Athena is one of the 12 main gods of the Greek pantheon. The legendary daughter of Zeus, born from his head. Athena is the goddess of wisdom, military art, the patroness of the city-state, of which she is the eponym (Athens), as well as many sciences and crafts. Many mythical events and literary plots are associated with the name of Athena, her image is multifacetedly reflected in philosophy and art.

There are many interesting facts about the maiden dressed in armor.

Athena - sole daughter of Zeus

According to legend, Athena was born in full dress and with a battle cry straight from the dissected head of Zeus. The king of the gods learned that his future son from Metis would kill his father, so he swallowed his pregnant wife and gave birth to a daughter on his own.

Athena - virgin goddess

Along with Artemis and Hestia, Artemis is a chaste goddess who does not have a spouse and children. She is the patroness of chastity and unmarried girls, but women also pray to her for pregnancy.
Athena demands sacred reverence for herself, so none of the mortals can see her. When she saw her washing Tiresias, she deprived her of sight.

Attributes of Athens

Mandatory attribute of the fair-haired and gray-eyed goddess - aegis. This is a goat-skin shield with a snake-headed jellyfish that frightens people and gods. According to one version, it was Athena who killed the monster. The warrior maiden also holds a spear in her hands.

Athena wears a crested helmet on her head. In her hand, the daughter of Zeus holds Nike, the goddess of victory.

The image of Athena has archaic roots

In Greek mythology, Athena is equal to Zeus and sometimes even surpasses him in wisdom and strength. It is known that together with the Hero and


Other gods Athena participated in the attempt to overthrow Kronid. There was a temple of Zeus and Athena in Athens. The goddess was revered no less than the supreme deity. The significance of Athena is rooted in the matriarchal period.

In Greek, the capital of Greece is not called "Athens", but "Athena"

Athena is the eponym of the capital of Greece. The city officially received this status in 1834 after the liberation from Turkish rule. But according to legend, the name of the ancient Greek policy goes back to the confrontation between Poseidon and Athena for the right to protect the city. Poseidon opened the source to the inhabitants sea ​​water and Athena planted an olive tree. The last gift was considered more valuable, so the championship was given to the daughter of the Thunderer. According to another version, the female half of the population voted for Athena with a one-vote advantage, after which women were denied the right to vote.

Athena and the Judgment of Paris

According to a well-known legend, Athena was one of the 3 contenders for victory in the ancient "beauty contest". But the shepherd Paris preferred Aphrodite to her and Hera, who promised him the most beautiful of women, Helen, as a reward. The prize, the apple of discord, went to the goddess of love, who helped the young man get Helen the Beautiful, because of whose abduction the Trojan War began.

How are Athena the weaver and arachnology related?

Athena was the patroness of crafts, in particular, she was an excellent weaver. But the mortal woman Arachne achieved no less skill and began to boast of it. Then Athena challenged her to a competition, and although the fabric woven by Arachne turned out to be no worse than the product of the goddess, the latter turned the impudent woman into a spider. From the name of Arachne comes the name of the science of arachnology.

Stones are scattered around the Athenian Parthenon for tourists

The Parthenon, the temple of virgins, is an Athenian architectural monument, which was dedicated to the patroness of the city and all of Attica. It contained an 11-meter statue of Athena made of wood, gold and ivory. So that tourists do not destroy the attraction, special workers scatter stones around the temple every night, which travelers take with them as a keepsake.

• In the Roman mythological tradition, Athena is called Minerva.
• Athena is the patroness of state wisdom and the principle of the indivisibility of the cosmic mind.
• Sacred animals and plants of Athens: owl, snake, olive.
• Athena, unlike Ares, patronizes only just wars. She is an active participant in the Trojan War on the side of the Achaeans, the fight against the Titans and gigantomachy.
• Famous epithets of Athena: Tritonida (Tritogenea) - born near the hydronym Triton in Libya; Pallas is a victorious warrior; owl-eyed - an indication of the zoomorphic past of the image; Promakhos - advanced fighter; Peonia is a healer; Phratry - fraternal; Soteira - savior; Pronoia - seer; Gorgofon - The Gorgon Killer and many others.
• Athens is the birthplace of democracy and the Olympic Games, as well as tragedy, comedy, philosophy, historiography, political science and mathematical principles.

Athena Athena - in the myths of the ancient Greeks, the goddess of wisdom and just war. Born from Zeus and Metis (wisdom). Zeus swallowed his pregnant wife, then Hephaestus (or Prometheus) split his head with an ax, and Athena appeared from there in full combat armor and with a militant cry. Athena is equal in strength and wisdom to Zeus. Her attributes are a snake and an owl, as well as an aegis - a goat-skin shield with the head of a snake-haired Medusa, which has magical powers and frightens gods and people. The sacred tree of Athena is the olive. Athena of the period of heroic mythology fights with the titans and giants. She killed the Gorgon Medusa. No mortal can see her (she blinded the young Tiresias when he accidentally saw her ablution). She patronizes heroes, protects public order. Her favorite is Odysseus, she is the main protector of the Achaean Greeks and a constant enemy of the Trojans during the Trojan War. She helped potters, weavers, needlewomen, the builder of the Argo ship, and all artisans. Athena helped Prometheus steal fire from the forge of Hephaestus. Her own pieces are true works of art. She is also the legislator and patroness of Athenian statehood. Although the cult of Athena was spread throughout mainland and insular Greece, Athena was especially revered in Attica, in Athens (the Greeks associated the name of the city of Athens with the name of the goddess). A huge statue of Athena Promachos (front fighter) with a spear shining in the sun adorned the Acropolis in Athens, where the Erechtheion and Parthenon temples were dedicated to the goddess. Many agricultural holidays were dedicated to Athena. The holiday of the Great Panathenas was universal in nature (during the holiday, sacrifices were made to Athena and the transfer of peplos took place - the cover of the goddess, which depicted her exploits in gigantomachy - the fight against giants). In Rome, Athena was identified with Minerva.

