Greek city of Athens in Attica Greece –
Pseudo-autonomous issue
Bronze 20mm (5.11 grams) Struck 264-267 A.D.
Reference: Kroll, Agora 396; Svoronos pl. 91, 33
Helmeted head of Athena right
Table seen in perspective, atop which is, from left to right, a helmeted head of
Athena right, an owl standing facing, and a wreath; AΔPIANЄIA along front of
table, amphora below, palm branch in exergue.
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In
Greek
and
Roman mythology
, Glaucus (Greek:
Γλαῦκος, Glaukos, “glaring (eyes)”;
compare Greek glaux, owl, of the same origin) is the symbolic
owl
of Athena
or
Minerva
, respectively. Often referred to as the
“owl of Athena” or “owl of Minerva“, it accompanies
Minerva
in
Roman myths
, seen as a
symbol
of
wisdom
because the owl is capable of seeing
even in the dark and of vigilance because the owl is awake at night.
Helmeted Athena with the cista and Erichthonius in his serpent form.
Roman, first century (Louvre
Museum)
In
Greek religion
and
mythology
, Athena or Athene, also
referred to as Pallas Athena/Athene , is the goddess of wisdom, courage,
inspiration, civilization, law and justice, just warfare, mathematics, strength,
strategy, the arts, crafts, and skill.
Minerva
is the
Roman goddess
identified with
Athena.
Athena is also a shrewd companion of
heroes and is the
goddess
of heroic endeavour. She is the
virgin
patroness of
Athens
. The Athenians founded the
Parthenon
on the Acropolis of her namesake
city, Athens (Athena Parthenos), in her honour.
Athena’s veneration as the patron of Athens seems to have existed from the
earliest times, and was so persistent that archaic myths about her were recast
to adapt to cultural changes. In her role as a protector of the city (polis),
many people throughout the Greek world worshiped Athena as Athena Polias
(Ἀθηνᾶ Πολιάς “Athena of the city”). The city of
Athens
and the goddess Athena essentially bear
the same name, “Athenai” meaning “[many] Athenas”.
Patroness
Athenian
tetradrachm
representing the
goddess Athena
Athena as the goddess of philosophy became an aspect of the cult in Classical
Greece during the late 5th century B.C. She is the patroness of various crafts,
especially of weaving
, as Athena Ergane, and was
honored as such at festivals such as
Chalceia
. The metalwork of weapons also fell
under her patronage. She led battles (Athena
Promachos or the warrior maiden Athena Parthenos) as the
disciplined, strategic side of war, in contrast to her brother
Ares, the patron of violence, bloodlust and slaughter—”the raw force
of war”. Athena’s wisdom includes the cunning intelligence (metis) of
such figures as Odysseus
. Not only was this version of Athena
the opposite of Ares in combat, it was also the polar opposite of the serene
earth goddess version of the deity, Athena Polias.
Athena appears in Greek mythology as the patron and helper of many heroes,
including Odysseus
,
Jason
, and
Heracles
. In
Classical Greek
myths, she never consorts with
a lover, nor does she ever marry,earning the title Athena Parthenos. A
remnant of archaic myth depicts her as the adoptive mother of
Erechtheus
/Erichthonius
through the foiled rape by
Hephaestus
. Other variants relate that
Erichthonius, the serpent that accompanied Athena, was born to
Gaia
: when the rape failed, the semen landed on
Gaia and impregnated her. After Erechthonius was born, Gaia gave him to Athena.
Though Athena is a goddess of war strategy, she disliked fighting without
purpose and preferred to use wisdom to settle predicaments.The goddess only
encouraged fighting for a reasonable cause or to resolve conflict. As patron of
Athens she fought in the Trojan war on the side of the Achaeans.
Mythology
Lady of Athens
Athena competed with
Poseidon
to be the patron deity of Athens,
which was yet unnamed, in a version of one
founding myth
. They agreed that each would give
the Athenians one gift and that the Athenians would choose the gift they
preferred. Poseidon struck the ground with his
trident
and a salt water spring sprang up; this
gave them a means of trade and water—Athens at its height was a significant sea
power, defeating the
Persian
fleet at the
Battle of Salamis
—but the water was salty and
not very good for drinking.
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.
Robert Graves
was of the opinion that
“Poseidon’s attempts to take possession of certain cities are political myths”
which reflect the conflict between matriarchal and patriarchal religions.
Other sites of cult
Athena also was the patron goddess of several other Greek cities, notably
Sparta, where the archaic cult of
Athena Alea
had its sanctuaries in the
surrounding villages of
Mantineia
and, notably,
Tegea
. In Sparta itself, the temple of Athena
Khalkíoikos (Athena “of the Brazen House”, often
latinized
as Chalcioecus) was the
grandest and located on the Spartan acropolis; presumably it had a roof of
bronze. The forecourt of the Brazen House was the place where the most solemn
religious functions in Sparta took place.
Tegea was an important religious center of ancient Greece, containing the
Temple of Athena Alea
. The temenos was founded by
Aleus
,
Pausanias
was informed. Votive bronzes at the
site from the Geometric and Archaic periods take the forms of horses and deer;
there are
sealstone
and
fibulae
. In the Archaic period the nine
villages that underlie Tegea banded together in a
synoecism
to form one city. Tegea was listed in
Homer
‘s
Catalogue of Ships
as one of the cities that
contributed ships and men for the
Achaean assault on Troy
.
