The goddess of wisdom and knowledge, invincible warrior, defender of cities and patroness of sciences, Pallas Athena enjoyed well-deserved respect among the ancient Greeks. She was the favorite daughter of Zeus, and it is in her honor that the modern one is named. Pallas Athena helped the heroes of Greece with wise advice and did not abandon them in moments of danger. The ancient Greek goddess taught the girls of Greece weaving, spinning and cooking. It is believed that it was Pallas Athena who invented the flute and established the Areopagus (high court).

Appearance of Pallas Athena:

Majestic posture, large gray (and according to some sources, blue) eyes, light brown hair - her whole appearance suggests that this is a goddess in front of you. Pallas Athena was usually depicted in armor and holding a spear in her hand.

Symbols and attributes:

Pallas Athena is surrounded by masculine attributes. On the head is a helmet with a high crest. There must be a shield (aegis) - it is decorated with the head of the Gorgon Medusa. The ancient Greek goddess of wisdom, Pallas Athena, is accompanied by an owl and a snake - symbols of wisdom. It is noted that her constant companion was the goddess of victory, Nike. The sacred olive tree can also be called a symbol of Pallas.

Pallas Athena is surrounded by masculine attributes: on her head is a helmet with a high crest, in her hands is a shield decorated with the head of the Gorgon Medusa

Strengths of Pallas Athena:

Although Athena was one of the most “sensible” goddesses of the ancient Greek Pantheon, she was nevertheless characterized by some kind of favoritism. This is, in particular, hinted at by the myths about Odysseus and Perseus.

Parents:

Pallas Athena was born in an unusual and spectacular way. One day Zeus was predicted that his wife, the goddess Metis, would give birth to a son who would be smarter and stronger than his father and would overthrow him. But first a daughter had to be born. Zeus, not wanting to be overthrown, swallowed the pregnant Metis. Soon he felt a strong headache and ordered Hephaestus to cut off his head with an ax. Athena was born from the head of Zeus. The goddess was already fully armed at birth.

The goddess was born from the head of Zeus and was already fully armed at birth

There are other, less common versions about who the parents of the ancient Greek goddess Pallas Athena were. According to some myths, her mother was the nymph of the river Triton, and her father was the god of the seas Poseidon.

Place of birth:

It is impossible to say unequivocally where exactly the goddess Pallas Athena was born: different myths point to different places. So, she could have been born near Lake Tritonida or the River Triton, in Crete, in the west of Thessaly, in Arcadia, or even in the town of Alalkomene in Boeotia. The most common version is that Crete is still the birthplace of Athena.

Personal life of Pallas Athena:

The goddess Pallas Athena was a virgin and proud of it. However, she raised an adopted son. That's what the myths tell. One day, the god of fire Hephaestus turned to Zeus with a request to give him Athena as his wife. Since Zeus had previously promised Hephaestus to fulfill any of his wishes, he had no choice but to agree. Yes, the Thunderer had to agree to give his beloved daughter as his wife, but he still advised her to defend herself.

Majestic posture, large gray eyes, brown hair - her whole appearance suggests that in front of you is a goddess

According to one version, the ancient Greek goddess of wisdom had to turn to the god of fire for weapons. Hephaestus, not at a loss, tried to take possession of the goddess. However, the maiden Athena did not intend to enter into an intimate relationship - neither with Hephaestus, nor with anyone else. Pallas Athena rushed away from the overly excited god, and he chased after her. When Hephaestus caught up with the maiden, she began to defend herself and even wounded him. Hephaestus spilled the seed on the ground, and soon the baby Erichthonius was born. He was born from Gaia, the earth, from Hephaestus.

Pallas Athena took Erichthonius under her protection. She fed the baby with her milk and raised him. Erichthonius grew up in her temple and always revered the goddess. It was he who began to hold Panathenaea - festivals in honor of Pallas Athena.

Goddess Temple

The main sanctuary of ancient Athens and the most beautiful work of ancient art - the temple of the goddess Athena (Parthenon) and today is one of the main business cards Greece. This bright building, as if penetrated through and through by the rays of the sun, rises in the very heart of the ancient city.