Historical dictionary. 2000 .

Synonyms:

See what "Athena" is in other dictionaries:

- (Άθηνά), in Greek mythology, the goddess of wisdom and just war. The pre-Greek origin of the image of A. does not allow us to reveal the etymology of the name of the goddess, based only on the data of the Greek language. The myth of the birth of A. from Zeus and Metis (“wisdom”, ... ... Encyclopedia of mythology

Athena- Lemnia. Reconstruction of the statue of Phidias on the Acropolis of Athens. OK. 450 BC sculpture collection. Dresden. Athena Lemnia. Reconstruction of the statue of Phidias on the Acropolis of Athens. OK. 450 BC sculpture collection. Dresden. Athena in the myths of the ancient Greeks ... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary " The World History»

- (Pallas, among the Romans Minerva) in Greek mythology, the goddess of wisdom and military affairs; daughter of Zeus, born from his head; considered the patroness of Athens. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. Pavlenkov F., 1907. ATHENA (Greek ... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

- (Athena Pallas) in Greek mythology, the goddess of war and victory, as well as wisdom, knowledge, arts and crafts. The daughter of Zeus, born in full armor (in a helmet and armor) from his head. The patroness of Athens. It corresponds to the Roman Minerva. Among … Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

Athena- Lemnia. Reconstruction of the statue of Phidias on the Acropolis of Athens. OK. 450 BC sculpture collection. Dresden. ATHENA (Athena Pallas), in Greek mythology, the goddess of war and victory, wisdom, knowledge, arts and crafts, the patroness of Athens. Daughter of Zeus... Illustrated encyclopedic Dictionary

- (Athena Pallas), in Greek mythology, the goddess of war and victory, wisdom, knowledge, arts and crafts, the patroness of Athens. The daughter of Zeus, born in full armor (in a helmet and armor) from his head. Attributes of Athena snake, owl and aegis shield with ... ... Modern Encyclopedia

Pallas Athena, in ancient Greek mythology, one of the main deities, a virgin goddess; revered as the goddess of war and victory, as well as wisdom, knowledge, arts and crafts. According to the myth, A. in a helmet and armor came out of the head of Zeus. A.… … Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Minerva, Poliada, Pallas, Nika Dictionary of Russian synonyms. athena n., number of synonyms: 10 athena pallas (3) ... Synonym dictionary

- (also Pallas) one of the most ancient deities of Greece, the daughter of Zeus, the maiden warrior, the Greek parallel to the Valkyries (see) of Germanic mythology. The origin of the image is unclear: perhaps it is based on the heavenly projection of the primitive family ... ... Literary Encyclopedia

Greek goddess … Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron

Books

• The future of civilization. Global Cosmic Realignment, Athena-Gor. This book helps to reveal the spiritual vision of a person and shows from the position of the higher spiritual worlds the deep essence and causes of the events taking place in the Cosmos and on the planet that accompany ...

Athena(ancient Greek - Athenaia; Mycenae. atanapotinija - "Atana the Lady"), in Greek mythology, the goddess of wisdom and just war, military wisdom and strategy, knowledge, arts and crafts. Athena is a warrior maiden, patroness of cities, sciences, skill, intelligence, skill and ingenuity. One of the 12 great Olympian gods.

Family and environment

myths

In the sources there are references to the birth of a child associated with Athena and Hephaestus. The first part of this story contains only later sources. According to them, Zeus swore to fulfill any desire of Hephaestus and the Smith God asked Athena to marry him. The King of the Gods could not break the oath, but advised the virgin daughter to defend herself. According to the main legend, the daughter of Zeus came to Hephaestus for weapons, and he tried to take possession of her, and she began to run away. The Blacksmith God chased after her and overtook her, but defending herself with a weapon in her hands, Pallas wounded her pursuer with a spear. Hephaestus spilled the seed on Athena's leg, after which the goddess wiped it with wool and buried it in the ground, after which Gaia-earth gave birth to a baby. Therefore, Erichtonius was called both the son of Gaia, and the son of Athena, and the name was interpreted from "Erion" - wool (or "Eris" - discord) and "chthon" - earth.

Athena secretly raised Erichthonius, wanting to make him immortal, she gave him in a casket for preservation to the daughters of Kekrop Aglavra, Gersa and Pandrosa, forbidding him to open. The sisters opened the casket and saw a child entwined with snakes, which the Warrior had assigned to the baby as a guard. They were either killed by snakes, or Pallas plunged them into madness and they rushed from the top of the acropolis into the abyss. After the death of the sisters, Erichthonius was brought up in the temple of Athena. When he grew up, he reigned, erecting a xoan (statue or idol made of wood) of Athena on the acropolis and establishing Panathenaia, for the first time holding a procession in honor of Athena on the acropolis. Erichthonius was buried on the sacred site of the temple of Athena Polias.

