ATHENA was the great Olympian goddess of war, defence, crafts and wise counsel.

This page describes her attributes, estate, and sacred plants and animals.

Please note this page is still UNDER CONSTRUCTION.

AIGIS OF ATHENA

“Perseus with Athena guiding his hand ... beheaded her [the Gorgon Medousa] ... [and after returning to Seriphos he gave] the Gorgon’s head to Athena … and Athena placed the Gorgon’s head in the centre of her shield.” - Apollodorus, The Library 2.39 & 46

"From her [Athena's] immortal armour flashed around the hovering lightnings; fearful serpents breathed fire from her shield invincible; the crest of her great helmet swept the clouds." - Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 8.375

"She [Athena] donned the stormy Aigis flashing far, adamantine, massy, a marvel to the Gods, whereon was wrought Medousa's ghastly head, fearful: strong serpents breathing forth the blast of ravening fire were on the face thereof. Crashed on the Queen's breast all the Aigis-links, as after lightning crashes the firmament." - Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 14.386

"Gorgolophas (Gorgon-crested): She who has a helmet of the head of the Gorgon, [that is] Athena." - Suidas s.v. Gorgolophas

"Gorgonoton: Periphrastically, the shield [of Athena], the one which has a Gorgon [on it]." - Suidas s.v. Gorgonoton

ARMS OF ATHENA

"She [Metis after being swallowed whole by Zeus] remained hidden beneath the inward parts of Zeus ... There the goddess (Athena) received that [her armour and weapons] whereby she excelled in strength all the deathless ones who dwell in Olympos, she who made the host-scaring weapon of Athena. And with it [Zeus) gave her birth, arrayed in arms of war." - Hesiod, Theogony 929a

"Ares to the fray rose first, and on Athena rushed. Thereat fell each on other: clashed around their limbs the golden arms celestial as they charged." - Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 12.167

“[Description of an ancient Greek play portraying the Judgement of Paris:] Her [Athena's] head was covered with a gleaming helmet which was itself crowned with an olive-wreath; she bore a shield and brandished a spear.” - Apuleius, Golden Ass 10.30

"Pallas: A great virgin. It is an epithet of Athena; from brandishing (pallein) the spear." - Suidas s.v. Pallas

CHARIOT OF ATHENA

Iliad

OWL OF ATHENA

“[Athena’s owl addresses Hekale:] ‘But of the goddess, even Pallas [Athena] who hath me for her appointed messenger.” - Callimachus, Hecale Frag 32 (from Suidas)

“Diaktoros: epithet of Hermes. In other poets used simply as ‘messenger’. Kallilmakhos has the epithet of an owl [who was Athena’s messenger].” - Callimachus Hecale Frag 32 (from Etymologicum Graecum s.v. Daiktoros)

EDIT:

"To learn the latest news a garrulous Crow flapped quickly after him [Apollon‘s Raven], and when it heard his journey’s aim, ‘To no good end’, it said, ‘You make your way. Heed my prophetic tongue! See what I was, what I am now, and ask did I deserve it. Frank good faith you’ll find was my undoing. Once upon a time a baby, Erichthonius, was born without a mother. Pallas [Athena] hid the child safe in a box of wicker wood and gave the box to Cecrops’ three unmarried daughters, with strict instructions not to pry inside. I hid among the delicate foliage of a large leafy elm and watched to see what they would do. Two, Pandrosos and Herse, impeccably observed their trust; but one, Aglauros, called them cowards and untied the fastenings, and there inside they saw the baby, and beside him stretched a Draco (Snake). I told the goddess. All the thanks I got was to be banished from Minerva’s [Athenas] sight, reduced to rank below the bird of night [the owl]! My punishment might well warn birds to watch their tongues and take no risks. No doubt you think I pestered her, and not that she chose me: asks Pallas then herself! Of course she’s angry, but not too angry to admit the truth ... I [the crow] was given to Minerva [Athena], her companion without stain. But what good was it, if Nyctimene, she who was made a bird [the owl] for her foul sin, supplants me in my place of privilege?." - Ovid, Metamorphoses 2.550