The temple of the goddess (Parthenon) is decorated with frescoes depicting scenes from her life - one of the main hallmarks of Greece

The most famous statue of Pallas Athena by Phidias was also located there - in the Parthenon. Being about 11 m in height, the sculpture was made of gold and ivory on a wooden base. The original of the statue has not survived to this day, but it is known from surviving copies and images on coins.

Main myths about Pallas Athena:

The goddess Pallas Athena is the heroine of many mythological stories.

Among the most famous is the myth of how she gained dominion over Attica, winning the competition for the region of Poseidon. Each of the gods gave the city his own gift: Poseidon - a water source, Athena - an olive tree. The judges decided that the goddess's gift was more useful and gave preference to her. So Pallas Athena won the argument and became the ruler of Attica, and the city where all this happened was named after her.

Another myth tells how Pallas Athena participated in a gigantomachy (battle with giants). The formidable warrior brought down the island of Sicily on one of the giants, tore off the skin from another and covered it with it. own body. Details of this battle were depicted on the shield of the statue of Athena.

Frequent companions of the goddess are the owl and the snake - symbols of wisdom, and also Nike - the goddess of victory

Pallas Athena also took part in the Trojan War. She helped the Greeks in every possible way in the capture of Troy, and it is she who is credited with coming up with the idea that put an end to the many years of siege - about deceiving the Trojans with the help of the Wooden Horse. She prompted Odysseus to place a detachment of Greek soldiers in a huge statue of a wooden horse and leave it at the gates of Troy, while the main forces of the Greeks retreated from Troy, supposedly lifting the siege. The Trojans, after some hesitation, dragged this wooden structure into the city. At night, the warriors hiding inside the horse came out, opened the city gates and let their comrades in.

Athena sits next to Zeus; the lord of the gods repeatedly sends her to carry out his instructions, but often Athena herself advises Zeus. She asks Zeus not to destroy the Achaeans.
In the Iliad there are traces of antagonism between father and daughter, which disappears later. It is mentioned that Athena was once an ally of Hera and Poseidon against Zeus. When Athena and Hera are going to help the Achaeans, Iris, sent by Zeus, stops them, calling Athena a dog.

In the Odyssey, Athena asks Zeus for the hero, and Zeus sends Hermes to Calypso to return Odysseus to his homeland. In one of the epic texts, Athena acts as the messenger of Zeus to Chiron.

During Xerxes' campaign against Hellas, the Delphic oracle predicted that Athena was unable to soften the wrath of Zeus. Euripides mentions that Zeus defeated the giants in Athena's chariot. According to one version, Zeus gave his goat skin (aegis) to Athena.
Several statues of Athena stood in the sanctuaries of Zeus.

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Athena and Persephone/and Demeter

Athena(ancient Greek - Athenaia; Mycenaean atanapotinija - “Atana the Lady”), in Greek mythology 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, dexterity 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 is contained only in later sources. According to them, Zeus vowed to fulfill any desire of Hephaestus and the Blacksmith God asked Athena as his wife. The King of the Gods could not break the oath, but advised his maiden 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 while 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 the earth gave birth to a baby. Therefore, Erichthonius 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 safekeeping to the daughters of Cecrops Aglavra, Gersa and Pandrosa, forbidding him to open. The sisters opened the casket and saw a child entwined with snakes, which the Warrior assigned to the baby as guard. They were either killed by snakes, or Pallas drove them mad and they threw themselves from the top of the acropolis into the abyss. After the death of his sisters, Erichthonius was raised in the temple of Athena. When he grew up, he became king, erected a xoan (statue or idol made of wood) of Athena on the acropolis, and established the Panathenaea, holding a procession in honor of Athena on the acropolis for the first time. Erichthonius was buried in the sacred site of the temple of Athena Polias.

Also, according to one version, together with Hephaestus, by the will of Zeus, she created 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 an aegis, during the period of heroic mythology she directs her strength to fight titans and giants. Although, according to the early mythological scheme, the Titanomachy occurred even before the birth of Athena, later authors, starting with Euripides, often confused giants and titans. Her participation in gigantomachy is a popular plot. Hyginus 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 towards the giant Enceladus, and when he fled, she brought down the island of Sicily on him. Pallanta peels off his skin and covers his body with it during battle.

