the goddess Athena.
Since then, the main city of Greece has been called Athens (Greek Αθήναι, Latin Athenae). In honor of the great patroness, the famous Acropolis complex, unsurpassed in beauty, was built on the highest hill in the city. This was the name in the old days for the ancient fortress city, which was always built on the highest place in the city. Its central palace was dedicated to Athena and was called the Parthenon (translated from Greek as maiden). An olive tree always grows on the territory of the Acropolis, and the expression “Appear with an olive branch in your hands” speaks of the intention of the visitor to resolve the matter peacefully. Athens is a city that in ancient times served, both in cultural, historical and political terms, as the main focus of Hellenic life and was nicknamed by the ancient poets “the eye of Hellas.” The city is located on a series of rocky hills, in the most extensive plain of Attica, between the rivers Ilissos and Kefissos, at a distance of approximately five kilometers in a straight line from the sea and seven from its later harbor, Piraeus.
The early history of the city of Athens, like the ancient history of the entire region, is lost in the darkness of obscurity. Tradition attributes its founding to King Kekrops. Initially, the city occupied only the upper area of a steep hill, accessible only from the western side, which served throughout antiquity as a fortress (Acropolis), a political and religious center, the core of the entire city.
According to legend, the Pelasgians leveled the top of the hill, surrounded it with walls and built on the western side to protect the entrance a strong outer fortification with nine gates located one behind the other (hence the name Enneapylon, that is, nine gates, or Pelasgikon, the so-called Pelasgian fortress) . The ancient kings of this part of Attica and their retinue lived inside the castle; here also stood the most ancient temple of the deity under whose special protection the city was located, namely Athens the City Defender (Pallas Athens), along with which the earth-shaking god of the sea, Posseidon and Erechtheus, was also revered (as a result of which the temple itself was usually called Erechtheion).
ATHENA - in Greek mythology, the goddess of wisdom and justice
heavy war.
The myth of the birth of Athena from Zeus and Metis (“wisdom”,
Greek metis - “thought”, “reflection”) - period of registration
classical Olympic mythology.
The birth of Athena is depicted in this myth from the perspective of heroic
some mythology of the period of patriarchy, in which especially
the masculine organizing principle was present. Athena appears as if impossible
a rare continuation of Zeus, the executor of his plans
and will. She is the thought of Zeus, realized in action. Post-
Metis's motherhood gradually becomes more and more abstract and
same symbolic character, so that Athena is considered the offspring
one Zeus and assumes the functions of the deity of wisdom,
just as Zeus received them from Metis.
Zeus, knowing from Gaia and Uranus that his son is from Metis
deprive him of power, swallowed his pregnant wife and then
with the help of Hephaestus (or Prometheus), who split his head
with an ax, he himself gave birth to Athena, who emerged from his
heads in full military armor. Since this event is about
allegedly originated near the lake (or river) Triton in Libya, Athena received
la nickname Tritonidae or Tritogenea.
Athena is one of the most important figures not only in the Olympic
mythology, in its importance it is equal to Zeus and sometimes even
Surpasses it, rooted in the most ancient period of development of the Greek
ical mythology - matriarchy. She is equal in strength and wisdom
Zeus. She is given honors after Zeus and her place is near
closest to Zeus. Along with the new functions of the goddess of military power,
cabbage soup, Athena retained her matriarchal independence, manifesting
which was understood as a virgin and protector of chastity.
The origins of Athena's wisdom go back to the image of the goddess with snakes
Crete-Mycenaean period. Image of the goddess with a Mykens shield
from what time - the prototype of the Olympic Athena. Among the indispensable
attributes of Athena - aegis - shield made of goatskin with a snake's head -
the hair of Medusa, which has enormous magical power,
frightens gods and people.
There is numerous information about the cosmic features of the image of Aphi-
us. Her birth is accompanied by golden showers, she keeps
lightning of Zeus. Her image, the so-called palladium, fell from the sky
(hence Pallas Athena).
According to Herodotus, Athena is the daughter of Poseidon and the nymph Tritonis.
Athena was identified with the daughters of Cecrops - Pandrosa ("all-
lazhnaya") and Aglavra ("light-air"), or Agravla ("field-
furrow").
The sacred tree of Athena was the olive. The olive trees of Athens are counted
were "trees of fate", and Athena herself was thought of as fate
and the Great Mother Goddess.
Powerful goddess of the archaic, owner of the aegis, Athena in the pe-
period of heroic mythology directs its power to fight against
titans and giants. Together with Hercules, Athena kills one
of the giants, on another she piles the island of Sicily, with
the third one tears off the skin and covers his body with it during sex.
marriage.
