Chapter 6: Athena and Poseidon

Poseidon

PARENTAGE Cronus and Rhea OFFSPRING King Pelias of Iolcus (with Tyro); Theseus (with Princess Aethra of Troezen); Bellerophon (with Eurynome, queen of Corinth); Pegasus, a winged horse, and Chrysaor, a giant (with Medusa); Polyphemus (a one-eyed giant); Laestrygon (a man-eating giant); and many others ATTRIBUTES Trident, dolphin SIGNIFICANT CULT TITLES Ennosigaeus (Earth-Shaker) Hippius (Of Horses)-Poseidon gained the realm of the sea in a contest with his brothers, Zeus and Hades. When the brothers drew lots, Zeus received the heavens, Hades the Underworld, and Poseidon the sea (Homer, Iliad 15.187). -Although Poseidon sometimes appears on Olympus among his fellow Olympians, he is more often found in the seas. -Residing between the heavens and the Underworld, he has a distinctly different character than other Olympians. Like Zeus, he sires many offspring with nymphs and giants, the most well-known of which are the man-eating Cyclops, Polyphemus, and Laestrygon -Poseidon's dominion over the sea, along with his connection to equestrian pursuits, might seem to indicate a fit between him and Athens because Athens highly valued its cavalry (although it was not militarily significant) and eventually became a naval power. -unlike Athena he was not associated with naval strategies or shipbuilding -Poseidon has the cult title Hippius (Of Horses), and horses (unusually in Greece) were sacrificed to him. He is the father of Pegasus, the winged horse, with the maiden Medusa (Chapter 12.1). Moreover, Poseidon, like Athena, is sometimes credited with inventing the bridle and teaching mortals equestrian pursuits. -Yet Poseidon is most closely connected to the elemental power of the sea, whose stormy and powerful waves are sometimes imagined as horses (or bulls) who rush from its depths, where Poseidon was imagined to live. He is often called Ennosigaeus (Earth-Shaker), a title that associates him with earthquakes, yet another dangerous elemental force. -Earthquakes along with tidal waves and springs of water were believed to be the results of Poseidon striking the ground or ocean with his trident, a three-pronged pole, with which he is often depicted -Poseidon was worshipped on promontories such as Sounion, near Athens -Poseidon was associated with the natural world—which was precisely the realm that Athena's practical and cunning intelligence allowed men to overcome. -compare and contrast Poseidon and Athena The contest for Athens -The competition between Athena and Poseidon for the city of Athens explains how Athena came to rule that city and highlights both the commonalities and the differences between Poseidon and Athena. -In some versions of this myth, the twelve gods vote to give the land to Athena; in one version, all the men vote to make Poseidon the presiding deity of their land, whereas the women vote for Athena. Because there are more women than men, Athena wins the contest. As a consequence, men deny women the rights of citizenship in Athens to appease Poseidon. -This myth makes women responsible for Athena's patronage of the city (and perhaps explains why a goddess and not a god is their patron deity) while simultaneously offering a reason for their removal from the ranks of citizens. Indeed, the city of Athens, in history not myth, was a city of men, for although it had female residents, it had no female citizens. -this myth establishes Athens as a city of men, whose cunning and practical intelligence stands at the heart of their self-definition and achievement. Poseidon, whose horses rush from the sea and whose power was majestic yet inscrutable and untamed, could not have served to represent and explain the Athenians to themselves and to the Greek world.

