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Monday, July 15, 2013

Athena : Goddess of Wisdom



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Zeus, the king of all gods had a relationship with a titaness of wisdom named Metis. Obviously something will happen between them and Metis became pregnant. Zeus immediately found out and feared the possible consequences of what they did. It had been prophesied that Metis would give birth to an extremely powerful child, who will overthrow Zeus – just like what his father Cronus, did to Uranus, his grandfather. The extremely powerful child is no other than Athena. In order to prevent the crucial consequence, Zeus tricked Metis and transformed her into a fly and swallowed her. Well, he was too late: Metis had already conceived a child. She might not be a goddess but Metis also have powers, she began making a helmet and robe for her fetal daughter.

Zeus experienced great pain in his head the past few days after he swallowed Metis – this was because of the hammering as Metis made the helmet. In order to know what causes the pain Zeus called his son, Hephaestus. Hephaestus clove his father’s head with an axe, giving rise to Athena's birth. Fully grown, armed, and armored, Athena leaped from Zeus’ head. The reason why Athena is full of wisdom is that she came out from his father’s head making her now the goddess of wisdom. Athena is the goddess of wisdom, handicraft and strategic warfare. Her roman name is Minerva.

In my opinion, one of the most interesting part of Athena’s life was when she became the patron goddess of Athens. Notice that Athens and Athena has an etymological connection, well that is not a mere coincidence there’s a story behind that similarity. There once came a time in Ancient Greece when Athens needs to have a patron god or goddess. The two Olympian gods who were particularly interested in becoming the patron god or goddess were Poseidon, the god of the Seas and Athena, the goddess of Wisdom and Skill. In order to win the patronage they must offer a gift that will truly be valuable for the City of Athens.

Poseidon came first: he struck the earth powerfully and created a well with his trident. Immediately, streaming water shot forth, the idea pleased the Athenians because it will make traveling much easier - but the water turned out to be salty, not good for drinking. Next, it was the turn of goddess Athena. Athena stepped forward, struck her spear into the ground and then she knelt and planted an olive branch in it. This way she created an olive tree, as a symbolization of peace and prosperity on earth. To prove that the tree is not only for decoration, she explained the many uses of the tree, making it very valuable for Athens. The Athenians were very impressed with Athena’s gift. In return, Athena became the patron goddess of Athens and the city was named after her. Poseidon, however, was not pleased with the decision and cursed the city of Athens to never have enough water from then on. After that, it is said that a major problem of water shortage started in Athens, which continues until nowadays.

I admire Athena because of her Wisdom. Many are intelligent but it’s only a few who we may call wise. Once you are said to be wise, you are very careful in every decision you make. You see to it that you thoroughly think of it before making an action. Unfortunately, I can say that I’m not wise but I still try to be one. To sum up everything, I just want to be like Athena. I don’t want  to be a goddess like her but I just want to be a very wise person.  



Thanks to 
Ms. Jenica Lim 
for the pictures. 
Pictures are edited
by the contributor 
(except the first one).
Contributed by: 
Ruth Marienelle R. Balasabas

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2 comments:

  1. Hi Ruth! Its nice to know that you admire Athena so much. I admire her, too, because of her wisdom. I find your article very interesting because not only did you provide info about Athena, you also added the story between her and Poseidon. I didn't find any grammatical errors so far and your paragraph organization is nice. I hope people can admire people with great wisdom like how you admire Athena. :)

    John Arjude C. Gerona
    IV - Boyle

    ReplyDelete
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