Athena, Greek goddess of Wisdom, Defensive Battle/War, Useful Crafts, etc. One of the virgin goddesses, Athena was also known for her sponsorship of the city-state Athens. Her symbols include the owl, olive tree, the aegis, and her goatskin breastplate and helmet.
Here is a marble sculpture (currently residing in the Vatican) of Athena with her helmet, breastplate, the aegis, and some broken weapon, probably a spear or something similar. The aegis, for those of you who don’t know, is the circular shield Athena is holding- this shield made all who faced it tremble, for the severed head of the Gorgon Medusa was embedded in the center. Sometimes the goatskin breastplate is confused/mixed with the aegis and the Medusa head is placed on the breastplate— here we have both the Medusa breastplate and the Medusa aegis- interesting…
Anywhoo, Athena’s story, short and sweet, is this. Her mother is a Titaness, and her father is Zeus. A prophecy stated that the son of this Titaness and Zeus would overthrow Zeus (just as he had done to his father and so forth). So Zeus tricked and swallowed the Titaness, but as she was immortal (and the goddess of Memory and such - I think) she survived and resided in Zeus’s brain. There she hammered away at armor for Athena, with whom she was pregnant, which caused Zeus such pain that Hephaestus (the Greek god of the forge) split open Zeus’s skull and out popped Athena, fully grown and dressed in said armor.
It is also said that Athena had no mother, that she was born from Zeus’s thoughts alone. Knowing Greek mythology, both accounts were probably known and spread about. Either way, Athena was born from Zeus’s skull and continued her uniqueness throughout her life— aka virginal, a smart, powerful woman, etc.
