| For other uses, see Athena (disambiguation).Latin: Minerva) is the shrewd companion of heroes and the Goddess of heroic endeavour.Birth of Athena
2.Athena Parthenos: Virgin Athena
2.Overview
Athena's cult seems to have existed from very early times as the patron of Athens and was so persistent that myths about her were rewritten often to adapt to cultural changes over the multiple eras of Ancient Greek traditions.She also would come to be known as the goddess of wisdom as philosophy became applied to cult in the later fifth century.Athena's wisdom also includes the cunning intelligence (metis) of such figures as Odysseus.She is attended by an owl, and is often accompanied by the goddess of victory, Nike, whom in established icons she offers upon her extended hand.Athena is an armed warrior goddess, and appears in Greek mythology as a helper of many heroes, including Odysseus, Jason, and Heracles.In Classical Greek myths she never had a consort or lover, and thus, often was known as Athena Parthenos ("Athena the virgin"), hence the name of her most famous temple, the Parthenon, on the Acropolis in Athens.In a remnant of archaic myth, she was the mother of Erichthonius by the attempted rape by Hephaestus, which failed.Other variants relate that the serpent who accompanied Athena, also called Erichthonius, was born to Gaia, Earth, when the rape failed and the semen landed on Gaia, impregnating her, and that after the birth he was given to Athena by Gaia.In her role as a protector of the city, Athena was worshiped throughout the Greek world as Athena Polias ("Athena of the city").She had a special relationship with Athens, as is shown by the etymological connection of the names of the goddess and the city.Mythology
Birth of Athena
In The Greek Myths by Robert Graves (8.Athena, in which she is described as a goddess from Libya whose worship came to the Greeks from Crete after arriving there as early as 4,000 BC.BC) relates that Athena was a parthenogenous daughter of Metis, wisdom or knowledge, a Titan who ruled the fourth day and the planet Mercury.Zeus is said to have swallowed Metis to prevent her from having offspring, but she already was pregnant with Athena.Metis gave birth to her and nurtured her inside Zeus until Athena burst forth from his forehead.In the late Classical Greek myths, Athena is most commonly described as the daughter of Zeus, born after he swallowed her pregnant mother.Which accord her special status: the weapons for which she is so famous are the thunderbolt and the Aegis, which she and he were said to share exclusively.Olympian pantheon, Athena was remade as the favorite daughter of Zeus, born fully armed from his forehead after he swallowed her mother, Metis.And Ouranos trembled to hear, and Mother Gaia..."Pindar, Seventh Olympian Ode).As noted above the Minonan culture of Crete was thought by Plato to have been a source from which the cult of Athena was introduced from Lybia during the dawn of Greek culture.Phoenician historian Sanchuniathon, which Eusebius thought had been written before the Trojan war, make Athena instead, the daughter of Cronus, a king of Byblos who is said to have visited 'the inhabitable world' and bequeathed Attica to Athena.Sanchuniathon's account would make Athena, as was Hera, the sister of Zeus, not his daughter.In every case, Athena kills Pallas, accidentally, and thereby gains the name for herself.When Pallas is Athena's father the events, including her birth, are located near a body of water named Triton or Tritonis, the result of an etymology of Tritogeneia from Tritonis.But Athena may be called the daughter of Poseidon and a nymph named Tritonis, without involving Pallas.Likewise, Pallas may be Athena's father or opponent, without involving Triton.On this topic, Walter Burkert says "she is the Pallas of Athens, Pallas Athenaie, just as Hera of Argos is Here Argeie.For the Athenians, Burkert notes, Athena was simply "the Goddess", he thea, certainly an ancient title.Athena Parthenos: Virgin Athena
Athena never had a consort or lover, and thus also was known as Athena Parthenos, "Virgin Athena."This role is expressed in a number of stories about Athena.Erichthonius
