Athena (Lecture Slides 8)

Pallas Athena (Minerva): Intro

very often simply called Pallas and the Romans called her Minerva
most consistently positive of all the Olympian gods
some say that Athena isnt really a war goddess, but a goddess of victory
birth: sprang from Zeus head. Zeus was scared of the offspring of Metis so he
swallowed Metis and out came Athena from his head fully armoured
known for her military prowess, wisdom, and masculine virginity
portrayed as very masculine; often favours male over female, and this is probably
because she was born from no mother. Its usually said that she thinks more like Zeus
than any other god
one of the three virgin goddesses her virginity may hint that shes
not subject to male power
Attributes
aegis (like a goat-skin bib) which hangs down in front of her and protects her
(page 5 in slides)
story said that she was given Medusas head (since she helped kill Medusa) and
she put this head on her aegis making it so much more powerful
she is also portrayed with a full armour (page 6 in slides)
Symbols
owl (for wisdom)
olive (domesticated form of the olive tree from Athens, where she was chosen as
the goddess of the city instead of Poseidon)
symbolizes her as a god of civilization and orderliness
Name

like mentioned before, another name for her is Pallas Athena

people think Pallas means maiden or she who brandishes a
weapon
some people think Pallas is the name of a friend when she was younger, but she
got mad at Pallas and killed her. Athena was very distraught and so she took the name
Pallas to honour her
some people think Pallas is the name of a giant whom she killed. She skinned
the giant and made her aegis out of the giants skin. Giants are the symbol of chaos, and
this is very fitting since shes the goddess of civilization
some also called her Tritogenia (three named)
Nature

Military Prowess

panoply (item of warfare)

she was often found in battles
eg. Battles: versus Ares at Troy
She hated the Trojans and Ares took the Trojans side. So, she
fought against Ares. She picked up a huge rock and buries Ares, defeating him.
Then, Aphrodite comes to the battlefield (on the side of Ares, since shes Ares
gf), and Athena just defeats her. Shes badass
Intelligent War:
eg. restraining Achilles (since Achilles took
Agamemnon's woman) when he was about to kill Agamemnon,
Athena grabs Achilles by his long hair and whispers in his ear
dont do it now, youll get your chance. In the end, youll end up
better off than if you lash out right now shes looking at the
long term and encouraging Achilles to be restrained and
disciplined. Shes also associated with the riches of war, since if
youre restrained and intelligent, youll take a larger plunder
from your enemies

Wisdom
Domestic arts (since wisdom can also be gained from practical skills, like
weaving):
eg. Arachne (young girl, not from a noble background). Shes very
gifted at weaving and shell weave amazing tapestries. However, she would
always deny Athenas hand in making her gifted. She said that if Athena is so
great, why doesnt she come down and challenge Arachne at weaving. So
Athena came down in the guise of an old woman, and said that Arachne should
acknowledge the goddess because she might be mad. Arachne started cursing
Athena, and Athena threw off her guise. They had a contest at weaving. Athena
made a wonderful tapestry portraying mortals challenging gods and losing.
Arachne made a tapestry portraying how disrespectful the gods were. Athena
wins. Athena beats up Arachne, and was so ashamed that she hangs herself.
Athena turned her into a spider so she could weave for a long time.
point: mortals should acknowledge skills came from
gods
Non-domestic arts (arts practiced outside of the home, like carpentry):
eg. stories that she helped with making the Trojan horse, and the
ship Argos (which Jason used, Argonauts)
eg. people said shes also involved in horse training. Like when
Pegasus (came from Medusas severed neck, his father is Zeus in horse-form)
was given to Bellerophon. He tried to ride Pegasus, but couldnt. Athena then
gave Bellerophon a bridle and so he was able to ride Pegasus.
Patron of heroes (especially wise heroes)
she helped heroes more so than other gods

 eg. Odysseus (known as a real trickster hero. he has a lot of

wisdom (can get out of traps, and turn tables on enemies by cleverness, sway
kings because he skillfully says things)). When Odysseus wanted to go home to
Ithaca, he wanted to lay low so he lied to Athena (who was in disguise as a
shepherd boy). Athena loved his lies and praised his cleverness, saying that
youll have be a god to be better than him at lying.
eg. Heracles (apples, was tricked by Atlas to carry heaven while
Atlas gets the apples, with the help of Athena he tricked Atlas into taking back
heaven)
Masculine Virgin

shes a virgin
tied with Hephaestus. She asked him to make her new weapons.
He became enamored with her. He ejaculated on her leg. She wiped it off with
cloth and threw it on the ground, and out came Erichthonius.
defends the male
eg. Orestes: he was faced with a terrible situation since
his mother (Clytonestra (sp?)) killed their father Agamemnon (since he
killed their daughter). Orestes was told he had to avenge his father by
Apollo, and this means that Orestes had to kill his mother, which he
eventually does after a long struggle. He sees the furies coming after
him (who avenged those murdered), so he ran to Apollo. Apollo
distracted the furies and Orestes escaped, telling him to go to Athens.
Athena was presiding over the court case (if it was just for him to kill
his mother), and there was a tie. So, Athena had the tie-breaking vote
and she had the final say. So, Athena said that Orestes was innocent
for killing his mother. sided with the male even though she herself is
female.

Civilization and Order

portrayed standing above the forces of chaos (slides 27 and 28)

eg. Parthenon
Parthenon was called the Parthenon because it literally means
temple of the virgin where the virgin is Athena.
on each end of the Parthenon there was a portrayal of her birth
and her contest with Poseidon
along the sides of the temple, there were panels of
portrayals of Athena. In the outer panels, there were interesting stories
accounted on them. One panel showed the battle of the giants and the
gods (symbolizes the orderly presence of the god vs. the chaotic
presence of the giants and the god conquering chaos). One panel was
the Centauromachy (battle of the centaurs centaurs are the forces of

anti-civilization. Again, symbolizes the conquering of anti-civilization

forces.).
There was a story of the Amazons (anti-society, since they would kill male
children and only keep females) invading Athens. The Amazons were defeated and this
again symbolizes the orderly forces winning over chaos and anti-civilizing forces.
sometimes Athena was called Athena Polias *** test question (Pallas Athena
vs Athena Polias)
in Ancient Greek, the word for organized city is polus
Athena Polias means that she inspired the city to be
organized
in every Ancient Greek city, she would have a temple for her in the
acropolis, since shes the very heart of the city, protected the city, and made the
city orderly and organized
there was a story that said that the Greek will never
capture Troy unless the statue of Athena was taken from the Trojan
acropolis (image of Athena was called the Palladium) Trojans were
very dedicated to Athena and said that if Athena was protecting the
city, the city would never fall.
Panathenaia: big festival in Athens. The most important
religious event, they would make a new dress for Athena, and they
would take the ancient statue of Athena and ceremoniously wash it
and put the new dress on it (symbolized the Gigantomachy where
she slew the giants and wore their skin).
for the Romans, they would have a main temple in the city and
always worshipped the Capitoline Triad (Jupiter, Juno, Minerva)
she also mourns for the war dead (slide 33) and symbolizes the war dead
Conclusion

how do you reconcile her diverse nature?

She took off her finely wrought robe and armed herself for
grievous war
encapsulates her paradoxical nature. She
was a very masculine goddess of war, but she was female and is
also a goddess of domestic arts
perhaps she encapsulates the best of both worlds