Also, according to one version, together with Hephaestus, she created, at the behest of Zeus, the first woman - Pandora, who opened the ill-fated vessel called "Pandora's box".

A powerful, terrible, owl-eyed goddess of the archaic, the owner of the aegis, in the period of heroic mythology, she directs her strength to fight the titans and giants. Although, according to the early mythological scheme, titanomachy occurred even before the birth of Athena, but later authors, starting with Euripides, often mixed giants and titans. Her participation in Gigantomachy is a popular plot. Gigin cites the story that after the death of Epaphus, Zeus, together with Athena, Apollo and Artemis, threw the titans into Tartarus, prompted by Hera. Together with Hercules, Athena kills one of the giants, she drove a chariot with a pair of horses to the giant Enkelada, and when he fled, she brought down the island of Sicily on him. She skins Pallanta and covers her body with it during the battle.

The goddess of war demands sacred reverence. There is a myth about how she deprived the sight of the young Tiresias (the son of her favorite nymph Chariklo). Once Athena and Chariklo decided to bathe in the spring on Helikon, Tiresias saw the goddess and she blinded him (according to another version, he was blinded by the sight of Athena). Having deprived the young man of sight, she at the same time endowed him with a prophetic gift and gave him the ability to understand the language of birds, as well as the ability to keep his mind in Hades. Ovid, in the VI book of Metamorphoses, outlined the myth of how Athena severely punished the weaver Arachne when she questioned the piety of the gods by weaving love scenes with the participation of the gods on the bedspread.

Classical Athena is endowed with ideological and organizing functions: she patronizes the heroes, protects public order, and so on. In the myths of ancient Greece, stories about Athena's help to heroes are common. She helps Perseus by guiding his hand, which decapitates Medusa. One of the epithets of Athena is "the gorgon-killer". Perseus sacrificed a heifer to the goddess and gave Athena the head of the Gorgon, which she placed on her shield. Later, Athena placed Perseus, Andromeda, Cassiopeia and Cepheus among the constellations. She inspired and gave strength to Cadmus, and also gave him a stone to fight the Theban dragon. On the advice of the wise Goddess, Cadmus sowed the dragon's teeth and threw a block at them, which caused a fight between them. Athena put Cadmus on the reign of Thebes, and at the wedding with Harmony gave him a necklace, peplos and flutes.

It is believed that Asclepius received the blood of the Gorgon from Athena, with the help of which he resurrected the dead. According to Euripides, she gave Erichthonius at birth two drops of Gorgon's blood, which he gave to Erechtheus in a golden ring, and the last to Creusa (one drop is healing, the other is poisonous). Athena appeared in a dream to Pericles and indicated the grass to heal his slave, who had fallen from the roof of the acropolis under construction, the Propylaea, the grass was called Parthenium, and Pericles erected a statue of Athena Hygieia. The base of the statue by the sculptor Pyrrhus was found on the acropolis.

Pindar mentions that Bellerophon saw Athena in a dream while sleeping on her altar, and erected an altar to Athena the Horsewoman when she handed Pegasus over to him. She also helps Nestor against Ereufalion and in battle with the Eleans. The goddess Menelaus protects Pandarus from the arrow (according to Plutarch).

Repeatedly wise Goddess helped Hercules at the request of Zeus. Athena threw a stone at the insane hero, which saved Amphitryon, this stone is called Sophronister, that is, "leading to reason." Gave him a cloak (according to another version of armor) before the war with Orchomenus. There is a version that it was Athena who told the hero how to kill the Lernaean Hydra and gave him rattles made by Hephaestusto frighten away the Stymphalian birds. With the help of Pallas, Hercules led the dog Kerberus out of Hades, later she took the apples of the Hesperides from him and returned them to their place. Athena gave the hero the Gorgon's cubit, which the hero gave to Sterope, the daughter of Cepheus, for protection. The dying Hercules appeals to Athena with requests for an easy death (according to Seneca) and she leads him to heaven.

When the Thebans ambush Tydeus, Athena warns him against returning to Thebes. During the campaign of the Seven against Thebes, the Warrior Goddess is present next to Tydeus in battle and reflects some of the arrows from him, covering him with a shield. When Tydeus was mortally wounded, she asked her father for a potion of immortality for the wounded, but when she saw that Tydeus was devouring the brain of his enemy, she hated him and did not give him medicine.

Athena's help to Tydeus' son Diomedes is described in detail in Homer's Iliad. The goddess gives him strength, inspires him to fight, including against Aphrodite, directs the spear of Diomedes against Pandarus, inspires Diomedes to fight Ares, removes the peak of Ares from the hero and directs the spear of Diomedes into the stomach of Ares, keeps Diomedes during a storm. Horace tells that Diomedes was raised by Athena to the gods.

In the same Iliad, it is mentioned that Athena helped Achilles destroy Lyrness, she also tames Achilles' anger at the request of Hera, lights a flame around Achilles' head, frightening the Trojans. When Achilles mourns for Patroclus, refusing food, she gives him nectar and ambrosia at the request of Zeus. During the fight with Hector, he protects Achilles, taking Hector's spear away from him. It was she, in the form of Deiphobe, who advised Hector to meet Achilles, before that she appeared to Achilles and promised to help him in this fight. Achilles tells Hector: "under my spear, Tritogen (i.e. Athena) will soon tame you." After the death of Achilles, the Goddess mourns and comes to mourn him and rub his body with ambrosia.

