This masterpost will cover very basic information with links to further posts or resources (otherwise it’s super long) and may be updated in the future. Basic bibliography at the end. I welcome you to share your UPG and resources in the comments - I won’t differentiate between mine and others’ UPG.
UPG = Unverified Personal Gnosis, SPG = Shared Personal Gnosis, H = Historically Inspired association
Last updates: 5 Feb 2025, added my ko-fi / 4 March 2025, added a link to Additional Info Posts - Athena & Minerva / 23 March & 15July, minor appearance edits, fixed a prayer link
Love this post? Consider thanking me with a small donation to my ko-fi!
🦉Overview🦉
Athena is the Hellenic goddess associated most commonly with wisdom, war, weaving, and in modern times, education and knowledge. She was a goddess who occupied both masculine and feminine roles in a highly patriarchal society, standing outside the societal binary. She is a fascinatingly variable and nuanced deity who has adapted and persisted in the mind of western society until this day. This masterpost is in dedication to her.
“Through our investigation of [Athena’s] role within the pantheon, she has emerged as a power of technology and creativity who promotes creativity and order, but with another side to her power, that of the storm bringer and warmonger.”
-Susan Deacy
🦉Domains🦉
Metis (Cunning, Practical Wisdom)
Skills
Crafts
Invention
War
Civilization, Civic Institutions & Justice
Hero Mentorship
Education and Knowledge [Modern SPG]
IT and Engineering [UPG]
🐍Find out More!🐍
🦉Symbols, Colors & Tarot Cards🦉
Traditional:
Owls (Specifically the Little Owl, Athene noctua)
Snakes
Horses
Olive trees
The Aegis (Fringed goat skin sometimes depicted as a shield)
The Gorgoneion (Protective symbol depicting a gorgon head)
Spindle
Spear
Helmet (Particularly with gryphons and/or sphinxes on it).
Crows (In Messenia and Boeotia, though elsewhere she was not fond of them)
Gulls
Other symbols: Spiders [Roman & SPG], Books and Scrolls [SPG], Pens or Quills [UPG], Pallas symbol [SPG], Snow Leopards [UPG], Bees [UPG]
Colors: Saffron/Yellow/Orange/Gold [H], Murex Purple [H], Hyacinth Blue [H], Red [H?], Bronze [H], Green [UPG]
🐍Find out More!🐍
Tarot Cards (All UPG/SPG of course): The Emperor, The Hierophant, The Chariot, Strength, Justice, The World, Knight of Pentacles, Queen & King of Swords, Queen & King of Wands
🦉Name & Epithets🦉
Athena has some variations in name. The Attic form was “Athenaia”, which was contracted to “Athena,” the Ionian form was “Athenaie,” the Doric form “Athana,” in Aeolic, “Athanaa,” and in epic she was “Athenaie,” shortened to “Athene.”
A few common epithets:
Areia - Warlike
Ergane - The Worker
Glaukôpis - Bright/owl-eyed.
Pallas - Refers either to the myth of Athena’s childhood friend Pallas, or of the giant named Pallas whom she slayed.
Parthenos - Maiden
Polias - Of the City
Polymetis - Cunning in many ways
🐍Find out More!🐍
🦉Offerings and Devotional Acts🦉
This section was super long! Only including a few here but check out the link!
Athena’s main festivals were the Panathenaia, Khalkeia, Kallynteria and Plynteria. It is up to individuals to decide if and how to include these celebrations in their practice.
Panathenaia: The biggest festival for Athena taking place annually, but with a bigger version every fourth year. Mainly a festival with athletic, poetry and musical competitions.
Kallynteria and Plynteria: Sacred days centered around cleaning.
Arrephoria: A mysterious festival that took place at night and is theorized to have been a fertility rite.
Khalkeia: The festival of artisans, which celebrated Athena and Hephaestus.
🐍Find out More!🐍
🦉Family & Connections🦉
Parents: Athena’s father was Zeus (Except in Libya, where she was known as Poseidon’s daughter) and her mother was the personification of wisdom, Metis. In some sources she was raised by Triton alongside his daughter, Pallas.
Children: Athena had no children as a virgin goddess but she did adopt and raise Erichthonius, who later became king of Athens.
Retinue: Athena was often associated closely with Nike (Victory), an example being the famed statue Athena Parthenos, which held Nike in its hand. The aegis which Athena wore also contained the personifications Phobos (Fear), Eris (Strife), Alke (Strength) and Ikoe (Panic) as noted in the Iliad.
Companions: Pallas is perhaps the most famous of Athene’s companions, as the two girls grew up together until Athena accidentally killed Pallas and afterwards took on her name as an epithet. However, in the Homeric Hymn 2 to Demeter it is shown that Athena, Artemis and Persephone spent time together and were playing and collecting flowers before Persephone was abducted. The Greek historian Diodorus Siculus claims they were also raised together.