See also sacred animals

SACRED BIRDS & ANIMALS

I) LITTLE OWL (Greek )

“I think that Homer knowing full well that the Owl was nowhere a favourable omen, says that Athena sent a heron from the rivers to the comrades of Diomedes when they went off to spy upon the Trojans’ camp – a heron, not an owl, even thought it appears to be her favourite.” - Aelian, On Animals 10.37

II) HAWK (Greek )

“There are in fact several species of Hawks … They are allotted separately to many gods ... the ocypterus is a servant of Apollon; the lammergeier and the shearwater they assign Athena.” - Aelian, On Animals 12.4

III) CROW (Greek )

"I [the crow] got was to be banished from Minerva’s [Athenas] sight, reduced to rank below the bird of night [the owl]." - Ovid, Metamorphoses 2.558

"I [the crow] was given to Minerva [Athena], her companion without stain. But what good was it, if Nyctimene, she who was made a bird [the owl] for her foul sin, supplants me in my place of privilege? - Ovid, Metamorphoses 2.589

IV) SERPENT (Greek )

aigis + erikhthonios

SACRED PLANTS & FLOWERS

I) OLIVE TREE (Greek )

"About the olive tree [by the temple of Athena Polias on the Akropolis of Athens] they say that it was testimony the goddess produced when she contended for their land. Legend also says that when the Persians fired Athens the olive was burnt down, but on the very day it was burnt it grew again to the height of two cubits." - Pausanias, Guide to Greece 1.27.1

"From the earth struck by [Athena's] her spear, she shows an olive tree, springing pale-green with berries on the boughs; the gods admire." - Ovid, Metamorphoses 6.70

"King, Oeneus poured ... to golden-haired Minverva [Athene] oil from her own holy tree." - Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.272

"Olives, black and green, she brings, the fruit of true Minerva [Athena]." - Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.649

“Her [Athena's] head was covered with a gleaming helmet which was itself crowned with an olive-wreath.” - Apuleius, The Golden Ass 10.30

ATTENDANTS: ALKE

ATTENDANTS: NIKE

ATTENDANTS: DEIMOS & PHOBOS

“[Description of an ancient Greek play portraying the Judgement of Paris:] Each maiden representing a goddess was accompanied by her own escort ... The girl whose appearance in arms had revealed her as Minerva [Athene] was protected by two boys who were the comrades in arms of the battle-goddess, Terror [Deimos, terror] et Metus [Phobos, fear]; they pranced about with swords unsheathed.” - Apuleius, Golden Ass 10.30

ATTENDANTS: PANDROSOS

ATTENDANTS: PALLAS

ATTENDANTS: KHARIKLO

"Pherekydes says that he was blinded by Athena; for Khariklo was dear to Athena ... and [when her son] Tiresias [accidentally] saw the goddess stark naked, she covered his eyes with her hands, and so rendered him sightless. And when Khariklo asked her to restore his sight, she could not do so." -Apollodorus 3.6.7

ATTENDANTS: SMARAGON, ETC.

ATHENE ERIKHTHONIOS + ATTENDANT

"Adjoining the temple of Athena [Polias in Athens] is the temple of Pandrosos, the only one of the sisters to be faithful to the trust." -Pausanias 1.27.1-3

"Drakaulos: Sophokles in Tympanistai uses the word. Since Athena seems to place the snake among them, for the daughters of Kekrops. Because they dwell in the same courtyard, as you would expect, as Kekrops, who is of double nature. Because one of them, spending the day with the goddess, dwells on the Akropolis with the Drakon." -Suidas s.v. Drakaulos

Sources:

