Athena's punishment

We're familiar with the story of Poseidon, Hera, Athena and the other gods and goddesses conspire against Zeus (to dethrone him, perhaps), Zeus was chained but was saved and in return punish those who went against him. He had Hera suspended in the heavens with heavy weights on her feet, Poseidon and Apollo banished from Olympus and served a certain king (I forgot the name) but does anyone knew what happened to Athena? I heard that she's one of those deities who also conspire against Zeus, but I haven't heard what happened to her.

Did Zeus just shrugged his shoulders while saying "Oh you're my favorite child I won't punish you" LOL just joking :p
 

Myrddin

Well-Known Member
If memory serves, I don't think you are too far off.:eek:
What?!? Really? Zeus doesn't seem like the type to just shrug his shoulders. He's just as petty as the rest of them. (Besides, as I recall, he tried to prevent Athene from being born by eating her mother.)
 

Nadai

Active Member
oh, so if that's the case can we say that Zeus is biased and unjust?
And none too bright. Remember he swallowed Athena's mother because he was told that Athena would grow to be the wisest god. Basically he tried to kill his daughter because he wanted to have the title of being the smartest:confused:
 

Myrddin

Well-Known Member
And none too bright. Remember he swallowed Athena's mother because he was told that Athena would grow to be the wisest god. Basically he tried to kill his daughter because he wanted to have the title of being the smartest:confused:
He's kind of a confused god a bit, isn't he?
 

Nadai

Active Member
I think that those were the kinds of things Ovid looked at when he wrote Metamorphosis; he looked more at the flaws of the gods, it's why his work was so controversial. Rather than painting the gods as supremely wise and infallible, he wrote about their faults and short-comings. He got into a bit of trouble for it, but it was worth it in my opinion; Ovid was a master.
 
"Basically he tried to kill his daughter because he wanted to have the title of being the smartest:confused:"
haha true! though it's still obvious that Athena is still Zeus' favorite child. He also gave her the Aegis and had permission with his thunderbolts, right?

Speaking of Athena's mother, I also remember Thetis, Achilles' mother. Zeus and Poseidon both wanted her but again a prophecy said that her child would become greater than his father. I guess Zeus was threatened that their child will become more supreme than he so he called for Peleus, wherein Peleus raped Thetis, with Achilles as the result. Well I guess the prophecy came true, to say the least, because Achilles is greater than his father Peleus.

I think it's very interesting to discuss the flaws of the Gods and Goddesses! :cool:
 

Alejandro

Active Member
Hey, eirene, I've wondered about this question myself. If there is an answer that makes sense, though, I doubt it's because Athena was a favourite of Zeus. How then do we reconcile that with the fact that Apollon was also a favourite child of Zeus? And his reason for participating in this plot was less sinister than dethroning his father; it was rather his rage that his son Asklepios had been blasted dead by Zeus' thunderbolt (at least in one version of the story). Maybe Athena was just smarter than all the other deities who participated in this scheme. For one, she was the goddess of wisdom, and her mother Metis was the personification of wisdom, or prudence. Perhaps Athena was involved in this plot only indirectly, so that all Zeus ever had as evidence against her was his suspicions, whereas the other conspirators physically appeared before their king brandishing the chains with which they planned to imprison him.

But maybe there's more to Metis in this story. Apparently what made Zeus so wise was the fact that Wisdom/Prudence itself lived inside him. Metis used to give Zeus advice [from] inside his head, and if she was in his mind, could she have at times (or all the time?) manipulated him to do what she wanted? This might explain how Athena became Zeus' chief minister and advisor. She is the only other deity apart from her father who we see wielding Zeus' thunderbolts. (The only other one to attain this privilege, namely Zagreus, ended up in pieces devoured by Titans, and even though he was eventually reincarnated as Dionysos, yet another favourite of Zeus, he never became as powerful as Athena was or as Zagreus had been.) Also, like her half-brother Apollon, Athena was sometimes allowed to wear Zeus' Aigis [Ægis], as you've observed.

Or maybe Zeus was scared, in some way, of Athena or her mother? She was after all the child who, had she been male, it was prophesied would supplant him as ruler of the universe. It must've been quite a relief when she swore to forever remain a virgin but his greatest fear, ironically, might been living inside him: Like one day another god, Athena's little brother, will rip his way out of Zeus' head or belly and go on to fulfill the old prophecy? The playwright Aiskhylos does ascribe, to the Titan Prometheus, knowledge of a curse which Zeus' father Kronos had placed upon his son, saying that the same way in which Kronos had been supplanted and Ouranos (Uranus) before him had been dethroned, so too would Zeus one day be overthrown by his own child. This is eventually associated with the oracle about the Nereid Thetis and how her son would exceed his father in greatness and power, but that still doesn't take away Kronos' curse, does it? :) Oo-oo-ooh :eek: And the prophecy about Metis' son was, unlike with Thetis, specifically directed at Zeus.
 
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