In Homer's poems (especially the Odyssey) not a single an important event not without the intervention of Athena. She is a constant adviser to Odysseus, helps him calm the people, protects the hero from the peak of the Trojan Juice, helps him in running competitions, supported him on the night of the capture of Troy. However, Athena never helped Odysseus during his wanderings (in the songs of the Odyssey dedicated to this period, she is never mentioned), help is resumed after the crash of Odysseus' raft. She calms the winds, helps him get ashore, and then sends him to sleep. Athena often takes on the appearance of mortals to advise or help Odysseus and at the same time transforms Odysseus: she exalts him with a camp, gives him strength in the competition, if necessary, turns Odysseus into a beggar old man, and then returns his beauty again, hides the hero on the island of Feakov cloud, on Ithaca hides him and his companions with darkness and helps to leave the city.

She is the main protector of the Achaean Greeks and a constant enemy of the Trojans, although her cult also existed in Troy. Athena is the protector of Greek cities (Athens, Argos, Megara, Sparta, etc.), bearing the name of "city protector".

The warrior goddess contributes to the capture of Troy from the very beginning of the Trojan War. She participates in the Judgment of Paris and loses this argument to Aphrodite. The Trojan horse was made by Epey according to the plan of Athena, she appeared to him in a dream, in three days the horse was completed and Epey asks Athena to bless his work and calls the Trojan horse an offering to the Goddess. In the temple of Athena, the inhabitants of Metapontus showed the iron tools of Epeus, with which he built a horse. She took the form of a messenger and advised Odysseus to hide the Achaean heroes in the horse. Further, the Goddess brought the food of the gods to the heroes who were about to enter the horse, so that they would not feel hungry. When the Trojans think about how to destroy the horse, Athena gives bad signs (earthquake) and the Trojans do not believe Laocoon, who insisted on this. She rejoices when the Trojans drag a wooden horse into the city and send snakes on the sons of Laocoön. Trifiodor describes how Helen of Sparta came to the temple of Athena and walked around the horse three times, calling the heroes by name, but the Goddess of War appeared, visible only to Helen, and forced her to leave. And on the night of the fall of Troy, Pallas sat on the acropolis, shining with her aegis, when the beating began, she screamed and raised her aegis.

Athena is always considered in the context of artistic craft, art, craftsmanship. She helps potters, weavers, needlewomen, working people in general, helped Prometheus steal fire from the forge of Hephaestus, Daedalus learned her art from her. She teaches the girls crafts (daughters of Pandarey, Eurynom and others). Her one touch is enough to make a person beautiful - this is how Penelope acquired the amazing beauty of meeting with her future spouse. She personally polished Peleus' spear.

Her own creations are genuine works of art, such as the cloak woven for the hero Jason. She made her own clothes and even Hera's clothes. Taught people the art of weaving. However, Plato points out that Athena's mentor in weaving was Eros. The spinning wheel is another gift of the Goddess to people, weavers are called - serving the "cause of Athena".

Athena is credited with inventing the flute and teaching Apollo to play it. Pindar relates that one of the Gorgons, Medusa, groaned terribly as she died, and the other Euryale groaned as she looked at her sister, and Athena invented a flute to repeat these sounds. According to another story, the patroness of the arts made a flute from deer bone and came to the meal of the gods, but Hera and Aphrodite ridiculed her. Athena, looking at her reflection in the water, saw how her cheeks swelled ugly, and threw the flute into the Idean forest. The thrown flute was picked up by the satyr Marsyas. Later, Marsyas challenged Apollo to a competition in playing the flute, was defeated and severely punished for his pride (Apollo flayed the skin from the satyr). Aristotle believes that the Goddess abandoned the flute for a different reason: playing the flute is not related to mental development.

One of the most important mythological stories about Athena is the trial for Attica. For the possession of Attica, Athena argued with the god of the seas Poseidon. At the council of the gods, it was decided that Attica would go to the one whose gift on this earth would be more valuable. Poseidon struck with a trident, and a source was hammered from the rock. But the water in it turned out to be salty, undrinkable. Athena stuck her spear into the ground, and an olive tree grew out of it. All the gods recognized that this gift was more valuable. Poseidon was angry and wanted to flood the earth with the sea, but Zeus forbade him. Since then, the olive has been considered a sacred tree in Greece. Varro gives a later version of the myth, where Kekrop put the question of the name of the city to a vote: the men voted for Poseidon, and the women for Athena, and one woman turned out to be more. Then Poseidon devastated the earth in waves, and the Athenians subjected women to a triple punishment: deprived of the right to vote, none of the children had to take the mother's name and no one had to call women Athenians. The court took place on 2 Boedromion (end of September) and the Athenians removed this day from the calendar. The dispute between Poseidon and Athena was depicted on the back of the Parthenon, and in the presentation of Ovid, Athena depicts this scene on the fabric during her competition with Arachne.

