Athena in Ancient Greece

Hey dear community, I hope you are all doing well so far and you have a day that has brought numerous interesting experiences into your life! Greek mythology is particularly interesting because of its diversity and in this article I would like to discuss it a little.

You can see here a sculpture depicting the goddess Athena or Pallas Athena, which is probably a copy from the 2nd century AD and is based on a work from a time between 450 - 400 BC and the work expresses this goddess very well and is rich in details and the artist had placed a lot of emphasis on the dynamics. Athena was also considered a goddess of wisdom in ancient Greece and the city of Athens was also named after her and here there is a legend that revolves around a competition among the gods who gives the inhabitants the best gift and God of the seas Poseidon tried to convince inhabitants with a water source but they were more overwhelmed by Athena's gift who created an olive tree and in honour of her victory, the city was named after her. The equivalent of her from Roman mythology is Minerva and she was considered a goddess with various qualities and in addition to her wisdom she was also known as the goddess of strategic warfare and she was also highly revered by craftsman and around her, a huge cult has arisen which has spread throughout Greece which reflects the influence of this goddess well, but she was particularly strongly revered in Athens.

Athena is also considered the daughter of Zeus as well as Metis and her birth was not an easy and somewhat different from the norm and she emerged from the head of Zeus after he had devoured the pregnant Metis and then got a strong headache and to alleviate the symptoms, he asked the god of blacksmithing Hephaestus to drill a hole in his head and then Athena came to light. One of her typical attributes was the owl which was widespread in ancient Greece and was depicted in various coins or other works of art and it was a typical symbol to express her wisdom and she was also depicted with a spear which was created by Hephaestus and was also depicted with various armor such as helmet or shield. Athena has an important meaning in many legends and she had an important meaning in Gigantomachy and was known for her sophisticated strategies and among the Greek gods, she was probably one of the best known and a inspiration for numerous later artists and also later national personifications from different countries remind of Athena or Minerva from antiquity such as mother Helvetia in Switzerland or the symbol of England Britannia.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you could learn something new about mythology! I captured these pictures with my Camera Sony Alpha 6000 plus 55-210 mm lens.