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May 24
15 min read
Greek Mythology I: Gods

Athena and Hera

Daily history and lit
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Readings
• Section 14: "The Olympian Gods" from "Theogony" by Hesiod
• "Pallas-Athene" from "The Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome" by E.M. Berens
• "Hera (Juno)" from "The Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome" by E.M. Berens
• Book 6: 1–145 from "Metamorphoses" by Ovid
• Lecture 5: "The Reign of the Olympians" from "Classical Mythology" by Elizabeth Vandiver (optional)
• "The Third Order: Seeking Sanctuary" from "Mythos" by Stephen Fry (optional)
• Book 18:393-409 from "The Illiad" by Homer (optional)

Metis

Zeus turns a succession prophecy into a battle of pride and words.
Zeus, the great presiding deity of the cosmos, took for his first wife Metis, the Titan-goddess of wisdom—“wisest among gods and mortal men.”
We’ve met Metis before—she is the Oceanid and shape-shifter who advised Zeus against his father, Kronos. It was her stratagem that compelled Kronos to disgorge the children he had swallowed.
Hesiod
It was fated that Metis's first child would be the gray-eyed maiden, Tritogeneia Athena, and afterward a son whose overmastering heart would have ruled gods and men alike.
When Metis was about to give birth to gray-eyed Athena, Zeus deceived her with slippery words…
Zeus (jupiter)
My dear Metis, your ability to take any shape is marvelous. To transform yourself into something mighty is no challenge for you.
Your challenge is just the opposite. I imagine it would be beyond your ability to turn into anything insignificant and small. What irony! You can become a great she-bear yet not a trifling honeybee.
Metis
Beyond my ability?? Absurd!
At that, Metis turned herself into a honeybee. Zeus smiled, caught her in his hand, and swallowed her.
Hesiod
This he did at the counsel of Gaia and starry Ouranos, so that no immortal besides himself should ever hold kingly power.
It is rare that anyone—mortal or immortal—can escape the fates. But here, Zeus evaded the prophecy of his downfall and brought an end to the cycle of sons overthrowing their fathers.
By swallowing Metis, he also incorporated her wisdom (literally) into his being. As an immortal she could not die, but remained in his belly forever, adding to his cunning and giving him the power to shape-shift.
Hesiod
Concealed beneath Zeus’s vital organs, Metis conceived Athena, and within his belly fashioned for her daughter the gleaming arms and armor in which she would soon be born.
As the time of birth drew near, Zeus felt a terrible headache. It grew worse and worse, until he called in agony for Prometheus.
Prometheus struck Zeus, split his head, and from his crown Athena sprang, in glorious armor, goddess of wisdom, ‘terror to all armies.’

Athena

Zeus's favored daughter becomes counselor, deputy, and defender of right.
Pallas-Athena, goddess of wisdom, was also patroness of war, city defense, weaving, and pottery. As the definitive guardian and counselor of heroes, she appears again and again in Homer’s epics.
E.m. Berens
She was supposed, as already related, to have issued from the head of Zeus himself, clad in armour from head to foot.
Athena was at once admitted into the assembly of the gods, and henceforth took her place as the most faithful and sagacious of all her father's counsellors.
This brave, dauntless maiden, so exactly the essence of all that is noble in the character of "the father of gods and men," remained throughout chaste in word and deed, and kind at heart.
This direct emanation from Zeus's own self, justly his favourite child, his better and purer counterpart, was allowed to hurl the thunderbolts, to prolong the life of man, and to bestow the gift of prophecy.
In fact Athena was the only divinity whose authority was equal to that of Zeus himself, and when he had ceased to visit the earth in person she was empowered by him to act as his deputy.
It was her special duty to protect the state and all peaceful associations of mankind, which she possessed the power of defending when occasion required.
She encouraged the maintenance of law and order, and defended the right on all occasions, for which reason, in the Trojan war she espouses the cause of the Greeks and exerts all her influence on their behalf.

Athena Polias

Athena protects civic prosperity and carries an unmistakable divine image.
E.m. Berens
She was the patroness of learning, science, and art, more particularly where these contributed directly towards the welfare of nations.
The safety of cities depended on her care, for which reason her temples were generally built on the citadels, and she was supposed to watch over the defence of the walls, fortifications, harbours, etc.
A divinity who so faithfully guarded the best interests of the state, by not only protecting it from the attacks of enemies, but also by developing its chief resources of wealth and prosperity, was worthily chosen as the presiding deity of the state, and in this character as an essentially political goddess she was called Athene-Polias.
A marked feature in the representations of this deity is the ægis, that wonderful shield given to her by her father.
In the centre of this shield, which was covered with dragon's scales, bordered with serpents, and which she sometimes wore as a breastplate, was the awe-inspiring head of the Medusa, which had the effect of turning to stone all who looked upon it.
Athena is a recurring symbol in art and literature. Keep your eye out for a serious, thoughtful figure. She's often fully draped, with hair drawn back from her temples and a form that is strong and masculine.
As a war-goddess, she wears armor and a plumed helmet, sometimes carrying a golden staff that grants dignity and youth. Most distinctive of all is her aegis, a shield marked with the head of Medusa—a story we will return to soon.

