When Was Athena Born ?
Athena’s mother was Metis, who was a mortal woman, and her father was Zeus, who was the king of the gods. Zeus married Metis and she became pregnant. When Metis was pregnant, the gods such Gaea and Uranus told Zeus that if Metis delivers a boy child, the child will be wise and better fighter than Zeus. They claimed that the son would kill his father after he grows up. |
So Zeus turned Metis into a fly and swallowed her before she delivered. He had severe headache and asked Hephaestus, the smith god to axe his head and Athena came out of his head fully grown with armor and helmet. Although Athena caused headache to her father she was the favorite daughter of Zeus. And he shared many secrets with her.
Some believe that the father of Athena is Pallas who tried to destroy her and he was killed by Athena and she took his skin and the name. Some believe that her father is Itonus, who was the king of Iton. Some believe that the biological father was Poseidon and she pleaded Zeus to adopt her. We do not know who exactly who the father was, but one thing is for sure that Athena was motherless and did not have a so-called biological mother, who delivered her.
J.E. Harrison explains Athena’s birth as a desperate theological maneuver to rid her of matriarchal conditions. She is called the goddess of wisdom and Titaness daughter. Because her birth happened from Zeus, the males got power and authority that was only in the females before.
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