Athena has been known through time by many different names. She has been called “Minerva,” “Pallas,” “Pallas Athena,” or “Athene.” The Romans knew Athena as Minerva. Athena ranked third among the Roman gods after Jupiter (Zeus) and Juno. Athena was the war goddess of the Ancient Greeks. She was also the goddess of wisdom and of crafts, especially spinning and weaving. According to myth Athena was the favorite daughter of Zeus.

Athena came into being out of the body of Zeus, and many people do not know about her mother, Metis. Zeus came to lust over Metis and did everything in his power to try to get her. However, Metis wanted nothing to do with Zeus so she tried to escape as best as she could. She did this by trying to change her form many times. Metis turned in

Richard Dawkins also had an allusion to Athena in his book The Blind Watchmaker in 1986. The book quotes, “Darwin was a passionate anti-saltationist, and this led him to stress, over and over again – the extreme gradualness of the evolutionary changes that he was proposing. The reason is that saltation, to him, meant what I have called the Boeing 747 macromutation. It meant the sudden calling into existence, like Pallas Athene from the head of Zeus, of brand new complex organs at a single stroke of the genetic wand.” The myth of Athena has continued on being used from ancient literature all the way to recent literature, like in Dawkins’ book. Dawkins is an author who wrote to support Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. He relates evolution to the myth of Athena, and her “birth” into this world.

The very Ancient Greeks believed that men were solely responsible for conception of a child, and that the women’s role was to carry it until it was born. This was the reason that Metis was not given any credit for the birth of Athena (Hall 2).

Athena was a tough goddess despite her subdued tendencies. When she engaged in a battle she never lost. She did not even lose against Ares himself. She was a very great strategist and tactician. Generals and wise captains went to her for advice. Athena bared no arms in times of peace and usually borrowed weapons from Zeus when needed. Athena was also known to show mercy. If there was a decision to be made in a trial Athena usually chose to liberate the accused.

Zeus would not give up on Metis and he continued his pursuit until she relented. There was an oracle of Gaea that prophesied that Metis’ first child would be a girl and that her second child would be a boy that would overtake Zeus. Zeus took this warning to heart and when he next saw Metis he flattered her and put her at ease. Zeus now had Metis off guard and he then opened his mouth and swallowed her.

to various creatures such as a hawk, fish, a serpent, and others among them.

Athena has been alluded to in ancient literature, as in works by Homer, by also in works before the civil war. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel wrote, “The owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of dusk.” This

Some topics in this essay:
Maiden Athena, Zeus Metis, Middle Eastern, Athena Hall, Athena Athena, Mayor Casterbridge, Homer Athena, Friedrich Hegel, Poseidon Athens, Ancient Greeks, literature athena, myth athena, modern day, ancient literature, athena literature, zeus athena, built acropolis, conflict meditation, homer athena, “pallas athena”,