The Greek Goddess ATHENA - A Brief History

I love mythology.

I love the wisdom from the ancient philosophers.

This is a short story I put together about the Greek Goddess Athena

She’s the Virgin Goddess of Wisdom and War and she’s worth spending a few minutes with.

Below is the transcript and below that is the video.

I’ve set it to music. I hope you enjoy it.

Have a prosperous day.

TRANSCRIPT

A Brief History The Greek Goddess ATHENA

This is a story about the Greek goddess Athena.

The goddess Athena can best be thought of as the woman prepared for any and all situations.

She was the goddess of wisdom, war, strategy, strength, and courage, and weaving and pottery, as well as being the patron goddess of heroes.

Her father was Zeus, king of the gods.

Athena’s mother was the immortal titan goddess Metis, who was known for her wisdom, prudence, deep thought, and very clever advice.

Métis was the first official wife of Zeus, and as such, Zeus found her to be an incredible asset to his rulership, and his most trusted confidant.

It is true that Métis was extremely shrewd, perhaps too much so.

Zeus began to fear that Métis, or worse, their child, would be smarter than he was, and thereby gain more favor with the gods and the mortals.

So, on the advice of Mother Gaia, Zeus devoured his wife so that her powers of intelligence and ability to determine good and evil would seep into his own consciousness.

He did this while Metis was pregnant with Athena.

Near the end of Metis’s pregnancy, Zeus developed a terrible migraine.

The pain was far greater than anything the king of gods had ever experienced before.

In fact, Zeus was in so much pain that he called for Hephaestus, the blacksmith god who made all the weapons for the Olympians.

Zeus begged him to crack his head open with his axe so that whatever was inside could escape and he could get relief.

Hephaestus was reluctant, but did as Zeus commanded. He swung his axe high and brought the blade crashing down on Zeus’s skull, as it opened up, out sprang the goddess Athena.

She was dressed in full battle regalia, armed with a spear, her shield, and helmet.

There were no baby steps for this goddess. Athena was literally born ready.

Athena had stepped out of her father’s head with his relentless spirit, her mother’s deep sense of right and wrong, and a fierce desire for autonomy.

As a goddess of war, Athena saw battle as a time for men to show their wits could win the day.

Not just their muscle. The goddess Athena was a fierce warrior.

She fought her brother Ares, the god of war, and once she engaged, she nearly always triumphed.

It was for this reason the heroes who Athena took under her wing were usually the brightest, smartest, and most curious among men.

As an example is Odysseus, the man who devised the Trojan horse scheme.

He was a favorite mortal of hers.

Athena was also known to be the Olympian who taught the widest variety of skills to the human race.

She is credited with inventing and passing on the skills to build ships, chariots, plows, and rakes.

Additionally, Athena endowed the skills of weaving and pottery to women.

The goddess Athena was a very generous Olympian to the mortals.

Her many gifts included the planting of an olive tree in the Acropolis.

Ever since then, the olive tree, which became known as the tree of life, has grown strong in Greece.

Ever since her birth, Athena has been ready for action.

It was this very quality that made her one of the most famous and beloved of all the gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus.

However, the goddess Athena had a darkness to her as well.

She was known to be very hard on women.

The following story is a good example of this. It reveals much about Athena, who was far too busy aiding the gods and humanity in their endeavors to develop any kind of sexual desire.

The goddess Athena, Athena was a virgin goddess.

She viewed mortals as her students and not her playthings, and she did not seek sensual attention from any of the gods either.

Athena was, of course, a beautiful stately goddess, but she found the whole idea of sex to be very off putting.

One of the best known myths about Athena’s repulsion toward sex and aggression toward women is the transformation of Medusa.

Medusa was the Gorgon from the story of Perseus.

She was once a very beautiful maiden who came from an island in the Red Sea.

Medusa was so lovely, in fact, that she tempted the god Poseidon, Athena’s uncle.

It was said that Medusa sought refuge in the temple of the goddess Athena, but was found by Poseidon.

He took her right there on the hard marble floor. The goddess Athena was repulsed.

Although Athena tried to hide her eyes from Poseidon’s ravaging of Medusa, she was unsuccessful.

When he finished, Athena was incensed at the display, but not toward her uncle, toward Medusa.

Athena knew it was Medusa’s beauty which had brought Poseidon to a frenzy.

So she decided to transform Medusa’s lovely face into a hideously scaled monster, with snakes for hair and a gaze that would turn any living thing to stone in an instant.

After this, the snake became one of Athena’s primary symbols and is embedded on her shield and armor.

In the end, the Greek goddess Athena is one of the best known and most popular of the Olympian gods, in large part because she has broad and exceptional skills, and very rarely ever lost at anything she attempted.

Whenever you want to be victorious in your life, ask the goddess Athena for guidance, and you are nearly guaranteed of success.