The Dual Nature Of Athena In Homer's The Odyssey

Here she is standing five feet tall, with gentle feminine curls cascading down her narrow face and onto her shoulders; so perfectly symmetric it radiates beauty. The hard marble helps to emphasize the strong noble composure that illuminates in her expression yet the slightly off white color further expresses the contrast between purity and strength. The pursed lips, and slightly lifted chin help to express that her eyes are looking across the room and that she is looking down on the passersby thus depicting her true nature as a goddess overlooking everyone from above. The patrons walking through the museum can catch her stare from across the gallery in a simple glance despite her eyes being so marvelously simple as compared to the rest of the statue. This statue of course depicts the great Athena, goddess of war and wisdom. The face is …show more content…
The budding flowers show that by gaining knowledge you have more life as Athena does. These budding flowers further explain the dual nature of Athena’s personality through her feminine and warrior traits. This metaphor that is embodied in the statue of Athena is a strong depiction of common themes in The Odyssey. Wise people are always gaining more life experience and end up winning their battles in the end as depicted by Odysseus. When Odysseus outwits Polyphemus by telling him his name is nobody, gets him drunk and kills him Polyphemus screams, “Nobody is killing me.” To anyone that could possibly hear this it just sounds like Polyphemus is a drunken fool; but Odysseus’ wise decisions led him to succeed. Through many decisions very similar to this one, and through Athena’s care Odysseus has a successful journey home. The metaphor depicted in the statue of Athena relates to this situation because Odysseus ends up gaining life experience and learns more through his use of his sharp wit but still manages to be the victor in the