| Athena |  |
| Parents | Zeus and Metis |
| Siblings |
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| Immortal children | None |
| Mortal children |
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| Wife/husband | None |
| Names | Lady of innovation and civilization, Patron of Athens. |
| Titles | Goddess of war, battle strategy, wisdom, weaving. |
| Weapons | Aegis, battle strategy |
| Allies | Olympians |
| Enemies | Titans |
Athena was the goddess of war strategy and the lady of wisdom. She was the daughter of Zeus and the Titaness Metis. She was one of the Virgin goddesses.
History[]
Athena was the daughter of Metis and Zeus. A prophecy had once foretold that Metis would give birth to a son more powerful than his father, which was the god Zeus. This posed a problem as Metis was already pregnant with their first child. To prevent the prophecy from taking place, Zeus tricked Metis into taking the form of a fly and swallowed her. What Zeus did not know was that Metis was pregnant with their daughter. Over time however, Zeus began to suffer from a terrible headache and asked the Titan Prometheus (in some cases it was Hephaestus and or Ares) to split his head open to find the problem. Athena sprang fully-grown from Zeus' head in full battle armor, shouting a battle cry.
She quickly became Zeus' favorite daughter. In the most ancient account, the Iliad, Athena is the goddess of ferocious and implacable fights, but wherever she can be found, she is a warrior who defends the State and the native land against the enemies coming from outside, and supports the side that is morally right. She is, above all, the Goddess of the City, the protector of civilized life, of artisan activities, and of wisdom. She also invented the bridle, which, for the first time, tamed horses, allowing men to use them.
She was one of the most active goddesses. She assisted Odysseus in his journey home from the Trojan War in the Odyssey and made sure the Greeks won the Trojan War in the Iliad by helping the Greeks by giving Odysseus the idea of the Trojan Horse. She also helped heroes like Diomedes, Hercules (in killing the Stymphalian Birds), Jason, and Perseus. Athena is known for helping heroes with cleverness. She believes that warfare should be used as a last resort and often uses her trickery and strategies to overcome her enemies.
Along with Artemis and Hestia, she is one of the three maiden goddesses. She does have demigod children in the series, though they are conceived when her divine thoughts meet the mortal ingenuity of the men she favors, a love which she believes to be the of the purest kind. Her children are then born in the same way she was, quite literally making them brain children. It is unknown if any other goddess can give birth to children in a similar way.
In Greece she was known as Pallas Athena, the name she had inherited from a friend she had accidentally killed. She was also known as Athena Parthenos or Athena the Virgin, which is how she was worshiped at the Parthenon. When she leads in battle, she was known as Athena Promachos. In some places she was known as Athena Alea as she was associated with the ancient goddess Alea.
Rivalry with Arachne[]
A long time ago, the mortal Arachne challenged Athena to see who could create the best tapestry. Athena then disguised herself as an old woman and tried to warn Arachne that it would be foolishness to challenge a goddess, but Arachne persisted and stated that if she lost, she would accept any punishment. Enraged, Athena revealed herself and accepted the challenge as she herself had invented weaving. Each of them then made a tapestry. Athena's tapestry was of the gods together in glory and joy while Arachne's showed the gods making fools of themselves. Athena was so infuriated by this deliberate insult to the gods that she destroyed the tapestry in rage and was declared the winner.
Arachne was filled with guilt and hung herself. Athena, after seeing Arachne's body, felt responsible for her death and decided to do her a favor. She turned Arachne into a spider so that she and all her children would be expert weavers forever. In other versions of the myth, Athena transformed Arachne into a spider directly after the contest as part of Arachne's punishment.
Be it whatever reason, ever since then, every child of Athena has suffers a deep fear of spiders. They are very paranoid that every spider they see is out to get them and avenge Arachne. Most of the time, this is true as spiders are shown to be hostile to them.
Rivalry with Poseidon[]
For eons, Athena and Poseidon had a rivalry between them, which can be traced to the time when they competed for the position of patron of the city of Athens, (called Attica at that time). The leader of the city asked the two gods to bestow a gift for the newly constructed city. Poseidon created a salt-water spring, while Athena gave them the olive tree. Seeing that the olive tree was more useful than the salt-water spring, the leader of the city made Athena their patron goddess. A temple known as the Parthenon was dedicated to her, and the new city took the name of Athens in her honor.
Another time which marks a conflict between the two Olympians was when Athena once caught Poseidon with his lover Medusa, a beautiful maiden, together in her temple. Furious with Poseidon and Medusa for doing such disgusting and disturbing acts in her temple, she turned Medusa into a hideous creature who had the additional curse of turning anyone who looked into her irresistible eyes into stone. As Medusa's sisters had helped her get inside the temple, they too were transformed. Collectively, the three sisters are known as the "Three Gorgons".
In some versions of the myth, Medusa was merely a beautiful mortal who took a vow of chastity, but was nevertheless pursued by Poseidon. She seeks refuge in the temple of Athena, but is overtaken by the sea god. Athena, however, still turns her into a gorgon, regardless.
Though it seems unlikely that Athena and Poseidon would ever cooperate, this did happen when the chariot was invented, as Athena had built the chariot itself and Poseidon had created the horses needed to pull it. Poseidon and Athena were also on the same side during the Trojan War, as they had both supported the Greeks.
Athena's rivalry with Poseidon seems to be the basis of her dislike for Percy Jackson, Poseidon's son. Their parents rivalry does not seem to affect Percy and Annabeth Chase. Athena, however, tells Percy that she does not approve of their relationship, and has told him to stay away from her daughter on several occasions. At the end of the series, she seems to be indifferent to Percy, though she does singe his clothes as a warning should he ever hurt Annabeth.
Appearance[]
Athena had long dark hair and usually wore a white dress covered on golden armor.
Personality[]
As far as gods go, Athena can be very sympathetic: once, a man saw her bathing, she blinded him, but then sent snakes to protect him and gave him supernatural powers to see the future, amongst other things. Athena is a very disciplined, quick thinking, and wise goddess. She is described as the worst enemy someone could ever make, even among the gods, as she would never give up or make a rash mistake simply because she hated you.
She is also known to be unforgiving towards her children, as she punished her son Daedalus for killing Perdix by branding him with a partridge (the mark of a murderer).
But Athena is known to be kind to other demigods. Athena is also known for never giving up, and crossing her is a mistake. When Paris picked Aphrodite as the most beautiful goddess instead of her, Athena took the side of the Greeks in the Trojan War and used every power within her to bring him down.
Capabilities[]
Being a god as well as an Olympian goddess, Athena was very powerful. She was known for her divine wisdom and battle tactics.
Names[]
- Ambulia: preventer of death.
- Alalcomeneis: Powerful leader, coming from
- Anemotis: Subduer of the winds.