The goddess of war demands sacred respect. There is a well-known myth about how she deprived young Tiresias (the son of her favorite nymph Chariklo) of sight. One day Athena and Chariklo decided to swim in a spring on Helikon, Tiresias saw the goddess and she blinded him (according to another version, he became blind from the sight of Athena). Having deprived the young man of his 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 maintain reason in Hades. Ovid, in Book VI 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 heroes, protects public order, etc. In myths ancient Greece Stories about Athena helping heroes are common. She helps Perseus by guiding his hand in decapitating Medusa. One of Athena's epithets is "gorgon killer." Perseus sacrificed a heifer to the goddess and gave Athena the head of the Gorgon, which she placed on her shield. Athena later placed Perseus, Andromeda, Cassiopeia and Kepheus 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 made Cadmus reign in Thebes, and for his wedding with Harmony she gave him a necklace, peplos and flutes.

It is believed that Asclepius received the blood of the Gorgon from Athena, with which he raised the dead. According to Euripides, at birth she gave Erichthonius two drops of the Gorgon’s blood, which he gave to Erechtheus in a golden ring, and the latter to Creuse (one drop is healing, the other is poisonous). Athena appeared in a dream to Pericles and indicated a herb to heal his slave who had fallen from the roof of the Acropolis Propylaea under construction, the herb was nicknamed parthenium, and Pericles erected a statue of Athena Hygieia. The base of a statue made 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 Rider when she handed over Pegasus to him. She also helps Nestor against Ereuthalion and in the battle with the Eleans. The goddess Menelaus protects from the arrow of Pandarus (according to Plutarch).

Repeatedly the wise Goddess helped Hercules at the request of Zeus. Athena threw a stone at the mad hero, which saved Amphitryon; this stone is called Sophronister, that is, “bringing to reason.” She gave him a cloak (according to another version, armor) before the war with Orchomen. There is a version that it was Athena who told the hero how to kill the Lernaean Hydra and gave him rattles made by Hephaestus to scare away the Stymphalian birds. With the help of Pallas, Hercules led the dog Cerberus out of Hades, and later she took the apples of the Hesperides from him and returned them to their place. Athena gave the hero the cubit of the Gorgon, which the hero gave to Sterope, daughter of Kepheus, 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 deflects some of the arrows from him and covers him with a shield. When Tydeus was mortally wounded, she begged from her father a potion of immortality for the wounded man, but when she saw that Tydeus was devouring the brain of his enemy, she hated him and did not give him the 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 with Ares, takes the peak of Ares away from the hero and directs the spear of Diomedes into the stomach of Ares, protects Diomedes during the storm. Horace says that Diomedes was elevated to gods by Athena.

The same Iliad mentions that Athena helped Achilles destroy Lyrnessos, she also tames the anger of Achilles at the request of Hera, lights a flame around Achilles’ head, frightening the Trojans. When Achilles mourns 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 Deiphobus, who advised Hector to meet Achilles; before that, she appeared to Achilles and promised to help him in this battle. Achilles says to 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 ambrosia on his body.

In Homer's poems (especially the Odyssey), not a single important event not without the intervention of Athena. She is Odysseus's constant adviser, helps him calm the people, protects the hero from the lance of the Trojan Socus, helps him in running competitions, and 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 not mentioned even once); assistance resumes after the crash of Odysseus’s raft. She calms the winds, helps him get ashore, and then sends him sleep. Athena often takes on the guise of mortals to advise or help Odysseus and at the same time transforms Odysseus: she elevates him in stature, gives him strength in competition, if necessary, turns Odysseus into an old beggar, and then restores his beauty again, and hides the hero on the island of Pheakov cloud, in Ithaca hides him and his companions in darkness and helps him leave the city.

She is the main defender of the Achaean Greeks and the 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 “city defender”.

