ATHENA'S PANTHEON

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origin

prowess

lore

note

how athena came to be was no short of a miracle. she was not gestated by a woman — as all beings are; she sprang fully grown from her father’s head.

zeus, king of the gods, made metis his wife first, and she was wisest among gods and mortal men. but when she was about to bring forth the goddess bright-eyed athena, zeus craftily deceived her with cunning words and put her in his own belly, as gaia and starry ouranos advised, for fear she might bring forth something stronger than his thunderbolt.

when the time came, zeus started feeling tremendous headaches. as even he couldn’t bear them, hephaestus struck him with his axe and – lo and behold! – athena leapt out of zeus’ head, fully armed and with a cry so mighty and fearsome that ouranos and gaia were shaken to their bones with terror. zeus, however, was delighted and full of pride.

being the favourite child of zeus, she had great power. as a war goddess athena could not be dominated by other goddesses, such as aphrodite, and as a palace goddess she could not be violated.

she was usually associated with both warfare and wisdom as well as handicraft, courage, inspiration, civilization, law and justice, strategic warfare, mathematics, strength, strategy, the arts, and skill. she was known most specifically for her strategic skill in warfare and was often portrayed as companion of heroes and is the patron goddess of heroic endeavour.

majestic and stern, athena surpassed everybody in both of her main domains. in fact, even ares feared her; and all greek heroes asked her for help and advice.

THE FAVOURS OF ATHENA

ACHILLES a prince of phthia in malis who was supported by athena during the trojan war.

ARGONAUTS the heroes of the quest of the golden fleece were assisted by athena in their voyage.

BELLEROPHON a prince and hero of korinthos who was assisted by athena in his adventures: including the capture of the winged horse pegasos and the slaying of the chimaira.

DIOMEDES a prince and hero of argos who was supported by athena in the trojan and epigoni wars.

HERACLES a prince and hero of mykenai in argolis who was assisted by athena during the completion of his twelve labours and his later war campaigns. she also fetched him up to olympos to join the gods from the pyre on Mount oita.

CADMUS a king of thebes in boiotia who was supported by athena in the slaying of the drakon and the sowing of its teeth to birth a crop of warrior men as lords for the new city.

ODYSSEUS aking and hero of the island of ithaka who was supported by athena during the trojan war and his subsequent return home to ithaka.

PERSEUS a king and hero of mykenai in argolis who was aided by athena in his quest to slay the gorgon medusa.

THESEUS a prince and hero of athens in attika who was assisted by athena in his quest to slay the minotauros of krete.

TYDEUS a prince of argos who athena supported in the war of the seven against thebes. she was even prepared to grant him immortality, until he tasted the brain of a slain opponent on the battlefield.

DAUGHTER OF CORONEUS a princess of phokis who was chased by the lustful god poseidon. She cried out to athena and the goddess transformed her into a crow to save her from the rape.

NYCTIMENE a princess of the island of lesbos who was raped by her own father. she fled to the woods and there hid herself in shame. athena in sympathy transformed the girl into an owl, and appointed her as her animal familiar.

POLYBOEA amaiden princess of amyklai in lakedaimonia who was carried to heaven by the goddesses artemis and athena, and granted immortality.

ARGOS a craftsman of iolkos in thessalia who was assisted by athena in the construction of the ship argo.

ASCLEPIUS the great physician who was given the magical blood of the gorgon by athena, to further his craft.

DAEDALUS a master craftsman and inventor from athens in attika who was instructed in his craft by athena.

DANAUS AND THE DANAIDES an egyptian prince who fled to the greek argolis with his fifty daughters. athena assisted him in the building of the very first ship. later, the goddess purified the danaides for the murder of their husbands.

EPEUS a greek warrior of the trojan war and carpenter, who was inspired by athena in the construction of the wooden horse.

EURYNOME a princess of megara who athena bestowed with wisdom, wit and skill in weaving. the goddess also won her a fine husband.

CORONIDES two maiden daughters of orion in thebes who athena granted great skill in weaving.

DAUGHTERS OF PANDAREUS two princesses of phokis who athena instructed in the art of weaving.

PERDIX a craftsman and inventor of athens in attika who was murdered by his jealous uncle daedalus. athena transformed the boy into a pheasant as reward for the inventions he had bestowed on mankind.

AEETES a king of kolkhis on the black sea. like cadmus of thebes, he received a supply of magical dragon's teeth from athena to harvest a warrior race.

