athena's shield in greek mythology

Corrections? [173] She also plays a role in ending the resultant feud against the suitors' relatives. [192] It represented the unjust and discrediting behavior of the gods towards mortals. )", "The Theology of the Phnicians from Sanchoniatho", "The Iconography of Athena in Attic Vase-painting from 440370 BC", "Phi Delta Theta International - Symbols", Online version at the Perseus Digital Library, "Athena (also Athen and Athenaia) (Roman Minerva)", "The spinner and the poet: Arachne in Ovid's, "Word games: the Linguistic Evidence in Black Athena", "Ekphrasis and the Theme of Artistic Failure in Ovid's Metamorphoses", Classical mythology in western art and literature, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Athena&oldid=1142441306, Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text, Wikipedia indefinitely semi-protected pages, Articles having different image on Wikidata and Wikipedia, Articles containing Mycenaean Greek-language text, Pages using sidebar with the child parameter, Articles with unsourced statements from February 2021, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 2 March 2023, at 11:27. In post-Mycenaean times the city, especially its citadel, replaced the palace as Athenas domain. [46] The epithet Ergane ( "the Industrious") pointed her out as the patron of craftsmen and artisans. Athena (Ancient Greek: ) (sometimes she is called Pallas Athena) was the goddess of wisdom, mathematics, civilization, the arts, reason, skill, and war. She was widely worshipped, but in modern times she is associated primarily with Athens, to which she gave her name. [66], Athena was sometimes given the epithet Hippia ( "of the horses", "equestrian"),[40][67] referring to her invention of the bit, bridle, chariot, and wagon. [237] Pallas Athena is the tutelary goddess of the international social fraternity Phi Delta Theta. [172] He hears stories about some of Odysseus's journey. Being the favorite child of Zeus, she had great power. Thus, Plato believed that Athena's name was derived from Greek , Atheonawhich the later Greeks rationalised as from the deity's (, thes) mind (, nos). In this article, I will explain 9 symbols of Athena and their meanings. Aside from Athena, the Twelve Olympians include Greek gods and goddesses Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Hermes, and Hestia. [62] An Ionic-style temple to Athena Polias was built at Priene in the fourth century BC. [178], A myth told by the early third-century BC Hellenistic poet Callimachus in his Hymn 5 begins with Athena bathing in a spring on Mount Helicon at midday with one of her favorite companions, the nymph Chariclo. [20] However, the inscription quoted seems to be very similar to "a-ta-n-t wa-ya", quoted as SY Za 1 by Jan Best. "goatskin coat", from treating the word as meaning "something grammatically feminine pertaining to, This page was last edited on 12 February 2023, at 07:42. Athena, the patron goddess of the city of Athens, is associated with over a dozen sacred symbols from which she derived her powers. [82] One myth relates the foster father relationship of this Triton towards the half-orphan Athena, whom he raised alongside his own daughter Pallas. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. [133] Zeus agreed to this and Hephaestus and Athena were married,[133] but, when Hephaestus was about to consummate the union, Athena vanished from the bridal bed, causing him to ejaculate on the floor, thus impregnating Gaia with Erichthonius. Her major symbols include owls, olive trees, snakes, and the Gorgoneion. John Tzetzes says[10] that aegis was the skin of the monstrous giant Pallas whom Athena overcame and whose name she attached to her own. Since the Renaissance, Athena has become an international symbol of wisdom, the arts, and classical learning. However, Zeus is normally portrayed in classical sculpture holding a thunderbolt or lightning, bearing neither a shield nor a breastplate. As a war goddess Athena could not be dominated by other goddesses, such as Aphrodite, and as a palace goddess she could not be violated. [125] Athena was said to have carved the statue herself in the likeness of her dead friend Pallas. When Hermes arrives to seduce Herse, Aglaulus stands in his way instead of helping him as she had agreed. [171] Her actions lead him to travel around to Odysseus's comrades and ask about his father. Some of the Attic vase-painters retained an archaic tradition that the tassels had originally been serpents in their representations of the aegis. [75], In Homer's epic works, Athena's most common epithet is Glaukopis (), which usually is translated as, "bright-eyed" or "with gleaming eyes". [45][46] Athena represented the disciplined, strategic side of war, in contrast to her brother Ares, the patron of violence, bloodlust, and slaughter"the raw force of war". [189][190] Athena gave Arachne a chance to redeem herself by assuming the form of an old woman and warning Arachne not to offend the deities. [115][116], Athena's epithet Pallas is derived either from , meaning "to brandish [as a weapon]", or, more likely, from and related words, meaning "youth, young woman". Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. The best known image of Athena's owl, the Little Owl, is seen on ancient Athenian coins dating from the fifth century BCE. [189] She became so conceited of her skill as a weaver that she began claiming that her skill was greater than that of Athena herself. [133], The geographer Pausanias[113] records that Athena placed the infant Erichthonius into a small chest[135] (cista), which she entrusted to the care of the three daughters of Cecrops: Herse, Pandrosos, and Aglauros of Athens. The qualities that lead to victory are found on the aegis, or breastplate, that Athena wears when she goes to war: fear, strife, defense, and assault. [46] Burkert notes that the Athenians sometimes simply called Athena "the Goddess", h thes ( ), certainly an ancient title. Athena taught Arachne the art of weaving and Phalanx the art of war, but when brother and sister laid together in bed, Athena was so disgusted with them that she turned them both into spiders, animals forever doomed to be eaten by their own young. She plays an active role in the Iliad, in which she assists the Achaeans and, in the Odyssey, she is the divine counselor to Odysseus. [56] This role is expressed in several stories about Athena. [128], Afterwards, Poseidon was so angry over his defeat that he sent one of his sons, Halirrhothius, to cut down the tree. Athena, also spelled Athene, in Greek religion, the city protectress, goddess of war, handicraft, and practical reason, identified by the Romans with Minerva. Athena is a goddess in Greek mythology and one of the Twelve Olympians. [208][7][209] Scenes in which Athena was represented include her birth from the head of Zeus, her battle with the Gigantes, the birth of Erichthonius, and the Judgement of Paris. Occasionally, another god used ite.g., Apollo in the Iliad, where it provoked terror. [224] In his book A Revelation of the True Minerva (1582), Thomas Blennerhassett portrays Queen Elizabeth I of England as a "new Minerva" and "the greatest goddesse nowe on earth". Athena is shown with her shield and helmet in a resting position as if guarding the Acropolis. [194], The myth of the Judgement of Paris is mentioned briefly in the Iliad,[195] but is described in depth in an epitome of the Cypria, a lost poem of the Epic Cycle,[196] which records that all the gods and goddesses as well as various mortals were invited to the marriage of Peleus and Thetis (the eventual parents of Achilles). During this period, the priestesses of Athena, or plyntrdes, performed a cleansing ritual within the Erechtheion, a sanctuary devoted to Athena and Poseidon. [208] Athena Polias is also represented in a Neo-Attic relief now held in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts,[211] which depicts her holding an owl in her hand[i] and wearing her characteristic Corinthian helmet while resting her shield against a nearby herma. Full of contradictions, Athena was a female deity overseeing traditionally male domains. [199][134] The other two goddesses were enraged and, as a direct result, sided with the Greeks in the Trojan War. Despite her immense power, she was depicted as highly competitive with both mortals and other gods. [103][104], After swallowing Metis, Zeus took six more wives in succession until he married his seventh and present wife, Hera. [49] As the patroness of heroes and warriors, Athena was believed to favor those who used cunning and intelligence rather than brute strength. From her origin as an Aegean palace goddess, Athena was closely associated with the city. The aegis (/ids/ EE-jis;[1] Ancient Greek: aigs), as stated in the Iliad, is a device carried by Athena and Zeus, variously interpreted as an animal skin or a shield and sometimes featuring the head of a Gorgon. [125] Athena was infuriated by this violation of her protection. [127] Poseidon struck the ground with his trident and a salt water spring sprang up;[127] this gave the Athenians access to trade and water. [238] Her owl is also a symbol of the fraternity.