The warrior goddess contributes to the capture of Troy from the very beginning Trojan War. She participates in the Judgment of Paris and loses the argument to Aphrodite. Trojan horse Epeus made it according to Athena’s plan, she appeared to him in a dream, in three days the horse was completed and Epeus asks Athena to bless his work and calls the Trojan Horse an offering to the Goddess. The inhabitants of Metapontum showed in the temple of Athena 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 his horse. Next, the Goddess brought the food of the gods to the heroes who were about to get on the horse so that they would not feel hungry. When the Trojans think about destroying the horse, Athena gives bad signs (an 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 sends snakes to kill the sons of Laocoon. Trifiodorus describes how Helen of Sparta came to the temple of Athena and walked around her horse three times, calling the heroes by name, but the Goddess of War, visible only to Helen, appeared and forced her to leave. And on the night of the fall of Troy, Pallas sat on the acropolis, shining with her aegis, and 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, and working people in general; she helped Prometheus steal fire from Hephaestus’s forge; Daedalus learned his art from her. She teaches girls crafts (the daughters of Pandareus, Eurynoma and others). Her touch alone is enough to make a person beautiful - this is how Penelope acquired the amazing beauty of meeting her future husband. She personally polished Peleus' spear.

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

Athena is credited with inventing the flute and teaching Apollo how to play it. Pindar says that one of the gorgons, Medusa, moaned terribly as she died, and the other Euryale moaned while looking 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 gods' meal, but Hera and Aphrodite ridiculed her. Athena, looking at her reflection in the water, saw how ugly her cheeks were swelling, and threw the flute in the Ideal Forest. The abandoned flute was picked up by the satyr Marsyas. Later, Marsyas challenged Apollo to a competition in playing the flute, was defeated and was severely punished for his pride (Apollo flayed the satyr). Aristotle believes that the Goddess abandoned the flute for another reason: playing the flute is not associated with mental development.

One of the most important mythological stories about Athena is the trial of Attica. Athena argued with the god of the seas, Poseidon, for the possession of Attica. 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 his trident and gushed out a spring from the rock. But the water in it turned out to be salty and undrinkable. Athena stuck her spear into the ground, and an olive tree grew from 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 cites a later version of the myth, where Cecrops put the question of the name of the city to a vote: men voted for Poseidon, and women for Athena, and one woman turned out to be more. Then Poseidon devastated the earth with waves, and the Athenians subjected women to triple punishment: they were 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 trial took place on Boedromion 2 (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 Ovid's account, Athena depicts this scene on fabric during her competition with Arachne.

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

Already in Homer, Athena appears as the patroness of shipbuilding and navigation. According to her instructions, the architect Argos from Thespiae created the ship Argo. On the bow, Pallas strengthened a piece of the trunk of a Dodon oak tree, which could prophesy. After completing the voyage, the ship was placed in the sky by Athena. On the advice of Athena, Danaus, the son of the Egyptian king Bel and Ankhinoe, the father of 50 daughters, built a 50-oar ship with two bows, on which he fled with his daughters. According to myth, Danaus received a prediction that he would die at the hands of his son-in-law, Danaus’ daughters took up arms and killed their husbands in one night, fleeing revenge Danai built his own ship. Perseus, whom Pallas also willingly helped, was a descendant of Danaus. The image of the Goddess was on Athenian ships; according to myths, she often sends a fair wind to ships (Telemachus, Theseus, the Achaeans returning from Lemnos).

Name, epithets and character

Athena. 470-465 BC Red-figured amphora. Attica. St. Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum

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 established, but in the classical era the name of the goddess was pronounced approximately like “Athena”. Homer sometimes calls her Athenea, that is, "Athenian."

Athena is the goddess of wisdom, Democritus considered her “reasonableness.” Her wisdom is different from the wisdom of Hephaestus and Prometheus, she is characterized by wisdom in government affairs. For late antiquity, Athena was the principle of the indivisibility of the cosmic mind and a symbol of comprehensive world wisdom, thereby her qualities are sharply contrasted with the riot and ecstasy of Dionysus. As the legislator and patroness of Athenian statehood, she was revered as Phratria (“brotherly”), Bulaya (“councillor”), Soteira (“savior”), Pronoia (“provident”).

There is numerous information about the cosmic features of the image of Athena. She keeps the lightning bolts of Zeus. Her image or fetish, 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 weapons)”, that is, it means a victorious warrior, or it means “maiden”. Athena was identified with the daughters of Kekrops - Pandrosa ("all-wet") and Aglavra ("light-air"), or Agravla ("field-furrowed").

