Athena and her less known secrets
She has a son... in a way.
Athena is known as a virgin goddess without children, but had an adopted son. Hephaestus He tried to rape Athena, but he didn't make it. Athena, disgusted, she wiped away Hephaestus’s semen, which fell to the earth (Gaia) and gave birth to a creature half-man and half-snake, who was named ErichthoniusAthena felt responsible for him and adopted him. He became the first king of Athens.
She invented many useful tools and techniques.
Athena is credited with the invention of the plow and the yoke, the bridle, the chariot, the loom, and the flute, although she never played it, claiming that it distorted her face, and, at times, writing (although sometimes it is Hermes who invented writing). He taught people most crafts, how to make and use agricultural tools, and how to ride horses. The Homeric Hymn to Hephaestus credits Athena and Hephaestus with teaching humanity skills related to agriculture, industry, and the arts, which contributed to the establishment of civilization.
She invented the Athenian justice system.
The work of Aeschylus «The Eumenides» He relates how Athena invented the justice system to settle the matter of Orestes who killed his mother to avenge his father. She acted as a judge, Apollo was the defense attorney and Erinyes It was the prosecutors.
Her owl is a rape victim she saved.
- Nyktiemena She was a beautiful princess of Lesbos who was raped by her own father. She ran into a forest and hid out of shame, appearing only at night. Athena took pity on her and turned her into an owl, making Nyctimene her spirit companion.
She gave Bellerophon the bridle so he could tame Pegasus.
- Bellerophon, desperate for just how he would kill Chimera, she went to sleep inside one of the temples of Athena. There, Athena appeared to him in a dream and gave him a golden bridle that he could use to tame the winged horse, the Pegasus.
She accidentally killed her best friend.
Athena was born an adult, but she spent the early years of her life learning martial arts from Triton (here as the river god, not as the son of Poseidon). His daughter, Pallas, was both a friend and a rival of Athena, but during a contest, Athena accidentally killed her. (According to Pseudo-Apollodorus, this was due to the intervention of Zeus.) Devastated, Athena fashioned a statue of Pallas, the Palladium, which was eventually worshipped by the city of Troy as protection against its inevitable fall. She also adopted the name “Pallas” as one of her own epithets.
She bestowed upon Tiresias the gift of prophecy.
- Theresa manages to get himself into trouble with many Olympians and somehow manages to escape with his life and his sanity. There was that one time he temporarily became a woman to help settle a dispute between the Zeus and Hera regarding whether men or women experience more pleasure during sex, and there was also that time he caught Athena bathing and was immediately blinded. Athena felt bad about this, because it was a pure accident that Tiresias saw her naked, so she granted him the gift of prophecy to compensate for his loss of sight.
She often disguises himself as a man.
It is quite common for gods to disguise themselves as mortals, but less common for them to disguise themselves as mortals of the opposite sex. He disguises himself as a man three times in the Odyssey: first as Mentes, king of a neighboring island and a friend of Odysseus; then as Mentor, a wise old man who is also a friend of Odysseus; and finally, as a “slender youth,” a shepherd who welcomes the Odysseus when it reaches the Ithaca. (Athena’s relationship with femininity and her own gender identity seem somewhat complex, which partly reflected the Athenians’ misogyny, but may also simply be the way she is.)
She was a patron of many heroes.
Apart from her favorite, Ulysses, she helped many heroes, such as Hercules, Perseus, Bellerophon and Diomede, thus winning the role of protector.
She was a goddess of horses.
Known as Hippia Athina (Athena of horses), recognized as the inventor of the rein and the first to tame horses, sharing this domain with Poseidon, despite their rivalry.
The original history of Medusa
In the earlier Greek versions of the myth, Medusa born MermaidInstead of being transformed into a Mermaid by Athena as punishment for a violation by Poseidon, which was a later Roman version. Transfigure it Spider out of jealousy: After the mortal Spider woman challenged her to weaving and created a flawless carpet that mocked the gods, Athena transformed her into a spider of rage and jealousy.