Colossal Athena
12" Tall, 1 lb. 10 oz., Item #BZ30

The Goddess Athena

Perhaps the most famous of all Greek goddesses, Athena appears in many of the more well-known ancient myths. As patroness of Hercules, she helped him in his trials. She stood by Achilles in the Trojan War, and helped Jason build his ship, the Argo. Odysseus, (Ulysses), had her guidance on his journey back to Ithaca.

Athena was born under circumstances bizarre even from a fairy tale standpoint. Her father, Zeus, had swallowed whole her mother, Metis, for fear she would give birth to a son, fulfilling the prophecy that the son would take the father’s place. After this act, Zeus developed a fearful headache, and asked Hephaistos to cut his head open with an ax to cure the pain. Knowing that a god is immortal, Hephaistos obliged, and out of the split sprang the young goddess Athena, clad in armor, and growing larger until she appeared a full sized woman. She gave a fierce battle-cry and the earth shook. Zeus’s head closed up and his headache was gone. Athena, daughter of Metis, whose name means “practical counsel”, and birthed from the head of the great Zeus, was destined to be a goddess of great wisdom.

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While Athena was a warrior and protective of the Greeks in war, and her name invoked for courage and strength before battles, she was also creative, and taught humans painting, pottery, spinning and weaving, among other household crafts. Her devotion to her proteges, like Diomedes, Hercules and Jason portrays something akin to kinship and counselor, or in the case of Jason, a relationship of love. Athena usually appears in armor and carrying a spear, with a helmet decorated with owls, or with owls near her presence. It is from this connection that the owls became regarded as a symbol of wisdom.