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 Bombileia, that is, “bee-like,” “buzzing.” The epithet Parthenos is the name of the Virgin Athena, hence the name of the Parthenon temple. Athena is called Promachos, that is, “advanced fighter,” as the patroness of war and fair battle.

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

Cult and symbolism

Athena's ancient zoomorphic past is indicated by her attributes - a snake and an owl (symbols of wisdom). The chthonic wisdom of the Goddess has its origin 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 of Milato, as well as on other monuments, whose symbol was a figure-eight shield. 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 on Crete, and an image of a goddess with a shield of Mycenaean times (possibly a prototype of Olympian Athena).

Pallas is one of the most important figures not only in Olympic mythology; in its importance it is equal to Zeus and sometimes even surpasses him, rooted in ancient period 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 her understanding as a maiden 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, and is accompanied by sacred animals. Among the indispensable attributes of Athena is the aegis - a shield made of goatskin with the head of the serpent-haired Medusa, which has enormous magical power and frightens gods and people; helmet with a high crest. Athena appeared accompanied by the winged goddess Nike.

Athena's olive trees were considered the "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 Ethia (“diving duck”), according to Hesychius, since she turned into a diving duck, hid Cecrops under her wings and brought him to Megara.

She is credited with the invention of the chariot, the ship, the flute and trumpet, the ceramic pot, the rake, the plow, the yoke for oxen and the bridle for horses, as well as the invention of war in principle. She taught weaving, spinning and cooking and established laws.

Although her cult was widespread 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 Kalyfiessa, the priestesses were also Pandrosa, Theano, Phoebe (one of the daughters of Leucippus, kidnapped by the Dioscuri), Hersa, Aglavra, Iodama, the last three suffered an unenviable fate. Groves and many temples were dedicated to Athena in Athens, Argos, Delos, Rhodes and other cities.

Agricultural holidays were dedicated to her: procharisteria (in connection with the germination of bread), plintheria (the beginning of the harvest), arrephoria (giving dew for crops), callinteria (ripening of fruits), scirophoria (aversion to drought). During these celebrations, the statue of Athena was washed, and the young men took an oath of civil service to the goddess. The celebration of the great Panathenaia - state wisdom - was universal. Erichthonius was considered the founder of Panathenaia, and Theseus was the transformer. The annual Panathenaea was organized by Solon, the great ones were established by Pisistratus. Pericles introduced competitions in singing, playing the cithara and flute. At the Panathenaea, sacrifices were made to Athena and the goddess’s peplos was handed over, which depicted her exploits in the gigantomachy. 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. Two large passages from Ovid's Fast are devoted to the Roman festivals of Minerva. Throughout antiquity, it remains evidence of the organizing and directing power of reason, which organizes cosmic and social life, glorifying strict principles state based on democratic legislation.

Influence on culture and art

The XI and XXVIII hymns of Homer, the V 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 character tragedies of Sophocles "Eant", Euripides "Ion", "The Supplicators", "The Trojan Women", "Iphigenia in Tarvid", Pseudo-Euripides "Res".

She acts in the prologue of Sophocles' tragedy "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 known statues of the Goddess of War, the most famous of which are Phidias “Athena Promachos” from the 5th century. BC e., "Athena Parthenos" 438 BC, "Athena Lemnia" around 450 BC. have not survived to this day. The most accurate copy of the Athena Parthenos is considered to be the statue of Athena Varvakion in the National Museum in Athens, and the Athena Promachos is probably the Athena Medici in the Louvre. The Vatican Museum houses "Athena Giustiniani" (a copy of the original from the 4th century BC)

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

In Western European painting, the Goddess of Wisdom was less popular than, for example, Aphrodite (Venus). She was often depicted in the "Judgement of Paris" plot along with Aphrodite and Hera. Botticelli's painting "Pallas and the Centaur" of 1482 is well 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).

Supposedly, Diego Velazquez's famous enigmatic painting "The Spinner" illustrates the myth of Athena and Arachne.

In modern times

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

Athena is the name given to the American light-class launch vehicle.