THE WRATH OF ATHENA

THE JUDGEMENT OF PARIS
there was once a contest between the three most beautiful goddesses of olympos — aphrodite, hera and athena — for the prize of a golden apple addressed "to the fairest." the story began with the wedding of peleus and thetis which all the gods had been invited to attend except for eris, goddess of discord. when eris appeared at the festivities she was turned away and in her anger cast the golden apple amongst the assembled goddesses addressed "to the fairest." three goddesses laid claim to the apple — aphrodite, hera and athena. zeus was asked to mediate and he commanded hermes to lead the three goddesses to paris of troy to decide the issue. the three goddesses appearing before the shepherd prince, each offering him gifts for favour. he chose aphrodite, swayed by her promise to bestow upon him helene, the most beautiful woman, for wife. the subsequent abduction of helene led directly to the trojan war and the fall of the city.

HEPHAESTUS AND THE BIRTH OF ERIKHTHONIOS
athena once came to hephaistus, desirous of fashioning arms. but he, being forsaken by aphrodite, fell in love with athena, and began to pursue her; but she fled. when he got near her with much ado ( for he was lame ), he attempted to embrace her; but she, being a chaste virgin, would not submit to him, and he dropped his seed on the leg of the goddess. in disgust, she wiped off the seed with wool and threw it on the ground; and as she fled and the seed fell on the ground, erikhthonios was produced.

him athena brought up unknown to the other gods, wishing to make him immortal; and having put him in a chest, she committed it to pandrosos, daughter of kekrops, forbidding her to open the chest. but the sisters of pandrosos opened it out of curiosity, and beheld a serpent coiled about the babe; and, as some say, they were destroyed by the serpent, but according to others they were driven mad by reason of the anger of athena and threw themselves down from the acropolis.

having been brought up by athena herself in the precinct, erikhthonios expelled amphiktyon and became king of athens; and he set up the wooden image of athena in the acropolis, and instituted the festival of the panathenaia.

ARACHNE
arachne was a lydian woman who was highly gifted in the art of weaving. born to idmon, a famous dyer in lydia, arachne was no ordinary weaver and the very act of her weaving was sheer magic and a sight to behold.

soon news of arachne's artistry spread far and wide and it is said that nymphs from the forests left their frolicking and gathered around arachne to watch her weave. so moved were they by her skills that they remarked that she surely must have been trained by none other than goddess athena, the goddess of weaving.

all this adulation was more than arachne could handle and being an ordinary mortal who was quite vulnerable to human failings, she became quite arrogant about her superior skills. she was annoyed at being regarded as a pupil of athena and began bragging about her skills, proclaiming herself to be far more superior to even athena.

now, when the goddess of weaving heard of arachne's bold claims, she was upset, but nonetheless decided to give the young woman a chance to regret her folly. disguised as an old woman, athena appeared before arachne and warned her of the consequences of provoking the wrath of the gods, but arachne was not a bit remorseful and challenged athena to a contest, declaring that if she lost, she would accept any punishment that athena would decide for her.

that time athena revealed her true form and accepted the challenge. the stage was set for a battle in which a god and a mortal pitted their artistic skills to decide who the better artist was. the nymphs who had come to watch arachne weave shrank back, horrified at arachne's audacity, but arachne was unshakable and stood her ground. and so the contest began, athena at her loom and arachne at hers, each working with threads of gold and a splendid array of colors to decide who would outdo the other in this ultimate trial.

what unfolded next was a feast for the eye. athena created a tapestry replete with scenes from the history of the gods. she portrayed zeus at the center of the olympic pantheon as well as her own contest with poseidon and her victory, which ultimately made the people of athens name their city after her. at the corner of her tapestry, she artfully depicted humans who had dared to defy the gods and who had been punished without a trace of mercy.

as for arachne, she deliberately chose scenes that depicted the infidelities and amours of the gods. she vividly portrayed zeus and his string of indiscretions. she showed how zeus had turned into a swan to rape the spartan queen leda; a bull to entice europa; an eagle to abduct aegina; as a shower of gold to seduce danae; and as a satyr to seduce antiope. her work of art featured twenty-one scenes of the various misdemeanors of the mighty gods, including poseidon, apollo, dionysus and others.

although arachne had shown little respect for the gods by choosing a subject that made a mockery of the supreme deities of the olympus, even athena had to admit that her work was brilliant and flawless. that, however, was not enough to calm down athena who was incensed by arachne's humiliating portrayal of the gods. at last, athena destroyed in anger arachne's tapestry and loom.

arachne, like many other foolish mortals, had dared to question the supremacy of the gods. she had, in her arrogance over her art, been blind to the consequences of challenging the gods. still in anger, athens transformed arachne into a spider, proclaiming that arachne and all her descendants would henceforth hang forever from threads and be skillful weavers.

