Athena in Greek mythology. Athena is the goddess of war and wisdom in Greek mythology. Queen of Sheba and Solomon

He knew that the goddess of reason, Metis (Metis), would have two children: a daughter, Athena, and a son of extraordinary intelligence and strength. goddesses of fate moira told Zeus that this son would take away his power over the world. To avoid this, Zeus lulled Metis with affectionate speeches and swallowed her before the birth of children. Soon Zeus felt a terrible pain in his head. To get rid of her, he called on his son Hephaestus and ordered to cut his head. With an ax blow, Hephaestus split the skull of Zeus, and from there, to the amazement of the other Olympian gods, a powerful and beautiful warrior, the goddess Pallas Athena, emerged in full armor. Athena's blue eyes burned with divine wisdom.

Birth of Athena from the head of Zeus. Drawing on an amphora of the second half of the 6th century. BC

Athena - goddess of war

Athena is the “blue-eyed virgin”, the goddess of the clear sky, dispersing the clouds with her sparkling spear, attaching to her shield, Aegis, the snake-haired head of the terrible Gorgon Medusa, the black daughter of the night, at the same time the goddess of victorious energy in any struggle: she is armed with a shield, sword and spear. The goddess Pallas Athena was considered by the Greeks to be the inventor of military art. She is always accompanied by the winged goddess of victory (Nika). Athena - the guardian of cities, the goddess of the acropolises; in honor of her, the goddess of the Athenian Acropolis, the Athenians performed large and small Panathenaic holidays. Being the goddess of war, Athena, however, did not experience joy in battles, like the gods Ares and Eris, but preferred to resolve feuds in peace. In peaceful days, she did not carry weapons, but during wars she received them from Zeus. However, having entered the battle, Pallas never lost it - even to the god of war Ares.

Myths of Ancient Greece: Athena. Wise warrior

Athena - goddess of wisdom

Pallas Athena keeps order in the weather changes, so that after a thunderstorm that gave rain, the sky clears up again: but she is also the goddess of fertility of fields and gardens; under her patronage, an olive tree grew in Attica, which had such importance for this land; it gives prosperity to the home and family. Under the auspices of Pallas Athena is the civil system, tribal institutions, public life; the goddess of the all-pervading and clear ether, the goddess Athena became in the myths about the gods of Ancient Greece the goddess of the insight of the mind, prudence, the goddess of all inventions of art, the goddess of artistic activity, mental pursuits, the goddess of wisdom. She gives wisdom and knowledge, teaches people the arts and crafts. The girls of ancient Greece honored Pallas Athena as a teacher of home needlework - culinary arts, weaving and spinning. No one can surpass the goddess Athena in the art of weaving. The ancient Greek myth said that it is very dangerous to compete with her in this - Arachne, the daughter of Idmon, who wanted to surpass Athena in this art, severely paid for her arrogance.

The ancient Greeks believed that Pallas Athena, the goddess of wisdom, made a great many useful inventions: she created a flute, a pipe, a ceramic pot, a plow, a rake, a yoke for oxen, bridles for horses, a chariot, a ship, the art of counting. Therefore, the ancient Greek commanders always tried to get useful advice from Athena. Pallas Athena was famous for her kindness, and therefore, when the judges disagreed at the trials in the Areopag of Athens, she always gave her vote for the acquittal of the accused.

The goddess Athena fills Hercules' cup with wine. Ancient Greek vessel ca. 480-470 BC

Little by little, Pallas Athena became the goddess of everything that the Athenians were proud of: the clear sky of Attica, her olive groves, the state institutions of the Athenians, their prudence in war, their courage, their science, poetry, art - everything entered into their idea of ​​\u200b\u200btheir patroness, goddess "Virgin of Athens". The whole life of the Athenians was in close connection with their service to the goddess Pallas Athena, and before they put her statue in the Parthenon temple, they honored her for many centuries in her mythical symbol, the olive tree.

Virginity of Pallas Athena

Virginity was the most characteristic and integral part of the cult of the goddess Athena. According to Greek myths, many gods, titans and giants wanted to enter into marital relations with Pallas, but she rejected all courtship. Once, during the Trojan War, not wanting to ask for weapons from Zeus, who did not support either the Hellenes or the Trojans, Athena asked Hephaestus to make her own armor. Hephaestus agreed, but said that he would do the work not for money, but for love. Not understanding the meaning of what was said, Athena came for armor to the forge of Hephaestus. He rushed to the goddess and tried to take possession of her. They say that Hephaestus was incited to this by Poseidon, who lost the dispute to Athena for the possession of Attica: the sea god convinced the Olympic blacksmith of Pallas's secret desire for someone to take possession of her by force. Athena, however, escaped from the hands of Hephaestus, but at the same time his seed spilled on her just above the knee. Pallas wiped herself with a tuft of wool and threw it away. The seed of Hephaestus fell on mother earth Gaia and impregnated her. Dissatisfied with this, Gaia said that she would not raise her unborn child from Hephaestus. Athena then announced that she would raise him herself.

Statue of Athena the Virgin in the Parthenon. Sculptor Phidias

When the child was born, he was named Erichthonius. It was one of the mythical progenitors of the Athenians. Taking Erichtonius from Gaia, Pallas Athena put him in a sacred casket and gave him to Aglavra, the eldest daughter of the Athenian king. Kekropsa. The sad fate of Aglavra, her mother and two sisters is told in myth from Erichthonius. All four died, for Aglavra tried to deceive the god Hermes. Hearing of their sad fate, upset Athena dropped a huge rock that she was carrying to the Athenian Acropolis in order to better strengthen it. This rock was named Mount Lycabettus. The crow, which conveyed to Pallas Athena the mournful news of the death of the women of the Kekrops family, was made black by the goddess from white. Since then, all crows are black. Pallas forbade them to appear on the Athenian acropolis. The goddess Athena Pallas hid Erichtonia in her aegis and raised her. Later he became king of Athens and introduced the cult of his named mother in that city. After his death, Erichthonius was raised to heaven, becoming the constellation Charioteer, for he, with the help of the goddess Athena, was the first to learn how to use a chariot drawn by four horses.

For the Athenians, the idea of ​​the virginity of their main goddess symbolized the impregnability of their city. Some scholars believe that in ancient myths Pallas Athena was not a virgin, but had children from Hephaestus, Poseidon and the wind god Boreas. Some vague memories of these myths have been preserved in historical Hellas - at least in the above story about Athena and Hephaestus. Erichthonius, most likely, was initially considered the son of Athena and Poseidon. The rest of this myth is preserved in the legend that Erichthonius was the first to ride a quadriga chariot, which in ancient Greek religion was an invariable attribute of Poseidon.

