The Most POWERFUL Daughter of Zeus: Goddess of WAR and Wisdom - Greek Mythology Explained

Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today’s video, we’re going to discuss Athena: daughter of Zeus, goddess of wisdom and war, and one of the most popular and powerful gods in Greek mythology.

Let’s get into it.

Known as Minerva to the Romans, Athena was the daughter of Zeus, the king of the gods, and of Metis, one of the oceanids and a second-generation titan goddess. That said, Athena’s birth was singular in how unconventional it was. She emerged into the world from a cleft split in Zeus’ skull, so it was also said that she was the daughter of Zeus alone, as he was both father and mother to her.

Metis was Zeus’ first wife. Her wisdom was deep, and it was said it surpassed that of every mortal and all the other gods. Uranus and Gaia came to Zeus while Metis was pregnant. The words of prophecy had come to them, so they revealed that Metis was destined to bear incredibly powerful children, first a daughter, wise and strong, then a son, mighty and bold. The reason for them coming to Zeus with this information was that they didn’t wish the vicious cycle of son supplanting father to perpetuate another generation. Armed with foreknowledge, Zeus took preemptive action. He swallowed Metis, thus forestalling any eventuality that entailed him having his throne wrestled away by a usurper in the future. Unexpectedly, the pregnancy was passed on to Zeus, who, after some unquantified period of time had elapsed, was struck by an agonising pain in his skull. The pain was so much that Zeus begged Hephaestus for relief. The smith god clove Zeus’ head with a powerful blow from his axe, and out sprung Athena, a grown woman, clad in armour, with spear in hand.

Athena had a capacious sphere of influence that included war, wisdom, and crafts. Insofar as war was concerned, she was diametrically opposed to her brother, Ares. Athena was associated with the strategic and defensive aspects of war, particularly when war was the only option, having exhausted other, less extreme courses of action. Opportune occasions to invoke her would have been when battle plans were drawn up or when the defensive of a city was being organised. Ares, on the other hand, was associated with the wanton aspect of war, devoid of restraint, like slaughter, aggression, panic, and bloodlust.

As a patroness of crafts and those who plied them, Athena’s purview encompassed every trade a person could learn, even more masculin crafts like carpentry and metalworking - giving her some overlap with Hephaestus - though it was feminie crafts like spinning and weaving she was most strongly connected with.

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