Sophocles calls the Goddess Athena the maiden, mistress of horses, her epithet "Parthenos". Argive girls before marriage sacrificed their hair to her. According to Nonnus, Avra, tormented in childbirth, wants Athena to give birth herself. And the wise Goddess feeds the son of Avra ​​and Dionysus Iacchus with her milk, as earlier Erichthonius. The women of Elis prayed to Athena to get pregnant. And Penelope, she helped delay the day of the new wedding. When Penelope asks Athena for Odysseus, the Goddess sends Ifthima's ghost to her to give her hope. She inspires Penelope with the idea to arrange a competition for the suitors.

Already in Homer, Athena acts as the patroness of shipbuilding and navigation. According to her instructions, the architect Arg from Thespius created the ship Argo. On the nose, Pallas strengthened a piece of the Dodona oak trunk, which could prophesy. After the completion of the voyage, the ship was placed by Athena in the sky. On the advice of Athena, Danai, the son of the Egyptian king Bel and Anchinoi, the father of 50 daughters, built a 50-oared ship with two prows, on which he fled with his daughters. According to the myth, Danai received a prediction that he would die at the hands of his son-in-law, Danai's daughters took up arms and killed their husbands in one night, fleeing Danai's revenge and built their ship. Perseus, whom Pallas also willingly helped, was a descendant of Danae. The image of the Goddess was on the Athenian ships, according to myths, she often sends a fair wind to the ships (Telemachus, Theseus, the Achaeans returning from Lemnos).

Name, epithets and character

Athena. 470-465 AD BC. Amphora Red-figured. Attica. St. Petersburg, State Hermitage

The etymology of the name "Athena" due to the pre-Greek origin of her image is unclear. In modern Russian, a form close to the Byzantine pronunciation of the name, through "and", has been fixed, however, in the classical era, the name of the goddess was pronounced something like "Athena". Homer sometimes calls her Athenea, that is, "Athenian".

Athena is the goddess of wisdom, Democritus considered her "reasonableness". Her wisdom is different than the wisdom of Hephaestus and Prometheus, she is characterized by wisdom in public affairs. For late antiquity, Athena was the principle of the indivisibility of the cosmic mind and a symbol of the universal wisdom of the world, thus her qualities are sharply opposed to the riot and ecstasy of Dionysus. As the legislator and patroness of the Athenian statehood, she was revered as Phratria ("brotherly"), Bulaya ("council"), Soteira ("savior"), Pronoia ("seer").

Numerous information about the cosmic features of the image of Athena. She holds the thunderbolts of Zeus. Her image or fetish, the so-called. palladium, fell from the sky (perhaps hence her epithet Pallas). It is also possible that the epithet Pallas comes from the Greek "to shake (with a weapon)", that is, it means a victorious warrior, or it means "virgin". Athena was identified with the daughters of Kekrop - Pandrosa ("all-moist") and Aglavra ("light-air"), or Agravla ("field furrow").

Homer calls Athena "glavkopis" (owl-eyed), the Orphic hymn (XXXII 11) - "variegated snake". In Boeotia, she - the inventor of the flute - was revered under the name Bombilea, that is, "bee", "buzzing". The epithet Parthenos is the name of the virgin Athena, hence the name of the Parthenon temple. Athena is called Promachos, that is, "vanguard fighter", as the patroness of war and fair battle.

The main epithets of Athena, endowed with civil functions, are Poliada ("city", "patron of cities and states") and Poliuhos ("city ruler"). And the epithet Ergan ("worker") she has as the patroness of artisans.

Cult and symbolism

The ancient zoomorphic past of Athena is indicated by her attributes - a snake and an owl (symbols of wisdom). The chthonic wisdom of the Goddess has its source in the image of the goddess with snakes of the Cretan-Mycenaean period. Athena's predecessor, according to Martin Nilsson's theory, was the "shield goddess" depicted on the larnaca from Milato, as well as on other monuments, whose symbol was a shield in the shape of an eight. According to I.M. Dyakonov, the single image of the warrior maiden was divided among the Greeks into three: the warrior and needlewoman Athena, the huntress Artemis and the goddess of sexual passion Aphrodite. The myth of the birth of Athena from Metis and Zeus belongs to late period Greek mythology. As Losev points out, she becomes, as it were, a direct continuation of the King of the Gods, the executor of his plans and will. In the temple dedicated to her, according to Herodotus, there lived a huge snake - the guardian of the acropolis, dedicated to the goddess. An owl and a snake guarded the palace of the Minotaur in Crete, and the image of a goddess with a shield of the Mycenaean time (possibly a prototype of Olympian Athena).

Pallas is one of key figures not only Olympic mythology, in its significance it is equal to Zeus and sometimes even surpasses him, rooted in the most ancient period in the development of Greek mythology - matriarchy. She is equal in strength and wisdom to her father. Along with the new functions of the goddess of military power, Athena retained her matriarchal independence, manifested in the understanding of her as a virgin and protector of chastity.

She is easily distinguishable from other ancient Greek goddesses due to her unusual appearance. Unlike other female deities, she uses male attributes - she is dressed in armor, holds a spear in her hands, she is accompanied by sacred animals. Among the indispensable attributes of Athena is the aegis - a goat-skin shield with the head of a snake-haired Medusa, which has tremendous magical power, frightens gods and people; helmet with a high crest. Athena appeared accompanied by the winged goddess Nike.