Heroes: Athena was a mentor of Heroes and had a hand in assisting heroes such as Herakles, Odysseus and Diomedes, but also Achilles, Bellerophon, Perseus, Theseus, Kadmos and Tydeus.
🐍More of my Info Posts!🐍
Athena and Childbirth
Athena Hippia / Khalinitis
On The Nature of Metis - Excerpts from “Cunning Intelligence in Greek Culture and Society”
On the comparison of Athena and Ares
Athena and Herakles: Excerpt from Susan Deacy’s book
Myth of Athena's Birth
Comparing Athena and Minerva
Exploring Epithets: Athena Aithuia
🐍Extra Links🐍
Prayers, Hymns and Poems
Homeric Hymn to Athena 11 [Tumblr - Mine]
Homeric Hymn to Athena 28 [Tumblr - Mine]
Poem for Athena [Tumblr - Mine]
Adaptation of the Orphic Hymn [Tumblr - wisdomweaver]
Ode to Athena: A Birth of Wisdom [Tumblr - panjackdaw]
Prayer to Athena [Tumblr - ashes-and-oils]
Hymn to Athena [Tumblr - entricacies]
Praise to Athena [Tumblr - piristephes]
Prayer for Clarity and Sound Intuition [Tumblr - crimsonsongbird]
Prayer for Athena [Tumblr - hisfleur]
Prayer for Athena [Tumblr - evilios]
Prayer to Athena [Tumblr - ranger5000]
Chin Up - A Message From Athena [Tumblr - crimsonsongbird]
Assortment of Prayers [Website - greekpagan.com]
Battle Armor Poem [Tumblr - crimsonsongbird]
A Prayer to the Wise Short Poem [Tumblr - crimsonsongbird]
Learning Short Poem [Tumblr - Mine]
Additional Links
Theoi.com [Website]
Iliad - Athena dons the Aegis [Tumblr - Mine]
Reconstruction of Athena Parthenos statue’s colors [Youtube - Museum of Fine Arts, Boston]
Bathing of Athena in Argos [Tumblr - verdantlyviolet]
Subtle Athena Worship [Tumblr - khaire-traveler]
khaire-traveler on their snow leopard UPG [Tumblr]
Parthenon 3D Reconstruction [Youtube - Ancient Athens 3D]
Parthenon in AC: Odyssey [Youtube - Invicta]
🦉Bibliography🦉
Barber, E.J.W. - The peplos of Athena
Burkert, Walter - Greek Religion
Deacy, Susan - Athena
Deacy, Susan & Villing, Alexandra - Athena in the Classical World
Deacy, Susan & Villing, Alexandra - What was the colour of Athena's Aegis?
Detienne, Marcel & Vernant, Jean-Pierre - Cunning Intelligence in Greek Culture and Society
Drees, Ludwig - Olympia
Larson, Jennifer - Ancient Greek Cults
Larson, Jennifer - Understanding Greek Religion
Mansfield, John Magruder - The Robe Of Athena And The Panathenaic "Peplos"
Maurizio, Lisa - Classical Mythology in Context
Mikalson, Jon D. - Ancient Greek Religion
Neils, Jenifer - Goddess and Polis: The Panathenaic Festival in Ancient Athens
As a concept, metis could be translated and understood as meaning “practical wisdom”, “cunning”, “prudence”, “craftiness’ or “skill,” but it is often simply translated into “wisdom.” To many, this word conjures up the image of an old sage, a scholar surrounded by books and full of knowledge. But this was not how metis was conceptualized in ancient Greek culture.
Metis is “a complex but very coherent body of mental attributes and intellectual behaviour which combine flair, wisdom, forethought, subtlety of mind, deception, resourcefulness, vigilance, opportunism, various skills, and experience acquired over the years." It is an intelligence which is often associated with trickery and deception, adaptability, improvisation, shifting movement, shape-changing, quick thinking and seizing the opportunities at the right moment (kairos). Metis is more focused on getting practical results and success within an activity, not theoretical knowledge, and could be applied to many areas of life: "It may involve multiple skills useful in life, the mastery of the artisan in his craft, magic tricks, the use of philtres and herbs, the cunning strategems of war, frauds, deceits, resourcefulness of every kind."
Metis is also not limited to humans, but also applied to animals, such as foxes, fish and octopuses - animals with ‘cunning tricks’ (dolos) and deceptions that allow them to catch their prey or evade their predators. "The world of duplicity is also a world of vigilance: both the fishing frog squatting in the mud and the octopus plastered to its rock are on the alert; they keep a look out, are on the watch for the moment to act. Every animal with metis is a living eye which never closes or even blinks."
This was the kind of cunning we would associate today with the trickster archetype, not the book-loving sage. Athena was not the only deity to have metis (for example, Zeus is another major one) but this concept is a core part of who she is and influences her other associations and her connections with other deities.