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

Nikolay Kun

Apollo and Pallas Athena save Orestes from the pursuit of the Erinyes

Based on Aeschylus' tragedy "Eumenides"

Persecuted by the vengeful Erinyes, exhausted by wanderings and grief, Orestes finally came to sacred Delphi and sat down there in the temple of Apollo near the omphalos. Even the terrible goddesses followed him to the temple of Apollo, but there the arrow god put them to sleep, and their terrible eyes closed in sleep.

Apollo, secretly from the Erinyes, appeared to Orestes and ordered him to go to Athens and there ask for protection from ancient image goddess Pallas Athena. God promised his help to the unfortunate Orestes, and gave him his brother, the god Hermes, as a guide. Orestes got up, quietly left the temple and went with Hermes to Athens.

He had just left when the shadow of Clytemnestra rose from the earth in the temple of Apollo. Seeing the sleeping Erinyes, she began to wake them up and reproach them for stopping to pursue the murderer who had shed their mother’s blood. She hurried them to quickly chase after the hidden Orestes and not give him even a minute of peace. But the Erinyes slept in a deep, heavy sleep; in their sleep they moaned, at times screaming, as if chasing a murderer fleeing from them. Finally, with great difficulty, one of the Erinyes woke up and woke the others. The Erinyes became furious when they saw that Orestes had disappeared. They began to reproach Apollo for snatching the murderer from their hands, but Apollo, shaking his bow, drove them out of his temple. Full of furious anger, the goddesses rushed in a discordant crowd in the footsteps of Orestes.

Meanwhile, Orestes came to Athens and there sat down at the statue of the goddess Athena, hugging her with his arms. Soon the Erinyes were brought. They looked everywhere for Orestes. In terrible anger, the goddesses of vengeance were ready to tear the unfortunate man to pieces, but they did not dare to offend the sacred image of Athena.

The goddess Athena heard the menacing cries of Erinyes and appeared before them, sparkling with her weapons. Erinyes menacingly demanded that the goddess give Orestes into their power; they wanted to subject Orestes to terrible torment for killing his mother. Orestes prayed to the goddess to protect him. He reminded Pallas Athena of his father Agamemnon, of how he died at the hands of the treacherous Clytemnestra. Did Orestes take revenge on his mother of his own free will? After all, he carried out the orders of Apollo. Orestes prayed to Athena to judge him herself.

Athena heeded Orestes' pleas. To decide his case, she elected a court from the Athenian elders. This court - the Areopagus - from now on was always supposed to exist in Athens and gather on the hill where the Amazons once camped when they attacked Theseus. This hill has since been called the Hill of Ares, since the Amazons sacrificed to it.

The judges elected by Athena gathered, two ballot boxes were brought into which the judges were supposed to place pebbles during voting, and the trial began. The goddess Athena also participated in it as a judge. People crowded around, wanting to hear how the judges would decide the case. The Erinyes accused Orestes and threateningly demanded that he be convicted. The god Apollo himself appeared to protect Orestes. Apollo began to speak calmly in defense of Orestes. He justified his action, since Orestes took revenge on Clytemnestra for a terrible crime - the murder of her husband, the great hero King Agamemnon. Yes, finally, Orestes fulfilled his will. We listened to the accusers and the judge's defense and began voting.

It was decided that if the same number of votes were cast for the prosecution and acquittal of Orestes, he would be acquitted. When the judges' votes were counted, it turned out equal number acquittal and acquittal votes. The equal number of votes for accusation and acquittal turned out to be because Athena voted for Orestes, saying that she was voting for him since she did not have a mother, but only a father, the god Zeus. Thus, Orestes was acquitted, and the Erinyes had to stop their persecution.

The Erinyes fell into a terrible rage; the court deprived them of their original rights to punish criminals with terrible torment. They threatened Erinyes that they would devastate all of Attica and plunge it into a sea of ​​disasters. But Athena softened the anger of the goddesses; she convinced them to remain forever in Attica in a sacred cave, where all the Athenians would give them great honors.

The formidable goddesses agreed. With great triumph, the citizens led them, led by Athena and her priests, to their sanctuary - a cave at the foot of Ares Hill. Since then, the Erinyes became the defenders of all of Attica, and they began to be called Eumenides