Judgment of Paris
Aphrodite is being surveyed by Paris, while Athena (the leftmost
figure) and Hera stand nearby.
El Juicio de Paris
by
Enrique Simonet
, ca. 1904
All the gods and goddesses as well as various mortals were invited to the
marriage of Peleus
and
Thetis
(the eventual parents of
Achilles
). Only
Eris
, goddess of discord, was not invited. She
was annoyed at this, so she arrived with a golden apple inscribed with the word
καλλίστῃ (kallistēi, “for the fairest”), which she threw among the goddesses.
Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena all claimed to be the fairest, and thus the rightful
owner of the apple.
The goddesses chose to place the matter before Zeus, who, not wanting to
favor one of the goddesses, put the choice into the hands of Paris, a
Trojan prince. After bathing in the spring of
Mount Ida
(where Troy was situated), the
goddesses appeared before Paris. The goddesses undressed and presented
themselves to Paris naked, either at his request or for the sake of winning.
Paris is awarding the apple to Aphrodite, while Athena makes a face.
Urteil des Paris by
Anton Raphael Mengs
, ca. 1757
Still, Paris could not decide, as all three were ideally beautiful, so they
resorted to bribes. Hera tried to bribe Paris with control over all
Asia and Europe
, while Athena offered wisdom, fame and
glory in battle, but Aphrodite came forth and whispered to Paris that if he were
to choose her as the fairest he would have the most beautiful mortal woman in
the world as a wife, and he accordingly chose her. This woman was
Helen
, who was, unfortunately for Paris,
already married to King
Menelaus
of
Sparta
. The other two goddesses were enraged by
this and through Helen’s abduction by Paris they brought about the
Trojan War
.
The Parthenon
, Temple of Athena
Parthenos
Masculinity and
feminism
Athena had an “androgynous compromise” that allowed her traits and what she
stood for to be attributed to male and female rulers alike over the course of
history (such as Marie de’ Medici, Anne of Austria, Christina of Sweden, and
Catherine the Great)
J.J. Bachofen advocated that Athena was originally a maternal figure stable
in her security and poise but was caught up and perverted by a patriarchal
society; this was especially the case in Athens. The goddess adapted but could
very easily be seen as a god. He viewed it as “motherless paternity in the place
of fatherless maternity” where once altered, Athena’s character was to be
crystallized as that of a patriarch.
Whereas Bachofen saw the switch to paternity on Athena’s behalf as an
increase of power, Freud on the contrary perceived Athena as an “original mother
goddess divested of her power”. In this interpretation, Athena was demoted to be
only Zeus’s daughter, never allowed the expression of motherhood. Still more
different from Bachofen’s perspective is the lack of role permanency in Freud’s
view: Freud held that time and differing cultures would mold Athena to stand for
what was necessary to them.
Athens,
the
capital
and largest city of
Greece
,
dominates the
Attica
periphery; as one of the
world’s oldest cities
, its
recorded history
spans around 3,400 years.
The Greek capital has a population of 745,514 (in 2001)
within its administrative limits
and a land area of 39 km2 (15 sq mi).
The urban
area
of Athens extends beyond the administrative
city
limits
with a population of 3,130,841 (in 2001)
and a land area of 412 km2 (159 sq mi).
According to Eurostat
, the Athens
Larger Urban Zone
(LUZ) is the 7th most populous LUZ in the
European Union
(the 5th most populous capital city of the
EU
) with a population of 4,013,368 (in 2004).
A bustling and cosmopolitan metropolis, Athens is central to economic,
financial, industrial, political and cultural life in Greece and it is rated as
an alpha-
world city
.
It is rapidly becoming a leading business centre in the European Union. In 2008,
Athens was ranked the world’s 32nd richest city by purchasing power
and the
25th most expensive
in a UBS
study.
Classical Athens
was a powerful
city-state
.
A centre for the arts, learning and
philosophy
,
home of Plato
‘s
Academy
and
Aristotle
‘s
Lyceum
,
Athens was also the birthplace of
Socrates
,
Pericles
,
Sophocles
and its many other prominent philosophers, writers and politicians of the
ancient world
. It is widely referred to as the
cradle
of Western civilization and the birthplace of
democracy
,
largely due to the impact of its cultural and political achievements during the
5th and 4th centuries BC on the rest of the then known
European continent
.
The heritage of the
classical era
is still evident in the city, represented by a number of
ancient monuments
and works of art, the most famous of all being the
Parthenon
on the
Acropolis
, widely considered a key landmark of early
Western civilization
. The city also retains a vast variety of
Roman
and
Byzantine
monuments, as well as a smaller number of remaining
Ottoman
monuments projecting the city’s long history across the centuries.
Landmarks of the modern era are also present, dating back to 1830 (the
establishment of the independent Greek state), and taking in the
Hellenic Parliament
(19th century) and the Athens Trilogy consisting of the
National Library of Greece
, the
Athens University
and the
Academy of Athens
. Athens was the host city of the
first modern-day Olympic Games
in 1896, and 108 years later it welcomed home
the
2004 Summer Olympics
.
Acropolis of Athens
with the
Parthenon
on top.
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