Who is Athena?

Athena was the goddess of wisdom, of warfare, and of crafts. Although Athena was worshiped in many cities, the Athenians considered her to be their special protector and named their city after her. Many rulers sought her wisdom in both government and military matters. The Romans called her Minerva. Athena is known as one of the three virgin goddesses, referred to as virgin because they were able to remain independent, unswayed by the spells of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, and the consequent pull of marriage and motherhood. Romance and marriage did not feature in Athena’s mythology. Athena was the daughter of Zeus and of the Titan Metis, known for her knowledge and wisdom. Metis had tried to avoid Zeus’s advances by changing herself into different animals, but her tactic failed, and she became pregnant. Zeus learned from an oracle that Metis was expecting a girl. The oracle also predicted that if Metis and Zeus had a male child, the boy would overthrow his father when he grew up, just as Zeus had overthrown his father. To protect himself from this possibility, Zeus swallowed Metis after she changed herself into a fly.

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