Who is Athena? In ancient Greek mythology, Athena is the goddess of organized war, military strategy and wisdom. Goddess Athena - what she looks like and what she patronizes
Ancient Hellas... The land of myths and legends, the land of fearless heroes and brave sailors. The homeland of the formidable gods sitting on high Olympus. Zeus, Ares, Apollo, Poseidon - these names are familiar to everyone from school history lessons.
Today we will talk about their wives and daughters - the all-powerful ancient goddesses of Greece, who cleverly manipulated their husbands, being the real mistresses of Olympus and mistresses of mortals. These great beings ruled the world, not paying attention to the pitiful people below, because they were producers and spectators in the greatest theater in the world - Earth.
And when the time came to leave, the proud goddesses of Hellas left traces of their presence on Greek soil, albeit not as noticeable as those of the male half of the Pantheon.
Let's remember the myths about the beautiful, sometimes incredibly cruel daughters of Olympus and take a short trip to the places that are associated with them.
Goddess Hera - patroness of the hearth and family life
Hera - goddess ancient Greece, the highest among equals and the nominal mother of almost all other goddesses of Olympus from the fourth generation (the first generation are the creators of the world, the second are the titans, the third are the first gods).
Why? Because her husband Zeus is very far from the ideal of a faithful man.
However, Hera herself is good - in order to marry then not even the supreme god, but only the killer of Kronos (the strongest of the titans), Hera fell in love with Zeus, and then refused to become his mistress until he did not vow to make her his wife.
Moreover, the oath featured the waters of the Styx (the river that separates the world of the living and the dead, and has enormous power over both gods and people).
In the madness of love, the oath was pronounced and Hera became the main goddess on Olympus. But Zeus soon enough had enough family life and happily made connections on the side, which embittered Hera and forced her to look for ways to take revenge on those whom her unfaithful husband preferred, and at the same time on his side children.
Hera - guardian goddess hearth and home and family, helps abandoned wives, punishes unfaithful husbands (which often brings her nose to nose with her flighty daughter-in-law, Aphrodite).
Hera's favorite son is Ares, the god of war, despised by his father for his love of battles and constant killing.
But the hatred of the first lady of Olympus is shared by two creatures - the daughter of Zeus Athena and the son of Zeus Hercules, both of whom were not born by his legal wife, but nevertheless ascended to Olympus.
In addition, Hera is hated by her own son Hephaestus, the god of crafts and the husband of Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty, who was thrown from Olympus by Hera as an infant for his physical deformity.
The largest trace of this cruel lady can be considered the Temple of Hera in ancient Olympia.
The religious building was built at the end of the 7th century BC. e. The massive temple fell into ruins long ago, but thanks to the efforts of several generations of archaeologists, the foundations of the temple and its surviving parts have been restored and are now open to tourists.
In addition, in the Olympia Museum, you can see fragments of statues dedicated to Hera and understand exactly how the goddess was portrayed by her admirers.
The cost of a ticket to Olympia is 9 euros, which includes entry to the excavation area and the museum. You can take a ticket only to the excavation area, it will cost 6 euros.
Aphrodite – goddess of love in Ancient Greece
Beautiful Aphrodite, whose beauty could only be matched by her frivolity, is not the daughter of Zeus or Hera, but comes from a much older family.
She is the last creation of Uranus, the first of the Titans, castrated by Kronos during the first war for Olympus.
The blood of the titan, deprived of a certain part of his body, mixed with sea foam and from it arose an insidious and cruel beauty, who hid in Cyprus from the gaze of Kronos until he was overthrown by Zeus.
Thanks to Hera's cunning plan, Aphrodite married the powerful but ugly Hephaestus. And while he was working in his workshop, the goddess either basked on Olympus, communicating with the gods, or traveled around the world, falling in love with gods and people, and falling in love herself.
The most famous lovers of the flighty beauty were Adonis, a beautiful hunter in body and spirit, with whom the goddess fell in love so much that after his tragic death from the tusks of a boar, she threw herself down the Lydian cliff.
And Ares, the god of war and destruction, secretly sent the boar to Adonis.
It was Ares who overflowed the patience of the proud Hephaestus, who set a trap for the lovers - he forged a strong net, so thin that the lovers simply did not notice it when the net was thrown on the bed. In the midst of the “meeting,” Hephaestus’ trap entangled the lovers and lifted them above the bed.
When the god of crafts returned to Olympus, he laughed for a long time at the unlucky lovers, and the disgraced Aphrodite fled for a while to her temple in Cyprus, where she gave birth to the sons of Ares - Phobos and Deimos.