The olive trees of Athena were considered "trees of fate", and she herself was thought of as fate and the Great Mother Goddess, who is known in archaic mythology as the parent and destroyer of all living things. Among the Megarians, Athena is revered under the epithet Aethia ("diving duck"), according to Hesychius, since she turned into a diving duck, hid Kekrop under her wings and delivered him to Megara.

She is credited with inventing the chariot, the ship, the flute and trumpet, the ceramic pot, the rake, the plow, the ox yoke and the horse bridle, and the invention of war in general. She taught weaving, spinning, and cooking, and instituted laws.

Although her cult was spread throughout mainland and island Greece (Arcadia, Argolis, Corinth, Sikyon, Thessaly, Boeotia, Crete, Rhodes), the Goddess of War was especially revered in Attica, the Greek region where the city named after her was located. A huge statue of Athena Promachos with a spear shining in the sun adorned the Acropolis in Athens, where the Erechtheion and Parthenon temples were dedicated to the goddess.

The first priestess of Athena was called Califiess, the priestesses were also Pandrosa, Theano, Phoebe (one of the daughters of Leucippus, abducted by the Dioscuri), Gers, Aglavra, Iodama, the last three were overtaken by an unenviable fate. Groves and many temples in Athens, Argos, Delos, Rhodes and other cities were dedicated to Athena.

Agricultural holidays were dedicated to her: procharisteria (in connection with the germination of bread), plintheria (the beginning of the harvest), arrhephoria (giving dew for crops), callinteria (fruit ripening), skyrophoria (drought aversion). During these festivities, the washing of the statue of Athena took place, the young men took an oath of civil service to the goddess. The feast of the great Panathenaic - statesmanship - was universal. Erichthonius was considered the founder of Panathenay, and Theseus was the reformer. Solon organized the annual Panathenaic, Peisistratus established the great ones. Pericles introduced competitions in singing, playing the cithara and flute. On the Panathenaic, sacrifices were made to Athena and the transfer of the peplos of the goddess took place, on which her exploits in gigantomachy were depicted. In Athens, the third decade of each month was dedicated to the Goddess. According to myths, when all the gods fled to Egypt, she remained in her homeland.

In Rome, Athena was identified with Minerva. Roman festivities of Minerva are devoted to two large passages from Ovid's "Fast". Throughout antiquity, it remains evidence of the organizing and guiding power of the mind, which streamlines cosmic and social life, glorifying the strict foundations of a state based on democratic legislation.

Impact on culture and art

Hymns XI and XXVIII of Homer, the fifth hymn of Callimachus, the XXXII Orphic hymn, the VII hymn of Proclus and the prose "Hymn to Athena" by Aelius Aristides are dedicated to Athena. She actor tragedies of Sophocles "Eant", Euripides "Ion", "Pleading", "Troyanki", "Iphigenia in Tarvid", Pseudo-Euripides "Res".

She acts in the prologue of the tragedy of Sophocles "Ajax", talking with Odysseus and Ajax. A monument to the glorification of the wise ruler of the Athenian state, the founder of the Areopagus, is the tragedy of Aeschylus "Eumenides".

There are many statues of the Goddess of War, of which the most famous Phidias "Athena Promachos" of the 5th century. BC e., "Athena Parthenos" 438 BC, "Athena Lemnia" about 450 BC. have not survived to our time. The most accurate copy of the Athena Parthenos is considered to be the statue of Athena Barvakion in the National Museum in Athens, and the Athena Promachos is probably the Medici Athena in the Louvre. The Vatican Museum keeps "Athena Giustiniani" (copy from the original 4th century BC)

The painter Famuil, who painted the Golden Palace of Nero, created a picture depicting the Goddess looking at the viewer from any point. The painting of Cleanthes "The Birth of Athena" was in the sanctuary of Artemis Alfionia in Olympia.

In Western European painting, the Goddess of Wisdom was less popular than, for example, Aphrodite (Venus). Often she was depicted in the plot "The Judgment of Paris" along with Aphrodite and Hera. Botticelli's painting "Pallas and the Centaur" of 1482 is known. It was depicted mainly in works of an allegorical nature, multi-figure compositions ("Minerva conquers ignorance" by B. Spranger, "Victory of virtue over sin" by A. Mantegna). She was depicted together with Ares (Mars) ("Minerva and Mars" by Tintoretto, Veronese), rarely in sculpture (Sansovino).

Presumably, the famous enigmatic painting by Diego Velasquez "Spinners" illustrates the myth of Athena and Arachne.

In modern times

In honor of Athena, an asteroid is named - one of three asteroids discovered on July 22, 1917 by the German astronomer Maximilian Wolf at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl Observatory, Germany.

Athena is the name of an American light-class launch vehicle.

The city of Athens is the capital of a state in southern Europe Greece.

ATHENA - in Greek mythology, the goddess of wisdom and just war. The myth of the birth of Athena from Zeus and Metis ("wisdom", Greek metis - "thought", reflection) - the period of formation of classical Olympic mythology.

The birth of Athena is depicted in this myth from the standpoint of the heroic mythology of the patriarchy period, in which the male organizing principle was especially prominent. Athena is, as it were, a direct continuation of Zeus, the performer of his plans and will. She is the thought of Zeus, carried out in action. Gradually, the motherhood of Metis takes on an increasingly abstract, and even symbolic, character, so that Athena is considered the offspring of one Zeus and assumes the functions of the deity of wisdom, just as Zeus took them from Metis. There.

