She was portrayed to be the goddess of love and beauty often shown smiling. She is the daughter of Zeus. Some myths also say they daughter of Uranus (Aphrodite, 2002). One of the more known and told myth is her helping Paris to abduct his love Helen of Troy.…
Athena is pivotal in assisting Odysseus by aiding in his struggle to return home and in Ithaca. She supports Odysseus throughout the epic. Athena first helps by explaining Odysseus’ predicament to others on Mount Olympus. Athena begs “Olympian Zeus” to “care for him in [his] lofty heart” (Homer 1.72,73). Athena knows that if she is able to convince the other gods and goddess to be on Odysseus’ side it would positively impact his…
To allow Odysseus to get into his home without being recognized Athena disguises him as a beggar, and then as his plan continues he begins to slaughter the suitors. If Athena had not helped Odysseus by causing the suitors to miss their target each time they attempted to fire back at him, then he would have surely been dead fighting against so many puissant men. Without her constant help Odysseus would have never persevered through these tasks he so brashly went through, including this one. Making Athena the true hero of this story.…
Along with perseverance, Athena exemplifies the quality of leadership in her everyday tasks such as when she disguises herself, makes plans for Odysseus and Telemachus, and stops the war between the kinsmen of the suitors and Odysseus and his men. Athena takes charge and leads when she first disguises herself. In that moment the readers witness the first moment when Athena leads by example in the book. She tries to lead the mortals and let Telemachus know his father is alive:…
Athena's role in the Odyssey is helping Odysseus get home. At first Athena talks to Zeus, they speak about how she pities Odysseus and how he should come home. Her exact words were, "My own heart is broken for Odysseus (Homer 3)." Zeus agreed. That the man,Odysseus, should come home. Then Athena left Zeus and went to see Telemakhos. She left as Mentes,so that when she saw Telemakhos he would not know she was Athena. Telemakhos showed xenia to the xenos and when she was satisfied Telemakhos asked Athena who she was. She told him that her name was Mentes. They then had a conversation about many things, one of which was Telemakhos's father. She had told him that his father is truly not dead but "only detained somewhere on the wideseas, upon some…
In Greek religion and mythology, Athena also referred to as Pallas Athena is the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, law and justice, just warfare, mathematics, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, and skill.…
Athena was the goddess of wisdom and war. She was born from Zeus when he had an awful headache, and she sprouted from his forehead in full armor. She was Ares’ partner in war. According to myth, she was Zeus’ favorite child. Symbols of Athena include an owl, and a helmet.…
Being a great strategist and having wisdom beyond life itself, along with being inspiring to several Greek heroes like Perseus and Odysseus makes Athena the strongest diety of the Olympians. A strength Athena has is the ability to provide great strategies. During the Trojan War, Athena gave Odysseus the strategy to build the Trojan Horse…
Athena (Roman name: Minerva), goddess of wisdom and battle strategy, is one of the most beloved and well known gods of the Greek myths. According to Greek mythology, Athena sprang from the head of Zeus, fully grown and wearing battle attire. Athena is always portrayed with her armor and helmet, carrying her shield and lance. Athena is also a gifted craftsman; she created the bridle to tame horses, along with many other crafts and useful objects. Her favorite bird is the owl, which is the symbol of wisdom, watchfulness and the hunt. Athena made all of her followers live a life of purity, and she created a big impact on Greece’s history. On of the most famous myths involving Athena is the origination of the city of the Athens’ symbol. The story begins when Poseidon and Athena have a dispute over who is to rule Athens. Whoever greats the best symbol to represent the city would become patron god or goddess. Poseidon, god of the sea, produced a freshwater spring for the Acropolis. Athena chose to present an olive tree, one of her many symbols. Because olive trees are deemed very useful, Athena became crowned patron goddess of Athens, and she has been ever since.…
She was mentioned in many quests and stories of Ancient Greece, such as the story of the Greek hero Odysseus. She was known for giving advice to mortals and even to Zeus the King of the Gods. In one case she helped Odysseus the hero of the Trojan War. Odysseus won Athena’s favor with his intelligence and clever nature. Throughout the war Athena, placed thoughts and ideas in his head that helped him during his adventure. Even later she appeared to him before he entered the capital where his wife Penelope lived (The Gods and Goddesses). She tried to convince him that Penelope thinks he was dead and that she has remarried, but Odysseus can see through her lie. Athena is impressed and, disguises Odysseus as a beggar so he can enter undetected and gives him the help and advice he needed to kill his wife’s suitors and become king…
When studying modern mythos in terms of comic books, I kept myself in the lense of female superheros being the goddesses of today. I use the comic books as the goddesses’ mythic narrative, but it also moves beyond written and into a visual medium which seems to be a very intriguing thing to the culture of our world today. The pictures and narrative storyline of the female superheroes provides a clear understanding of their purpose in the world created by the writers. When I posed a question of are these writers using these characters as tools to maintain a patriarchal culture or are they strong female role models created to instigate a change in the views of the world, the answer I arrived on was that they were no different from the heroines…
Time and time again, Athena has had to help Odysseus on his journey home. Frankly, without her, Odysseus’ trek back to Ithaka would have been much more difficult. Specifically, as Odysseus is nearly at Ithaca, Athena has to cast a grey mist over Odysseus to protect him from others hurting him. Likewise, she has to disguise Odysseus frequently to ensure his safety and his successful journey home. If Odysseus did not have these disguises, the unfolding of events…
This shows his importance because a normal person without any divine powers is unlikely to get help from a god or goddess such as Athena. Odysseus proves his help from the gods by explaining to his son Telemachus, “ suppose Athena’s arm is over us and Zeus her father’s,” ( Homer Part 2). Athena helps Odysseus by assisting him with valuable information for his journey home. In the hero’s journey this same concept is explained, “ a character who has mastered the laws of the outside world and come back to bestow wisdom upon them,” ( Campbell 3). The hero’s journey is just like this when Athena explains how and what will happen when Odysseus returns…
Athena saves Odysseus from certain death at many points in the story. For example, she saves him from Charybdis. “Then his skin would have been torn off and all his bones broken, if Athena had not put a thought into his mind; he flung himself upon a rock and caught hold with both hands, and clung there groaning, until backwash rolled upon him again, and caried him far out into the sea." Athena helps plot and plan the fall of the suitor’s in Odysseus’ house. Moreover, she disguises Odysseus once more as a beggar to exact his revenge on the suitors. "Odysseus awoke. He lay on his native soil, and knew it not, since he had been long absent. For Pallas Athena herself, that divine daughter of Zeus, had covered the place with mist, that she might tell him…
ak to the people they are watching over such as the instance in the Odyssey where Athena comes to Ithaca to visit Telemachus and reassure him that his father will be coming home and recommends a journey for the boy and to wait a year to allow him to make it home (pg.296). Though Telemachus may have not known it was Athena this is an example of a seen and heard Goddess which allows for her to reassure the boy. It is also seen with Achilles and Athena in the Iliad when Achilles is about to fight to the death with Agamemnon, on lines 205 and 206 it says “Athena came sent by the white-armed goddess Hera who loved and watched over the two men” (pg 194). In this scene it goes on to display a scene of the gods taking their power of visibility and…