Hephaestus attempted to rape Athena but she eluded him.Athena then raised the baby as a foster mother.Athena put the infant Erichthonius in a small box (cista) which she entrusted to the care of three sisters, Herse, Pandrosus, and Aglaulus of Athens.The goddess didn't tell them what the box contained, but warned them not to open it until she returned.One or two sisters opened the cista to reveal Erichthonius, in the form (or embrace) of a serpent.Jane Harrison (Prolegomena) finds this to be a simple cautionary tale directed at young girls carrying the cista in the Thesmophoria rituals, to discourage them from opening it outside the proper context.Herse, Aglaulus, and Pandrosus go to the temple to offer sacrifices to Athena.Hermes gives her the money the sisters had already offered to Athena.As punishment for Aglaulus's greed, Athena asks the goddess Envy to make Aglaulus jealous of Herse.When Hermes arrives to seduce Herse, Aglaulus stands in his way instead of helping him as she had agreed.During this time, Athena frequently protected him.Poseidon in a temple of Athena.Upon discovering the desecration of her temple, Athena changed Medusa's form to match that of her sister Gorgons as punishment.In one version of the Tiresias myth, Tiresias stumbled upon Athena bathing, and was blinded by her nakedness.Athena, however, offered them the first domesticated olive tree.The Athenians (or their king, Cecrops) accepted the olive tree and with it the patronage of Athena, for the olive tree brought wood, oil, and food.Athena also was the patron goddess of several other Greek cities, notably, Sparta.Helmeted Athena, of the Velletri type; a Roman copy (first century) of a Greek original by Kresilas, c.Counselor
Myths of the Classical Greeks relate that Athena guided Perseus in his quest to behead Medusa.In another late story it is said that Odysseus' cunning and shrewd nature quickly won Athena's favor, though in the realistic epic mode she is largely confined to aiding him only from afar, as by implanting thoughts in his head, during his journey home from Troy.It is not until he washes up on the shore of an island where Nausicaa is washing her clothes that Athena herself can arrive to provide more tangible assistance.Athena, herself, appears in disguise to Odysseus upon his arrival.Pleased with his resolve and shrewdness, she reveals herself to him and tells him everything he needs to know in order to win back his kingdom.She became so conceited of her skill as a weaver that she began claiming that her skill was greater than that of Athena herself.Athena gave Arachne a chance to redeem herself by assuming the form of an old woman and warning Arachne not to offend the deities.Arachne scoffed and wished for a weaving contest, so she could prove her skill.Athena wove the scene of her victory over Poseidon that had inspired her patronage of Athens.Even Athena admitted that Arachne's work was flawless, but was outraged at Arachne's disrespectful choice of subjects that displayed the failings and transgressions of the deities.Finally losing her temper, Athena destroyed Arachne's tapestry and loom, striking it with her shuttle, Arachne realized her folly and hanged herself.In Ovid's telling, Athena took pity on Arachne who was changed into a spider.Helmeted Athena with the cista and Erichthonius in his serpent form.The bird which sees well in the night is closely associated with the goddess of wisdom: in archaic images, Athena is frequently depicted with an owl perched on her head.The olive tree is likewise sacred to her.In earlier times, Athena may well have been a bird goddess, similar to the unknown goddess depicted with owls, wings, and bird talons on the Burney relief, a Mesopotamian terracotta relief of the early second millennium BC.Athena teaching the art of shipbuilding or navigation.Athena Tritogeneia
In the Iliad (4.Homeric Hymns, and in Hesiod's Theogony, Athena is given the curious epithet Tritogeneia.The meaning of this term is unclear.Robert Graves as the possible location from which the worship of Neith was imported into Crete and then into Greece as the warrior goddess Athena at a very early date, perhaps as early as 3,500 BC.In her role as judge at Orestes' trial on the murder of his mother, Clytemnestra (which he won), Athena won the epithet Athena Areia.Athena later was associated with the application of philosophy to cult in the fifth century during the Classical period.The owl and the olive tree are sacred to her.Gorgon Medusa's head, again a symbol of earlier themes, later as a votive gift of Perseus.Athena is an armed warrior goddess, and appears in later Greek mythology as the counselor of many heroes, including Heracles, Jason, and Odysseus.Athena was given many other cult titles.She had the epithet Athena Ergane as the patron of craftsmen and artisans.With the epithet Athena Parthenos ("virgin"), Athena was worshiped on the Classical period Acropolis, especially in the festival of the Panathenaea.With the epithet Athena