Athena Parthenos

When it comes to the relationships between the sky gods and their wives, the relationships are heavily characterized by their gendered dynamics. The gods typically have aggressive, domineering personalities as a result of their masculinity. The femininity of the wives, however, is shown as more passive, manipulative personalities. For instance, when Gaia decides she cannot suffer her children being enclosed in her any longer, she sends Kronos to castrate Ouranos as a direct destruction of the…

Metis would give birth to a son who would overpower him. In knowing this he decided to swallow Metis while she was pregnant. She gave birth to Athena in Zeus’s belly, and pushed her out of his head. She came out wearing armor with a spear. Zeus was proud that it was a girl. He gave her great power, and became his second. Before being born, Metis told Athena that she was going to have the power over craftsmanship, war, wisdom, and being a patron. Athena’s siblings were Apollo, the god of music,…

Moreover, a similar hierarchy exits among the gods and goddesses where the gods have power over the goddesses. The head of the gods, Zeus, is a male and uses his authority to control the actions of the goddesses. The two most prominent examples of Zeus using his power over goddesses are Circe and Kalypso. Zeus sends Hermes to warn Odysseus and help him avoid "the malevolent guiles of Circe" (Homer 159). Hermes gives Odysseus instructions to make Circe obey him. With Hermes ' advice, Odysseus…

one of Homer’s most famous poems, shows how influential the actions of the gods and goddesses were on the mortals. The gods and goddesses are such an important aspect within the Odyssey because all of the power they hold and use over the mortals. Athena, the goddess of wisdom and battle, has a very deceptive yet helpful and caring personality, but hides herself in disguises in order to protect her identity from the humans. Throughout the poem, she uses different disguises in her interactions…

At a time when the Giants and the Furies are fighting, Titan Cronus, father of Zeus, finds out one of his children will defeat and dethrone him so he started eating every child of his that was born. His wife Rhea feels bad and saves one child-Zeus. Soon Zeus grows up and makes Cronus vomit his siblings. Together, Zeus and his siblings defeat the Titans and took over the Universe. Zeus becomes the King of the Heavens, Sky, and Wind giving his brothers Poseidon and Hades their respective roles. He…

In Greek mythology customs and traditions can often times be represented well in Greek literature other time it can be misinterpreted. I am going to discuss how the Kyrios, mother, and the children can both be accurately portrayed or inaccurately simply depending on which myth you read. The two myths I chose to explore this concept further are Agamemnon, Menelaus, Nestor and Cercrops, Erichthonius, and Erechtheus. In these Greek myths, familial roles are portrayed in both effective and…

The origins of Calypso are unclear, due to her mythological existence. However, there are three very famous accounts of Calypso’s origins. According to Homer, Calypso is a nymph who takes orders from the gods. He also said that she is the daughter of Atlas, the titan who must bear the weight of the heavens on his shoulders, for waging war with his brothers against the gods. Hesiod stated that she is the daughter of titans Tethys and Oceanus, so she is one of the Oceanids, a kind of sea nymph.…

because Agamemnon had insulted him. Moreover, in Book 1 of the Iliad, when Agamemnon was arguing with Achilles, the latter was so furious that he was considering killing Agamemnon and had already slid his sword part way from its sheath. At that moment, Athena came to calm Achilles, saying, “For I say to you, and this will happen, because of Agamemnon’s arrogance some day gifts three times greater than this girl will be set down before you. Control yourself. Obey.” (The Iliad, Book 1). The…

Odysseus has a multitude of traits for him to be qualified as a true hero. In the classic novel The Odyssey written by Homer, translated by Robert Fitzgerald, the reader experiences Odysseus’s journey back to his home after the Trojan War. Odysseus experiences many obstacles and encounters many mythical creatures and Greek gods and goddesses who help and hinder his journey home. Odysseus is considered a hero because he exhibits many characteristic of the “Archetype of a Hero”. The main two…

Aeolus was king of the Aeolian islands, and he was appointed by Zeus to be the ruler of the winds to calm and arouse the islands. He entertained Odysseus who had come to him during his wandering. Aeolus gave him a bag which contained the winds, it caused big storms at sea as the winds were horse shaped. Aeolus is known as Hippotades, meaning horse Reiner. Although Aeolus makes some questionable decisions in his journey, through his heroic actions, he is proven to be a good and strong leader…