MEDUSA
medusa was a young woman who followed athena and worked in her temple in athens. poseidon was so obsessed with her that he ignored her vow of chastity and brutally raped her in the temple. athena was so upset at what he did to both the young woman and her temple that she transformed medusa into the classic mythical creature with snakes for hair who could turn men to stone.

TEIRESIAS
now there was among the thebans a soothsayer, teiresias, son of eueres and a nymph chariklo and he had lost the sight of his eyes. when teiresias accidentally saw the goddess stark naked, she covered his eyes with her hands, and so rendered him sightless. and when khariklo asked her to restore his sight, she could not do so, but by cleansing his ears she caused him to understand every note of birds; and she gave him a staff of cornel-wood, wherewith he walked like those who see.

AJAX
athena had always sided with the greeks in battle in the trojan war. but at the sack of troy, the lokrian ajax, violated kassandra in the temple of athena. when the greeks failed to punish him, she sent a storm to wreck their fleet and destroy ajax.

POWERS

superhuman strength: athena possesses superhuman strength substantially greater than the average olympian goddess and somewhat greater than the average olympian god. whereas the average olympian male and female can lift 30 and 25 tons respectively, athena can lift about 35 tons.

superhuman speed: athena can run and move at speeds greater than even the finest human athlete.

superhuman stamina: athena's advanced musculature generates considerably less fatigue toxins during physical activity than the musculature of a human being. she can physically exert herself at peak capacity for about 24 hours before fatigue begins to impair her.

superhumanly dense tissue: the tissues of her body have 3 times the density of the tissues that make up a human body, contributing somewhat to her weight and superhuman strength.

superhuman durability: athena's body is much harder and more resistant to injury than that of an ordinary human. athena can withstand high caliber bullets, great impact forces, exposure to temperature and pressure extremes, falls from great heights, and powerful energy blasts without sustaining physical injury.

superhuman agility: athena's agility, balance, and bodily coordination are enhanced to levels beyond the natural physical limits of even the finest human athlete.

superhuman reflexes: athena's reflexes are similarly enhanced and are superior to those of the finest human athlete.

shapeshifting: athena could disguise herself as any animal or human on earth to infiltrate mortal interference.

immortality: athena, like all olympians, is functionally immortal in the sense that she is immune to the effects of aging. she hasn't aged since birth and is immune to all known earthly diseases and infections. however, the olympians, like other god pantheons, are not completely immortal. while they are immune to disease and aging, it is possible for them to be killed through sufficient force.

regenerative healing factor: despite her resistance to injury, athena can be injured with sufficient force or weaponry. however, athena is capable of rapidly healing injuries faster and more extensively than a human is capable of. she, however, can't regrow missing limbs or organs without magical assistance.

magical energy manipulation: athena possesses considerable magical abilities as an olympian goddess, at least on a scale to that of ares. she can fly at great speed, change her size or form to appear as another person, animal or object, render herself and other beings invisible from mortal eyesight ( for example when she was a secret participant in the trojan war ), create illusory images, animate inanimate objects, and control the shape and form of objects or people. she also bears the gift of foresight. athena can also project powerful and destructive mystical energy bolts, cross the distance between dimensions and materialize objects. she has most commonly used it to change from her regular mortal garb into full battle armor as well as summon her mace and shield, as well as mentally pinpoint the location of those gifted with her items, such as aegis, even deceased, and conjure portals to teleport herself and others to other nearby locations on earth.

allspeak: athena can communicate in all languages, earth's dialects, and various alien languages.

divine empowerment: athena has the ability to empower other beings.

ABILITIES

super-genius intelligence: as the olympian goddess of wisdom, athena has devoted a great deal of time throughout the centuries to studying and mastering many areas of knowledge including all fields of non-technical science. she is considered a super-genius among the other deities of earth and possesses a degree of cosmic awareness that renders her nearly omniscient when using it.

master strategist: athena is also the olympian goddess of war, making her extraordinary at combat both armed and unarmed and is a highly competent military strategist even superior to her half-brother ares, the god of war. however, she does not share ares's lust for battle and bloodshed.

weapons master: she is a master of the weapons used at the time of ancient greece and rome including the sword, spear, and shield.

great magical knowledge: athena also possesses a large amount of knowledge in the magical field. she is probably on par with the asgardian enchantress, and her might in mysticism is at least on par with that of her brother ares'.

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