Athena's Birth

Parentage Zeus and Metis OFFSPRING Erectheus or Erichthonius (with Poseidon or Hephaestus) ATTRIBUTES Helmet, shield, spear, owl SIGNIFICANT CULT TITLES Chalcioecus (Goddess of the Bronze House) Ergane (Worker) Glaucopis (Shining-Eyed) Parthenus (Maiden) Polias (City Protector) Promachus (Front-Fighter)-Athena's birth, as she claims, explains not only her affinity with her father Zeus (and with all men) but also her intelligence and martial skills. Of all the gods and goddesses on Olympus, no two have as many affinities or are as linked through their affection for each other as Zeus and Athena. Her birth accounts for their similarities, especially the trait of intelligence. -Zeus swallows Metis and he gives birth to Athena through his skull with the help of Hephaestus, who serves as a kind of midwife by releasing Athena from Zeus's skull with a whack of his axe -Metis thus becomes an attribute of Zeus and Athena. -Scholars translate metis variously as "cunning intelligence" or "practical intelligence." -Athena exhibits both aspects of intelligence in all her endeavors. She is called Glaucopis, "Shining-Eyed" or "Gray-Eyed." This description may allude to her wisdom by suggesting that she sees (that is, she perceives and understands) clearly or well. -Her association with the owl may also have arisen in connection with her intelligence as indicated by her eyes. -As Athena leaps out of Zeus's head, she is armed with a helmet, shield, and spear, the military equipment of a hoplite (or soldier). These attributes further indicate her connection with warfare. -Aeschylus says Athena alone has access to Zeus's thunderbolts, thus reinforcing her unique relationship to her father as well as their shared martial skills. -Athena's intelligence and martial prowess make her especially suited to be an urban goddess who oversees civic and military affairs. -Indeed, Athena rarely appears in natural settings; she is one of the few Greek deities who has no connection to nature or natural phenomena. -Born from Zeus's head in a way that is divorced from the female body and human reproduction, Athena's traits and associations pertain to culture and the cities of men.

Athena and the City of Athens

-Although Athena was worshipped in a number of Greek cities, nowhere was her worship and her identity as an urban goddess as developed as in Athens. -No fewer than three different representations of Athena stood on the Acropolis, a rocky outcropping at the city's center largely devoted to Athena. -Athena Polias (the olive log) and Athena Parthenus played important roles in the Panathenaea, a festival that celebrated the arts and governance that Athens achieved under Athena's guidance. -It was celebrated in two ways: the Lesser Panathenaea was celebrated every year; the Greater Panathenaea was celebrated every fourth year and had far more events and participants than the annual celebration, including musical, poetic, and athletic competitions, open to all Greek men, and military contests -One figure, whose gender has been debated, holds what most scholars think represents the gift of a garment (peplos) that was dedicated to Athena at every Panathenaea. Because girls and women participated in the weaving of this ritual garment, the peplos associates Athena with women's weaving and suggests that women also had a share in Athena's practical and cunning intelligence. Weaving and the women of Athens -In the earliest literature as well as material evidence, Greek women are shown performing all stages of wool working. They card and spin wool, and they weave on looms that typically produced a rectangular cloth (roughly five feet by six feet) called a peplos. This garment was typically folded, belted and pinned to create a woman's dress -During the Arrephoria, the Chalceia, the Plynteria, and the Lesser Panathenaea, women and girls cared for and dedicated woven garments to Athena, who emblematized the craft of weaving, one of the primary activities of women. -The peplos dedicated to Athena at the Greater Panathenaea, on the other hand, was so large that it was displayed on the mast of a ship that was wheeled to the Acropolis. -Thus, although weaving was widely represented and recognized as women's work, in some instances, such as Athena's sail-sized peplos, it was not exclusively women's province. The origins of Athens -In myths about early Athens, just as in the Panathenaic festival, women play a smaller role than men. Whereas Hesiod's Theogony offers one account of the origins of humankind, many cities had their own foundational myths. In such myths, a city's residents are frequently described as having descended from a god or goddess and/or arisen from the earth on which the city stood, thus giving them an unassailable claim to the place. -Erichthonius is also considered an early king of Athens, as is Erechtheus, who is sometimes considered his son and sometimes conflated with him. These early kings were believed to have overseen the transformation of Athens from a plot of land into a political space under Athena's guidance by establishing customs that define Athens as civilized. For example, Cecrops introduced the institution of marriage, and Erichthonius inaugurated the Panathenaic festival. -All of these early figures were considered autochthonous (born from the earth). Because the Athenians claimed they descended from these figures, the Athenians also claimed to be autochthonous. These earth-born figures justified and provided the Athenians with a vital connection to their land and their city as a political unit, and to its protection. -Because Athena gave birth to a child from whom all Athenians claimed descent, the Athenians claimed her as a virgin and as their divine ancestor. Although these myths portray Athena as a mother, they emphasize the political dimensions of Athens and Athena, not her generative capacity as a female. Indeed, the mythic assertion that the Athenians were born from the earth occludes the role of women in procreation more generally. -Greek men and women knew that human beings were born from women and not soil, but these early myths allowed Athenian men to imagine an intimate connection with the goddess Athena. Additionally, by ignoring the importance of women in the production of citizens in Athens, these myths convey that, with Athena's help, men are political beings who are sufficient without women. -In tragedies, in statues, and in temples, Athenian men created an Athena who unwaveringly supported them as they sought to understand the various strands of their identity as craftsmen, soldiers, and citizens. Athenian men imagined and devoted themselves to a goddess who exemplified an ideal vision of themselves, and who, they believed, had little to do with women. In this way, they freed themselves from their debt to women for bearing their offspring and for ensuring the city's success through subsequent generations. Athena comes to us in the myths of men, particularly Athenian men, who esteemed Athena as "wholeheartedly" as they believed she approved the male. And so, in their writings and myths, she devoted herself to them.