The god of war himself appreciated the elegance and softness of Hephaestus’s trap and accepted defeat with dignity, leaving the beautiful Aphrodite, who was soon forgiven by her husband.
Aphrodite is the goddess of love and love madness. She, despite her youthful appearance, is the oldest goddess on Olympus, to whom Hera often turns for help (especially in those cases when the hearth of love for her wife begins to fade in Zeus again). Aphrodite is also considered the goddess of fertility, and also one of the sea goddesses.
Aphrodite's favorite son is Eros, also known as Cupid, the god of carnal love, who always accompanies his mother. She has no permanent enemies on Olympus, but her frivolity often leads to quarrels with Hera and Athena.
Aphrodite's greatest legacy is Paphos, a city in Greek Cyprus located in the place where she once emerged from the sea foam.
This place was appreciated not only by women, but also by men - in some parts of ancient Greece there was a belief that a girl who visited the temple of Aphrodite and entered into a relationship with a stranger in the vicinity of the temple received the blessing of the goddess of love for life.
In addition, the temple housed the bath of Aphrodite, into which the goddess sometimes descended in order to restore her beauty and youth. Greek women believed that if you entered the bathhouse, there was every chance of maintaining youth.
Nowadays, only ruins remain of the temple, open to tourists. Not far from the Temple of Aphrodite in Paphos you can always find both newlyweds and single people, because according to legend, those who find a heart-shaped pebble on the coast will find eternal love.
Warrior Goddess Athena
The goddess Athena is the owner of the most abnormal birth myth.
This goddess is the daughter of Zeus and his first wife Metis, the goddess of wisdom, who, according to the prediction of Uranus, was supposed to give birth to a son, who, in turn, would soon overthrow his thunder father.
Having learned about his wife’s pregnancy, Zeus swallowed her whole, but soon felt wild pain in his head.
Fortunately, the god Hephaestus was on Olympus at that time, who, at the request of the royal father, hit him on the sore part of his body with his hammer, splitting his skull.
From the head of Zeus came a woman in full battle garb, who combined the wisdom of her mother and the talents of her father, becoming the first goddess of war in ancient Greece.
Later, another fan of swinging a sword, Ares, was born and tried to claim his rights, but the goddess, in numerous battles, forced her brother to respect herself, proving to him that battle madness was not enough to win.
The city of Athens is dedicated to the goddess, which she won from Poseidon in the legendary dispute over Attica.
It was Athena who gave the Athenians a priceless gift - the olive tree.
Athena is the first general of Olympus. During the war with the giants, the goddess fought alongside Hercules until she realized that the gods could not win.
Then Athena retreated to Olympus and, while the sons of Zeus were holding back the hordes of giants, she brought the head of Medusa to the battlefield, whose gaze turned the surviving warriors into stones, or rather, into mountains.
Athena is the goddess of wisdom, “smart” war and the patroness of crafts. Athena's second name is Pallas, received in honor of her foster sister, who died due to the oversight of the then-girl Athena - the goddess, without meaning to, accidentally killed her friend.
Having matured, Athena became the most perspicacious of the goddesses of Olympus.
She is a perpetual virgin and rarely gets into conflicts (except those involving her father).
Athena is the most faithful of all the Olympians and even during the exodus of the gods she wished to remain in Greece in the hope that one day she could return to her city.
Athena has neither enemies nor friends on Olympus. Her military prowess is respected by Ares, her wisdom is valued by Hera, and her loyalty is valued by Zeus, but Athena keeps her distance even from her father, preferring solitude.
Athena repeatedly showed herself as the guardian of Olympus, punishing mortals who declared themselves equal to the gods.
Her favorite weapon is a bow and arrow, but often she simply sends Greek heroes to her enemies, repaying them with her favor.
Athena's greatest legacy is her city, which she defended many times, including personally entering the battlefield.
The grateful Athenians built the goddess the most incredible sanctuary in Greece - the famous.
An 11-meter statue of her, made of bronze with a large number gold by the famous sculptor Phidias:
The statue has not survived to this day, as has a significant part of the temple itself, but at the end of the twentieth century, the Greek government restored the legendary ruins and began searching for the removed relics, which are gradually returning to their places.
There were miniature copies of the Parthenon in many Athenian colonies, in particular those on the Black Sea coast.
A long time ago, the all-powerful gods and goddesses of ancient Greece sunk into oblivion. But there are temples dedicated to them, and their great deeds are well remembered by the descendants of those who worshiped them.