Myths about Pallas Athena

The most famous myths about Athena (except for the above story about Erichthonius) are the legends about the dispute between Athena and Poseidon for the possession of Attica, about the sculptor Pygmalion, about Athena and the satire of Marsyas, about Arachne and of Athena's participation on the side of the Greeks in the Trojan War.

Panathenaia - holidays in honor of Athena

Of the many holidays that ancient Athens celebrated in honor of its patron goddess, and which were mostly agricultural in nature, the most important were the "small Panathenays" and "great Panathenays". Small were celebrated every year, in the summer; great - once every four years. According to ancient Greek myths, the Panatheneas were founded by the son of Kekrops Erechtheus, a pupil of Athena, the personification of a fertile field.

Competitions of runners during the Panathenaic. Vase ok. 530 BC

The entire population of Attica converged on the great Panathenaia in Athens; a solemn procession carried to the Acropolis a mantle (Peplos), embroidered by the Athenians for the ancient statue of the goddess Pallas Athena, which stood in her Acropolis temple. This mantle was saffron; sewing on it was gold, and represented scenes from the victorious battles of the goddess Athena with the titans. Priests walked ahead with sacrificial animals; the priests were followed by the meteks (foreigners who lived in Athens); they carried sacrificial vessels and other paraphernalia. Girls, daughters of respected families of Athenian citizens, followed the meteks and carried on their heads a reaping wreath, baskets with sacred barley, honey, sacrificial bread; the daughters of the Metecs held umbrellas over them to protect them from the hot summer sun. Further on, a platform set on wheels rode; a mast was approved on it; the peplos of the goddess Pallas Athena was tied to the mast. The musicians followed the platform, followed by young men wearing myrtle wreaths; some walked and sang hymns in honor of the goddess, others were on horseback, armed with a shield and a spear. Further along the streets of Athens came cheerful old men with olive branches in their hands; behind them were the awards intended for the winners of the games: olive wreaths, vessels with olive oil; brought gifts to the temple. Behind them were adult horses and chariots that would compete in running at games in honor of the goddess Athena. At the end of the procession rode on horseback young men belonging to the first two classes of citizens.

Parthenon - Temple of Athena the Virgin in the Acropolis

The procession went from Keramik, along the best streets, decorated with oak branches; the people standing in the streets were all in white clothes, men and women. The path of the procession led through the square of the people's meetings, past the temples of Demeter and Apollo. Pythian. The Acropolis was resplendent with decorations. The procession entered there, and worship was performed, sacrifices were made while singing hymns to the glory of the goddess Pallas Athena.

If you start with Athena's "official duties", then their list is truly amazing. She patronizes not only wisdom and war. Athena was considered the goddess of a large list of crafts: shipbuilding, weaving, spinning, making horse harness and metal products, pottery and plowing. She patronized the art of medicine and taught him the god of medicine Asclepius. She invented statehood and laws, taught people to cook food on the hearth.

In fact, the description of what Athena gave to people and what she patronized is very similar to the gifts and areas of influence of the supreme deities or demigods - the founders of civilization among many other peoples. Why then is Zeus considered the supreme god?

It must be said that a large number of large and small deities were revered in the Greek lands, and for a very long time none of them was considered the main one over all other gods. A harmonious system, in which each god has his place in the huge Olympic family, was the result of the priests and thinkers bringing all local beliefs to a certain common form. This happened already at the time of the formation of a clear power hierarchy of society, the strengthening of statehood, and the new system of the hierarchy of gods corresponded to new ideas about how any community in the world should be arranged in general.

So the gods had their own king. They became the god of thunder, lightning and, possibly, just vengeance - Zeus. Along with the new role, he probably acquired new functions - exactly those that the divine reflection of the earthly king and patriarch of the family should have had.

Zeus is considered the father of Athena. According to one version of events, he swallowed the goddess of thought Metis, after which Zeus had a terrible headache. Hephaestus, the blacksmith god, split his head, and Athena and Nike, the goddess of victory, flew out. In another version, Metis is also missing, and Athena turns out to be the embodied thought of Zeus. Some researchers believe that such a terrifying way of birth speaks of the antiquity of the myth; others consider the version with Metis and the head of Zeus an attempt to reconcile and connect the lines of the official supreme god and the goddess much more popular and significant for the common people.

Closer to the original story of the birth can be considered, probably, the plot with the giant Pallas. At least the story of the goddess killing her father - the cruel old god trying to rape his daughter - logically parallels the story of Zeus rebelling against his father Kronos, devouring his own children. When people change their ideas about what is good and bad, there are also stories about how new deities kill old, too wild and ferocious ones.

By the way, in another story with Pallas, his daughter turns out to be Athena's playmate Nika. Perhaps Nike and Athena were originally sisters and killed their rapist father together. Either way, they are portrayed as inseparable.

Protector of women

Athena has a difficult relationship not only with Zeus. Firstly, it partially duplicates both his functions and the functions of some other gods, for example, Ares, the god of war, and Hephaestus, the god of blacksmiths and crafts. Secondly, she constantly competes with Ares and Poseidon, the god of the oceans, and invariably emerges victorious from the confrontation with them. But Poseidon is the brother of Zeus, the king of the gods. Athena is shown to be virtually equal in strength to him.

The most famous myth about their confrontation is the dispute over who will become the patron of the city of Athens. It is usually known in this version: the gods decide to see who can bring people a more valuable gift. Poseidon sticks a trident into the ground, and a spring springs from the rock. Athena sticks a spear, and it turns into an olive tree. That's just in the spring - salty sea water instead of fresh. Poseidon's gift is declared useless, and Athena wins. The city is named after her.

There is another version of this myth. When it is the turn of the Athenians to vote for the gods, all men choose Poseidon and all women choose Athena. There are one more women than men. The goddess wins. In a rage, Poseidon causes a flood that almost washed the city off the face of the earth. As punishment, Athenian women are forever deprived of the right to vote, citizenship and the right to pass their name (like a patronymic) to children.

This myth shows, first of all, how popular Athena was among women. And for good reason. She patronized not only weaving and spinning. She was approached with requests to help get pregnant or save her from rape (and who else?). For the latter, for example, the Trojan princess Cassandra prayed to Athena. Athena could not help her, but she took revenge by depriving the rapist of her mind. Athena herself in the myths deftly avoids rape. Father Zeus gives her as a wife to Hephaestus in payment for weapons for the gods. Hephaestus tries to take Athena by force, but she fights back and runs away.

