Athina is the Greek goddess of Wisdom and Armed Resistance, a purely Greek divinity; that is to say, no other nation possessed a corresponding conception.
She was supposed to have issued from the head of Zeus himself, clad in armour from head to foot. The miraculous advent of this maiden goddess is beautifully described by Homer in one of his hymns:
snow-capped Olympus shook to its foundation; the glad earth re-echoed her martial shout; the billowy sea became agitated; and Helios, the sun-god, arrested his fiery steeds in their headlong course to welcome this wonderful emanation from the godhead.
Athene 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, without exhibiting any of those failings which somewhat mar the nobler features in the character of Zeus.
This direct emanation from his own self, justly his favourite child, his better and purer counterpart, received from him several important prerogatives. Read Complete