Sources:
“Cunning Intelligence in Greek Culture and Society” - Marcel Detienne, Jean-Pierre Vernant
“Athena” - Susan Deacy
🐍Excerpts from “Cunning Intelligence in Greek Culture and Society”
Skill: Related to metis in that it’s very practical, with some intuitive sense but also dependent on experience and practice. This can be applied to many areas of life, though in Athena’s case it was often in relation to war, crafts, sailing and invention.
Crafts: Mainly associated with weaving, Athena was also worshiped in the festival of bronze smiths and artisans, Khalkeia. This aspect is very closely related to skill - as the word for both is ‘tekhne’ (τέχνη). This word is also one related to metis and associated words.
Invention: Athena is known as an inventor, with particular inventions being the bridle, plough and aulos. This aspect is also related to metis, craft and skill.
War: Although typically associated with the skills of war, and strategy, Athena was also associated with war in the same way that Ares was - she was ‘dreadful’ Athene “concerned with works of war, the sack of cities and the shouting and the battle.” (Homeric Hymn 11 to Athena)
🐍On the comparison of Athena and Ares
🐍Iliad - Athena dons the Aegis
Civilization, Politics & Justice: Athena in cult was often paired with Zeus, and these two presided over a number of civic institutions, for example the boule (a council that ran the daily affairs of the city) was watched over by Athena Boulaia and Zeus Boulaios. Athena was closely tied to the Athenian state and in myth was also heavily involved in the first criminal trial - that of Orestes.
Hero Mentorship: Athena was often involved in guiding, aiding and mentoring heroes such as Diomedes, Odysseus, Telemakhus, Herakles, Bellerophon and Perseus.
🐍Athena and Herakles Wedding Imagery
Education and Knowledge [SPG]: Athena’s modern associations with education and intelligence come from how she was adapted in post classical times as an allegorical symbol for church-approved virtues of wisdom and justice. The Renaissance furthered this connection, as she became a symbol of the arts, education, science, human excellence, and liberty.
Information Technology [UPG]: My personal UPG, based in part on Athena's associations with invention, civilization and knowledge, and in part on my own understanding of her character and my relationship and practice with her.
Last updated: 5 November '25 - Complete redo and moved to new post due to random content label??
Before we dive into colors I want to make two notes. First, that the ancient Greeks did not have terms for colors in the same way that we do in modern times, and so there weren’t really color associations in the same way that neopagans have. Some color terms also encompass a variety of shades that we modern folk would classify with different names. What I present here is just some notes on colors and color terms that have a historical connection to Athena in some way. This can be used to guide anyone looking for historically inspired color associations, or just as something interesting to note.
Bronze
Bronze could be associated with Athena most obviously because of the metal’s use in armor and weaponry. Athena’s Spartan epithet Khalkioikos (“Of the Bronze House”) can add further connection. This epithet may refer to the bronze cult statue of Athena at her temple on the Spartan akropolis, the temple walls being decorated with bronze plates, or Athena’s role as a patron of metalworkers.[1] Bronze and terracotta bells were also a unique feature to this temple,[1] and the association of the (possibly apotropaic) bells ringing here could potentially link to the association of bronze and noise on the battlefield, as in when Athena lends her voice to Achilles’ shout in the Iliad, resulting in a terrifying “voice of bronze.”[2]
Gold
Gold and the associated brightness is often generally connected with divinity in Ancient Greece.[3] However, Homer describes the aegis and its tassels as golden, and even Athena’s armor is often represented with a gold or yellow color in art and literature.[3][4]
Saffron
Just a quick note here that saffron dye can range from a dark orange to a bright yellow. Saffron, and saffron-colored dresses, were linked with women’s medicine,[4] girls’ initiation,[4][5][6] and exclusively with women in general, as demonstrated by the saffron-dressed effeminate men and men who were disguising themselves as women in the plays of Aristophanes.[6] The peplos made for Athena in the Panathenaia was said to be saffron-colored,[6] and Athena’s robe is said to be saffron-colored in Euripedes’ play Hecuba.[6]
“Or in the city of Pallas, the home of Athena of the lovely chariot, shall I then upon her saffron robe yoke horses, embroidering them on my web in brilliant varied shades…”
Euripedes, Hecuba, 466-470
Red and Purple
Athena frequently wears a red dress in her depictions on polychrome vases and sculpture, particularly on Late Archaic and Early Classical statues and reliefs, though red in general was a popular clothing color.[4][7] Deacy & Villing also comment on the color red’s association with fire and light, and how this links to “Athena’s luminous persona,” particularly when combined with the aegis.[4] The aegis was sometimes colored a dark “red or purple”[4][8] or even with red, blue and green scales, which reflected how snakes were depicted in Archaic art.[4]
The association of red with war also makes red a good modern association, but doesn’t seem to be a very popular choice. Since red is also traditionally seen as a masculine color, and light red (pink) being considered feminine in more recent history, I personally think it’s a color that gives a nod to Athena’s mixed gender aspects.