Zeus, knowing from Gaia and Uranus that his son from Metis would deprive him of power, swallowed his pregnant wife and then, with the help of Hephaestus (or Prometheus), who split his head with an ax, he himself gave birth to Athena, who appeared from his head in fully armed. Since this event allegedly took place near the lake (or river) Triton in Libya, Athena received the nickname Tritonides or Tritogenei. There.

Athena is one of the most important figures not only in Olympic mythology, in her significance she is equal to Zeus and sometimes even surpasses him, rooted in the most ancient period in the development of Greek mythology - matriarchy. She is equal in strength and wisdom to Zeus. She is honored after Zeus and her place is closest to Zeus. Along with the new functions of the goddess of military power, Athena retained her matriarchal independence, manifested in the understanding of her as a virgin and protector of chastity. http://www.5ballov.ru/referats/preview/19024/4

The origins of Athena's wisdom go back to the image of the goddess with snakes of the Crete-Mycenaean period. The image of the goddess with a shield of the Mycenaean time is a prototype of the Olympic Athena. Among the indispensable attributes of Athena is the aegis - a shield made of goatskin with the head of a snake-haired Medusa, which has tremendous magical power, frightens gods and people. There.

Numerous information about the cosmic features of the image of Athena. Her birth is accompanied by a golden rain, she holds the thunderbolts of Zeus. Her image, the so-called. palladium fell from the sky (hence Pallas Athena). There.

According to Herodotus, Athena is the daughter of Poseidon and the nymph Tritonis. Athena was identified with the daughters of Kekrop - Pandrosa ("all-moist") and Aglavra ("light-air"), or Agravla ("field furrow"). There.

The sacred tree of Athena was the olive. The olive trees of Athena were considered "trees of fate", and Athena herself was thought of as fate and the Great Mother Goddess. There.

A powerful archaic goddess, the owner of the aegis, Athena during the period of heroic mythology directs her strength to fight the titans and giants. Together with Hercules, Athena kills one of the giants, she piles the island of Sicily on the other, peels off the skin from the third and covers her body with it during the battle. There.

She is the slayer of the gorgon Medusa and bears the name "gorgon slayer". Athena demands sacred reverence, no mortal can see her. There is a myth about how she deprived the young Tiresias (the son of her favorite Chariklo) of her sight when he accidentally saw her ablution. http://www.5ballov.ru/referats/preview/19024/4

Classical Athena is endowed with ideological and organizing functions: she patronizes heroes, protects public order, and so on. Zeus sent Athena to help Hercules, and he brought the dog of the god Hades out of Erebus. Athena's favorite was Odysseus, an intelligent and courageous hero. In Homer's poems (especially the Odyssey), not a single important event is complete without the intervention of Athena. She is the main protector of the Achaean Greeks and a constant enemy of the Trojans, although her cult also existed in Troy. Athena is the protector of Greek cities (Athens, Argos, Megara, Sparta, etc.), bearing the name of "city protector". There.

A huge statue of Athena Promachos ("front fighter") with a spear shining in the sun adorned the Acropolis in Athens, where the Erechtheion and Parthenon temples were dedicated to the goddess. There.

A monument to the glorification of the wise ruler of the Athenian state, the founder of the Areopagus, is the tragedy of Aeschylus "Eumenides". There.

Athena is always considered in the context of artistic craft, art, craftsmanship. She helps potters, weavers, needlewomen, and working people in general. Athena helped Prometheus steal fire from the forge of Hephaestus. There.

Athena is credited with inventing the flute and teaching Apollo to play it. Her one touch is enough to make a person beautiful (she raised Odysseus with a camp, endowed her with curly hair, clothed her with strength and attractiveness). She endowed Penelope on the eve of meeting with her husband with amazing beauty. http://www.5ballov.ru/referats/preview/19024/4

Athena is the goddess of wisdom. She is characterized by wisdom in public affairs. For late antiquity, Athena was the principle of the indivisibility of the cosmic Mind and the symbol of the universal wisdom of the world. As the legislator and patroness of the Athenian statehood, Athena was revered - Phratria ("fraternal"), Bulaya ("council"), Soteira ("savior"), Pronoia ("seer").

Although the cult of Athena was spread throughout mainland and insular Greece (Arcadia, Argolis, Corinth, Sikion, Thessaly, Boeotia, Crete, Rhodes), Athena was especially revered in Attica, in Athens (the Greeks associated the name of the city of Athens with the name of the patron goddess of the city) . Agricultural holidays were dedicated to her. During these festivities, the washing of the statue of Athena took place, the young men took an oath of civil service to the goddess. There.

In Rome, Athena was identified with Minerva. Roman festivities of Minerva are devoted to two large passages from Ovid's "Fast". Throughout antiquity, Athena remains evidence of the organizing and guiding power of the mind, which streamlines cosmic and social life, glorifying the strict foundations of a state based on democratic legislation. There.