Promachos she led in battle.With the epithet Athena Polias ("of the city"), Athena was the protector of Athens and its Acropolis, but also of many other cities, including Argos, Sparta, Gortyn, Lindos, and Larisa.She was given the epithet Athena Hippeia or Athena Hippia, horse as the inventor of the chariot, and was worshipped under this title at Athens, Tegea and Olympia.As Athena Hippeia she was given an alternative parentage: Poseidon and Polyphe, daughter of Oceanus.Athena often was equated with Aphaea, a local goddess of the island of Aegina, located near Athens, once Aegina was under Athenian's power.And upon this occasion it was that he set up a brass statue of Athena Hygeia, in the citadel near the altar, which they say was there before.Classically, Athena is portrayed wearing full armor, with her helmet raised high on the forehead to reveal her face in the gesture of peaceful greeting; she carries a spear or has shifted it in order to extend upon her hand the image of Nike.Her shield bears at its centre the gorgoneion, the head of the gorgon Medusa, as does her agis.It is in this standing posture that she was depicted in Phidias's famous lost gold and ivory statue of her, 36 m tall, the Athena Parthenos in the Parthenon.Athena also often is depicted with an owl sitting on one of her shoulders.The Mourning Athena is a relief sculpture that dates around 460 BC and portrays a weary Athena resting on a staff.Apart from her attributes, there seems to be a relative consensus in sculpture from the Classical period, the fifth century onward, as to what Athena looked like.Most noticeable in the face is perhaps the full round strong chin with a high nose that has a high bridge as a natural extension of the forehead.The net result is a serene, serious, somewhat aloof beauty.Name, etymology, and origin
Athena had a special relationship with Athens, as is shown by the etymological connection of the names of the goddess and the city.Athena was said to have won a contest between her and Neptune, Roman God of the Sea, over the city of Athens.Neptune gave the city a fountain of flowing water, but it was salty and was not much help to the people.Athena planted the first olive tree, which provided the people with food, firewood, and shade.She showed how to crush olives to make oil, that could then be used in a variety of ways.Athena's gift was the most useful, and she won patronship of the city.Athens was then named in her honor.Athens had built a statue of Athena as a temple to the goddess, which had piercing eyes, a helmet on her head, attired with a cuirass and an extremely long spear.Goddess was called Mykene, and Mycenae is named in the plural for the sisterhood of females who tended her there.At Thebes she was called Thebe, and the city again a plural, Thebae (or Thebes, where the 's' is the plural formation).Similarly, at Athens she was called Athena, and the city Athenae (or Athens, again a plural)."Athena also was a weaver and the deity of crafts.Greeks rationalised as from the deity's (theos) mind (nous).Athena stands in front of the Austrian Parliament Building in Vienna.Parthenon has stood in Nashville, Tennessee, which is known as the Athens of the South.Phidias' statue of Athena Parthenos was added.The state seal of California features an image of Athena (or Minerva) kneeling next to a brown grizzly bear.Athena is the symbol of the Darmstadt University of Technology, Germany.She is the symbol of the United States Women's Army Corps and was depicted on their Unit Crest.Women Army Auxiliary Corps from 10 July 1942 to 31 August 1943, and to the Women Army Corps from 1 September 1943 to 2 September 1945 featured Athena on the front.Athena's Helmet is the central feature on the United States Military Academy crest.Athena is reported as a source of influence for feminist theologians such as Carol P.The goddess also holds a special place in the traditions at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania.Athena (a replica of the original bronze one in the archaeology library) resides in the Great Hall.Athena's owl also serves as the mascot of the college.Renan's 1862 biography of Jesus had denied his divinity, and he had written the Prayer on the Acropolis addressed to the goddess Athena.Renan's head was turned away from the building, while Athena was depicted beside him, raising her arm as if in challenge to the church.The installation was accompanied by a mass protest from local catholics and a religious service against the growth of skepticism and secularism."Whether the goddess was named after the city or the city after