Goddess of beauty and fertility

Another feature of Athena that is often forgotten is beauty and power over beauty. She participates in stories where her beauty is challenged. For example, during the famous Judgment of Paris, she competes on an equal footing with the main female goddess Hera and the goddess of beauty and love Aphrodite (by the way, the wife of Hephaestus). During the celebrations, a tall and at the same time very beautiful hetera was chosen to portray Athena. Athena herself also endows Odysseus and Penelope with beauty and youth when Odysseus returns home. She patronizes them and as a couple in love. So the researchers have every reason to believe that the image of Aphrodite could separate from the image of Athena. Hence the “common” husband.

Is the image of the goddess of love and war at the same time surprising? No. It's not even unique. Combines these qualities, for example, the ancient Akkadian goddess Ishtar. Only, unlike Ishtar, the goddess of war Athena and her favorites Odysseus and Achilles avoid war in every possible way. Odysseus finds a way to prevent war over Helen's wedding, for example. True, he still has to participate in the war because of her next marriage.

We can judge the antiquity of Athena as a deity by the fact that she has animal attributes: she is associated with owls and snakes. She has “owl eyes” (that is, sparkling), she is depicted with an owl. She conceives a snake son from Hephaestus (although she bears the conceived Gaia), on her shield is the head of a Gorgon with snake hair, Virgil describes her armor as covered with snake scales.

Snakes are a very archaic symbol of both fertility and connection with the afterlife. In addition, psychoanalysts interpret goddesses with snakes or snake attributes as female matriarchs who have tamed or appropriated the aggressive masculine principle. In Crete, an island where Athena was especially revered, many very ancient figurines of a female deity with snakes in their hands are found. Perhaps the Cretan goddess with snakes is related to Owl-eyed! It is significant that women in Crete led an active social life.

And maybe the Athenians once too. And the myth of the dispute between Athena and Poseidon was needed to approve for granted the deprivation of the inhabitants of Athens of their civil rights. In any case, once the Greek gods lost to Christianity, and the temples of Athena, including the famous Parthenon, were destroyed by people and time.

Athena was the Greek goddess of wisdom, military strategy and crafts. She was a majestic warrior and the only Olympian goddess to wear armor. The visor of her helmet was dropped so that her beauty would not be hidden from prying eyes. She often led battles in military conflicts and dealt with domestic issues in times of peace. She was depicted with a spear in one hand and a bowl (or spindle) in the other.

The goddess adhered to chastity and maintained celibacy, and devoted her life to protecting the chosen Athenian heroes, her eponymous city. The Greeks doubly revered her for the fact that:

• she gave them a bridle so they could tame horses;
• inspired shipbuilders in their craft;
• taught plowmen to cultivate the land, use a rake, harness a bull to a yoke;
• taught the Athenians how to drive a chariot.

A special gift to Athens from a warlike woman was an olive tree. She was known for her excellent planning and strategic thinking skills. Practicality has become the hallmark of a wise woman. She had a very strong will, and her intellect prevailed over her emotional manifestations. The townspeople often met the goddess on the streets of the city.

Versions of origin

According to the Homeric hymn, she came to the Greek mainland, leaving her paternal home in Crete. Then she began to rule Athens, the main city of the ancient world, while retaining the symbolism of her ancient personality. Greek myth tells of a contest between Athena and Poseidon, god of the sea. Both wanted to rule the city of Athens, and neither would yield to the other. But a vote was arranged and the citizens gathered to cast their votes.

However, the men did not want to stick to this vote count. They passed three new laws:

• prohibiting women from voting;
• depriving women of citizenship;
• forcing fathers to name their children.

The story of her birth was also changed to an obscure story about a girl born from the head of the chief Olympian god Zeus. That's why the girl's genesis looks so masculine. Thanks to her noble origin, she found a place on Olympus.

There is another story that shows this beauty in a different light. It says that our heroine was the daughter of Pallas, a winged giant who tried to rape her - his virgin daughter. She flew into a rage and killed him, then skinned him to make a shield and cut off his wings.

Therefore, she never communicated with men, forever remaining a virgin. Oddly enough, she had one son. Hephaestus once tried to possess a female warrior, striking her with his artistic abilities. Although she fled from her pursuer, part of his semen fell on her thigh. This led to the birth of Erichthonius, who forever remained out of sight of the goddess. In Greek mythology, the story of Hephaestus is slightly different from the above and says that the warrior goddess raised this son.

Deity symbols

The goddess, because of her wisdom, is often symbolized by an owl and a snake, which are located in the famous temple of the Parthenon, built specifically for Athena.

• The charming owl appears on early Athenian coins as an alternative image of the goddess herself. In some images, she sits on the shoulder of the goddess or flies above her. The owl suggests that her strength is so great that the enemy needs to keep this in mind and keep the situation under control, fearing the owner of such a warlike potential.
• The snake is a symbol of the protection of grain stored for the winter, otherwise it would feed the mice. The ability of a snake to shed its skin and renew it is known: a connection with rebirth is implied here. The statue of the beauty with the image of a snake was a powerful message about the protective power and justification of the hopes of those who entered the temple of her name.
• Armor and weapons are also symbols of beauty. Very often appeared in a helmet, while carrying a shield and a spear. The researchers noted that with the growth of private property, previously peaceful goddesses began to appear as goddesses of war. As the land began to go to richer citizens, mostly men, the goddess took on a new role as protector of the city and guardian of wealth.

She is also represented as the patroness of weaving. Once she took and turned the skilled weaver Arachne into a spider because of her malice and disregard for the divine origin of Athena and claims to have more talent than the goddess herself. In those days, textile production was an important part of the economy of every home, as well as the population as a whole. Without such wealth, there would be no need for protection.

Is Athena the child of Zeus?

The most common myth is that the wise warrior Athena was born already an adult, jumping out of the head of the Thunderer. Zeus "gave birth" to her after a severe migraine, from which his head split into two parts! Her mother was the goddess of reason, Metis, but Athena never acknowledged this fact.

Who did the goddess of military strategy help?

She was the protector, adviser, patron and ally of heroic people:

• helped Perseus with advice and objects to kill Medusa Gorgon, a monster who had snakes instead of hair;
• helped Jason and the Argonauts to build a ship before they set off for the Golden Fleece;
• watched Achilles during the Battle of Troy;
• achieved victory over her brother Ares;
• helped

Athena in art and mythology. Part 3. Sculpture

Any ancient Greek work is an attempt to call the divine into a concrete form. Even when working on the sculpture of the winner in the Olympic Games, the sculptor cared least of all about portrait resemblance - he created the ideal image of a person. And work on the statue of a deity was a special mystery. The sculpture was taken to Delphi for the solemn ceremony of consecration, but before that the priests turned to the deity with the question whether this statue was pleasing to him, whether it agreed to pour his divine power into it? And if the signs spoke of divine consent, the statue was placed in the temple.

