This may refer to the fact that she was the third child Zeus had. Although she did not have a mother, the terms may refer to the idea that it took both her father, Métis and herself for the goddess to come into the world. A later legend claimed that the terms came from the idea that three necessary things vital to human life all came from the Goddess. In The Odyssey, Odysseus` cunning and intelligent nature quickly wins Athena`s favor. [155] [140] For the first part of the poem, however, she largely limits herself to helping him from a distance, mainly by implanting thoughts in his head during his journey back from Troy. She orders Laertes to throw her spear and kill Eupeithes, the father of Antinous. The three goddesses were ideally beautiful and Paris couldn`t decide between them, so they resorted to bribes. [190] Hera tried to bribe Paris with power over all of Asia and Europe,[190][131] and Athena offered glory and honor in battle,[190][131] but Aphrodite promised Paris that if he chose her as the most beautiful, she would let him marry the most beautiful woman in the world. [192] [131] This woman was Helena, who was already married to King Menelaus of Sparta.
[192] Paris chose Aphrodite and gave her the apple. [192] [131] The other two goddesses were furious and sided with the Greeks in the Trojan War as a direct consequence. [192] [131] As one of the most famous Greek goddesses, Athena has several epithets such as Polias, showing that she was the protector of Athens. It received the name of Ergane to reflect its role in helping artisans. When Orestes was accused of killing his mother, Athena served as a judge overseeing his case. She was the daughter of Zeus, born without a mother and coming out of his completely adult forehead. There was an alternate story that Zeus swallowed Metis, the goddess of the council, while pregnant with Athena, and when she was completely adult, she emerged from Zeus` forehead. As Zeus` favorite child, she had great power.
In the classical Olympic pantheon, Athena was considered the favorite child of Zeus, born fully armed with his forehead. [90] [91] [92] [h] The story of his birth is divided into several versions. [93] [94] [95] The first mention is in Book V of the Iliad, when Ares accuses Zeus of being biased in favor of Athena because „autos egeinao” (literally „you begat her,” but probably wanted as „you gave birth to her”). [96] [97] She was essentially urban and civilized, the antithesis in many ways of Artemis, goddess of nature. Athena was probably a pre-Hellenic goddess and was later adopted by the Greeks. She was particularly known as the patroness of spinning and weaving. The fact that she was eventually allegorized to personify wisdom and righteousness was a natural evolution of her patronage of abilities.