Greek mythology
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External Websites
- Mythopedia - Athena
- World History Encyclopedia - Athena
- Learn Religions - Athena, greek goddess of wisdom and war
- Ancient Origins - Athena: Fiercely Feminine Goddess of War and Wisdom
- Theoi Greek Mythology - Athena
- Mythology.net - Athena
- Theoi - Athene
- Roman and Greek Gods - Facts about Athena
- Encyclopedia Mythica - Athena
- UEN Digital Press with Pressbooks - Athena
Britannica Websites
Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.
- Athena - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)
- Athena - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies.Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Feedback
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Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.
External Websites
- Mythopedia - Athena
- World History Encyclopedia - Athena
- Learn Religions - Athena, greek goddess of wisdom and war
- Ancient Origins - Athena: Fiercely Feminine Goddess of War and Wisdom
- Theoi Greek Mythology - Athena
- Mythology.net - Athena
- Theoi - Athene
- Roman and Greek Gods - Facts about Athena
- Encyclopedia Mythica - Athena
- UEN Digital Press with Pressbooks - Athena
Britannica Websites
Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.
- Athena - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)
- Athena - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)
Also known as: Athene, Pallas
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Article History
- Also spelled:
- Athene
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Top Questions
Who was Athena?
Who was Athena?
In ancient Greek religion, Athena was a goddess of war, handicraft, and practical reason. Essentially urban and civilized, Athena was probably a pre-Hellenic goddess later taken over by the Greeks. She was widely worshipped, but in modern times she is associated primarily with Athens, to which she gave her name and protection. The Romans identified her with Minerva.
How was Athena born?
How was Athena born?
Athena, the daughter of Zeus, was produced without a mother and emerged full-grown from his forehead. An alternative story was that Zeus swallowed Metis, the goddess of counsel, while she was pregnant with Athena so that Athena finally emerged from Zeus.
How is Athena usually portrayed?
How is Athena usually portrayed?
Athena is customarily portrayed wearing an aegis, body armor, and a helmet and carrying a shield and a lance.
What is Athena's animal symbol?
What is Athena's animal symbol?
Athena is associated with birds, particularly the owl, which became famous as the symbol of the city of Athens.
What was Athena's role in the Iliad?
What was Athena's role in the Iliad?
In Homer’s Iliad, Athena, as a war goddess, inspires and fights alongside the Greek heroes; her aid is synonymous with military prowess. Representing the intellectual and civilized side of war, she is the divine form of the heroic, martial ideal and personifies excellence in close combat, victory, and glory.
Athena, in Greek religion, the city protectress, goddess of war, handicraft, and practical reason, identified by the Romans with Minerva. She was essentially urban and civilized, the antithesis in many respects of Artemis, goddess of the outdoors. Athena was probably a pre-Hellenic goddess and was later taken over by the Greeks. Yet the Greek economy, unlike that of the Minoans, was largely military, so that Athena, while retaining her earlier domestic functions, became a goddess of war.
She was the daughter of Zeus, produced without a mother, so that she emerged full-grown from his forehead. 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. Being the favourite child of Zeus, she had great power.
Britannica QuizFrom Athena to Zeus: Basics of Greek MythologyAthena’s association with the acropolises of various Greek cities probably stemmed from the location of the kings’ palaces there. She was thought to have had neither consort nor offspring. She may not have been described as a virgin originally, but virginity was attributed to her very early and was the basis for the interpretation of her epithets Pallas and Parthenos. 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.
In Homer’s Iliad, Athena, as a war goddess, inspires and fights alongside the Greek heroes; her aid is synonymous with military prowess. Also in the Iliad, Zeus, the chief god, specifically assigns the sphere of war to Ares, the god of war, and Athena. Athena’s moral and military superiority to Ares derives in part from the fact that she represents the intellectual and civilized side of war and the virtues of justice and skill, whereas Ares represents mere blood lust. Her superiority also derives in part from the vastly greater variety and importance of her functions and from the patriotism of Homer’s predecessors, Ares being of foreign origin. In the Iliad, Athena is the divine form of the heroic, martial ideal: she personifies excellence in close combat, victory, and glory. 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. Athena appears in Homer’s Odyssey as the tutelary deity of Odysseus, and myths from later sources portray her similarly as helper of Perseus and Heracles (Hercules). As the guardian of the welfare of kings, Athena became the goddess of good counsel, of prudent restraint and practical insight, as well as of war.
In post-Mycenaean times the city, especially its citadel, replaced the palace as Athena’s domain. She was widely worshipped, but in modern times she is associated primarily with Athens, to which she gave her name. Her emergence there as city goddess, Athena Polias (“Athena, Guardian of the City”), accompanied the ancient city-state’s transition from monarchy to democracy. She was associated with birds, particularly the owl, which became famous as the city’s own symbol, and with the snake. Her birth and her contest with Poseidon, the sea god, for the suzerainty of the city were depicted on the pediments of the Parthenon, and the great festival of the Panathenaea, in July, was a celebration of her birthday. She was also worshipped in many other cities, notably in Sparta.
Athena became the goddess of crafts and skilled peacetime pursuits in general. She was particularly known as the patroness of spinning and weaving. That she ultimately became allegorized to personify wisdom and righteousness was a natural development of her patronage of skill.
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Athena was customarily portrayed wearing body armour and a helmet and carrying a shield and a lance. Two Athenians, the sculptor Phidias and the playwright Aeschylus, contributed significantly to the cultural dissemination of Athena’s image. She inspired three of Phidias’s sculptural masterpieces, including the massive chryselephantine (gold and ivory) statue of Athena Parthenos once housed in the Parthenon; and in Aeschylus’s dramatic tragedy Eumenides she founded the Areopagus (Athens’s aristocratic council), and, by breaking a deadlock of the judges in favour of Orestes, the defendant, she set the precedent that a tied vote signified acquittal.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Adam Augustyn.