The most famous Greek temple sculptures have not survived. We can judge their beauty and grandeur only from copies and descriptions. For example, there are about two hundred copies (not counting the images on the coins) of Athena Parthenos, the main statue in the Athenian Acropolis. True, none of them can convey everything that the person contemplating it experienced. And besides, not everyone was honored with such an honor.

Statue of Athena (the so-called "Piraeus Athena").
Bronze. 340-330 BC e.
Height 2.35 m. Athens, Archaeological Museum of Piraeus.

The statue was discovered among others in 1959 in Piraeus, at the intersection of Georghiu and Philo-na streets in the cla-do-howl room - those are not-yes-le-ku from the ancient harbor. The sculpture-tu-ra was hidden in this room from the troops of Sul-la in 86 BC. e.

The soul of the majestic artistic activity of the heyday of Hellas was Phidias (c. 488-432), a friend of Pericles, who softened both in architecture and in plastic the former severe severity of the form, turning it into a sublime and at the same time graceful beauty. Contemporaries and descendants glorified his colossal chrysolephantine (made of gold and ivory) statues of the gods.

Statue of Athena Parthenos from the Library of Pergamon with the temple of Zeus Sosipolis from Magnesia on the Maeander in the background, Pergamon Museum Berlin

According to Pliny the Elder, on every detail of the sculpture, starting from the pedestal on which Athena stood and ending with her helmet, mythological scenes were depicted: on the pedestal - the birth of Pandora, on the shield on both sides - the battle with the Amazons and the struggle of the gods with the giants, on sandals - a battle with centaurs.

Statue de Phidias par Aimé Millet (1889). Hauteur environ 2,50 m. Orangerie du jardin du Luxembourg

Phidias, the best sculptor of that time, worked on the sculpture for nine years. Only he was able to entrust the citizens with the creation of the image of their heavenly patroness. It was nine years of prayer, nine years of complete immersion in work. Every day, Phidias prayed and asked, whatever the Virgin Goddess wanted, to infuse some of her power into the sculpture, what else to do so that Athena would protect the city and its inhabitants? After all, it was very important for every Athenian to know that gods live next to them. That you just need to turn your eyes to the Acropolis and its temples in order to feel their patronage.

A significant part of the treasury of the policy went to the creation of this sculpture. Its wooden frame, 13 meters high, was covered with a ton of gold, and its face and hands were made of selected ivory. The two-meter statue of the goddess of victory Nike, which Athena held in her hand, seemed tiny. Athena Parthenos was truly majestic! It's hard to imagine what a person could create!

Every year, in honor of Athena, the inhabitants held festivities - small Panathenays, and every five years - Great Panathenays, when the most worthy girls of the policy carried sacrifices and peplos - clothes specially woven for the goddess over these five years. It was a beautiful ceremonial procession.

Phidias and his students made excellent sculptures that adorned the Parthenon. Many of them are more or less well preserved and are now in the British Museum. On the eastern pediment stood a group depicting the birth of Pallas, on the western - a group representing her dispute with Poseidon about which of them should belong to the protection of Attica

Athena Varvakeion

The most complete and reliable copy is the so-called. "Athena Varvakion" (National Museum, Athens), marble.

The statue that stood in the center of the temple and was its sacred center Athens Parthenos was made by Phidias himself. It was upright and about 11 m high, made in chrysoelephantine technique (that is, from gold and ivory on a wooden base).

The fate of this sculpture is sad... But, perhaps, there is such a place somewhere, a high mountain, where the Gods still live in their temples. And no tyrants and fires can destroy them. Maybe someday, following the ancient Greeks, we will learn to feel their presence. After all, the Acropolis with its temples and gods is not only a physical place.

The sculpture has not survived and is known from various copies and numerous images on coins. In one hand, the goddess holds Nike, and the other leans on a shield. The shield depicts Amazonomachy.

It is believed that on the shield of Athena, among other statues, Phidias placed himself and the images of his friend Pericles (presumably in the form of Daedalus and Theseus). By the way, this turned out to be fatal for him - he was accused of insulting a deity, thrown into prison, where he committed suicide with poison, or died of deprivation and grief. over another. In addition, its theme allows us to say that this is already a historical relief.

A copy of the shield depicting the battle, the so-called. Strangford Shield, British Museum

A copy of the shield of the statue depicting the battle is considered to be the so-called. The Strangford Shield in the British Museum.
Another copy kept in the Louvre

Another relief was on Athena's sandals. It depicted a centauromachy.

The birth of Pandora, the first woman, was carved on the pedestal of the statue.

The navigator Pausanias in his guidebook describes it like this:

Plaster cast-reconstruction of Athena statue based on the Roman copy after Phidias" Parthenos.

“Athena herself is made of ivory and gold ... The statue depicts her in full growth in a tunic to the very soles of her feet, she has the head of Medusa made of ivory on her chest, in her hand she holds the image of Nike, approximately four cubits, and in her other hand - a spear. At her feet lies a shield, and near the spear is a snake; this snake is probably Erichthonius. (Description of Hellas, XXIV, 7).

Château de Dampierre, Yvelines, France. Attempt to reconstruct the statue of Athena in the Parthenon at the scale of one fourth, by Henri Duponchet (1794-1868).

Athena Parthenos, 2. Jhd. n. Chr. (Gipsabguss, Original im Griechischen Nationalmuseum Athen

Title: Six Greek sculptors Year: 1915 (1910s) Authors: Gardner, Ernest Arthur, 1862-1939

Statue of Athena. Pentelic marble. Found in Athens, near the Pnyx. Known as the "Lenormant Athena", this statuette copies of the Athena Parthenos by Pheidias.

Louvre Museum

Athena Parthenos dite Minerve au collier

Louvre Museum: Greco-Roman collection

Palazzo Altemps - Rome

Athena Porte Doree

Austria, Vienna, Austrian Parliament Building

Athena_Partenos_from_Prado

Athena Lemnia (Copenhagen Botanical Garden)

Lemnos Athena is a bronze statue of the goddess Athena, created by the famous Greek sculptor Phidias in 450-440. BC e. Not preserved, known from copies. “Phidias did not always sculpt the images of Zeus, and did not always cast Athena, dressed in bronze armor, but he turned his art to other gods and adorned the Virgin’s cheeks with a pink blush, usually hidden by a helmet, which covered the beauty of the goddess” .