Purple, a valuable dye color, was associated with status and wealth.[4] Athena’s saffron Panathenaia robe was said to be decorated with purple or a hyacinth-color,[4][6] which may be a deep indigo or violet. Indigo is often also associated with wisdom in a modern western context.
Green
Aside from red, Athena also wears a green peplos in some vases[4][9] or even green, pink and mustard yellow,[9] and sometimes the aegis is depicted as green[7] or, as mentioned previously, with green scales as part of a multi-color aegis.
With modern western color associations, Athena might be linked to green due to its association with snakes and olives.
Attic Red-Figure Pelike in the Kerch Style, Attributed to the Painter of the Wedding Procession - Athena on the right in a green peplos. More information.
Light Blue & Glaukos
From here on we’ll be mentioning a few color terms that the ancient Greeks used. The most familiar being related to Athena’s Glaukopis epithet. Usually, this epithet is translated in a few different ways: (light) blue-eyed, grey-eyed, green-eyed, gleaming-eyed, darting-eyed,[10][7] owl-eyed,[10][11] bright-eyed[11] or ‘with the brilliant gaze.’[2] Rather than describing a particular hue, though, the meaning is more about the quality of brightness and shining movement.[7] For me personally, the sparkle of the sun on ocean waves comes to mind, especially as glaukos is associated with the color of the bright sea.[4][12] However, Studies in Greek Color Terminology Volume 1: Glaukos, makes a case for associating galukos with various shades of light blue specifically.[12] The aegis was also occasionally depicted as light blue in Roman art.[7]
Blue is also often used in media to symbolize Athens as a contrast to Sparta’s red, such as in Assassin's Creed: Odyssey.
Dark Blue & Black - Kyaneos & Melas
Kyaneos refers to a dark blue kind of color, such as lapis lazuli, but also is used to refer to metal, snakes, and the sea.[4] Athena’s aegis is sometimes depicted as a dark color, as kyanaigis or melanaigis, to symbolise the more wrathful aspect of Athena,[3][13] especially as the color black is associated with anger and ‘angry thoughts.’[13] These two terms are also used in reference to snakes, another of Athena’s symbolic animals, and connected along with snakes and darkness to the earth and the Underworld.[13] Athena appears as maiden of the dark aegis (‘Kyanaigis … parthenos’), at least in Pindar’s Olympian Ode, but this wrathful darkness is something with which she can part and is not a key part of her like glaukos is.
Dark blue, or navy, is a common modern association for Athena, and often associated with calmness, power and knowledge.
Poikilos
Poikilos is a term that could be translated to ‘multicolored’ or ‘colorful,’ but could be applied to colorful feathers, the dappling of a fawn, mottled animal skins, the patterned skins of snakes, as well as apparently “the sheen of a material or the glittering of a weapon.” Deacy and Villing also note that it “carried connotations of rich and complex artistry, particularly in metalwork and jewellery.” How does this relate to Athena? As mentioned previously, snakes in artwork of the Archaic period were depicted with poikilos (multi-colored) scales, as was Athena’s aegis in some instances. But poikilos was also closely linked to the concept of metis (the word translated to ‘wisdom’ for Athena), in that it could be used to describe someone who is cunning and “full of inventive ploys (poikiloboulos) and tricks of every kind."[14][4]
Sources
Athena by Susan Deacy – pg. 127
Cunning Intelligence in Greek Culture and Society by Detienne, Marcel & Vernant, Jean-Pierre – pg. 181-2
What was the colour of Athena's Aegis? by Susan Deacy & Alexandra Villing – pg. 111-3
– pg. 115-6
Art and religion in Thera: Reconstructing a Bronze Age Society – Nanno Marinatos – p.g. 61-77
The peplos of Athena by E.J.W. Barber in Goddess and Polis: The Panathenaic Festival in Ancient Athens by J. Neils – p.g. 116
What was the colour of Athena's Aegis? by Susan Deacy & Alexandra Villing – pg. 121-2
– pg. 124
The Colors of Clay: Special Techniques in Athenian Vases by Cohen, B. – pg. 337-341
Athena by Susan Deacy – pg. 26
Symbolic Elements in the Cult of Athena by Luyster, Robert – pg. 151
Studies in Greek Color Terminology Volume 1: Glaukos by P. G. Maxwell-Stuart
What was the colour of Athena's Aegis? by Susan Deacy & Alexandra Villing – pg. 117-118
Cunning Intelligence in Greek Culture and Society by Detienne, Marcel & Vernant, Jean-Pierre – pg. 18-19
Last updated: 30 April did a full revamp and added some epithets
Note: I use "kh" for chi (X) instead of "ch" and "u" for upsilon instead of "y". Colored dots correspond to sources at the bottom, otherwise source is stated in the entry
Aiolomorphos ● "Shapeshifter/Of changing form" -Orphic Hymn to Athena
Aithuia/Aithyia ●● “Diver” -May refer to a diving bird, such as a gull, shearwater or gannet, or potentially refers to Athena teaching ship-building or navigation as ‘aithuia’ more figuratively refers to a ship. More here
Ageleia ●● “Leader or protectress of the people”, or perhaps “pillager”, “she who carries off the spoils”, or “war-leader.”
