Term Papers on Athena

Term Paper Title	Athena
# of Words	1163
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	4.65

Athena

by Jason Stowe
Period 2

The god to be the topic of discussion in this report is Athena.  Athena was an
important member of the Olympic pantheon.  She was born fully armed from the
forehead of Zeus, the chief god.  Athena was Zeus's favorite child.  He
entrusted her with the Aegis, his breastplate, and with his thunderbolt.
Athena's role as a goddess varied.  She was a major warrior and most images
depict her dressed in armor and holding a spear.  In Homer's Iliad, she is
described as a fierce battle goddess who continually intervened on the side of
the Greeks.  She also took an interest in handicrafts and agriculture.  The
olive tree, which she said to have created, is sacred to her.  She was noted for
her wisdom which explains her close association with the owl, an ancient symbol
of wisdom and reason. The most famous temple to Athena was the Parthenon (5th
century BC) which was named for Parthenos ("the Maiden"), which still stands
atop the Acropolis in Athens.  The interior of the Parthenon stands a statue of
Athena Parthenos, sculpted by Phidais. When I was reading through myths, I
decided I would talk about "The Gift of Athena" which, in my opinion, best
illustrates Athena's colorful personality.  Here is how "The Gift of Athena"
goes:

Long, long ago, when this old world was a very young place, and when the few
people there were had just begun to live together in groups for their own
protection, the great gods selected the places for humans to build the cities.
They looked down upon the earth, through the clouds that shrouded their home on
the very peak of the high mountain called Olympus, and they chose the sites they
thought would provide everything mortals needed to live and prosper. Now, each
god and goddess was eager to have a great city built in his or her honor, and so
the prime locations-the very best places for the great cities to be built came
to cause much bickering and jealousy among the many deities for all wanted a
great city built in their honor, a city whose people would worship that
particular god or goddess above all others.  It happened that great Zeus, the
king and ruler of all the gods, had found a spot on earth that appeared
absolutely ideal for the building of a noble city; indeed, he foresaw that the
city that would be built there would someday become the noblest city on earth.
Well, you can imagine that all the gods and goddesses wanted this city for their
own, and you would be right.  But the two who wanted it most of all were Athena,
the goddess of wisdom, and Poseidon, the god of the seas and rivers.  Now,
Athena was one of Zeus's daughters, and you might expect that her father would
honor her request, but Poseidon was Zeus's brother, and Zeus did not want to
disappoint him, either.  Poseidon appealed to Zeus, saying that this location
would provide the city with the greatest natural harbor in all of the world and
destine it to be a great seaport.  Therefore, as god of the sea, it was only
right that he, Poseidon, should be its chief god.  But Athena argued just as
earnestly that the greatness of this city would not lie in its commerce, but
rather in the respect its people would someday have for art and learning.  As
goddess of wisdom, therefore, she should be its guardian. Zeus, at last, decided
upon a way to end this quarrel and to choose, fairly, between the two.  He
called for a great council to be held at the very site of the new city, and
t...

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