Athena

Athena is the goddess of wisdom, handicrafts, the arts and war, particularly wisdom and strategy in warfare, as opposed to Mars/Ares, who represents the brutality and aggression of war. She is more than an archetype, in that archetypes are innate inner personalities that only exist within the mind, but Athena also exists independently of the individual’s mind. Of course, her rank is well below that of God. The Roman equivalent of Athena is Minerva.

Athena was the guardian deity of Athens, and, according to Plato’s Critias, she was Neith, the protectress of the mouth of the Nile, who raised an antediluvian civilization in Athens and fought against the Atlanteans. She is symbolised by owls, particularly Minerva’s owl, olive trees and snakes. Athena was born from the forehead of her father Zeus. She goes by various titles, Athena Parthenos, Athena the maiden, Pallas Athene; Pallas denotes the spear she brandishes. Athena Promachos was her warrior title. Athena Nike is the name of a temple in Athens, Nike, the goddess of victory appears to have been closely associated with Athena, because Athena delivered victory in warfare. She also has the aegis, a shield adorned with the head of the gorgon medusa that killed anyone who looked upon it. Athena was the guardian deity of Odysseus and took the side of the Achaeans in the Trojan War. Athena is strong as iron and self-controlled.

There is a cold beauty to her grey-eyed gaze, reminiscent of the sea on a cloudy morning, but even in the Iliad and the Odyssey, she always seemed out of place among the pantheon of Greek deities; wiser and more ethical than the others, her focus is on loyally protecting her heroes, doing the right thing, administering justice and containing conflict; all a function of her keen intelligence.