Agoraia ●●● “Protector of the assemblies of the people in the agora/Of the marketplace”
Alalkomeneia ●●●●● “Powerful Defender/Protectress/She Who Wards Off/Helper in Battle” -Could also be from the Boeotian village of Alalcomenae where she was believed to have been born.
Alkis ● “Strong One” or “The Strong”
Alkidemos ● “Defender of the people”
Alea ●●●● “Protectress/Shelter/Asylum” -From a syncretism with a local goddess, Alea.
Alexikakos ● "Averter of evil"
Amboulia ●● Unknown, may mean “Without Council” or “Delayer of death”
Anassa ● “Queen/Lady”
Anemotis ● “The subduer of the winds”
Apatouria ● “Of Deception, Deceiver”
Apatropaia ● "Protector from evil"
Areia ●●● “The warlike/Of war” -Possibility that this epithet is derived from ara, a prayer, or from areo/aresko, to propitiate or atone for
Atrutone/Atrytone ● "The Unwearying" -Iliad, Book 21
Arkhegetes ●● -Invoked under this epithet as a founder of Athens
Axiopoinos ●● “Returning Vengeance/ The Avenger”
Boulaia ●●●● “Of the Council”
Despoina ●● “Lady/Mistress”
Dios ekgegauia ● "Zeus-born"
Drakaina ● "She-Dragon/She-snake"
Epekoos ● “Listening to prayer”
Ergane ●●●● “The Worker” -Refers to Athena’s domain and instruction of the arts
Eriopis ● “Strong-eyed”
Eruma/Eryma ● “Defender”
Erusiptolis ● "City Protector" -Homeric Hymn 11
Euresitekhnos ● "Inventor of the arts" -Orphic Hymn to Athena
Gigantoleteira ● “Destroyer of Giants”
Glaukôpis ●●●●● “Bright-eyed/Gleaming-eyed/Darting-eyed/Blue-eyed/Grey-eyed/Owl-eyed” -Glaukos denotes a quality of gleaming or shining brightness. It can also refer to the little owl (glaux).
Gorgolaphas/Gorgolopha ●● “Gorgon-Crested”
Gorgopis ●● “Gorgon-eyed”
Hephaisteia ● “Of Hephaistos”
Hippia ●●●● “Of Horses”
Hippelateira ● "Driver of Horses" -Orphic Hymn to Athena
Hoplokhares ● "Delighting in arms" -Orphic Hymn to Athena
Hoplophoros ● "Armed," "Warrior" -Orphic Hymn to Athena
Hormasteira ● "One who urges on" -Orphic Hymn to Athena
Hugeia/Hygeia ●●●● “Of good health”
Huperdexia/Hyperdexia ● “Protector of the people”
Keleuthia ● “Of the Road”
Khalinitis ●● “Tamer of Horses by means of the bridle”
Khalkioikos ●●●● “Of the Bronze House”
Khrusolopha/Khrysolopha ● "Golden-plumed"
Khrusolonkhos/Khrysolonkhos ● “Golden-speared”
Kissaia ● “Of the Growing Ivy”
Koruphasia/Koryphasia ● “Of the Head”
Koruphagenes/Koryphagenes ● “Born of the Head”
Korie/Koria ●●● “Maiden/Of girls”
Kranaies ● “Of Cornel-Wood,” or "Of the Ram"
Kyparissia ● “Of the Cypress Grove”
Leitis ●● “Distributor of War Booty,” “Goddess of Plunder”
Medousa ●● “Queen”
Meter/Mater ●●● “Mother”
Mekhanitis ● “Inventor/Contriver (of Plans and Devices)/Skilled in inventing”
Mousike ● “Musician”
Moria ●●● Could mean “The Fateful” but was used in relation to Athena’s protection of the sacred olive trees, the moriai.
Narkaia ●● Could mean ‘goddess who petrifies’ but it comes from Elis where there was the hero Narkaios who built a temple to Athena Narkaia and the epithet may come from that.
Pallas ●● Uncertain meaning. May refer to the myth of Athena’s childhood friend Pallas, or of the giant named Pallas whom she slayed, or may come from the verb pallein, “to brandish,” or from the word parallax, for “maiden.”
Pammakhos ● Either “Victor in combat sports” or “Warrior par excellence”
Pareia ● "Adder"
Parthenos ●●●● “Maiden”
Phemia ● "The Oracular"
Phobesistrate ● “Router of armies”
Phratria ●●● -Refers to her role in overseeing young men’s entry to citizenship, and young women’s transition to the status of citizen wives.
