Poseidon heartlessly violated Medusa, right there on the altar – which for some reason Athena decided was somehow Medusa’s own fault. It was so much so that she caught the attention of Poseidon who pursued her, despite her unwillingness to lie with the god.Įventually he literally chased her until he caught her at Athena’s temple, where she had fled from the god. A beautiful woman, Medusa was vain enough to claim her looks rivaled Athena’s – which did her no favors with the goddess.īut vanity or not, Medusa was not wrong about her beauty. Medusa was a woman unfairly persecuted and punished for the crimes of men. It was from that moment on that Athena decided to bring up Erichthonius herself. What they say drove them mad, and all three threw themselves from the top of the Acropolis to their deaths.
She then gave the chest to Cercops’ three daughters and warned them to never look inside.Īlas, they were unable to contain their curiosity and shortly thereafter peeked. One day he spilled his seed upon the Earth while lusting after Athena, and from there grew the baby Erichthonius.Īthena, perhaps feeling some sort of obligation to the child, stole him away and placed him in a secret chest, with two serpents wound around his legs as his guards. For once, before the God Hephaestus was married to Aphrodite, it was Athena whom he originally wanted. READ MORE: City Gods Athena and ErichthoniusĪfter Cercops came one of his relatives, baby Erichthonius, who had a special tie to Athena. Athena, not to be outdone, planted the first olive tree that sprung to many more, a symbol of the prosperity of Athens.Īnd so she won the city, and it was named in her honor. According to some sources, the two gods may have raced first, before Poseidon, taking his trident, hit a rock and caused a stream to burst forth. The first King Cercops suggested a competition. Poseidon, god of the sea, challenged her for its title and guardianship. When Athens was born, Athena was not the only god to want to lay claim to the city as her own. After their empire expanded across the continent, they wanted to combine their own beliefs with those in Ancient Greece as a way to assimilate the two cultures.Īthena’s equivalent is Minerva, Roman goddess of handicrafts, the arts and, later, war. Roman mythology was largely borrowed from Greek mythology. The first teacher of all household crafts, she is the protector of the household and threatened cities, in particular, her very own Athens. She is the victory and glory of war, not the heat of the battle it contains. Where he rages and revels in the madness of war, Athena is calm. And with the goddess Athena always is Aegis, the shield that captured the image of Medusa’s head, forever staring out from the shining metal.Ĭalm and strategic, she is the heads to the tails of Ares’ coin. Sworn to remain a virgin forever, she is often pictured with snakes coiled at her feet, and her symbol, the owl on her shoulder, signifies her wisdom. What is Athena the Greek Goddess of and What Does She Look Like?Īlthough she often appeared in disguise, Athena was described as having rare and untouchable beauty. What is Athena the Greek Goddess of and What Does She Look Like?.In an attempt to help the King of the Gods, Hephaestus, the blacksmith, hobbled his way from his great forge and, taking his great ax, heaved it above his head, bringing it down sharply on Zeus’ own so that it split open.Īthena finally emerged, fully clad in golden armor, with piercing gray eyes. She tried every avenue and way to force herself from her father’s body, kicking and punching, until she reached his head.Īs the other gods watched, Zeus appeared wracked with pain, holding his head and crying out fervently. After she was born, Athena wasn’t content to sit still. In fear of being more powerful than the Almighty God, Zeus swallowed Metis.īut Metis, within the god, gave birth instead to Athena, the powerful warrior goddess. The two lived together happily until Zeus learned of a prophecy that his first wife would birth a son more powerful than himself. Two of those Titans, Oceanus and Tethys, birthed the Oceanid nymph who would go on to become Zeus’ first wife. Long ago, before the famed Olympian gods, there were Titans.
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