the goddess is an ancient dispute" (Burkert 1985:139).Kore of her matriarchal conditions" has never been refuted (Harrison 1922:302).Compare the prophecy concerning Thetis.Graves, Robert, The Greek Myths I, "The Birth of Athena," 8.The story comes from Libyan (modern Berbers) where the Greek Athena and the Egyptian Neith blend in to one deity.Graves, Robert, The Greek Myths I, "The Nature and Deeds of Athena" 25.Graves, Robert, The Greek Myths I,"The Nature and Deeds of Athena" 25.The owl's role as a symbol of wisdom originates in this association with Athena."Whether the goddess was named after the city or the city after the goddess is an ancient dispute" (Burkert, p.Ruck and Staples 1994:24.Neumann, "Der lydische Name der Athena.Kn V 52 (text 208 in Ventris and Chadwick).References
Ancient sources
Lucan, Bellum civile ix.Harrison, Jane Ellen, 1903.Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion.Documents in Mycenaean Greek (Cambridge).The World of Classical Myth: Gods and Goddesses, Heroines and Heroes (Durham, NC).This page was last modified 06:15, 29 January 2008.See Copyrights for details.It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into List of characters from The King of Fighters.For the SNK goddess, see Princess Athena.SNK's video game Psycho Soldier and a descendant of Princess Athena in its Athena.She was also given her own RPG game Athena: Awakening from the Ordinary Life in 1999 released only in Japan for the Sony PlayStation.Athena is perhaps best known for changing her outfit and hair style for virtually every new KOF game.History
Athena is a modern day high school girl in Japan.Her psycho power is a legacy from her ancestor Princess Athena through her mother and it seems no other one in her family possesses the same power.She started her experience of Psycho Soldier as one day, while returning home from school, Athena saw a couple of Chinese fellows about to defend themselves from a local tough guy, whom she immediately knocked out with her powers before he threw a single punch.Recognizing a good thing, they joined forces to become the Psycho Soldiers.Since then, Kensou has persisted in trying to make Athena his girlfriend, though she thinks of him as a good friend and nothing more (as of yet).By KOF '95, Athena met Kyo, and became mildly attracted to him after their match.However, she respects the fact that he already has a girlfriend and dropped the crush.Athena led their efforts in crime fighting and conquering the world of team combat in the annual The King of Fighters tournament.By KOF '96, Athena had become just as big a sensation in the fighting world as she was on the pop scene for her charm, unique style, and amazing powers.Kyo Kusanagi, Iori Yagami, and Chizuru Kagura defeat at various times Rugal Bernstein, Geese Howard, Goenitz, and Orochi.In KOF '97, Athena was forbidden to take part in the KOF tournament by her master Chin.After presenting him a letter from a fan, Kaoru Watabe, a crippled girl who took inspiration to learn to walk again by watching Athena's determination in the tournament, master Chin had no choice but to join the tournament once again along with Athena and Kensou.In the aftermath of KOF '97, the Psycho Soldiers met Kaoru, who now travels with them to most of their engagements and was even a striker in KOF 2000.In KOF '99, after K' defeated Krizalid, the collapsing NESTS base split Athena and Kensou from Chin and Bao as they fled.Just as Athena discovered an exit, falling debris trapped her leg.Kensou could not budge it, but just as another cascade of falling debris threatened to crush Athena, Kensou managed a massive burst of telekinesis to deflect it and finally extract Athena.The incident injured him so badly, though, that not even Athena's potent vitakinesis could help him.Luckily, Kensou somehow unleashed his hidden "Dragon's Spirit", which saved Bao.Since then, Athena and Chin have determined that Kensou and Bao share some sort of psychic connection, especially because as Kensou's new psychic power has waxed, Bao's psychic power has waned.Chin thinks they simply share the same power, but Bao reveals to us after KOF 2001 that he secretly knows the true nature of their relationship, one not yet made clear to KOF fans.Not wanting to miss out on her annual fix of tournament competition, though, Athena joined forces with Hinako Shijou and Malin to form the High School Girls team, a strange but rather successful partnership.For KOF XI, Athena reunites with Kensou after his year of training, and Momoko, one of Chin's growing cadre of psychic students, joins them to form the Neo Psycho Soldier team.Though neither Athena nor the other Psycho Soldiers have much connection with the major plot in KOF 2003 through KOF XII (not yet released, but presumably the climax of the latest KOF plot arc), it seems she is destined to soon struggle alongside Kensou against the evil and powerful Ron and his henchmen, who intend to steal Kensou's power of the Dragon's Spirit.The King of Fighters: Kyo