She is the killer of the gorgon Medusa and goes by the name "Gorgon Slayer".
Athena demands sacred respect for herself, not a single mortal
Noy can't see her. There is a well-known myth about how she deprived
the view of young Tiresias (the son of his favorite Chariklo), when he
I accidentally saw her ablution.
Classical Athena is endowed with ideological and organizing functions
Yami: she patronizes heroes, protects public
row, etc. Zeus sent Athena to help Hercules, and he brought
from Erebus the dog of the god Hades. Athena's favorite was Odysseus, smart and
brave hero. In Homer's poems (especially the Odyssey), not a single
An important event does not happen without the intervention of Athena. She -
the main defender of the Achaean Greeks and constant enemy of the Trojans,
although her cult also existed in Troy. Athena - protector of the Greeks
many cities (Athens, Argos, Megara, Sparta, etc.), bearing the name
"city defenders".
A huge statue of Athena Promachos ("front line fighter") with
a spear shining in the sun decorated the acropolis in Athens, where
The Erechtheion and Parthenon temples were dedicated to the gyne.
Monument to the glorification of the wise ruler of Athens
state, the founders of the Areopagus, is the tragedy of Aeschi-
la "Eumenides".
Athena is always considered in the context of artistic
crafts, art, craftsmanship. She helps potters, weavers
boors, needlewomen, working people in general. Athena helped Pro-
I intend to steal fire from Hephaestus’s forge.
Athena is credited with inventing the flute and teaching it to play.
Apollo is on it. One touch is enough to
to make a person beautiful (She raised Odysseus to her camp,
endowed with curly hair, clothed with strength and attractiveness -
ness). She endowed Penelope on the eve of meeting her husband
amazing beauty.
Athena is the goddess of wisdom. She is characterized by wisdom in
government affairs. For late antiquity, Athena appeared
the principle of the indivisibility of the cosmic Mind and the symbol of the all-encompassing
more world wisdom. As legislator and patroness
Athenian statehood was revered by Athena - Phratry
("brotherly"), Bulaya ("advisory"), Soteira ("savior"),
Pronoia ("seer").
Although the cult of Athena was widespread throughout the mainland and
island Greece (Arcadia, Argolis, Corinth, Sikyon, Thessa-
lia, Boeotia, Crete, Rhodes), Athena was especially revered in Atti-
ke, in Athens (the name of the city of Athens was associated by the Greeks with the name
goddesses - patroness of the city). The land was dedicated to her
business holidays. During these festivities there was
washing the statue of Athena, the young men took the oath of citizenship
service to the goddess.
In Rome, Athena was identified with Minerva. Roman holiday
two large passages from Ovi's "Fast" are dedicated to the deities of Minerva
Diya. Throughout antiquity, Athena remains a witness
the organizing and directing power of the mind, which stubbornly
completes cosmic and social life, glorifying strict
foundations of a state based on democratic legislation
body
The image of Athena is reflected in many significant pa-
pendulums of Greek plastic art. Giant statue of "Athena Parfait"
nose" by Phidias, staged in Athens in the Parthenon in 438 BC
AD, has not survived and is known to us from several reduced
copies. Numerous figurines of the goddess have been preserved. Separate
great scenes of the myths about Athena are reflected in relief plastic
temples, for example, a multi-figure group on the eastern pediment
The Parthenon depicts the birth of Athena from the head of Zeus, on
the falling pediment embodies the dispute between Athena and Poseidon for possession
land of Attica.
Scenes dedicated to
related to the birth of Athena, her participation in the Trojan War, the dispute with
Poseidon. There are images of Athena on Pompeian frescoes.
kah.
During the Renaissance, Athena is depicted according to
ancient artistic tradition - in armor and helmet. In a number
scenes Athena appears as the personification of wisdom and symbolizes
triumph of reason (“Minerva conquers ignorance” by B. Spranger,
"The Kingdom of Minerva" by A. Elsheimer), virtue and chastity
(“Pallas and the Centaur” by S. Botticelli, “The Victory of Virtue over
sin" by A. Mantegna), the world ("Minerva and Mars" by J. Tintoretto,
P. Veronese and others).
In musical and dramatic art, myths about Athena were
tinned the plot for the libretto of several works 17-18
centuries, including the operas “The Birth of Athena” by A. Draghi, “Miner-
va" by R. Kaiser, "Pallas and Mars" by M. Grimani, "Pallas of the triumph-
howling" by F.B. Conti; cantatas "The Dispute of Pallas and Venus" by L. Caldara
and "Pallas" by P.V. Guglielmi.