Polemedokos/Polemadoke ●●● “War-sustaining”
Polias/Poliatis ●●●● “Of the City”
Polioukhos ●●●● “Protectress Of the City”
Poluboulos/Polyboulos ● "Exceedingly wise," "Much-counselling" -From the Odyssey
Polumetis/Polymetis ●● “Cunning in many ways/Crafty”
Potnia ● “Queen”
Promakhos ●●"Champion,” “Fighter at the front”
Promakhorma ●●●● “Protector of the Bay,” “The one who fights in the front,” “Guardian of the anchorage”
Pronoia ●●● “Of foresight”
Pulaimakhos ● “Fighter at the gates”
Salpnix ●● “Of the war trumpet”
Soteira ●●●● “Savior”
Sthenias ●● “Of Strength/Strong/Mighty”
Tritogeneia ●●●●● May refer to her birth by the lake Tritonis in Libya or the river Triton in Boeotia, or a reference to her birth from Zeus’ head (“tritô” signifying the head)
Xenia ●● “Of Hospitality, Of the Foreigner” -Refers to her presiding over the laws of hospitality, and protecting strangers.
Zosteria ●● “Of the girdle/Girder in Armour”
Main Sources:
●Theoi.com
●Athena in the Classical World - Deacy, Susan & Villing, Alexandra
●Symbolic Elements in the Cult of Athena - Luyster, Robert
●Athena’s Epithets: Their Structural Significance in Plays of Aristophanes - Anderson, Carl
Music playlist, Mood boards, Perfumes, Candles, Books, Bookmarks, Acorns, Bay leaves, Snake skin, Animal figurines, Owl feathers, Gull feathers, Horse Hair, Any helmet, spear, shield or sword imagery, Gorgoneions, Depictions of her favorite heroes, anything bee or honey related.
Trophies, Medals, Diplomas, Good grades, Essays or other academic writing you’ve written, Study Tools, Graduation Caps
Any kind of handmade craft, Craft tools, Pottery, Yarn, Knitting or crochet needles, Polymer clay sculptures, Art, Origami, Wool
Devotional Acts (All SPG and UPG):
Using olive oil, Reading her myths, Donating to charity or doing some volunteering, Learning Ancient Greek, Learning about the history and culture of Ancient Greece
Playing strategy or puzzle games, Playing Escape Rooms, Any exercise that combines logic and creativity, World-building, Using your skills and learning new ones, taking classes to learn a skill.
Developing your intellect, Reading non-fiction, Doing research, Learning to think critically, Studying, Tutoring, Learning to code or any computer skills, Reading up on current science, Watching TEDtalks, Listening to educational podcasts or videos.
Doing any kind of hands-on craft like knitting, crochet, sculpting, etc. or learning a new crafty skill.
Exercise, Learning/Practicing self-defense or a martial art
Donating to charities for military veterans, Donating to those suffering from war, Learning about the Geneva Conventions, Staying educated on current wars and past wars
Being politically aware/active, Activism, Playing colony sims e.g. Civilization series, Getting involved in your community.
Last updated: 15 July, added Panathenaia link, edited Khalkeia, Kallynteria and Plynteria, added Bibliography
Panathenaia
28 Hekatombaion (July/August)
A New Year festival in Athens which takes place each year (Lesser Panathenaia) with a grander version every four years (Greater Panathenaia).
A nocturnal celebration, the pannykhis, would take place before the festival, with a torch race and singing. The winner of the torch race would get to light the fire at Athena’s altar. During the Panathenaia there were various sports competitions but also musical contests, poetry recitals and pyrrhic dances. The prizes for these could be money, crown wreaths or amphoras of sacred olive oil depending on the event and age group.
Sacrifices of oxen would be made to Athena Polias, Athena Nike and Athena Hugeia and a massive feast would follow. Perhaps one of the most important parts of this festival was the presentation of the robe to Athena Polias that would have been started in the Khalkeia.
🐍Here's a more detailed Long Post!🐍
Kallynteria and Plynteria
24 Thargelion (May/June)
Kallynteria and Plynteria were a pair of connected sacred days whose exact days are unknown. Kallynteria, coming from a word meaning to sweep or cleanse, was the day where the temple of Athena was cleaned out. This was possibly also the day where the ever-burning lamp of Athena Polias was refueled and relit.
Plynteria may have taken place the day after, and was when the robe and jewelry of the cult statue of Athena Polias was removed for cleaning by women. There seems to be a bit of confusion as to whether the statue itself was removed from the temple for washing (Parke, Simon, Ogden, Deacy) or not (Burkert, Larson); it seems more likely that this was indeed conflated with a different annual ritual - the washing of the Palladion. The Palladion was a statue of Athena which resided in a law court that oversaw the trials of crimes such as murder, and thus due to this exposure the statue was washed with sea water or carried to the sea at Phaleron by epheboi (young men) to be purified of miasma.
The day of Plynteria was considered apophras, an unlucky day of ill omen, because it was believed that the goddess was absent from the city on this day.