• Homer, The Iliad - Greek Epic C9th-8th BC
• Homer, The Odyssey - Greek Epic C9th-8th BC
• Hesiod, Theogony - Greek Epic C8th-7th BC
• Hesiod, Works & Days - Greek Epic C8th-7th BC
• Hesiod, Catalogues of Women - Greek Epic C8th-7th BC
• The Homeric Hymns - Greek Epic C8th-4th BC
• Homerica, The Cypria - Greek Epic BC
• Pindar, Odes - Greek Lyric C5th BC
• Pindar, Fragments - Greek Lyric C5th BC
• Greek Lyric I Sappho, Fragments - Greek Lyric C6th BC
• Greek Lyric I Alcaeus, Fragments - Greek Lyric C6th BC
• Greek Lyric I Corinna, Fragments - Greek Lyric C5th BC
• Greek Lyric II Alcman, Fragments - Greek Lyric C7th BC
• Greek Lyric II Terpadder, Fragments - Greek Lyric C7th BC
• Greek Lyric III, Stesichorus - Greek Lyric C7th-6th BC
• Greek Lyric III Ibycus, Fragments - Greek Lyric C6th BC
• Greek Lyric III Simonides, Fragments - Greek Lyric C6th-5th BC
• Greek Lyric IV Bacchylides, Fragments - Greek Lyric C5th BC
• Greek Elegaic Theognis, Fragments – Greek Elegaic C6th BC
• Greek Elegaic Mimnermus, Fragments – Greek Elegaic C7th BC
• Aeschylus - Greek Tragedy C6th-5th BC
• Euripides - Greek Tragedy C5th BC
• Aesop, Fables - Greek Fables C6th BC
• Apollodorus, The Library - Greek Mythography C2nd BC
• Apollonius Rhodius, The Argonautica - Greek Epic C3rd BC
• Aristophanes - Greek Comedy C5th-4th BC
• Plato, Ion - Greek Philosophy C4th BC
• The Orphic Hymns - Greek Hymns BC
• Theocritus Idylls - Greek Idyllic C3rd BC
• Callimachus, Hymns - Greek C3rd BC
• Callimachus, Fragments - Greek C3rd BC
• Lycophron, Alexandra - Greek C3rd BC
• Parthenius, Love Romances - Greek Mythography C1st BC
• Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy - Greek Epic C4th AD
• Strabo, Geography - Greek Geography C1st BC - C1st AD
• Herodotus, Histories - Greek History C5th BC
• Pausanias, Guide to Greece - Greek Geography C2nd AD
• Aratus, Phaenomena - Greek Astronomy C3rd BC
• Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History - Greek History C1st BC
• Plutarch, Lives - Greek Historian C1st-2nd AD
• Ptolemy Hephaestion, New History - Greek Scholar C1st-2nd AD
• Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses - Greek Mythography C2nd AD
• Aelian, On Animals - Greek Natural History C2nd - C3rd AD
• Philostratus the Elder, Imagines - Greek Art History C3rd AD
• Philostratus the Younger, Imagines - Greek Art History C3rd AD
• Callistratus, Descriptions - Greek Art History C3rd AD
• Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana - Greek Biography C2nd AD
• Phlegon of Tralles, Book of Marvels - Greek Paradoxography C2nd AD
• Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae - Greek Cullinary Guide C3rd AD
• Hyginus, Fabulae - Latin Mythography C2nd AD
• Hyginus, Astronomica - Latin Mythography C2nd AD
• Virgil, Aeneid - Latin Epic C1st BC
• Virgil, Georgics - Latin Idyllic C1st BC
• Ovid, Metamorphoses - Latin Epic C1st BC - C1st AD
• Ovid, Fasti - Latin Epic C1st BC - C1st AD
• Propertius, Elegies - Latin Elegy C1st BC
• Cicero, De Natura Deorum - Latin Philosophy C1st BC
• Valerius Flaccus, The Argonautica - Latin Epic C1st AD
• Statius, Thebaid - Latin Epic C1st AD
• Statius, Silvae - Latin Epic C1st AD
• Pliny the Elder, Natural History - Latin Natural History C1st AD
• Apuleius, The Golden Ass - Latin Epic C2nd AD
• Oppian, Halieutica - Greek Poetry C3rd AD
• Colluthus, The Rape of Helen - Greek Epic C5th-6th AD
• Tryphiodorus, The Taking of Ilias - Greek Epic C5th AD
• Nonnos, Dionysiaca - Greek Epic C5th AD
• Servius, Ad Virgil's Aeneid - Latin Scholiast C5th AD
• Photius, Myriobiblon - Byzantine Greek Scholar C9th AD
• Suidas - Byzantine Lexicographer C10th AD