Athena; goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, law and justice, just warfare, mathematics, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts and skill, was the shrewd companion of heroes. She was also the goddess of heroic endeavor and has a city (Athens, Greece) named after her. She was the virgin patroness of the Athenians. She was said to protect Athens, causing many people in the Greek world worship her as Athena Polias (Athena of the city).

Athena was Zeus’ favorite daughter, born from Metis (goddess of wisdom, skill, and craft) and birthed from Zeus’ forehead in some myths. Her own father was afraid that Athena would be stronger than him, so he swallowed Metis, who had already conceived Athena without Zeus knowing. After having great painful headaches, all his children who Metis had conceived cleaved his head open with a double-headed axe.

In another myth, Athena was born outside of Olympus and was raised by the god Triton and she was not the daughter of Zeus. Instead, Cronus was her father, making her Zeus’ sister. In one other myth, she was the daughter of Poseidon and a nymph named Tritionis.

Athena is known as the virgin patroness of Athens because she never had a consort or a lover. Her famous temple, The Parthenon, in Athens takes its name from this title. The title is in recognition of her role as enforcer of rules of sexual modesty and ritual mystery. Athenians allotted the goddess value based on this pureness of virginity as it upheld a rudiment of female behavior in the patriarchal society. Some accredits her virginity to be a result of her relationship to her father Zeus and a vital, cohesive piece of her character throughout the ages.

That does not mean others did not try to take her virginity. Hephaestus (god of fire and blacksmith) attempted to rape Athena. She eluded him though, and his semen fell to the earth and impregnated the soil. Erichthonius was born from the earth and Athena raised the baby as a foster mother. Throughout the different myths of Erichthonius childhood, he becomes the founder-king of Athens and many beneficial changes to the Athenian culture was accredited to him, with Athena frequently protecting him.

Athena may be known for being the daughter of Zeus and the protector of Athens, but she is also known for the cursing of Medusa. Medusa, a young beautiful mortal who served as priestess in Athena’s temple and there are many different myths as to how Medusa became cursed. One version, she walked into Athena’s temple and claimed that her own mortal beauty was greater than Athena’s. Athena, having heard this, decided to curse her where no man could gaze upon her without turning to stone. In another myth, Poseidon raped Medusa in the temple, ignoring her vow of chastity. Upon discovering the desecration of her temple, Athena changed Medusa’s form to match that of her sister Gorgons as punishment. Athena was the reason Medusa was cursed and may have been the reason she was killed. In later myths, Athena guided Perseus in his quest to behead Medusa.

While Athens was named after Athena, it wasn’t without a fight. She had to compete with Poseidon in order to be the patron deity of Athens. There are two different myths as to how Athena won. In one myth, all the citizens were allowed to vote, including the women, on who they wanted to be their patron. The men voted for Poseidon and the women voted for Athena. There just so happened to be one more woman than man, causing Athena to win and from there on, women were not allowed to vote.

In the other myth, Poseidon and Athena agreed that each would give the Athenians one gift and that the Athenians would choose the gift they preferred. Poseidon struck the ground with this trident and a salt water spring sprang up; this gave them a means of trade and water, but the water was salty and not very good for drinking. Athena, on the other hand, offered them the first domesticated olive tree. The Athenians accepted the olive tree and with it the patronage of Athena. The olive tree brought them wood, oil, and food.

Though she is known for her patronage of Athens, she was also the patron goddess for several other Greek cities, notably Sparta. They build a temple of Athena on the Spartan acropolis with a bronze roof. Tegea, another city who was an important religious center of ancient Greece, contained the Temple of Athena Alea. Athena was known as a counselor too. She helped Perseus behead Medusa, helped Heracles skin the Nemean Lion and also to defeat the Stymphalian Birds, and helped Odysseus get back home.

Athena had many roles in Greek mythology. She was a daughter, a counselor, a protector, and a patronage. She was wise and beautiful and never allowed anyone to change who she was.