Hera

Hera's defense of marriage hardens into dynastic jealousy.
Hera (Juno to the Romans) is the sister and wife of Zeus, queen of the gods, presiding over marriage, women, and family.
E.m. Berens
Faultless herself in her fidelity as a wife, she represents the sanctity of the marriage tie, and holds in abhorrence any violation of its obligations.
So strongly was she imbued with this hatred of any immorality, that, finding herself so often called upon to punish the failings of both gods and men, she became jealous, harsh, and vindictive.
Her exalted position as the wife of the supreme deity, combined with her extreme beauty, caused her to become vain, and she resented any infringement on her rights as queen of heaven.
Stephen Fry
There is much about Hera that brings to mind [the wives of English kings] and mafia dons. Always looking to the dynasty and the bloodlines, always prepared to do anything for honour and family, lineage and legacy.
Elizabeth Vandiver
Hera is the patron of marriage and of married women, yet she and Zeus have difficulties producing acceptable sons.
They have two daughters, Hebe (“Bloom of Youth”) and Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth. Despite Zeus’s fecundity with other females, he and Hera produce only one son, Ares, the god of war.
Hera’s other son, [the lame and ugly] Hephaistos, was probably born parthenogenically, because of Hera’s jealousy over Athena.

The Castaway Smith

Rejected Hephaestus turns nine hidden years into mastery and revenge.
Hera (juno)
Without me, Zeus gave birth to bright-eyed Athena who is foremost among all the blessed gods. But my son Hephaistos whom I bore was weak and shrivelled of foot, a shame and a disgrace to me in heaven.
I took him in my hands and cast him out so that he fell in the great sea. But silver-shod Thetis the daughter of Nereus took and cared for him with her sisters: would that she had done other service to the blessed gods!
Hera speaks of the sea nymph Thetis (best known as the mother of Achilles). Together with the Oceanid Eurynome, they nursed baby Hephaestus on the banks of Oceanus (the river that circles the earth).
In Homer’s Iliad, Hephaestus explains how he remained with these nymphs for nine years making splendid artifacts…
Hephaestus (vulcan)
Thetis and Eurynome saved me at the time of my great fall by the will of my own brazen-faced mother, Hera, who wanted to hide me for being lame. I would have suffered greatly had they not caught me.
With them I worked nine years as a smith, and wrought many intricate things; pins that bend back, curved clasps, cups, necklaces.
I worked there in the hollow of the cave, and the stream of Okeanos around us went on forever with its foam and its murmur. No other god or mortal man knew about us.
Under the care of Thetis and Eurynome, Hephaestus grew into a master smith, all the while harboring animosity for Hera, the mother who scorned him. After nine years, he left to enact his plan for revenge…

Arachne

A mortal's challenge meets Minerva's dazzling defense of divine order.
In addition to her responsibilities of defense and state, Minerva (known as Athena to the Greeks) presided over the “two chief departments of feminine industry,” spinning and weaving.
Minerva wove her own robe as well as Hera’s. No one dared to challenge Minerva's superior skill except for one proud and mortal woman named Arachne.
Ovid
Arachne had grown so famous in the Land of Lydia that unnumbered curious nymphs, eager to witness her dexterity, deserted the lush vineyards of Tmolus to observe her deftly spinning wool.
In all her motions one might well perceive how much Pallas had instructed her; but this [Arachne] would deny, displeased to share her fame and challenged [Minerva] to a contest.
At once, both selected their positions and girded their garments to their breasts so their skilful arms could move freely. They stretched their frames with fine warp, and separated the warp with sley.
The woof was inserted in the warp by means of the sharp shuttles, which their nimble fingers pushed along, and so the teeth of the sley would strike rows tightly against one another.
Myriad tints appeared besides the royal Tyrian purple. As a rainbow spans new glory in the curving sky—so the threads, inwoven, mingled in a thousand tints, harmonious and contrasting.
There, depicted in those shining webs, were shown the histories of ancient days. Minerva illustrated the historic contest between her and Neptune [Poseidon] over the renaming of the city of Cecropia.
In this scene, Neptune struck the earth with his long trident and a wild horse sprang forth which he bequeathed to the city. Minerva struck the earth with her spear, and a branch of olive sprouted, pale with clustered fruits.
Jupiter [Zeus] and the twelve gods gathered and decided that the gift of Minerva, Pallas Athena, was superior and that the city would be renamed Athens.
To scorn Arachne, Minerva wove scenes of contest into the corners of the tapestry: Rhodope and Haemus, Pygmy, Antigone, Cinyras — mortals who had challenged the gods and failed.

Arachne's Tapestry

A flawless accusation against the gods ends in censorship and metamorphosis.
Ovid
Arachne, of Maeonia, wove the story of Europa, where Jupiter, disguised as the bull, deceived her.
She depicted Europa looking back in alarm towards her companions and homeland, drawing up her timid feet from the water beneath.
In the same way, Arachne depicted Jupiter (as an eagle) pursuing Asteria, Jupiter (as a swan) pursuing Leda, Jupiter (as a satyr) pursuing Antiope, Jupiter (as Amphitryon’s husband) pursuing Amphitryon, Zeus (as a golden shower) pursuing Danaë and fathering Perseus…
Arachne also depicted Neptune (as a bull) pursuing Arne, Neptune (as a ram) pursuing Bisaltis, Neptune (as a horse) pursuing Demeter, Neptune (as a bird) pursuing Medusa, Neptune (as a dolphin) pursuing Melantho… a tapestry of the god’s cruelty and deceit.
Ovid
Minerva could not find a fleck or flaw. Enraged, she ripped the web and ruined all the scenes that showed those wicked actions of the gods, and cursed Arachne.
Athena (minerva)
Most wicked one, your fate shall be to dangle on a cord, and your posterity forever shall take your example, that your punishment may last forever!
Ovid
Even as she spoke, before withdrawing from her victim’s sight, she sprinkled her with juice—extract of herbs of Hecate. At once all hair fell off; her nose and ears remained not, and her head shrank rapidly in size, as well as all her body.
Her slender fingers gathered to her sides as long, thin legs, and all her other parts were fast absorbed in her abdomen—whence she vented a fine thread; and ever since, Arachne, as a spider, weaves her web.
Daily history and lit
Nerd out on the subjects you love
Try a free lesson from Athena and Hera