(or Athéne) Virgin tutelary goddess of Athens and Greek goddess of wisdom. Originally a Cretan-Minoan palace goddess, perhaps identical with a Cretan snake-goddess: the snake continued
into later times to be associated with her (picture in the Parthenon). Her epithet glaukopis (=owl-eyed) hints at an earlier version in the shape of a bird. In Homer, Athena appears in two forms: as Promachos (‘champion’) she is goddess of battle and bearer of the terrible aegis (the breastplate with the head of Medusa); and as Ergane (‘Craftsman’) she acts as instructor in the handicrafts. In her capacity as a protective deity she bears the epithet Pallas; and the palladion, the icon named after her, was supposed to protect the city and its houses from harm.
Regarding her birth, the myth tells how she sprang from the head of her father → Zeus. She forms no amorous attachment of any kind, and remains Parthenos—the virgin. The tale is told of how the gods competed with each other to see which of them could provide the most noble gift: Athená won the competition by giving Attica the olive-tree. But that was not all: she gave the peasant his plough, to women she gave the loom and she invented the flute. Thus, along with her role as goddess of war she is also a goddess of peace. The Romans equated her with → Minerva.
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