The image of Athena is reflected in many significant monuments of Greek sculpture. The giant statue of "Athena Parthenos" by Phidias, erected in Athens in the Parthenon in 438 BC, has not survived and is known to us from several smaller copies. Numerous statuettes of the goddess have survived. Separate scenes of the myths about Athena are reflected in the relief plasticity of the temples, for example, a multi-figured group on the eastern pediment of the Parthenon depicts the birth of Athena from the head of Zeus, on the western pediment the dispute between Athena and Poseidon for possession of the land of Attica is embodied. http://www.5ballov.ru/referats/preview/19024/4

Scenes dedicated to the birth of Athena, her participation in the Trojan War, and the dispute with Poseidon were common in Greek vase painting. There are images of Athena on the Pompeian frescoes. There.

In the Renaissance, Athena is depicted in accordance with the ancient artistic tradition - in a shell and a helmet. In a number of scenes, Athena appears as the personification of wisdom and symbolizes the triumph of reason ("Minerva conquers ignorance" by B. Spranger, "The Kingdom of Minerva" by A. Elsheimer), virtue and chastity ("Pallas and the Centaur" by S. Botticelli, "Victory of Virtue over Sin" A . Mantegna), the world ("Minerva and Mars" by J. Tintoretto, P. Veronese and others). There.

Athena was the Greek goddess of wisdom, military strategy and crafts. She was a majestic warrior and the only Olympian goddess to wear armor. The visor of her helmet was dropped so that her beauty would not be hidden from prying eyes. She often led battles in military conflicts and dealt with domestic issues in times of peace. She was depicted with a spear in one hand and a bowl (or spindle) in the other.

The goddess adhered to chastity and maintained celibacy, and devoted her life to protecting the chosen Athenian heroes, her eponymous city. The Greeks doubly revered her for the fact that:

• she gave them a bridle so they could tame horses;
• inspired shipbuilders in their craft;
• taught plowmen to cultivate the land, use a rake, harness a bull to a yoke;
• taught the Athenians how to drive a chariot.

A special gift to Athens from a warlike woman was an olive tree. She was known for her excellent planning and strategic thinking skills. Practicality has become the hallmark of a wise woman. She had a very strong will, and her intellect prevailed over her emotional manifestations. The townspeople often met the goddess on the streets of the city.

Versions of origin

According to the Homeric hymn, she came to the Greek mainland, leaving her paternal home in Crete. Then she began to rule Athens, the main city ancient world while retaining the symbolism of its ancient identity. Greek myth tells of a contest between Athena and Poseidon, god of the sea. Both wanted to rule the city of Athens, and neither would yield to the other. But a vote was arranged and the citizens gathered to cast their votes.

However, the men did not want to stick to this vote count. They passed three new laws:

• prohibiting women from voting;
• depriving women of citizenship;
• forcing fathers to name their children.

The story of her birth was also changed to an obscure story about a girl born from the head of the chief Olympian god Zeus. That's why the girl's genesis looks so masculine. Thanks to her noble origin, she found a place on Olympus.

There is another story that shows this beauty in a different light. It says that our heroine was the daughter of Pallas, a winged giant who tried to rape her - his virgin daughter. She flew into a rage and killed him, then skinned him to make a shield and cut off his wings.

Therefore, she never communicated with men, forever remaining a virgin. Oddly enough, she had one son. Hephaestus once tried to possess a female warrior, striking her with his artistic abilities. Although she fled from her pursuer, part of his semen fell on her thigh. This led to the birth of Erichthonius, who forever remained out of sight of the goddess. In Greek mythology, the story of Hephaestus is slightly different from the above and says that the warrior goddess raised this son.

Deity symbols

The goddess, because of her wisdom, is often symbolized by an owl and a snake, which are located in the famous temple of the Parthenon, built specifically for Athena.

• The charming owl appears on early Athenian coins as an alternative image of the goddess herself. In some images, she sits on the shoulder of the goddess or flies above her. The owl suggests that her strength is so great that the enemy needs to keep this in mind and keep the situation under control, fearing the owner of such a warlike potential.
• The snake is a symbol of the protection of grain stored for the winter, otherwise it would feed the mice. The ability of the snake to shed its skin and renew it is known: a connection with rebirth is implied here. The statue of the beauty with the image of a snake was a powerful message about the protective power and justification of the hopes of those who entered the temple of her name.
• Armor and weapons are also symbols of beauty. Very often appeared in a helmet, while carrying a shield and a spear. The researchers noted that with the growth of private property, previously peaceful goddesses began to appear as goddesses of war. As the land began to go to richer citizens, mostly men, the goddess took on a new role as protector of the city and guardian of wealth.

She is also represented as the patroness of weaving. Once she took and turned the skilled weaver Arachne into a spider because of her malice and disregard for the divine origin of Athena and claims to have more talent than the goddess herself. In those days, textile production was an important part of the economy of every home, as well as the population as a whole. Without such wealth, there would be no need for protection.

Is Athena the child of Zeus?

The most common myth is that the wise warrior Athena was born already an adult, jumping out of the head of the Thunderer. Zeus "gave birth" to her after a severe migraine, from which his head split into two parts! Her mother was the goddess of reason, Metis, but Athena never acknowledged this fact.

Who did the goddess of military strategy help?

She was the protector, adviser, patron and ally of heroic people:

• helped Perseus with advice and objects to kill Medusa Gorgon, a monster who had snakes instead of hair;
• helped Jason and the Argonauts to build a ship before they set off for the Golden Fleece;
• watched Achilles during the Battle of Troy;
• achieved victory over her brother Ares;
• helped