And let Greece no longer honor the mighty Olympians, having become the homeland for Orthodox Church, let scientists try to prove that these gods never existed... Greece remembers! He remembers the love of Zeus and the treachery of Hera, the rage of Ares and the calm power of Athena, the skill of Hephaestus and the unique beauty of Aphrodite...
And if you come here, she will definitely tell her stories to those who want to listen.
To complement the impression of the ancient gods of Olympus, we get acquainted with the sights that are described in them.
You will find out what the highest mountain in Greece, the legendary Olympus, looks like now by reading this.
Athena Athena is the goddess of wisdom and just war in the myths of the ancient Greeks. Born from Zeus and Metis (wisdom). Zeus swallowed his pregnant wife, then Hephaestus (or Prometheus) split his head with an ax, and Athena appeared from there in full battle armor and with a war cry. Athena is equal to Zeus in strength and wisdom. Her attributes are a snake and an owl, as well as an aegis - a goat skin shield with the head of a snake-haired Medusa, which has magical powers and frightens gods and people. The sacred tree of Athena is the olive. Athena of the period of heroic mythology fights titans and giants. She killed the gorgon Medusa. No mortal can see her (she deprived young Tiresias of his sight when he accidentally saw her ablution). She patronizes heroes and protects public order. Her favorite is Odysseus, she is the main defender of the Achaean Greeks and the constant enemy of the Trojans during the Trojan War. She helped potters, weavers, needlewomen, the builder of the Argo ship, and all artisans. Athena helped Prometheus steal fire from Hephaestus's forge. Her own products are genuine works of art. She is also a legislator and patron of Athenian statehood. Although the cult of Athena was widespread throughout mainland and island Greece, Athena was especially revered in Attica, in Athens (the Greeks associated the name of the city of Athens with the name of the goddess). A huge statue of Athena Promachos (front line fighter) with a spear shining in the sun adorned the Acropolis in Athens, where the Erechtheion and Parthenon temples were dedicated to the goddess. Many agricultural holidays were dedicated to Athena. The festival of the Great Panathenaia was universal in nature (during the festival, sacrifices were made to Athena and the transfer of peplos took place - the goddess's veil, on which her exploits in gigantomachy - the fight against giants - were depicted). In Rome, Athena was identified with Minerva.
Historical Dictionary. 2000 .
Synonyms:See what "Athena" is in other dictionaries:
- (Άθηνά), in Greek mythology goddess of wisdom and just war. The pre-Greek origin of the image of A. does not allow us to reveal the etymology of the name of the goddess, based only on data Greek language. The myth of the birth of A. from Zeus and Metis (“wisdom”, ... ... Encyclopedia of Mythology
Athena- Lemnia. Reconstruction of the statue of Phidias on the Acropolis of Athens. OK. 450 BC Sculpture collection. Dresden. Athena Lemnia. Reconstruction of the statue of Phidias on the Acropolis of Athens. OK. 450 BC Sculpture collection. Dresden. Athena in the myths of the ancient Greeks... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary " World history»
- (Pallas, among the Romans Minerva) in Greek mythology, the goddess of wisdom and military affairs; daughter of Zeus, born from his head; was considered the patroness of Athens. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. Pavlenkov F., 1907. ATHENA (Greek... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language
- (Pallas Athena) in Greek mythology, the goddess of war and victory, as well as wisdom, knowledge, arts and crafts. Daughter of Zeus, born in full armor (helmet and shell) from his head. Patroness of Athens. The Roman Minerva corresponds to her. Among … Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
Athena- Lemnia. Reconstruction of the statue of Phidias on the Acropolis of Athens. OK. 450 BC Sculpture collection. Dresden. ATHENA (Pallas Athena), in Greek mythology, the goddess of war and victory, wisdom, knowledge, arts and crafts, the patroness of Athens. Daughter of Zeus,... ... Illustrated encyclopedic dictionary
- (Pallas Athena), in Greek mythology, the goddess of war and victory, wisdom, knowledge, arts and crafts, the patroness of Athens. Daughter of Zeus, born in full armor (helmet and shell) from his head. Attributes of Athena: snake, owl and aegis shield with... ... Modern encyclopedia
Pallas Athena, in ancient greek mythology one of the main deities, the virgin goddess; was revered as the goddess of war and victory, as well as wisdom, knowledge, arts and crafts. According to myth, A. in a helmet and shell came out of the head of Zeus. A.… … Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Minerva, Polyada, Pallas, Nike Dictionary of Russian synonyms. athena noun, number of synonyms: 10 pallas athena (3) ... Dictionary of synonyms
- (also Pallas) one of the most ancient deities of Greece, daughter of Zeus, warrior maiden, Greek parallel to the Valkyries (see) of German mythology. The origin of the image is unclear: perhaps it is based on a celestial projection of a primitive family... ... Literary encyclopedia
Greek goddess... Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron
Books
- Athena is the daughter of the oligarch, Musina Marusya. To get out of financial difficulties, Musya Musina gets a job as a tutor for Athena, the spoiled daughter of a capital oligarch. Dad has a new young wife and an oil business, but no...
