Athnea essays

Athnea essays Athena, the goddess of wisdom and military victory, and also the patron of the city of Athens, was Hercules' half-sister. Athena is also the Greek virgin goddess of reason, intelligent activity, arts and literature. Her parents were Zeus and Metis, a nymph. Zeus heard a prophecy that the child Metis bore after she gave birth to Athena would become the lord of heaven, so, to prevent this from happening, he swallowed Metis while she was still pregnant with Athena. When the time came for Athena to be born, the smith god, Hephaistos, opened Zeus' head with an axe, and Athena stepped out, in full armor. She was Zeus's favorite child and was allowed to use his weapons including his thunderbolt. She is the goddess of the city Athens, handicrafts, and agriculture. She invented the bridle, which permitted man to tame horses, the trumpet, the flute, the pot, the rake, the plow, the yoke, the ship, and the chariot. She is the embodiment of wisdom, reason, and purity. Athena was also fierce and brave in battle but, only wars to defined the state and home from outside enemies therefore, she often helped heroes, like Jason and Perseus. She wore an aegis, a goatskin shield which had a fringe of snakes. When Perseus killed the gorgon Medusa, whose face turned men to stone, he gave the gorgon head to Athena, and the goddess placed it on her aegis.When Hercules went mad and killed his children, Athena stopped the disaster from getting worse. Just as the insane hero turned to kill Amphitryon, Athena threw a stone at Hercules, knocking him unconscious, so his mortal father was spared. Athena also helped Hercules at many points during his Labors. She provided him with the krotala he used to scare the Stymphalian Birds , and she carried the apples back to the garden of the Hesperides. Eventhough Athena was loved by many and helped when she could, she had a enemy, the god of war, Ares. Ares is the son of Zeus and Hera. He is most often confuse ...