Plaster casts in Pushkin Museum, Moscow

According to Pausanias, the sculpture was made by the citizens of Athens, who lived on about. Lemnos, with the aim of presenting it as a gift to his native city, thanks to which he received such a nickname. It probably stood somewhere near the Propylaea.

Athena Lemnia. Glyptothek.Munich

The second of the Dresden reconstructions. Cast in the Pushkin Museum

Athena Lemnia (Bologna)

Reconstruction of the Acropolis and Areopagus in Athens

Goddess Athena. Sculptural group "Athena and Marsyas" by Myron. Fragment

Museum Willet-Holthuysen, a Amsterdam

Athena (Museumsberg, Flensburg)

Pallas Athene, Bildhauer

Statue "Pallas Athena" (St. Petersburg and Leningrad region, Pavlovsk, from the north side of the Pavlovsk Palace)

Der Hofgarten des Schlosses Veitshöchheim.nahm seinen Anfang im 17. Jahrhundert als Fasanerie und wurde im 18. Jahrhundert weiter ausgestaltet und erweitert. Die Sandsteinfiguren stammen von Johann Wolfgang von der Auwera, Ferdinand Tietz und Johann Peter Wagner.
Haeferl - own work

Statuette of Athena in pentelic marble, found at Epidaurus, bearing a dedication to Artemis

The 5 central figures of the west pediment of the Temple of Aphaia, ca. 505-500B

Arte romana, atena, II secolo da un orginale greco della scuola di fidia del V secolo ac..Ancient Roman statues in the Museo Archeologico (Naples)

Athena at Pilate's House in Seville. Roman copy of a Greek original.

Statue of Athena; torso: 180-190 AD, supplementations: Renaissance and Baroque era; marble; Museum: LiebieghausAthena. Leptis Magna, Tripolitania. Roman copy from 5th c. Greek original

Statue of Athena on the orangery of Schloss Seehof.

thena, West pediment of the old temple of Athena Polias (Acropolis of Athens)

Bayreuth, Hofgarten, Neues Schloss, Athene/Athena (Kopie) von Johann Gabriel Räntz (um 1755)

Roman marble statuette of Athena. Leptis Magna, Tripolitania; copy of an original from the end of the 5th ct. BC. Istanbul Archaeological Museums .Athena of the Hope-Farnese type. Marble, Roman copy from the 1st-2nd centuries AD after a Greek origina

In Sochi

Athena. Tripoli-Nationalmuseum,Göttin Athena-Medus

Estatua romana de la diosa Atenea en el patio principal de la Casa de Pilatos, (Sevilla, Andalucía, España)...Sculpture of Athena found on Heraclea Lyncestis archaeological site in Macedonia

Athena Athene or Bellona mit Drache auf Helm Friedrichsflügel Neues Palais Sanssouci

Marble statue of Minerva in the Ballroom at the Royal Castle in Warsaw (André Le Brun).

Athene-Statue und Zeus-Kopf am Athenebrunnen an der Karlshöhe in Stuttgart.

Buda-varoshaz-4.....Skulptúra ​​(Atény) on budove Vysokej škole výtvarných umení v Bratislave

Façade du Palais des ducs de Bourgogne Dijon Côte-d "Or Bourgogne-Franche-Comté

Graz, Zeughaus, Fassade Figur Minerva

Neues Schloss Schleissheim, Gartenparterre, “Minerva” (“Athene”) von Giuseppe Volpini

Strasbourg, University

Figura bogini wojny, Ateny na fasadzie Zbrojowni

Roma, Museo nationale romano a palazzo Altemps, statua rinvenuta nel 1627 nel Campo Marzio e riscolpita da Alessandro Algardi per il cardinale Ludovisi come Atena (tipo Giustiniani). Sono di restauro le mani e la parte inferiore del corpo e del tronco.

Mattei Athena Louvre

Athena(ancient Greek - Athenaia; Mycenae. atanapotinija - "Atana the Lady"), in Greek mythology, the goddess of wisdom and just war, military wisdom and strategy, knowledge, arts and crafts. Athena is a warrior maiden, patroness of cities, sciences, skill, intelligence, skill and ingenuity. One of the 12 great Olympian gods.

Family and environment

myths

In the sources there are references to the birth of a child associated with Athena and Hephaestus. The first part of this story contains only later sources. According to them, Zeus swore to fulfill any desire of Hephaestus and the Smith God asked Athena to marry him. The King of the Gods could not break the oath, but advised the virgin daughter to defend herself. According to the main legend, the daughter of Zeus came to Hephaestus for weapons, and he tried to take possession of her, and she began to run away. The Blacksmith God chased after her and overtook her, but defending herself with a weapon in her hands, Pallas wounded her pursuer with a spear. Hephaestus spilled the seed on Athena's leg, after which the goddess wiped it with wool and buried it in the ground, after which Gaia-earth gave birth to a baby. Therefore, Erichtonius was called both the son of Gaia, and the son of Athena, and the name was interpreted from "Erion" - wool (or "Eris" - discord) and "chthon" - earth.

Athena secretly raised Erichthonius, wanting to make him immortal, she gave him in a casket for preservation to the daughters of Kekrop Aglavra, Gersa and Pandrosa, forbidding him to open. The sisters opened the casket and saw a child entwined with snakes, which the Warrior had assigned to the baby as a guard. They were either killed by snakes, or Pallas plunged them into madness and they rushed from the top of the acropolis into the abyss. After the death of the sisters, Erichthonius was brought up in the temple of Athena. When he grew up, he reigned, erecting a xoan (statue or idol made of wood) of Athena on the acropolis and establishing Panathenaia, for the first time holding a procession in honor of Athena on the acropolis. Erichthonius was buried in the sacred area of ​​the temple of Athena Polias.

Also, according to one version, together with Hephaestus, she created, at the behest of Zeus, the first woman - Pandora, who opened the ill-fated vessel called "Pandora's box".

A powerful, terrible, owl-eyed goddess of the archaic, the owner of the aegis, in the period of heroic mythology, she directs her strength to fight the titans and giants. Although, according to the early mythological scheme, titanomachy occurred even before the birth of Athena, but later authors, starting with Euripides, often mixed giants and titans. Her participation in Gigantomachy is a popular plot. Gigin cites the story that after the death of Epaphus, Zeus, together with Athena, Apollo and Artemis, threw the titans into Tartarus, prompted by Hera. Together with Hercules, Athena kills one of the giants, she drove a chariot with a pair of horses to the giant Enkelada, and when he fled, she brought down the island of Sicily on him. She skins Pallanta and covers her body with it during the battle.

