Athena
Pallas Athena (a.k.a. Athene, Glaukopis, Tritogeneia)
Divine Domains
Wisdom, warfare, handicraft, owls, olive trees, snakes, & the Gorgoneion.
Artifacts
Palladium: A statue of Athena that was said to have stood in her temple on the Trojan Acropolis. Athena was said to have carved the statue herself in the likeness of her dead friend Pallas. The statue had special talisman-like properties & it was thought that, as long as it was in a city, it could never fall.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
A long time ago, the God Zeus married Metis, the"wisest among gods & mortal men, & had sex with her. After learning that Metis was pregnant, however, he became afraid that the unborn offspring would try to overthrow him, in order to prevent this, Zeus tricked Metis into letting him swallow her, but it was too late because she had already conceived & soon gave birth to their daughter Athena, whom Metis raised inside of his mind, where she continues to give him advice as a ruler. When Athena grew up, Metis forged robes, armor, a shield & a spear for her daughter. After swallowing Metis, Zeus took six more wives in succession until he married his seventh & present wife, Hera. Then Zeus experienced an enormous headache. He was in such pain that he ordered Ares to cleave his head open with the labrys, the double-headed Minoan axe. Athena leaped from Zeus's head, fully grown & armed. The gods were awestruck by Athena's appearance & even Helios, the god of the sun, stopped his chariot in the sky. She "cried aloud with a mighty shout & the Sky & mother Earth shuddered before her. While she was still a child Athena met Pallas, the daughter of the sea-god Triton, & the two became great friends. One day Zeus watched Athena & Pallas have a friendly sparring match. Not wanting his daughter to lose, Zeus flapped his aegis to distract Pallas, whom Athena accidentally impaled. Distraught over what she had done, Athena took the name Pallas for herself as a sign of her grief & Zeus gave her the aegis as an apology. The palladium, a statue of Athena that stood in her temple on the Trojan Acropolis, was carved by Athena in the likeness of her dead friend Pallas. One day Athena competed with Poseidon for the patronage of Athens. They agreed that each would give the Athenians one gift & that Cecrops, the king of Athens, would determine which gift was better. Poseidon struck the ground with his trident & a salt water spring sprang up; this gave the Athenians access to trade & water, but the water was salty & undrinkable. He also gave them the first horse. Athena offered the first domesticated olive tree. Cecrops accepted this gift & declared Athena the patron goddess of Athens. The olive tree brought wood, oil, food, & became a symbol of Athenian economic prosperity. Afterwards, Poseidon was so angry over his defeat that he sent one of his sons, Halirrhothius, to cut down the tree. But as he swung his axe, he missed his aim & it fell in himself, killing him. This was the origin of calling Athena's sacred olive tree moria, for Halirrhotius's attempt at revenge proved fatal (moros in Greek). Hephaestus once attempted to rape Athena, but she pushed him away, causing him to ejaculate on her thigh. Athena wiped the semen off using a tuft of wool, which she tossed into the dust, impregnating Gaia & causing her to give birth to Erichthonius. Athena adopted Erichthonius as her son & raised him. Athena placed the infant Erichthonius into a small chest (cista), which she entrusted to the care of the three daughters of Cecrops: Herse, Pandrosos, & Aglauros of Athens. She warned the three sisters not to open the chest, but did not explain to them why or what was in it. Aglauros & another sister opened the chest, inside was Erichthonius with the legs of a serpent. The two sisters were driven mad by the sight of the chest's contents & hurled themselves off the Acropolis, dying instantly. Erichthonius then became one of the most important founding heroes of Athens. All the gods & goddesses as well as various mortals were invited to the marriage of Peleus & Thetis. Only Eris, goddess of discord, was not invited. She was annoyed at this, so she arrived with a golden apple inscribed with the word καλλίστῃ (kallistēi, "for the fairest"), which she threw among the goddesses. Aphrodite, Hera, & Athena all claimed to be the fairest, & thus the rightful owner of the apple. The goddesses chose to place the matter before Zeus, who, not wanting to favor one of the goddesses, put the choice into the hands of Paris, a Trojan prince. After bathing in the spring of Mount Ida where Troy was situated, the goddesses appeared before Paris for his decision. All three goddesses were ideally beautiful & Paris could not decide between them, so they resorted to bribes. Hera tried to bribe Paris with power over all Asia & Europe, Athena offered fame & glory in battle. Aphrodite promised Paris that, if he were to choose her as the fairest, she would let him marry the most beautiful woman on earth. This woman