In modern practice, this might be a good time for a deep spring clean of your room or home and items. Donate what you don’t need or use or what has been sitting around “just in case.”
Arrhephoria
Shortly after Plynteria, the nocturnal festival of the Arrephoria takes place. This festival features the Arrhephoroi, two young girls who have lived about a year on the Acropolis, who on this day perform their last duty of priestly service. Pausanias is the main source for this rite, and describes how the Arrhephoroi carry baskets on their heads with secret things within that neither they nor the priestesses know. These baskets are carried through an “enclosure” near the sanctuary of Aphrodite ‘in the Gardens’ and down a natural underground passage. They then leave what they have brought and then pick up some other veiled thing to take to the Acropolis. Immediately after this, the young girls are discharged from service. The general belief is that this may have been some kind of fertility rite.
Khalkeia
30 Puanepsion (October/November)
On the last day of the month of Pyanopsion is the Khalkeia (“Bronze”) festival which was celebrated by smiths and artisans. It honored Athena, especially under the epithets Ergane and Hephaistia, and Hephaistos, as deities of crafts. However, the offerings we still have records for were all dedicated to Athena, likely as a tithe from their profits, and it seems that Athena was primarily if not exclusively the deity to which craftsmen turned to in aid of their careers.
It was during this festival that the loom for the sacred panathenaic peplos would be set up, and presumably the female workers (ergastinai) would begin with the weaving. They would have been assisted by the 7-10 year old arrephoroi dressed in white, though due to their age it is uncertain how involved the young girls were in the actual weaving.
Ideas for Modern Celebration
Begin or finish and offer a craft project to Athena Ergane or Athena Hephaistia
Offer something hand crafted if you’re not crafty yourself
Light a candle for Athena Ergane
Give an offering to or light a candle for Hephaistos
Take a day off work if feasible
Wear white
Bibliography
Burkert, Walter - Greek Religion (1977, trans. 1985)
Deacy, Susan - Athena (2008)
Deacy, Susan & Villing, Alexandra - Athena in the Classical World (2001)
Larson, Jennifer - Ancient Greek Cults (2007)
Larson, Jennifer - Understanding Greek Religion (2016)
Mansfield, John - The Robe of Athena and the Panathanaic Peplos (1985)
Mikalson, Jon D. - Ancient Greek Religion (2nd ed. 2010)
Neils, Jenifer - Goddess and Polis: The Panathenaic Festival in Ancient Athens (1994)
Ogden, Daniel - A Companion to Greek Religion (2007)
I'm working on not only just converting the Athena Masterpost to a google doc but also improving what I have, be it extra info or changing the wording. Which is why it's taking a while (also y'know. Life.)
The masterpost on tumblr may have a few minor updates coming as I do this
I don’t intend to do a whole post on syncretism and the details of it, but I feel I should cover the very basic idea. Syncretism, defined as “the combination of different forms of belief or practice”, is something that naturally happens all the time to all cultures and religions that have any kind of contact with other cultures and religions. It was common for a culture to look at a foreign pantheon and try to understand it by equating those foreign gods with their own. In Rome this was called Interpretatio romana, (the Greek version being Interpretatio graeca) and with Greece being the cultural superpower it was, it became one of the biggest influences on Roman religion. But it wasn’t the only one. The Etruscans (of Etruria in ancient Italy) also have a major influence.
For Neopagans and Hellenic Polytheists, it’s a personal decision whether to syncretise Hellenic and Roman deities in their practice. If you think about it, the differences between a Greek god and their Roman ‘counterpart’ are probably about the same as the differences between that same Greek god in their own cultural context and time period, and in the modern context and time period. As a quick example - Athena is worshiped by many in modern times as a goddess strongly associated with education and knowledge, even primarily so. But the ancient Athena was not, that was Apollo’s domain. If we say that the Roman Minerva is not the same as Athena because she occupied a different cultural role then we would have to apply that to the modern Athena as well. But there are pagans who claim to have experienced Greek and Roman gods as separate and distinct beings.
What you believe is up to you, nothing can be proven, and your practice is your own. The purpose of this post is just to compare Athena and Minerva, for those who are interested.
Myth and Iconography
Athena and Minerva were associated with each other early on, which led to Athena’s iconography being adopted for Minerva and any pre-Greek ideas of what Minerva might have looked like are lost. Athena’s myths were also easily incorporated, such as her birth from her father’s head (which was not a myth unique to Greece).
Minerva’s known Roman myths all come to us from Ovid’s tales of Arachne, Medusa, and Aglauros, and she is mentioned but not present in the myth of Mars and Anna Perenna. These myths are briefly outlined below.