The goddess of war demands sacred reverence. There is a myth about how she deprived the sight of the young Tiresias (the son of her favorite nymph Chariklo). Once Athena and Chariklo decided to bathe in the spring on Helikon, Tiresias saw the goddess and she blinded him (according to another version, he was blinded by the sight of Athena). Having deprived the young man of sight, she at the same time endowed him with a prophetic gift and gave him the ability to understand the language of birds, as well as the ability to keep his mind in Hades. Ovid, in the VI book of Metamorphoses, outlined the myth of how Athena severely punished the weaver Arachne when she questioned the piety of the gods by weaving love scenes with the participation of the gods on the bedspread.

Classical Athena is endowed with ideological and organizing functions: she patronizes the heroes, protects public order, and so on. In the myths of ancient Greece, stories about Athena's help to heroes are common. She helps Perseus by guiding his hand, which decapitates Medusa. One of the epithets of Athena is "the gorgon-killer". Perseus sacrificed a heifer to the goddess and gave Athena the head of the Gorgon, which she placed on her shield. Later, Athena placed Perseus, Andromeda, Cassiopeia and Cepheus among the constellations. She inspired and gave strength to Cadmus, and also gave him a stone to fight the Theban dragon. On the advice of the wise Goddess, Cadmus sowed the dragon's teeth and threw a block at them, which caused a fight between them. Athena put Cadmus on the reign of Thebes, and at the wedding with Harmony gave him a necklace, peplos and flutes.

It is believed that Asclepius received the blood of the Gorgon from Athena, with the help of which he resurrected the dead. According to Euripides, she gave Erichthonius at birth two drops of Gorgon's blood, which he gave to Erechtheus in a golden ring, and the last to Creusa (one drop is healing, the other is poisonous). Athena appeared in a dream to Pericles and indicated the grass to heal his slave, who had fallen from the roof of the acropolis under construction, the Propylaea, the grass was called Parthenium, and Pericles erected a statue of Athena Hygieia. The base of the statue by the sculptor Pyrrhus was found on the acropolis.

Pindar mentions that Bellerophon saw Athena in a dream while sleeping on her altar, and erected an altar to Athena the Horsewoman when she handed Pegasus over to him. She also helps Nestor against Ereufalion and in battle with the Eleans. The goddess Menelaus protects Pandarus from the arrow (according to Plutarch).

Repeatedly wise Goddess helped Hercules at the request of Zeus. Athena threw a stone at the insane hero, which saved Amphitryon, this stone is called Sophronister, that is, "leading to reason." Gave him a cloak (according to another version of armor) before the war with Orchomenus. There is a version that it was Athena who told the hero how to kill the Lernaean Hydra and gave him rattles made by Hephaestusto frighten away the Stymphalian birds. With the help of Pallas, Hercules led the dog Kerberus out of Hades, later she took the apples of the Hesperides from him and returned them to their place. Athena gave the hero the Gorgon's cubit, which the hero gave to Sterope, the daughter of Cepheus, for protection. The dying Hercules appeals to Athena with requests for an easy death (according to Seneca) and she leads him to heaven.

When the Thebans ambush Tydeus, Athena warns him against returning to Thebes. During the campaign of the Seven against Thebes, the Warrior Goddess is present next to Tydeus in battle and reflects some of the arrows from him, covering him with a shield. When Tydeus was mortally wounded, she asked her father for a potion of immortality for the wounded, but when she saw that Tydeus was devouring the brain of his enemy, she hated him and did not give him medicine.

Athena's help to Tydeus' son Diomedes is described in detail in Homer's Iliad. The goddess gives him strength, inspires him to fight, including against Aphrodite, directs the spear of Diomedes against Pandarus, inspires Diomedes to fight Ares, removes the peak of Ares from the hero and directs the spear of Diomedes into the stomach of Ares, keeps Diomedes during a storm. Horace tells that Diomedes was raised by Athena to the gods.

In the same Iliad, it is mentioned that Athena helped Achilles destroy Lyrness, she also tames Achilles' anger at the request of Hera, lights a flame around Achilles' head, frightening the Trojans. When Achilles mourns for Patroclus, refusing food, she gives him nectar and ambrosia at the request of Zeus. During the fight with Hector, he protects Achilles, taking Hector's spear away from him. It was she, in the form of Deiphobe, who advised Hector to meet Achilles, before that she appeared to Achilles and promised to help him in this fight. Achilles tells Hector: "under my spear, Tritogen (i.e. Athena) will soon tame you." After the death of Achilles, the Goddess mourns and comes to mourn him and rub his body with ambrosia.

In Homer's poems (especially the "Odyssey"), not a single more or less important event is complete without the intervention of Athena. She is a constant adviser to Odysseus, helps him calm the people, protects the hero from the peak of the Trojan Juice, helps him in running competitions, supported him on the night of the capture of Troy. However, Athena never helped Odysseus during his wanderings (in the songs of the Odyssey dedicated to this period, she is never mentioned), help is resumed after the crash of Odysseus' raft. She calms the winds, helps him get ashore, and then sends him to sleep. Athena often takes on the appearance of mortals to advise or help Odysseus and at the same time transforms Odysseus: she exalts him with a camp, gives him strength in the competition, if necessary, turns Odysseus into a beggar old man, and then returns his beauty again, hides the hero on the island of Feakov cloud, on Ithaca hides him and his companions with darkness and helps to leave the city.

She is the main protector of the Achaean Greeks and a constant enemy of the Trojans, although her cult also existed in Troy. Athena is the protector of Greek cities (Athens, Argos, Megara, Sparta, etc.), bearing the name of "city protector".

The warrior goddess contributes to the capture of Troy from the very beginning of the Trojan War. She participates in the Judgment of Paris and loses this argument to Aphrodite. The Trojan horse was made by Epey according to the plan of Athena, she appeared to him in a dream, in three days the horse was completed and Epey asks Athena to bless his work and calls the Trojan horse an offering to the Goddess. In the temple of Athena, the inhabitants of Metapontus showed the iron tools of Epeus, with which he built a horse. She took the form of a messenger and advised Odysseus to hide the Achaean heroes in the horse. Further, the Goddess brought the food of the gods to the heroes who were about to enter the horse, so that they would not feel hungry. When the Trojans think about how to destroy the horse, Athena gives bad signs (earthquake) and the Trojans do not believe Laocoon, who insisted on this. She rejoices when the Trojans drag a wooden horse into the city and send snakes on the sons of Laocoön. Trifiodor describes how Helen of Sparta came to the temple of Athena and walked around the horse three times, calling the heroes by name, but the Goddess of War appeared, visible only to Helen, and forced her to leave. And on the night of the fall of Troy, Pallas sat on the acropolis, shining with her aegis, when the beating began, she screamed and raised her aegis.

