Athena Flaws

Divine intervention is often an integral part of ancient epic poetry as seen in Homer's The Odyssey. The role of the goddess Athena was an essential part of Odysseus's journey back to Ithaka. Athena also played a vital part in Telemakhos's life before the return of his father. Even Penelope is impacted by the help of the "grey-eyed" goddess, often inspiring Penelope to hold off the suitors as well as putting her to sleep when a situation became too difficult. Athena demonstrates that she is a critical component of development within the father Odysseus and his son Telemakhos as well as guiding Penelope as a beautiful mother waiting for the return of her husband.

Throughout ancient Greco-Roman history, the Olympian Gods had very different roles in mythology. Athena and Artemis were two of the twelve gods who ruled Olympus. The goddesses portrayed many different religious aspects of this culture and played a large role in mythology. Both goddesses were believed to be virgin goddesses but still represent the ideas of growing into a woman, childbearing, and matronly duties. Throughout this paper the reader will find examples of similarities and differences between two virgin goddesses and how they represented the cultures of women, purity, and womanly duties.

Pallas Athena and Wonder Woman have shaped up history and influenced women throughout generations due to their power in defending justice. These strong, independent women have shown many similarities that have given women the confidence to stand up for themselves leading to the opportunities today’s women have. They both liked to settle battles and fights by peaceful means. These two women, symbolized fortitude, wisdom, and intelligence. Pallas Athena, the Greek patron goddess of the Amazons and Diana Prince the modern heroine of Wonder Woman (2017) both demonstrate a feminist

Athena resolves the conflicts of the Oresteia with an ambiguous judgment that seems to satisfy all parties involved. However, in any conflict, at least one party must make sacrifices to work toward a resolution. Athena achieves her paradoxical result by misleading Apollo to think that he has received total victory in judgment and by offering compensatory powers to the Erinyes, thus creating an illusion of satisfaction for all amidst a reality of compromise.

Athena was the Greek Goddess of many ideas, but she was famous mostly for her superior wisdom, her cunning skills in times of war, and her implausible talent for household tasks, such as weaving and pottery. She was celebrated more than any other God in ancient mythology, was the supposed inventor of countless innovations, and her figure gave reason for Greek woman to gain rights long before others of their time. The goddess of war, the guardian of Athens, and the defender of Heroes; Athena’s impact on the lives of Ancient Greeks is outstanding.

In ancient Greece, around 500 B.C.E, the culture was revolving around gods and goddesses. The lifestyles and actions of the people of Greece had an interdependence with the common belief of Hellenism. By understanding that many Greeks looked to their gods and goddesses in most aspects of their life, we can better understand how Greek culture worked as a whole. This can be seen specifically in Athens Greece. In Athens they looked to the Goddess Athena in particular because she was their patron Goddess. During this time a sculptor, named Phidias, sculpted a grand statue called the Athena Parthenos. The Athena Parthenos was viewed as an actual incarnation of the Goddess Athena, and symbolize victory in wars that ultimately create peace and harmony.

Gender inequality has been a controversial topic for numerous religions and cultures throughout history. Women were commonly regarded as the subservient gender, an idea that was no different in Ancient Greece. Throughout Greek mythology, women were considered inferior and troublesome symbols, while men were known for courage, leadership, and strength. While there is no argument of the flagrant sexism that is illustrated in Greek mythology, it can also be claimed that women were given a situated position of freedom, necessity, and power as well. Many popular Greek plays and myths contain several complexes and well described female characters. These goddesses themselves, partook the role of victim, heroine, and villain as it illustrated the diversity of characters in which women were portrayed and seen in both Ancient Greek society and mythology, allowing us to question “Were the women of Ancient Greek mythology equally represented as free and superior?” The creation of the Greek mythological universe, the creation of multi-gendered goddesses or deities, and the free and superior personalities accredited to women in Ancient Greek mythology to answer the question that women were fairly represented as powerful in Ancient Greek mythology.

While Athena is divine, she is still a central female character and the way in which she is portrayed makes an impact on the way Homer’s women are perceived.

This simile helps create the strengths of the gods and goddesses by adding to Athena’s exit.

The artwork I chose for the Classical Greece period is the Erechtheion, an architectural building interestingly using six maidens as support columns. Through studies of the architectural history of this piece, Michael Lahanas suggests that the temple was constructed as “a complex design that supposed to represent the legendary contest between Poseidon and Athena for guardianship of the city of Athens” (Lahanas). The relationship between the art and the culture of the related civilization depicts through its purpose as a temple. Some articles suggest that the temple was a place where worship occurred for both Poseidon and Athena; the structure

Studies concerning the lives of women in classical Athens have sparked much controversy because, despite the apparent fascination with femininity manifested in art and drama, we have no evidence voicing the opinions of the actual women themselves. This presents a

Divine intervention is a feature of ancient Greek literature. One is amazed and even dumbfounded by the magical myths so frequently referred to. In Greek literature, the gods play an immense role in the lives and fates of the mortal dwellers of the earth. As one examines the gods throughout the myths and epic poems of the Greeks, one recieves a strong impression that the gods "play" with and manipulate mortals and each other. One goddess who exemplifies this is the great goddess Athena. This daughter of Zeus impacted everyone that she came across. The character Athena is "splashed" over Greek works. However, there are specific pieces of Greek literature that tell a great deal about this fiery goddess. This is not a passive goddess. This is

This is just one example of the limitations to our knowledge of the ancient world—forces of nature made the beautiful and pale Parian marble used to construct the goddess, and they also broke her apart. Only fragments of a hand have been found—her arms and head are still lost. Until they are found, we will not know if her lips were pursed for a trumpet blast, or her arms were outstretched bearing a cup or sash, or she struck any of a number of other poses she was shown in.

One of the issues in Homers The Odyssey is understanding the role and function of the goddess Athena. The problem is most pronounced when examining Athena’s duality. She provides Odysseus both her counsel and assistance throughout the story yet she’s also the entity that keeps him exiled from his home. Athena’s role, similar to the other gods, is to correct apparent injustices. “Oh father Zeus and gods and bliss forever let no man holding scepter as a king think to be mild the fatherhood and mercy through his reign. Meanwhile he lives and grieves upon the island of the nymph…” Book 5 lines 9-21. These lines show that Athena is concerned about the injustice that surrounds Odysseus and his son. This suggests that gods can become active in the role of mortals and may aid them to correct inequity through their fate. This paper will explore the obligations Athena had to ensure Odysseus’ voyage home safely as well as the thematic importance of fate in The Odyssey and the intervention and the power of the gods and goddesses. Fate is one of the occurring themes throughout the Odyssey, where the intervention of the gods and goddesses is common due to the triumphs of men and women.

For Bascom, a secondary qualification to be a valid myth is that, “their main characters are not usually human beings, but they often have human attributes, animals, deities, or culture heroes,” and here, Athena the goddess behaves like a person would (4). We see even the goddess of wisdom being prone to jealousy in Athena’s internal monologue, “‘To praise is not enough; I should have praise myself,’” proving even Athena can be affected by human hamartias like resentment (Ovid 1). Contrary to some religious ideals of an immaculate Demiurge, the Greek Pantheon mirrored the unpredictable nature of Greek society, and thus the gods had supernatural abilities paired with anthropomorphic personalities. This adds greater importance to Bascom’s criteria of deity characters with human attributes, because these trusted gods controlled lives of the Greek and Roman people, yet they were just as temperamental as humanity. Viewing the myth through a euhemeristic lens, it is even possible Arachne was a conceited weaver from a small