Athena
Pallas Athena; Roman: Minerva
Goddess of wisdom, strategy, weaving and crafts, and protector of the city of Athens.
In Hesiod's Theogony, Zeus swallows his pregnant first wife Metis, and Athena is born from his head; the Homeric Hymn to Athena adds that she sprang out in golden armor, shaking Olympus. She and Poseidon competed to become patron of Athens: he struck the rock and brought forth a spring of salt water, while she planted the first olive tree. The gods (or, in a later version, the citizens) judged her gift the better, and the city took her name.
In the sky: the asteroid Pallas, and how it got its name →
Symbols
Owl Olive tree Helmet and spear Aegis
In the ancient sources
Homer: the Iliad and the Odyssey
- glaukōpis
- “grey-eyed, bright-eyed” Iliad 1.206
- Pallas
- “a title of uncertain meaning” Iliad 1.200
- Atrytōnē
- “unwearied one” Iliad 2.157
- Iliad 1.193–222 Seen by no one else, she seizes Achilles by the hair and stops him drawing his sword on Agamemnon.
- Iliad 5.733–863 She takes up the aegis, rides in Diomedes' chariot and drives his spear into the war god Ares.
- Iliad 22.214–305 Disguised as Hector's brother Deiphobus, she tricks Hector into facing Achilles.
- Odyssey 1.96–324 Disguised as the stranger Mentes, she visits Telemachus and urges him to seek news of his father.
- Odyssey 13.221–440 Disguised as a young shepherd, she meets Odysseus on Ithaca, laughs at his made-up story, and reveals herself.
Homer never tells the story of her birth from Zeus's head, though Ares complains that Zeus fathered her alone (Iliad 5.875–880).
Hesiod and the Homeric Hymns
- Tritogeneia
- “Trito-born (meaning uncertain)” Theogony 924
- erysiptolis
- “protector of the city” Homeric Hymn to Athena 11.1
- Theogony 886–900 Zeus makes Metis, wisest of all, his first wife, then swallows her while she is pregnant.
- Theogony 924–926 Zeus himself gives birth from his head to bright-eyed Tritogeneia, who delights in war-cries and battles.
- Homeric Hymn to Athena (28) She springs from Zeus's head in golden armor; Olympus reels, the sea heaves, and the Sun halts his horses.
- Works and Days 63–64 Zeus orders Athena to teach the first woman, Pandora, needlework and weaving.
Cross-checked against these texts and records, in public-domain or freely available versions where they exist. Line, section and chapter numbers follow the standard editions, so a particular translation may differ slightly.
Correspondences Explore all
These mix ancient attributes with modern associations from contemporary pagan and magical practice; the modern ones weren't part of her original worship.