Athena is always considered in the context of artistic craft, art, craftsmanship. She helps potters, weavers, needlewomen, working people in general, helped Prometheus steal fire from the forge of Hephaestus, Daedalus learned her art from her. She teaches the girls crafts (daughters of Pandarey, Eurynom and others). Her one touch is enough to make a person beautiful - this is how Penelope acquired the amazing beauty of meeting with her future spouse. She personally polished Peleus' spear.

Her own creations are genuine works of art, such as the cloak woven for the hero Jason. She made her own clothes and even Hera's clothes. Taught people the art of weaving. However, Plato points out that Athena's mentor in weaving was Eros. The spinning wheel is another gift of the Goddess to people, weavers are called - serving the "cause of Athena".

Athena is credited with inventing the flute and teaching Apollo to play it. Pindar relates that one of the Gorgons, Medusa, groaned terribly as she died, and the other Euryale groaned as she looked at her sister, and Athena invented a flute to repeat these sounds. According to another story, the patroness of the arts made a flute from deer bone and came to the meal of the gods, but Hera and Aphrodite ridiculed her. Athena, looking at her reflection in the water, saw how her cheeks swelled ugly, and threw the flute into the Idean forest. The thrown flute was picked up by the satyr Marsyas. Later, Marsyas challenged Apollo to a competition in playing the flute, was defeated and severely punished for his pride (Apollo flayed the skin from the satyr). Aristotle believes that the Goddess abandoned the flute for a different reason: playing the flute is not related to mental development.

One of the most important mythological stories about Athena is the trial for Attica. For the possession of Attica, Athena argued with the god of the seas Poseidon. At the council of the gods, it was decided that Attica would go to the one whose gift on this earth would be more valuable. Poseidon struck with a trident, and a source was hammered from the rock. But the water in it turned out to be salty, undrinkable. Athena stuck her spear into the ground, and an olive tree grew out of it. All the gods recognized that this gift was more valuable. Poseidon was angry and wanted to flood the earth with the sea, but Zeus forbade him. Since then, the olive has been considered a sacred tree in Greece. Varro gives a later version of the myth, where Kekrop put the question of the name of the city to a vote: the men voted for Poseidon, and the women for Athena, and one woman turned out to be more. Then Poseidon devastated the earth in waves, and the Athenians subjected women to a triple punishment: deprived of the right to vote, none of the children had to take the mother's name and no one had to call women Athenians. The court took place on 2 Boedromion (end of September) and the Athenians removed this day from the calendar. The dispute between Poseidon and Athena was depicted on the back of the Parthenon, and in the presentation of Ovid, Athena depicts this scene on the fabric during her competition with Arachne.

Sophocles calls the Goddess Athena the maiden, mistress of horses, her epithet "Parthenos". Argive girls before marriage sacrificed their hair to her. According to Nonnus, Avra, tormented in childbirth, wants Athena to give birth herself. And the wise Goddess feeds the son of Avra ​​and Dionysus Iacchus with her milk, as earlier Erichthonius. The women of Elis prayed to Athena to get pregnant. And Penelope, she helped delay the day of the new wedding. When Penelope asks Athena for Odysseus, the Goddess sends Ifthima's ghost to her to give her hope. She inspires Penelope with the idea to arrange a competition for the suitors.

Already in Homer, Athena acts as the patroness of shipbuilding and navigation. According to her instructions, the architect Arg from Thespius created the ship Argo. On the nose, Pallas strengthened a piece of the Dodona oak trunk, which could prophesy. After the completion of the voyage, the ship was placed by Athena in the sky. On the advice of Athena, Danai, the son of the Egyptian king Bel and Anchinoi, the father of 50 daughters, built a 50-oared ship with two prows, on which he fled with his daughters. According to the myth, Danai received a prediction that he would die at the hands of his son-in-law, Danai's daughters took up arms and killed their husbands in one night, fleeing Danai's revenge and built their ship. Perseus, whom Pallas also willingly helped, was a descendant of Danae. The image of the Goddess was on the Athenian ships, according to myths, she often sends a fair wind to the ships (Telemachus, Theseus, the Achaeans returning from Lemnos).

Name, epithets and character

Athena. 470-465 AD BC. Amphora Red-figured. Attica. St. Petersburg, State Hermitage

The etymology of the name "Athena" due to the pre-Greek origin of her image is unclear. In modern Russian, a form close to the Byzantine pronunciation of the name, through "and", has been fixed, however, in the classical era, the name of the goddess was pronounced something like "Athena". Homer sometimes calls her Athenea, that is, "Athenian".

Athena is the goddess of wisdom, Democritus considered her "reasonableness". Her wisdom is different than the wisdom of Hephaestus and Prometheus, she is characterized by wisdom in public affairs. For late antiquity, Athena was the principle of the indivisibility of the cosmic mind and a symbol of the universal wisdom of the world, thus her qualities are sharply opposed to the riot and ecstasy of Dionysus. As the legislator and patroness of the Athenian statehood, she was revered as Phratria ("brotherly"), Bulaya ("council"), Soteira ("savior"), Pronoia ("seer").

Numerous information about the cosmic features of the image of Athena. She holds the thunderbolts of Zeus. Her image or fetish, the so-called. palladium, fell from the sky (perhaps hence her epithet Pallas). It is also possible that the epithet Pallas comes from the Greek "to shake (with a weapon)", that is, it means a victorious warrior, or it means "virgin". Athena was identified with the daughters of Kekrop - Pandrosa ("all-moist") and Aglavra ("light-air"), or Agravla ("field furrow").

Homer calls Athena "glavkopis" (owl-eyed), the Orphic hymn (XXXII 11) - "variegated snake". In Boeotia, she - the inventor of the flute - was revered under the name Bombilea, that is, "bee", "buzzing". The epithet Parthenos is the name of the virgin Athena, hence the name of the Parthenon temple. Athena is called Promachos, that is, "vanguard fighter", as the patroness of war and fair battle.

The main epithets of Athena, endowed with civil functions, are Poliada ("city", "patron of cities and states") and Poliuhos ("city ruler"). And the epithet Ergan ("worker") she has as the patroness of artisans.