was Helen, who was already married to King Menelaus of Sparta. Paris selected Aphrodite & awarded her the apple. This disagreement would eventually lead up to the Trojan War, in which Hera & Athena, because of this incident, sided with the Greeks. While Achilles is chasing Hector around the walls of Troy, Athena appears to Hector disguised as his brother Deiphobus & persuades him to hold his ground so that they can fight Achilles together. Then, Hector throws his spear at Achilles & misses, expecting Deiphobus to hand him another, but Athena disappears instead, leaving Hector to face Achilles alone without his spear. She punishes Odysseus's rival Ajax the Great, driving him insane & causing him to massacre the Achaeans' cattle, thinking that he is slaughtering the Achaeans themselves. Even after Odysseus himself expresses pity for Ajax, Athena declares, "To laugh at your enemies – what sweeter laughter can there be than that?". Ajax later commits suicide as a result of his humiliation. Athena tasked Odysseus & Diomedes to steal the palladium. The statue had special talisman-like properties & it was thought that, as long as it was in the city, Troy could never fall. When the Greeks captured Troy, Cassandra, the daughter of Priam & Hecuba, clung to the palladium for protection, but Ajax the Lesser violently tore her away from it, dragged her over to the other captives & raped her. Athena was infuriated by this violation of her protection. Although Agamemnon attempted to placate her anger with sacrifices, Athena sent a storm at Cape Kaphereos to destroy almost the entire Greek fleet & scatter all of the surviving ships across the Aegean.
Social
Contacts & Relations
Greek Heroes: Due to Athena's job as a goddess of wisdom & war, she has advised various greek heroes such as;
- Argos: Athena advised Argos, the builder of the Argo, & aided in the ship's construction.
- Bellerophon: Athena helped Bellerophon tame the winged horse Pegasus by giving him a bit.
- Orestes: Athena intervenes to save Orestes from the wrath of the Erinyes & presides over his trial for the murder of his mother Clytemnestra. When half the jury votes to acquit & the other half votes to convict, Athena casts the deciding vote to acquit Orestes & declares that, from then on, whenever a jury is tied, the defendant shall always be acquitted.
- Perseus: Athena guided the hero Perseus in his quest to behead Medusa. She & Hermes appeared to Perseus after he set off on his quest & gifted him with tools he would need to kill the Gorgon. Athena lent Perseus her polished bronze shield to view Medusa's reflection without becoming petrified himself. Hermes lent Perseus his harpe to behead Medusa with. When Perseus swung the blade to behead Medusa, Athena guided it, allowing the blade to cut the Gorgon's head clean off.
- Heracles: Athena is frequently shown aiding the hero Heracles. She appears in four of Heracles's Twelve Labors. The First she simply watches him slay the Nemean lion after having told him how to use the lion's own claws to skin the pelt. The tenth she helps him hold up the sky itself. With Athena's advice, Heracles dragged Alcyoneus beyond the borders of his native land, where he was mortal, & fatally shot him. She is presented as Heracles' "stern ally", but also the "gentle ... acknowledger of his achievements". Even driving him to Mount Olympus in her chariot & presenting him to Zeus for his deification.
- Diomedes: During the Trojan War Athena aids Diomedes, who, in the absence of Achilles, proves himself to be the most effective Greek warrior. Athena was also the patron of Diomedes's late father Tydeus. When the Trojans go to the temple of Athena on the Acropolis to plead her for protection from Diomedes, Athena ignores them.
- Nausicaa: She appears in Nausicaa's dreams to ensure that the princess rescues Odysseus & plays a role in his eventual escort to Ithaca.
- Telemachus: Athena also appears to Odysseus's son Telemachus. Her actions lead him to travel around to Odysseus's comrades & ask about his father, where he hears stories about some of Odysseus's journey. Athena's push for Telemachus's journey helps him grow into the man role, that his father once held.
- Tiresias: One day Athena was bathing in a spring on Mount Helicon at midday with one of her favorite companions, the nymph Chariclo. Chariclo's son Tiresias happened to be hunting on the same mountain and came to the spring searching for water. He inadvertently saw Athena naked, so she struck him blind to ensure he would never again see what man was not intended to see. Chariclo intervened on her son's behalf & begged Athena to have mercy. Athena replied that she could not restore Tiresias's eyesight, so, instead, she gave him the ability to understand the language of the birds & thus foretell the future.
- Medsua: Medusa is raped by Poseidon in the temple of Athena. Upon discovering the desecration of her temple, Athena transformed Medusa into a hideous monster with serpents for hair whose gaze would turn any mortal to stone.