One of central places in ancient Greek mythology it was assigned to Pallas Athena. Athena is the goddess of wisdom, the goddess of just war and victory, one of the most revered goddesses in Greece. Athena is the daughter of Zeus, the most powerful god on all of Olympus, the god of sky, thunder and lightning. The rest of the Greek gods obey Zeus, he has power over people, establishes social order, and distributes good and evil on earth. But it would be fair to note that his beloved daughter is not inferior to him, neither in strength nor in wisdom. Many legends describe Athena sitting on a throne next to Zeus. Athena's mother is the wise oceanid Metis, the first wife of Zeus.
Athena is credited with the invention of the flute, chariot, and ship. Among her achievements were the development of laws and the establishment of the High Court in Athens. She is the personification of literacy and justice. Athena gives wisdom and knowledge, teaches people arts and crafts, helps needlewomen, weavers, and potters. With the growth of Greek culture, the wise warrior also became the patroness of science.
The daughter of Zeus, the goddess of wisdom, was an object of worship throughout Ancient Greece, she was sung by poets, and admired by sculptors and artists. In numerous works by sculptors, artists and poets, the daughter of Zeus appears before us in full military armor: she wears sparkling military armor, a shiny helmet, and the goddess holds a spear and shield in her hands. But for all her fighting appearance, she is distinguished by her extraordinary beauty. She has gray-blue eyes, brown hair, a divine figure and majestic posture.
Athena patronizes the heroes of Greece, gives them wise advice and helps them out in times of danger. Thus, the goddess of wisdom assists Perseus in dealing with Medusa the Gorgon, who with one glance turned all living things into stone. Athena provided Perseus with a copper shield, shining like a mirror, into which he looked so as not to meet the eyes of Medusa the Gorgon. And thanks to this he was able to cut off her head. One of Athena's favorites is Odysseus. His goddess accompanies him throughout his many years of wandering, and ultimately facilitates his return to his native island of Ithaca. Upon returning to his homeland, the goddess turns Odysseus into a poor old man, and thus saves him once again, giving him the opportunity to take revenge on his offenders.
Athena acts as an assistant to Hercules in the fight against the Titans, with her help he brings the dog of the god Hades Kerberus out of Erebus. The daughter of Zeus supports Diomedes in his military exploits. Helps Prometheus take the fire out of Hephaestus’s forge, and Jason helps return the Golden Fleece.
Athena is the guardian of cities, their walls and fortresses. She is the protector of such cities as Troy, Athens, Sparta, Argos. The city, the capital of Greece, Athens, is named in her honor. Every year in the city of Athens Panathenaia was held - a celebration in honor of the goddess of wisdom, accompanied by musical and sports competitions, a festive procession with torches, offerings of gifts and sacrifices. The following agricultural holidays were dedicated to Athena:
- holidays associated with the germination of bread - procharisteria;
- holidays of fruit ripening - callinteria;
- holidays of drought prevention - skyphoria;
- holidays of the beginning of the harvest - plinteria and others.
The sacred tree of the daughter of Zeus is the olive tree, which the Greek people called the “tree of fate.” Everywhere Athena's companions are the owl and the snake - symbols of wisdom.
There are quite a few legends and myths about the goddess Athena. One of the most widespread in modern literature is the myth of Athena and Arachne. Arachne is a skilled embroiderer and weaver. Overly proud of her talent, she challenged Athena to a weaving competition and lost in disgrace. Unable to bear this, Arachne tried to take her own life, but Athena prevented this. As punishment for her pride and contempt for the gods, the goddess turned her into a spider so that she would hang forever and weave forever. Translated from Greek, the word “arachne” is translated as “spider”.
Repeatedly in Greek mythology there is a description of the enmity between Athena and Ares, the god of a cruel, bloody war. But, with Athena by her side is the goddess of victory Nike, and in the end Athena always turns out to be the winner.