[238]. She fastened the head of the gorgon Medusa to the shield to scare others in battle. As the patron of craft and weaving, Athena was known as Ergane. [99][100][98][101] In order to prevent this, Zeus tricked Metis into letting him swallow her, but it was too late because Metis had already conceived. Also in the Iliad, Zeus, the chief god, specifically assigned the sphere of war to Ares, the god of war, and Athena. According to Edith Hamilton's Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes,[7] the Aegis is the breastplate of Zeus, and was "awful to behold". [134][179] Chariclo's son Tiresias happened to be hunting on the same mountain and came to the spring searching for water. [126], In Homer's Iliad, Athena, as a war goddess, inspired and fought alongside the Greek heroes; her aid was synonymous with military prowess. [195] Only Eris, goddess of discord, was not invited. [6][tone] "Aegis-bearing Zeus", as he is in the Iliad, sometimes lends the fearsome aegis to Athena. [72][73], The Greek biographer Plutarch (AD 46120) refers to an instance during the construction of the Propylaia of her being called Athena Hygieia (, i.e. personified "Health") after inspiring a physician to a successful course of treatment. Many of these scenes are symbolic, representing Athenian triumph over Persia. Hurt by the girl's betrayal, Athena transformed her into the small insect bearing her name, the ant. Athena was the patron goddess of heroic endeavor; she was believed to have aided the heroes Perseus, Heracles, Bellerophon, and Jason. [56] According to Karl Kernyi, a scholar of Greek mythology, the name Parthenos is not merely an observation of Athena's virginity, but also a recognition of her role as enforcer of rules of sexual modesty and ritual mystery. She was essentially urban and civilized, the antithesis in many respects of Artemis, goddess of the outdoors. [60] Sanctuaries dedicated to Athena Alea were located in the Laconian towns of Mantineia and Tegea. As an important religious site, the temple's designers decorated the Parthenon with various scenes from Greek mythology. Athena was the ancient Greek goddess of wisdom and good counsel, war, the defence of towns, heroic endeavour, weaving, pottery and various other crafts. DEMOCRITUS(? Athena is customarily portrayed wearing an aegis, body armor, and a helmet and carrying a shield and a lance. [citation needed] He curses her and strikes with all his strength. The Greek aigis, has many meanings including:[3], The original meaning may have been the first, and Zeus Aigiokhos = "Zeus who holds the aegis" may have originally meant "Sky/Heaven, who holds the thunderstorm". Athena gave him a gleaming shield of bronze; his father Zeus gave him a sword; Hades provided a helmet of invisibility; and Hermes granted him winged sandals . [160][145] For the first part of the poem, however, she largely is confined to aiding him only from afar, mainly by implanting thoughts in his head during his journey home from Troy. Zeus, sympathizing with Apollo's grievances, discredited the pebble divination by rendering the pebbles useless. [191][192][190] Athena's tapestry also depicted the 12 Olympian gods and defeat of mythological figures who challenged their authority. [218], During the Renaissance, Athena donned the mantle of patron of the arts and human endeavor;[219] allegorical paintings involving Athena were a favorite of the Italian Renaissance painters. Robert Graves in The Greek Myths (1955) asserts that the aegis in its Libyan sense had been a shamanic pouch containing various ritual objects, bearing the device of a monstrous serpent-haired visage with tusk-like teeth and a protruding tongue which was meant to frighten away the uninitiated. [24] In the third book of the Odyssey, she takes the form of a sea-eagle. [193] Arachne's tapestry featured twenty-one episodes of the deities' infidelity,[191][192][190] including Zeus being unfaithful with Leda, with Europa, and with Dana. [125] The statue had special talisman-like properties[125] and it was thought that, as long as it was in the city, Troy could never fall. Essentially urban and civilized, Athena was probably a pre-Hellenic goddess later taken over by the Greeks. Her guiding actions reinforce her role as the "protectress of heroes," or, as mythologian Walter Friedrich Otto dubbed her, the "goddess of nearness," due to her mentoring and motherly probing. [127][53] Cecrops accepted this gift[127] and declared Athena the patron goddess of Athens. In some versions of the mythology, the