In the PlayStation game KOF Kyo, Athena had a mild crush on its main character Kyo Kusanagi, although she respects how he's already in a relationship with a young girl named Yuki, who becomes Athena's closest friend at school.That crush stems from their fight in the KoF'95, where Athena was extremely impressed by Kyo's powers and good looks, and then transferred to his school to know more about him.Athena has to find answers about strange things that happened in her school, and later in various parts of Japan.Different from her other appearances, this game is played in similar way to Capcom's Resident Evil series.Trivia
Athena has made an appearance in Baseball Stars Professional, one of SNK's earliest games for their Neo Geo home console system.Haruna Ikezawa, Athena's seiyu since KOF'98, was born in Athens.Athena's theme song for KOF'94, '96, '97 and 2002 is a remixed version of the Psycho Soldier theme.Psycho Soldier game, which also had this feature (a rare trait for its time).Incidentally, Athena performs this song in concert as part of the PS and Korean teams' backstories for KOF'99.Athena is the only character in KOF that changes her outfit for practically every new title.Capcom: The Match of the Millennium) and KOF '99 Evolution's alternative striker (a nod to the outfit she wear in the Psycho Soldier video game).In KOF XI, her LDM is called Super Phoenix Infinity and sees Athena creating wings of pink energy and rising off the top of the screen before diving at her opponent wrapped in a phoenix's aura.Psycho Soldier video game), a Psycho Sword (rising uppercut, wearing a bikini as a nod towards her ancestor incarnation in the Athena video game) or the Fire Sword (swinging a flaming sword while dressed in Princess Athena's golden armour).Healing Athena, though her dress is far less conservative here.For a time, Athena was considered the mascot of SNK.In her bio, Athena considers Terry to be a very rude person in reference to this.The King of Fighters Official Website
Athena Costume Contest Website Japanese fanwebsite dedicated to designing her next costume.This page was last modified 19:20, 30 January 2008.Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, war, the arts, industry, justice and skill.She had sprung fully grown out of her father's head.The hammering of the helmet caused Zeus great pain in the form of headaches and he cried out in agony.Skilled Hephaestus ran to his father and split his skull open and from it emerged Athena, fully grown and wearing her mother's robe and helmet.Athena and her uncle Poseidon were both very fond of a certain city in Greece.Leading a procession of citizens, the two gods mounted the Acropolis.The people marveled, but the water was as salty as Poseidon's sea and it was not very useful.Athena's gift was an olive tree, which was better because it gave the people food, oil and wood.Athena named her city Athens.Athena's companion was the goddess of victory, Nike, and her usual attribute is the owl.Athena possessed the Aegis.Article "Athena" created on 03 March 1997; last modified on 26 May 1999 (Revision 2).She was the patron goddess of Athens.So Zeus swallowed Metis.Hephaestus cleaved Zeus's forehead with an ax, and Athena sprang forth fully armed.The poet Hesiod tells the story to account for Zeus's great wisdom, since he can be said to have literally incorporated Metis.Zeus gave birth to Athena himself, as if to say, Who needs a woman in order to bring forth new life?Athena aided the heroes Perseus, Jason, Cadmus, Odysseus and Heracles in their quests.Both Athena and Poseidon wanted to be patron deity of Athens.To prove her worthiness for the honor, Athena caused an olive tree to spring up on the citadel of Athens, the Acropolis.Athena's gift to the Athenians was considered to be more useful, so she became the city's patron deity.Athena sponsored Perseus in his quest to slay Medusa because she wanted the Gorgon's head to decorate her shield.Athena was reviewed by Education World (R) Search Engine and received an "A+" ratting.Steven Lotz, Project Manager, John Nuveen, and Co.In addition, we've been impressed
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