6.4 Reception: Athena as a political allegory

-Athena somehow remains untainted by the pettiness and jealousies that so many of the other Olympians display. Even when acting in battle, she does not become wild or uncontrolled; instead, she remains impenetrable in her armor, restrained, and completely focused on the causes of those she supports. And, when Athena creates or gives birth to Erichthonius, the ancestor of all Athenians, she does not demonstrate any desire of her own. -For these reasons, Athena has more similarity to goddesses like Nike (Victory) or Dike (Justice), who embody and exemplify abstract ideas. Like them, she serves a purpose outside of herself. -Marianne, who appears on a seal of the republic established during the French Revolution (1789-1799), was designed to represent the French Republic and to provide it with a symbol that would be as potent and unifying as the hereditary French kings that the Revolution overthrew. -She stood, much as Athena did, as the mother of the common people (as she was sometimes called). Marianne was depicted to embody and thus ensure the stability and unity of the fledgling republic. However, during turbulent events, she often was represented as stepping forward, raising her arm and rallying fighters. -Although the figure of Liberté carries some of the same emblems as Marianne, she differs from her in several important ways. Whereas she wears a Phrygian cap like the one Marianne carries, Liberté also wears the dress of a commoner, not a classical garment. She carries the tricolor flag of the Revolution, symbolizing liberty, equality, and fraternity. -Liberté is also stripped, but from the waist up. Her nudity, unlike that of the fallen fighter's, bespeaks strength. Far from appearing erotic or vulnerable (like the fallen fighter), the nudity of Liberté is heroic and makes her seem fearless. Liberté was Marianne without her armor or classical dress and without her restraint. -Given to America by France on the centennial celebration of the American Declaration of Independence, the Statue of Liberty celebrated the friendship between the two nations. It also stood for their shared commitment to liberty and reason and, by virtue of the statue's size and grandeur, established France's stature in the eyes of the world. -Yet, soon after its arrival in America, Bartholdi's statue ceased to be celebrated for its similarity to the Colossus of Rhodes, and its meaning shifted from a celebration of liberty and kinship with France to a symbol of a distinctly American experience. -Lazarus's poem transforms the Statue of Liberty from a guardian of liberty into a "mother of exiles" who welcomes immigrants and exiles to American shores. -The Statue of Liberty retains many similarities with Athena. Like her, the statue is both mother and virgin. She does not give birth to America's future citizens but instead welcomes immigrants and exiles as they pass her on the way to Ellis Island. Similarly, Athena did not give birth to the Erichthonius but handed him from Gaia, the earth where he was born, to the daughters of Cecrops for rearing. This kind of virginity characterized by both Athena and the Statue of Liberty is politically useful. As neither can be claimed by any one group of citizens, both can serve as unifying icons, or mother figures, for all citizens. These citizens are then free to define themselves as brothers, despite having no cultural or ethnic affinities with one another. Thus the statue, like virginal Athena, lacking any desires of her own, is available to serve the political agenda and desire of her makers.