owl was said to illuminate Athena's "blind side," allowing her to see the entire truth. In the later writings of the Roman poet Ovid, Athena was said to have competed against the mortal Arachne in a weaving competition, afterward transforming Arachne into the first spider; Ovid also describes how she transformed Medusa into a Gorgon after witnessing her being raped by Poseidon in her temple. [139] The ritual was performed in the dead of night[139] and no one, not even the priestess, knew what the objects were. [135] Differing reports say that they either found that the child itself was a serpent, that it was guarded by a serpent, that it was guarded by two serpents, or that it had the legs of a serpent. [208], The Mourning Athena or Athena Meditating is a famous relief sculpture dating to around 470-460 BC[211][208] that has been interpreted to represent Athena Polias. [23] The early twentieth-century scholar Martin Persson Nilsson argued that the Minoan snake goddess figurines are early representations of Athena. [97][98] [178] The aulos was picked up by the satyr Marsyas, who was later killed by Apollo for his hubris. [228] For over a century, a full-scale replica of the Parthenon has stood in Nashville, Tennessee. [4] Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress of various cities across Greece, particularly the city of Athens, from which she most likely received her name. [156] She is presented as his "stern ally",[157] but also the "gentle acknowledger of his achievements. The qualities that led to victory were found on the aegis, or breastplate, that Athena wore when she went to war: fear, strife, defense, and assault. The modern concept of doing something "under someone's aegis" means doing something under the protection of a powerful, knowledgeable, or benevolent source. Aglaulus demands money in exchange. [42] Here Athena's statue was undressed, her clothes washed, and body purified. Athena's Introduction Athena is the Greek goddess of wisdom and war. Virgil imagines the Cyclopes in Hephaestus' forge, who "busily burnished the aegis Athena wears in her angry moodsa fearsome thing with a surface of gold like scaly snake-skin, and the linked serpents and the Gorgon herself upon the goddess's breasta severed head rolling its eyes",[5] furnished with golden tassels and bearing the Gorgoneion (Medusa's head) in the central boss. [199] Paris selected Aphrodite and awarded her the apple. It is sometimes represented on the statues of Roman emperors, heroes, and warriors, and on cameos and vases. [47][48] Athena was believed to only support those fighting for a just cause[47] and was thought to view war primarily as a means to resolve conflict. It's been a long time since I wrote a Greek mythology article. [5] After serving as the judge at the trial of Orestes in which he was acquitted of having murdered his mother Clytemnestra, Athena won the epithet Areia (). There was an alternative story that Zeus swallowed Metis, the goddess of counsel, while she was pregnant with Athena, so that Athena finally emerged from Zeus. 13), Zeus is said to have used the skin of a pet goat owned by his nurse Amalthea (aigis "goat-skin") which suckled him in Crete, as a shield when he went forth to do battle against the Titans.[6]. [142], According to Pseudo-Apollodorus's Bibliotheca, Athena advised Argos, the builder of the Argo, the ship on which the hero Jason and his band of Argonauts sailed, and aided in the ship's construction. [211][7][209] Her shield bears at its centre the aegis with the head of the gorgon (gorgoneion) in the center and snakes around the edge. [30][31], Plato notes that the citizens of Sais in Egypt worshipped a goddess known as Neith,[e] whom he identifies with Athena. [106][98][93][108] The "First Homeric Hymn to Athena" states in lines 916 that the gods were awestruck by Athena's appearance[109] and even Helios, the god of the sun, stopped his chariot in the sky. Hermes demands help from Aglaulus to seduce Herse. In The Odyssey, Odysseus' cunning and shrewd nature quickly wins Athena's favour. [127] They agreed that each would give the Athenians one gift[127] and that Cecrops, the king of Athens, would determine which gift was better. Athena was the goddess of battle strategy, and wisdom. [144][145] Pseudo-Apollodorus also records that Athena guided the hero Perseus in his quest to behead Medusa. [140], Athena gave her favour to an Attic girl named Myrsine, a chaste girl who outdid all her fellow athletes in both the palaestra and the race. 27 (trans.

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