- Arachne: Arachne was the daughter of a famous dyer in Tyrian purple in Hypaipa of Lydia, & a weaving student of Athena. She became so conceited of her skill as a weaver that she began claiming that her skill was greater than that of Athena herself & that she didn't feel grateful to the goddess for anything, despite Athena invented weaving. Athena gave Arachne a chance to redeem herself by assuming the form of an old woman & warning Arachne not to offend the deities. Arachne scoffed & wished for a weaving contest, so she could prove her skill. Athena revelead her true form, accepted & wove the scene of her victory over Poseidon in the contest for the patronage of Athens, also depicting the 12 Olympian gods & defeat of mythological figures who challenged their authority. Arachne's tapestry featured twenty-one episodes of the deities' sexual affairs, including Zeus being unfaithful with Leda, Europa, & Danaë. It represented the unjust & discrediting behavior of the gods towards mortals. Athena admitted that Arachne's work was flawless, but was outraged at Arachne's choice of subject. Finally, losing her temper, Athena destroyed Arachne's tapestry & loom, striking it with her shuttle. Athena then struck Arachne across the face with her staff four times. Arachne hung herself in despair, but Athena took pity on her & brought her back from the dead in the form of a spider.
- Daedalus: The inventor Daedalus was so proud of his achievements that he could not bear the idea of a rival. His sister had placed her son Perdix under his charge to be taught the mechanical arts. He was an apt scholar & showed striking evidence of ingenuity. While walking on the seashore, he picked up the spine of a fish or a serpent's jaw. Imitating it, he took a piece of iron & notched it on the edge, thus inventing the saw. He made a pair of compasses by putting two pieces of iron together, connecting them at one end with a rivet, & sharpening the other ends. Daedalus was so envious of his nephew's accomplishments that he took an opportunity, when they were together one day on the top of a high tower, to push him off, but Athena, who favors ingenuity, saw him falling & arrested his fate by changing him into a bird called after his name, the perdix (partridge). This bird does not build its nest in the trees, nor take lofty flights, but nestles in the hedges, & mindful of his fall, avoids high places. For this crime, Daedalus was tried & banished, leaving him with a scar in the shape of a partridge, to remind him of what he did.
- Myrmex: Myrmex was a clever & chaste Attic girl who became quickly a favourite of Athena. However, when Athena invented the plough, Myrmex went to the Atticans & told them that it was in fact her own invention. Hurt by the girl's betrayal, Athena transformed her into the small insect bearing her name, the ant.
Relationships
History
Odysseus first caught Athena's eye when she sent out a magical boar. Odysseus successfully slayed the boar, gaining a scar on his leg. His cunnig & shrewd nature quickly wins Athena's favour. Odysseus often asks for Athena's wisdom in times of trouble. One of the first instances was when he asked Athena to help him court Penelope. During the Trojan War & his voyage home, Athena mainly helps him by implanting thoughts in his head. It isn't until he washes up on the shore of the island of the Phaeacians, where Athena she plays a more active role in his eventual escort to Ithaca. Athena appears to Odysseus upon his arrival, disguised as a herdsman; she initially lies & tells him that Penelope, his wife, has remarried & that he is believed to be dead, but Odysseus lies back to her, employing skillful prevarications to protect himself. Impressed by his resolve & shrewdness, she reveals herself & tells him what he needs to know to win back his kingdom. She disguises him as an elderly beggar so that he will not be recognized by the suitors or Penelope, & helps him to defeat the suitors.
Nicknames & Petnames
Warrior of the mind.
Relationship Reasoning
Odysseus views Athena as his oldest friend & a parent figure to both him & Telemachus. While Athena, for the most part, only views Odysseus as a warrior to futher her own ambitions.
Commonalities & Shared Interests
Both Odysseus & Athena are very intellectual. With Odysseus advising Agammemnon during several moments of the Trojan War, & Athena being the goddess of wisdom.
Shared Acquaintances
Penelope, Telemachus, Diomedes, Hermes & Poseidon.
Divine Classification
Goddess
Circumstances of Birth
Born from Zeus's forehead after he swallowed Metis.
Birthplace
Olympus
Spouses
Siblings
Children
Current Residence
Athens or Olympus.
Pronouns
She/Her
Sex
Female
Gender
Woman
Presentation
Feminine
Eyes
Bright, owl eyes.
Hair
Long wavy, dark brown.
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
White.
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