BY LAASYA AKI
STAFF WRITER
Athena: child of Zeus, the Greek goddess of war and wisdom. She is also associated with crafts, especially weaving. She was a natural leader and everyone feared her. Heroes often went to her for help on quests. She was full of vengeance and made enemies with Poseidon, god of the sea. Athena was born from the skull of her father. Hephaestus, god of fire, had to split Zeus’s skull open with an axe just to bring Athena out.
Poseidon was an enemy of Athena because of Athens. The gods were in a contention of who should be patron of the city. After tireless bickering and fighting, Athena was deemed patron of Athens, hence the name. This meant that the city would worship Athena as the main goddess and she would bestow good-will to the citizens. Because of this event, Poseidon and Athena became rivals. While they both fought on the same side, with the gods, they despised each other. Filled with anger, Poseidon brought a girl named Medusa to the Pantheon and decided to dine there. Filled with rage, Athena cursed medusa into becoming a gorgon, a woman with snakes as hair that paralyzes anybody she looks at. This rivalry is said to have been going on for millenia.
But Poseidon and Medusa weren’t the only ones who Athena punished. There was a woman named Arachne who was one of the greatest weavers of all time. Her tapestries were woven with such detail that they were said to have been like an actual scene. She boasted about her skill, and while it was true, she became too cocky one day. She was going on and on about her skill when she claimed that she was even more talented than Athena herself. Once again, filled with rage, she challenged Arachne to a challenge. The winner was the woman who had woven a better tapestry. After many hours of weaving, Arachne and Athena finished their tapestries. Arachne’s tapestry was so beautiful and almost lifelike. But, it was not the winner. Athena’s tapestry was the most magnificent and perfect scene that everybody had laid eyes on. Because of her pride, Athena turned Arachne into a spider, or arachnid, so that she could weave for the rest of her life. But, everything that Arachne wove would be considered disgusting by humans and they would all want to wreck her work.
Athena was a wise goddess who almost everyone looked up to. She was a mostly fair judge, but she sometimes let her temper get the best of her. Either way, Athena is an important part of Greek mythology.
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