The parallels between Athena in Homer’s The Odyssey and A.S Kline’s Metamorphoses are the goddesses’ wisdom, scheming ways, and fighting spirit, which help the reader understand the goddesses’ temperament. Athena, alternatively called Minerva in Kline’s version, displays her values in her teachings, disguises, and challenges. Athena in Metamorphoses possesses and shares her wise manner with Arachne, telling her “Not everything old age has is to be shunned,” as well as shaming her for disrespecting a person because of their age. Athena in The Odyssey shares this appreciation for wisdom, which is why she favors Odysseus so much, as he is sensible, a trait she can relate to. She admires his quick wit, whereas she shuns Arachne for her lack of intelligence. Likewise, the goddess displays manipulative mannerisms in both poems. In the epithet “Pallas Minerva Challenges Arachne” Minerva
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In Metamorphoses, Minerva confronts Arachne, rather than discussing the issue of Arachne not crediting her, remarking, “The goddess said ‘She is here!’ and, relinquishing the old woman’s form, revealed Pallas Minerva. Minerva wants to prove her skill and provokes her student by insulting her weaving skills. Athena’s love for competition and fighting is retained in The Odyssey, too, as she questions Penelope for letting the suitors take over her life, stating, “What feast, what crowd is this? What need has you of it? Is it a drinking session, or a wedding feast? For this plainly is no meal to which each brings his portion, with such outrage and arrogance do they seem to me to be feasting in your living room. Angered would a man be at seeing all these shameful acts, any man of sense who should come among them.” Athena criticizes Penelope for not taking action soon enough to kick the suitors out of her house and get her freedom back, showing her tendency to not hold back and to freely express her
In Metamorphoses, Minerva confronts Arachne, rather than discussing the issue of Arachne not crediting her, remarking, “The goddess said ‘She is here!’ and, relinquishing the old woman’s form, revealed Pallas Minerva. Minerva wants to prove her skill and provokes her student by insulting her weaving skills. Athena’s love for competition and fighting is retained in The Odyssey, too, as she questions Penelope for letting the suitors take over her life, stating, “What feast, what crowd is this? What need has you of it? Is it a drinking session, or a wedding feast? For this plainly is no meal to which each brings his portion, with such outrage and arrogance do they seem to me to be feasting in your living room. Angered would a man be at seeing all these shameful acts, any man of sense who should come among them.” Athena criticizes Penelope for not taking action soon enough to kick the suitors out of her house and get her freedom back, showing her tendency to not hold back and to freely express her