Minerva and Arachne: Arachne was a famous weaver who refused to acknowledge or thank Minerva for her gift in weaving, for it hurt her pride. Minerva came to her disguised as an old woman to tell Arachne that she should give the proper thanks to Minerva and ask for forgiveness for her hubris. Arachne, enraged, insulted and almost hit the old woman, and declared that Minerva should challenge her herself. Minerva throws off the disguise, and challenges Arachne to a weaving contest. Arachne weaves scenes of the gods in animal form seducing mortals, and though her work was flawless, Minerva was enraged and hit Arachne with a shuttle. In shame, Arachne hanged herself, and Minerva took pity on her and turned her into a spider.
Minerva and Medusa: Not the traditional Greek idea of a terrible monster, Medusa in Ovid’s tale is a beautiful woman with lovely hair. She was “defiled” (Literally. The word used here, vitiasse, does not give any indication as to whether this was consensual or not) in Minerva’s temple by Neptune. Enraged at the desecration of her temple, Minerva turned Medusa’s hair into snakes.
Minerva and Aglauros: Upon falling in love with the mortal Herse, Mercury seeks the help of her sister Aglauros to seduce her. Aglauros agrees as long as she gets paid handsomely. Minerva sees this and, angered by Aglauros’ greed and her earlier disobedience by opening the box which had contained Erichthonius, goes to Envy to instruct her to poison Aglauros. Envy does so, poisoning Aglauros’ heart, which torments her and finally turns her to stone.
Anna Perenna and Mars: (Just as a note, Minerva in this myth has most likely taken the place of the goddess Nerio). Mars fell in love with Minerva and went to Anna Perenna (Goddess of the circle of the year) for help in uniting them. Anna Perenna tricked Mars and made her way to his bedchamber dressed and veiled as a bride. When Mars went to kiss her, he realized that he had been tricked.
Domains
The City: Minerva shared with Athena Polias the function of being a city’s protector, notably as part of the Capitoline triad. This was a triad of guardian deities whose worship was of great importance in Rome’s public religion, and whose temples were built in prominent areas. The three deities are Jupiter, Juno, and Jupiter’s daughter, Minerva. It is often believed that this is derived from an Etruscan triad of Tinia, his wife Uni and their daughter Menrva, however, according to Graf, “Such a triad is attested nowhere in Etruria.”
Minerva’s role in the triad is secondary to Jupiter and Juno, though her popularity later grew. There is no evidence for her cult in Rome before her appearance in the Triad.
Crafts: Athena and Minerva were both goddesses of crafts such as, but not limited to, weaving. However the emphasis on craftsmanship is greater in Minerva (no specific epithet) than in Athena Ergane. While Athena Ergane was worshiped alongside Hephaestus in the artisan festival of Khalkeia, the artisan festival of Quinquatrus (one of the most popular in Rome and originally dedicated to Mars) was later dedicated entirely to Minerva.
In Ovid’s Fasti, he calls Minerva the ‘goddess of a thousand works’ and describes her command of the domain of skill. He mentions Minerva’s patronage over spinning, weaving, cleaning clothes “those who remove stains from damaged garments”), dyeing, medicine, teaching, engraving, painting, stone carving.
Music: Athena and Minerva are both associated with music, and particularly the invention of the flute.
War: Minerva gains an association with warfare because of Athena, which in Roman religion was traditionally the domain of Mars and the ancient Roman goddesses Bellona (Sister and Consort of Mars) and Nerio/Neriene (Consort of Mars, sometimes identified with Bellona). Minerva as a goddess of warfare became particularly popular in the Republican Era.
Wisdom and Intellect: While Athena and Minerva were both goddesses of wisdom, Minerva was associated with intellectual and academic activity in a way that Athena wasn’t, and that has persisted to modern times. She was the inventor of numbers and associated with education.
Medicine and Hygiene: While Athena was associated with the goddess Hygeia in Athens, Hygeia was worshiped as an independent goddess in her own right. Thus health and cleanliness as a part of Athena’s sphere of influence is minimal and seemingly limited to Athens.
Minerva Medica however had a strong association with medicine and the act of healing (compared to the more passive ‘protector of health’ that was Athena Hygeia). This association may have risen out of either Minerva’s role as protector of women and children, or as an extension of the many crafts she presided over. In this role, Minerva Medica was worshiped throughout Rome and even beyond: leading to the syncretized Romano-Celtic goddess Sulis Minerva.
Minerva and Transition to Adulthood: Minerva occupied a role in Roman religion, at least in Lavinium, which oversaw the transition of children into adulthood, especially girls. Based on votive offerings it seems that Minerva may have had a connection with women that extended to marriage and particularly childbirth in a way that Athena lacked, despite both being virgin goddesses. Though the extent of Athena’s and Minerva’s differences here is a little uncertain.
Bibliography
Deacy, Susan - Athena
Graf, Fritz - Athena And Minerva: Two Faces Of One Goddess? (Deacy & Villing’s Athena in the Classical World)
The Oxford Classical Dictionary 4th Edition
Ovid - Fasti 3
Grimal, Pierre -The Dictionary of Classical Mythology
Smith, William - A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology.
