In the first two articles "One of the Quick Start of Greek Mythology" and "The Second Best Scum God Poseidon", I said that the male gods in Greek mythology are animals that think about the lower body, basically belonging to the perversion of "pulling down and getting it" - there is no scum, only more scum!
Zeus, the god of the gods, the walking hormone
Poseidon, the god of the best scum
This article is about a goddess, she is one of the twelve main gods of Greece, the goddess of wisdom, the goddess of war, Athena.
Goddess of wisdom, goddess of war, Athena
Unlike Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty, who is beautiful, abusive, and has many lovers, Athena is the "goddess of virginity", so in the relationship between men and women, she is not scum. And, she has a big dazzling aura above her head:
She is one of the 12 Lord Gods
She is the goddess of wisdom and the goddess of war
She is one of the three goddesses of beauty
She is one of the three goddesses
She is also the goddess of art, the protector of handicrafts, she teaches human textile, cooking, gardening, pottery and other crafts; painting, music, poetry, dance and other arts
She was also the patron saint of the military, agriculture, medical, seafaring, and horse training
The goddess of court and order, she founded the first court of Athens
She is the protector of young girls during their unmarried years, as well as the protector of women's labor and childbirth
But (words of praise are most afraid of hearing "but")...
But as an old maid who has lived for tens of thousands of years, how can there be no psychological problems? So, she's not scumbag, but she's a dark, dirty bitch— she's psychopathic!
She seems to instinctively harbor a deep malice toward ordinary people; she seems to instinctively harbor a deep malice toward ordinary people who can pose a threat to her in some way (such as beauty or skill), she is like "winter-like ruthlessness"!
1. Athena's origin
In the first lecture I briefly mentioned the origin of Athena, who was born from the head of Zeus.
Athena was a Greek god with a red seed, her father was Zeus, a three-generation god king known as the "god of the gods", and her mother was the first generation of mertis, the goddess of wisdom. Therefore, Athena combined the strength of her father and the wisdom of her mother, becoming the second generation of wisdom goddesses and female goddesses of war in Greek mythology (the male god of war is Ares), and one of the three goddesses in Greek mythology.
Ares, the male god of war, and Athena, the female god of war
It all started with her "walking hormone" father, Zeus.
Zeus fell in love with the goddess Metis (also translated as Medis), who possessed the ability to transform and transform several times to avoid Zeus. But this little superpower, in front of Zeus, the "god of the gods", is too small. So in the end, she did not escape the clutches of Zeus, and later became Zeus's first wife.
The first goddess of wisdom, Metis, was later occupied by Zeus
After Metis became pregnant, Gaia, the "mother of the gods," issued an oracle predicting that Metis would have two children. The first child will be a girl (Athena) who can match her father in strength and intelligence; the second child (Athena's younger brother) will be stronger than Zeus and will grow up to replace Zeus as the fourth god king. (Zeus was the third god king)
In prophecy, strength and wisdom can rival the daughter of Zeus
Zeus certainly wouldn't allow that to happen, so he swallowed Metis—doesn't the plot look familiar? - That's right, Zeus's second-generation god king father did just that.
However, shortly after swallowing Metis, Zeus felt a headache, so he ordered Hephaestus, the "God of Forges", to split his head with a sharp axe, and Athena was born from the crack in Zeus's head. She was born fully armed, wearing armor and holding a spear, and issuing a cry of war.
Birth of Athena (partial)
2. What happened to Athena's brother?
I don't know, the legend is vague about this. The more authoritative version is that after Zeus swallowed Metis, only Athena escaped from his head, and Metis and the unborn brother were imprisoned by the God King and have not escaped to this day. Therefore, the four generations of god kings who could replace Zeus in the prophecy have not been born yet.
It is prophesied that Athena's brother will replace Zeus as the new god king, but will not have the chance to be born
3. What is the relationship between Medusa, the snake-haired banshee, and Athena?
Friends who have seen "War of the Gods" must be impressed by the snake-haired banshee Medusa, and everyone who looks at her is petrified. In the play she looks like this.
Battle of the Gods Medusa
She was later beheaded by the hero Perseus.
Perseus beheads the snake demon Medusa
But have you ever wondered if Medusa was born like this? Of course not.
Her life was extremely pitiful, even tragic. The way she looked afterwards was completely cursed. She was originally a beautiful and innocent girl, and it was only because she was persecuted by the scum gods that she became inhuman and ghostly. There are two culprits, one is poseidon, the god of scum, and the other is Athena, the black virgin.
Medusa before blackening, born with incredible beauty, chastity, innocence, the picture below is a picture of her as a girl.