Many temples and sanctuaries were built in honor of the goddess of wisdom. These are the temples in the city of Athens - Erechtheion, Parthenon, Hekatompendon, Temple of Zeus and Athena. There were sanctuaries of Athena in other places - in the cities of Argos and Delphi, on the islands of Delos and Rhodes, in Sparta. Phidias, the greatest ancient Greek sculptor and architect, erected the statues “Athena Parthenos”, “Athena Lemnia”, “Athena Promachos”, “Athena Areia”. Unfortunately, none of these works have survived to this day. Among the paintings of ancient painting, dedicated to Athena– paintings by Cleanthes “The Birth of Athena”, Antiphilos “Alexander and Philip with Athena” and Famula “Athena”.
Athena, the embodiment of wisdom and beauty, remains an object of admiration and a muse for many sculptors, artists and poets today.
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 into madness 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 which 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. Trojan horse Epeus made it according to Athena’s plan, 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 wooden horse into the city and sends snakes against 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 Ideal 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, lived huge snake- 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 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, ship, flute and trumpet, ceramic pot, rake, plow, yoke for oxen and 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 the 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 Athena Parthenos is considered to be the statue of Athena Varvakion in the National Museum in Athens, and Athena Promachos is probably 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 in 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.
Athena is born from the head of Zeus. The goddess Athena is the beloved daughter of Zeus. She was born in an unusual way. Fortune tellers (Moiras) revealed to Zeus that power over the world would be taken away from him. And this will be done by the son of the goddess of reason Metis, who should soon be born; Metis will also have a daughter; both children will turn out to be of extraordinary intelligence and strength.
Zeus was frightened and, to avoid fate, swallowed Metis. But after a while he felt a terrible headache. The Thunderer suffered for a long time, and finally asked his son Hephaestus to cut off his head. He fulfilled his father’s request, and Athena jumped out of the severed head of Zeus, fully armed, in a shiny helmet, with a spear and shield. She appeared beautiful and majestic before the gods: her eyes shone with wisdom, her appearance struck with unearthly beauty. After Zeus, Athena is the most powerful among the gods. She embodied the wisdom and strength of the father of gods and people; Zeus trusts his aegis to her alone. [The Greeks revered Athena as the patroness of wars and heroes, cities, arts and crafts.]
Athena is one of three goddesses in Greek mythology who were considered virgin goddesses. She observed celibacy, and therefore not a single hero on earth could boast that Athena was his mother. But Athena Parthenos (“Virgin”) was honored as their patroness by all the girls of Greece, and especially by the Athenians.
The center of the city of Athens was a hill on which the Acropolis, the city fortress, was located. Here were the main shrines, an important place among which was occupied by the magnificent temple of Athena the Virgin - the Parthenon. The Parthenon was built from a special type of marble. Almost white after mining, it acquired a warm golden hue over time due to the presence of iron in it. The temple had eight columns on the facades, western and eastern, and seventeen columns on the long sides. The structure was decorated with sculptures that depicted scenes from myths in which the goddess participated. But the main decoration of the Parthenon was the huge statue of Athena Parthenos by Phidias located inside it.
The exposed parts of the body - face, neck, hands - of this statue were made of ivory; clothes, jewelry and helmet are made of gold. According to information preserved by ancient authors, it took over forty talents (i.e. more than a ton) of gold to make the golden clothes of Athena Parthenos.
Athena statue
The goddess stood straight, in a calm pose full of solemn grandeur. The neck and chest of the goddess were covered with a scaly, snake-trimmed aegis, the magical skin of the goat Amalthea, who once fed Zeus, which served as Athena’s weapon, capable of striking terror into the hearts of people. In the center of the aegis was the head of the Gorgon Medusa, made of ivory. Athena's long spear was leaning against her left shoulder. Left hand goddess rested on round shield, in the center of which the head of Medusa also sparkled in gold, surrounded by relief paintings of the battle of the Greeks with the Amazons. Inner side The shield was painted with images of the Olympian gods fighting giants. On her outstretched hand, Athena held a golden statue of Nike, the goddess of Victory, her constant companion, made in human size. The hand rested on a stand in the form of a column. On Athena's head was a helmet decorated with an image of a sphinx between two winged horses - Pegasus. These mythical monsters are magical symbols that protect against misfortune. Lush golden sultans rose above the sphinx and Pegasi.
The colossal statue of Athena Parthenos was placed in the temple so that the light pouring from the special hole in the roof. In the semi-darkness of the temple, the statue sparkling with gold made a particularly awe-inspiring impression. The Greek who came to worship the goddess was imbued with faith in her power - and in the power of the state, the symbol and patroness of which she was.