Athena's Practical Intelligence and Men's Activities

-In her oversight of men's activities, Athena's intelligence appears eminently practical. -She is not associated with philosophy or mathematics; she has no use for abstract thought. -Her intelligence spurs technological innovations and solves problems that men encounter in their daily lives and work. -Athena provides tools and skills that enable men to make use of the materials they find in the natural world, such as clay, metal, horses, trees, wool, or grains, and she is the patron of those crafts she innovates and oversees Craftsmen -Athena's birth in full armor associates her with warfare and with Hephaestus and the craft of metallurgy, which he oversees. In Sparta, Athena is called Chalcioecus (Goddess of the Bronze House), and in Athens she is worshipped alongside Hephaestus -Similarly, Athena oversees the tools and craft of weaving. Athena's weaving associates her with both women and men soldiers -Athena oversees martial arts: the skills that men use both to fight their enemies and to control their own aggression. All of her martial inventions are designed to assist in the art of military engagement, by which men act with ferocity but not with blinding savagery. She provides ways of conquering enemies, including ambushes, sallies, and battle-line strategies. But she is not associated with risky confrontations, carried out with little thought and great emotion. Thus Athena's involvement with war does not create any commonality between her and Ares, the god of war, whose presence among the Olympians perhaps recognizes a human propensity toward unfettered aggression and violence in which Athena has no part -Athena is credited with inventing the Pyrrhic dance, either at the moment of her birth or during the Gigantomachy, the great battle between the Olympians and the Giants. This dance for soldiers in full armor may have been used to develop their strength and coordination. -In sum, Athena's metis is a practical as well as cunning intelligence that solves problems through technological means and helps men subdue the world around them as well as themselves. Her activities by, for, and among men in war and work capture her advocacy of success and victory through reason acting on nature. Heroes -Athena keeps company with heroes whose adventures require varied skills and tactics, military and otherwise. Although she helps many heroes, Heracles and Odysseus are Athena's favorite mortals. -Medusa's death thus leads to the generation of two living offspring, whereas Athena produces three cultural artifacts from the death: an apotropaic military device; a flute, which she soon gives away; and the bridle. -Of all the heroes that Athena assists, none are more like her than Odysseus; Athena is described as polumetis (with much intelligence), as is Odysseus (Chapter 12.1). Athena and Odysseus have a deep and abiding camaraderie.

6.2 Theory: The mind structures myth in oppositions

-psychologists have noticed the similarities between myths and dreams, daydreams, and even the creative processes of artists. Some have looked to myth to learn how the human mind (or parts of it that they label the unconscious or subconscious) works. They have asked how myths might provide insight into the ways human beings encounter, understand, and then process their experiences. -Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), the Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis, explored the connection between myths and dreams. -Just as the dreams of individuals express their past and present fears and wishes in fantastical and symbolic ways, he argued, so too do myths express the past and present fears and wishes of a society or most of its people. In this view, myths are an elaborate (if frequently obscure) record of the history and culture of how a particular society is shaped by human desire and anxieties. Freud conjectured that myths offered potentially useful material for his explorations of why and how the unconscious perceives reality and then produces elaborate and obscure accounts of its fears and wishes, especially in dreams and psychosis. -Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961), Freud's most famous student (who eventually came to disagree with him on many issues), argued that myths—like dreams—convey messages from the unconscious, although in Jung's view these are not limited to hopes and fears. -The anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss (1908-2009), although not a psychologist, was also interested in how the human mind perceived and organized (the term he used was "structured") experiences and then created similarly structured stories and codes of behavior. Lévi-Strauss's theories fall into a larger category of analysis called structuralism. -The order that Lévi-Strauss traced behind marriage rules and myths alike resided, he argued, in the human mind. The mind, he went on to claim, organizes information or reality in terms of oppositions. -In Lévi-Strauss's view, then, if one wants to understand myths, one must look for the underlying opposition or oppositions (not the underlying wishes and fears, as Freud argued) that structure their images and events. -The challenge of applying Lévi-Strauss's ideas to myths is in identifying the underlying binary oppositions. To find them, one must break down a myth into smaller units, which Lévi-Strauss called "mythemes." -Marriage in which the male exercises authority over the female, too, is associated with order, whereas female goddesses who reproduce outside of marriage are associated with chaos. In other words, if we break up myth into smaller units and place them in oppositions, we begin to see the underlying social values of Greek society.