Cult and symbolism

The ancient zoomorphic past of Athena is indicated by her attributes - a snake and an owl (symbols of wisdom). The chthonic wisdom of the Goddess has its source in the image of the goddess with snakes of the Cretan-Mycenaean period. Athena's predecessor, according to Martin Nilsson's theory, was the "shield goddess" depicted on the larnaca from Milato, as well as on other monuments, whose symbol was a shield in the shape of an eight. According to I.M. Dyakonov, the single image of the warrior maiden was divided among the Greeks into three: the warrior and needlewoman Athena, the huntress Artemis and the goddess of sexual passion Aphrodite. The myth of the birth of Athena from Metis and Zeus belongs to the late period of Greek mythology. As Losev points out, she becomes, as it were, a direct continuation of the King of the Gods, the executor of his plans and will. In the temple dedicated to her, according to Herodotus, there lived a huge snake - the guardian of the acropolis, dedicated to the goddess. An owl and a snake guarded the palace of the Minotaur in Crete, and the image of a goddess with a shield of the Mycenaean time (possibly a prototype of Olympian Athena).

Pallas is one of the most important figures not only in Olympic mythology, in its significance it is equal to Zeus and sometimes even surpasses him, rooted in the most ancient period in the development of Greek mythology - matriarchy. She is equal in strength and wisdom to her father. Along with the new functions of the goddess of military power, Athena retained her matriarchal independence, manifested in the understanding of her as a virgin and protector of chastity.

She is easily distinguishable from other ancient Greek goddesses due to her unusual appearance. Unlike other female deities, she uses male attributes - she is dressed in armor, holds a spear in her hands, she is accompanied by sacred animals. Among the indispensable attributes of Athena is the aegis - a goat-skin shield with the head of a snake-haired Medusa, which has tremendous magical power, frightens gods and people; helmet with a high crest. Athena appeared accompanied by the winged goddess Nike.

The olive trees of Athena were considered "trees of fate", and she herself was thought of as fate and the Great Mother Goddess, who is known in archaic mythology as the parent and destroyer of all living things. Among the Megarians, Athena is revered under the epithet Aethia ("diving duck"), according to Hesychius, since she turned into a diving duck, hid Kekrop under her wings and delivered him to Megara.

She is credited with inventing the chariot, the ship, the flute and trumpet, the ceramic pot, the rake, the plow, the ox yoke and the horse bridle, and the invention of war in general. She taught weaving, spinning, and cooking, and instituted laws.

Although her cult was spread throughout mainland and island Greece (Arcadia, Argolis, Corinth, Sikyon, Thessaly, Boeotia, Crete, Rhodes), the Goddess of War was especially revered in Attica, the Greek region where the city named after her was located. A huge statue of Athena Promachos with a spear shining in the sun adorned the Acropolis in Athens, where the Erechtheion and Parthenon temples were dedicated to the goddess.

The first priestess of Athena was called Califiess, the priestesses were also Pandrosa, Theano, Phoebe (one of the daughters of Leucippus, abducted by the Dioscuri), Gers, Aglavra, Iodama, the last three were overtaken by an unenviable fate. Groves and many temples in Athens, Argos, Delos, Rhodes and other cities were dedicated to Athena.

Agricultural holidays were dedicated to her: procharisteria (in connection with the germination of bread), plintheria (the beginning of the harvest), arrhephoria (giving dew for crops), callinteria (fruit ripening), skyrophoria (drought aversion). During these festivities, the washing of the statue of Athena took place, the young men took an oath of civil service to the goddess. The feast of the great Panathenaic - statesmanship - was universal. Erichthonius was considered the founder of Panathenay, and Theseus was the reformer. Solon organized the annual Panathenaic, Peisistratus established the great ones. Pericles introduced competitions in singing, playing the cithara and flute. On the Panathenaic, sacrifices were made to Athena and the transfer of the peplos of the goddess took place, on which her exploits in gigantomachy were depicted. In Athens, the third decade of each month was dedicated to the Goddess. According to myths, when all the gods fled to Egypt, she remained in her homeland.

In Rome, Athena was identified with Minerva. Roman festivities of Minerva are devoted to two large passages from Ovid's "Fast". Throughout antiquity, it remains evidence of the organizing and guiding power of the mind, which streamlines cosmic and social life, glorifying the strict foundations of a state based on democratic legislation.

Impact on culture and art

Hymns XI and XXVIII of Homer, the fifth hymn of Callimachus, the XXXII Orphic hymn, the VII hymn of Proclus and the prose "Hymn to Athena" by Aelius Aristides are dedicated to Athena. She is the protagonist of the tragedies of Sophocles "Eant", Euripides "Ion", "Pleading", "Troyanka", "Iphigenia in Tarvid", Pseudo-Euripides "Res".

She acts in the prologue of the tragedy of Sophocles "Ajax", talking with Odysseus and Ajax. A monument to the glorification of the wise ruler of the Athenian state, the founder of the Areopagus, is the tragedy of Aeschylus "Eumenides".

There are many statues of the Goddess of War, of which the most famous Phidias "Athena Promachos" of the 5th century. BC e., "Athena Parthenos" 438 BC, "Athena Lemnia" about 450 BC. have not survived to our time. The most accurate copy of the Athena Parthenos is considered to be the statue of Athena Barvakion in the National Museum in Athens, and the Athena Promachos is probably the Medici Athena in the Louvre. The Vatican Museum keeps "Athena Giustiniani" (copy from the original 4th century BC)

The painter Famuil, who painted the Golden Palace of Nero, created a picture depicting the Goddess looking at the viewer from any point. The painting of Cleanthes "The Birth of Athena" was in the sanctuary of Artemis Alfionia in Olympia.

In Western European painting, the Goddess of Wisdom was less popular than, for example, Aphrodite (Venus). Often she was depicted in the plot "The Judgment of Paris" along with Aphrodite and Hera. Botticelli's painting "Pallas and the Centaur" of 1482 is known. It was depicted mainly in works of an allegorical nature, multi-figure compositions ("Minerva conquers ignorance" by B. Spranger, "Victory of virtue over sin" by A. Mantegna). She was depicted together with Ares (Mars) ("Minerva and Mars" by Tintoretto, Veronese), rarely in sculpture (Sansovino).

Presumably, the famous enigmatic painting by Diego Velasquez "Spinners" illustrates the myth of Athena and Arachne.

In modern times

In honor of Athena, an asteroid is named - one of three asteroids discovered on July 22, 1917 by the German astronomer Maximilian Wolf at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl Observatory, Germany.

Athena is the name of an American light-class launch vehicle.

The city of Athens is the capital of a state in southern Europe Greece.