Medusa as a girl
She was once a huge fan of Athena, volunteering to become a priestess of the Temple of Athena, and chastity was an indispensable requirement for this position. Medusa was a perfect priestess, impeccable. Because she was so perfect, many people went to the temple nominally to worship Athena, but in fact to see her. As she grew older, more and more praise became available to Medusa, which made Athena very jealous.
Medusa had the most beautiful hair in all of Greece, and on one occasion a Greek citizen even publicly stated, "I dare say that her hair is more beautiful than that of the goddess Athena." The words reached Athena's ears, making her feel angry and hurt, and she held a grudge in her heart ever since.
Medusa has the most beautiful hair in all of Greece
At this time, the beautiful and innocent Medusa spent the most carefree time of her life in the Temple of Athena, unaware of the tragic fate of the future.
Until one day, she met Poseidon, the "best slag god" at the seaside, and Medusa's tragic fate finally came.
Poseidon had a personal vendetta against Athena, who was once judged by the gods to lose to Athena by one vote in the battle for the city of Athens (this story is told in one of the quickstarts). This time facing the beautiful and chaste priestess of the Temple of Athena, Poseidon was beastly. The helpless Medusa fled into the temple, and Poseidon followed, throwing her on the temple floor and raping Medusa in front of the statue of Athena.
This beast!!!
Poseidon raped Medusa on the temple floor
Athena was utterly enraged, and she decided to punish cruelly...
...... Punish Poseidon?
You're so naïve!
She decided to cruelly punish her priestess, Medusa!!!
what？！ What logic is this? Is there any other reason?
Athena said, "What heavenly truth?" I'm talking about Tenri..."
She believed that Poseidon's actions were by masculine nature, and that Medusa had committed the crime of seducing the gods and bringing shame to the temple, so Athena cursed her, turning her hair into a snake, turning her body into a snake body, and anyone who looked directly into her eyes would be immediately petrified. Athena's curse transforms a beautiful and innocent maiden into a violent and ferocious snake monster.
Blackened Medusa
Later in the story, as you know, the demigod hero Perseus, with the help of Athena, beheaded the blackened Medusa.
Poor Medusa was still pregnant at this time, and as her head was decapitated, a pair of twin sons were born in the spray of hot blood. One son was the horse god Pergasus, a white horse with wings that later became a celestial Pegasus; the other was the monster Krysaore, who grew up married and gave birth to a three-headed monster.
After reading the story behind this, have you ever felt a little pity for Medusa?
4. The textile woman Aracne and the unplayable Athena
Again, this is a famous belly black story about Athena.
Arakne was a mortal weaver, and her weaving and embroidery skills were so skilled and famous that her works were likened to the most beautiful works of art, and the nobles from afar ordered them from her. Her fame grew so great that even the fairies in the forest and water loved her work and went to see and present her flowers. Many people think that her skills even surpassed that of Athena, the goddess of textiles.
The news soon reached Mount Olympus, and Athena refused to believe it when she heard about it. Because, as mentioned earlier, Athena is also the patron saint of the textile industry, and this glory can only belong to the goddess. So she decided to become an old woman and personally go down the mountain to investigate the level of Aracne. But after her close observation, she found that this mortal girl was really very talented in weaving.
Athena challenges Arakne in the form of an old woman
But Athena could not let go of her arrogance, and she said to Arachne, "You are very talented, and you must be the most skilled of mortals. But young people, you still have a lot to learn at your age, and you are still far from reaching god's level. At the same time, she also said: I will not bully you, give you a chance. Let's each weave a piece of work to see who is better.
Fearless, Arachne accepted the challenge.
In order to boast of her exploits, Athena weaves a work of herself and Poseidon in the battle for the victory of the city of Athens, while Aracne's work describes the story of "Zeus incarnating as a white cow and kidnapping the princess of Europa" (this story will be told in more detail later).
Looting of Europa (Partial)
As a result of the competition, Aracne's work was superior, and her work implied satire and criticism of the gods' abuse of power.
Athena lost the game on the one hand, and on the other hand felt that the gods were insulted, so she was ashamed, destroyed Aracne's works and looms, and cast spells to turn Aracne into an ugly spider - the old lady just couldn't afford to lose and didn't play! - Don't you love weaving? I'll let you weave a spider's web for eternity and eternity!
The following oil painting is the world-famous painting "Textile Girl" by the great Spanish painter Velázquez, which shows this story.
Velázquez's The Weaver Girl
5) The morality in Greek mythology is different from ours
Many people who look at Greek mythology may find it difficult to accept - there is no fairness and justice, no hoe to help the weak, no condemnation of the strong, no pity for the weak... It is naked power and plunder.
But yes, this is the case with ancient Greek mythology, it is the origin of all European morality, it represents the most original values of the West.