Athena was a tall, strong, graceful, gray-eyed, goddess who liked owls. From the beginning, she was already an amazing goddess. In fact, even her birth was most unusual. Zeus, the father of gods and goddesses, was also Athena’s father. Her mother was a mortal woman named Metis. Older gods had warned Zeus that he would be in trouble if Metis gave birth to a daughter. So he swallowed Metis whole.Athena was Zeus’s favorite child. Athena's siblings included Persephone, the Dioscuri twins, Helen, Dike, Minos, Aphrodite, Artemis, Heracles, the Graces, the Muses, Apollo, Artemis, Daradanus Hephaestus, Hebe, Eileithyia, Ares and Dionysus. Athena is considered a lone child of Zeus because she was born from his head.
She was fierce and brave …show more content…
For one thing, they were often rivals over one thing or another. Once the people of a new city were looking for a god to watch over and protect them. Athena and Poseidon both wanted the job. To impress the city’s citizens, the two gods gave them gifts. Poseidon struck the ground with his three-pointed spear, and water poured out. The water turned into a river that flowed into the sea. Poseidon told the people to build ships to sail to the sea. He said that they could travel anywhere. They could become the most powerful people on earth. The citizens were indeed impressed. But then Athena told them to taste the water. It tasted awful. It was saltwater, which was impossible to drink. This ruined Poseidon's …show more content…
Not only did they choose Athena to watch over them, they named the city after her. They called it Athens. Poseidon left in a huff, causing a serious flood on his way. But the Athenians weren’t bothered very much. With Athena’s help, their city grew to be strong and wealthy. Athens became one of the greatest cities of all time. Today it’s the capital and the largest city of Greece. It is evident that Athena and Athens derive from the same root; Athens (or Athenae) is in plural form, because it represents the sisterhood of the goddess that existed there. Similarly, Athena was called Mykene in the city of Mycenae (also a plural after the respective sisterhood), and Thebe in the city of Thebes (or Thebae, both plural