Is Athena real or a myth? Why is it said that Athena helped Greece in the Greco-Persian War?

Athena's name in Greek is shortened from Athenaa or Athenaia, and is written in the Ionian dialect as Athene, Athenaie (this name can be seen on the "Relief Drawing of the Siege of Troy" The name of the mark), written Athana, Athanaia in Dorian dialect, and Athenaa in Aeolian dialect. (In a painting of "Odysseus Returning Home" by the French painter Bouguereau, we can also see another way of writing her name: Athhnh.) This word has no etymological origin in Greek. explain. Since Athena's name has the same origin as the name of the city of Athens, people have been arguing since ancient times whether the goddess was named after the city or the city was named after the goddess. Among Greek place names, there are many city names ending in -ene, such as Mykene (Mycenae), which means -ene is a typical place name suffix. But Athena has another nickname: Pallas Athene, which is how Athena is often called in Homer's epic poems1. This shows that the goddess originally had a name of Pallas. Later, as the Athenians' worship of her developed, she was called Pallas Athena, which means "Palas of Athens". Later, Athena can be used alone as the name of the goddess. So figuring out the meaning of Pallas is key to figuring out the origins of Athena. Unfortunately, people have not yet figured out the meaning of this word. Some people interpret it as "maiden", and others interpret it as "the weapon-brandishing", but there is insufficient evidence. If it cannot gain the general approval of people, it can only be regarded as a possibility and cannot be regarded as a final conclusion. In this way we must go to mythology to find the origin of Athena. Athena was worshiped widely throughout the Hellenistic world, with the center being in Athens. The city houses the Parthenon, a typical symbol of Greek religious art. The name means Maidens’ Apartment, the residence of the goddess’s maids. But Athena has been an important deity since ancient times. Her name already appears in Linear B. There are also a large number of descriptions of mythological stories that preserve elements of ancient legends. Athena is also called "mistress" on Mycenaean tablets. According to the Pilaskis, the goddess Athena was born on the shores of Lake Tritonis in Libya. Three Libyan Nymphs discovered her, dressed her in goatskin and nursed her to growth. When she was a girl, she accidentally killed her little friend Pallas during a play. As a sign of condolence, she placed Pallas's name before her own. She later came to Athens via Crete. (See "Apollonius") Since this piece of material is recorded based on the legend of the ancient people of the Pilaskis, it has led many scholars to connect the origin of Athena with the Libyan goddess. There are several circumstantial materials for this view: "It seems that the clothes worn by the statue of Athena and the Aegis jacket were learned by the Greeks from Libyan women. Because except for the fact that the clothes of Libyan women are made of leather and they Except for the tassels of the goatskin Aegis tunic, which are not snakes but grass buttons, in all other respects their costumes are identical, and the very name proves that the clothes of the statue of Pallas Athena were the same. From Libya..." (Herodotus' "History") "Next to the Macryaeans are the Oseasians; between them and the Macryaeans there is a river Turidon ( Triton, who lived on the shore of Lake Trionis... They held an annual sacrifice to the god Athena, and during the sacrifice, their maidens divided into two groups and fought with each other with stones and sticks. According to them they were doing so in the manner of their ancestors to worship the goddess we call Athena." (Herodotus "History") Greek archaeological finds indicate that the immigrants from Libya were as early as 4000 BC. has entered Crete, and historical records and archaeological discoveries are basically consistent.

So what kind of god was Pallas? The statements in Greek mythology are very inconsistent, but the most common ones are: Athena was born by Zeus and raised by the river god Triton. Pallas was the daughter of Triton and Athena's playmate. Unfortunately, he was accidentally killed by Athena. But it is also said that Pallas is one of the Titans - the son of Eurybia and Cleos, or the father of the moon goddess, etc. However, it was also mentioned in "Ancient City-States" written by Fustelde Coulanges in 1885: "Whenever a warship goes to sea, the memorial tablet of Pallas, the god of the sea, must be painted golden." In this way, it seems that Athena and the god of the sea are not involved. Got into a certain relationship. But in general, different accounts indicate that after the Libyan goddess was introduced to Greece, she came into contact with Pallas worshiped by the original residents of Greece, thus various theories emerged. When Athena became Hellenized and became the object of worship in many city-states, the work of describing an orthodox divine origin for this goddess began. The following is a story about the birth of Athena: "Now, Zeus, the king of the gods, first married Metis, the wisest of gods and mortals. When she was about to give birth to the bright-eyed goddess Athena, according to Zeus deceived Metis by the advice of starry Uranus and Gaea, and swallowed her into his belly ... because he feared that she might give birth to a child with a weapon more powerful than a thunderbolt. … But Metis immediately conceived Pallas Athena, the daughter whom the father of men and gods bore from his own mind on the banks of the Turitone … where Athena received the aegis. , with it, her power exceeded that of all the gods living in Olympus. When Zeus gave birth to Athena, she held the aegis and was covered in weapons. In this way, she was "regenerated from Zeus's mind through Athena." ” story, she had a noble birth and became a member of the Holy Family. Although this story of Athena's birth is not the only one, it is regarded by the ancients as the most accurate because it is believed to have come from the mouths of Athena's priests. There is also such a record in "Theogony": "...the reason why they suggested Zeus to do this is to prevent other gods from replacing Zeus to take the throne among the immortal gods; because Metis is destined to give birth to an extremely smart child. His child, she is the bright-eyed girl Tritogenia (Athena), who is equal to her father in both strength and wisdom and may replace Zeus as the king of gods and humans. However, Zeus comes first. He swallowed Metis into his belly so that the goddess could advise him and turn disaster into disaster...Metis, the mother of Athena, the righteous planner, and the wiser than the gods and mortals. Remaining in the belly of Zeus. There the goddess Athena received the aegis, and with it she became more powerful than all the gods who lived in Olympus. [This aegis became the terrible weapon of Athena. When Athena gave birth, she was holding an aegis and being fully armed. From this description, we seem to be able to see some symbol of the evolution of ancient Greek history. Zeus represented the creation of the Mycenaean civilization and the later Cretan civilization. The gods and religious beliefs of the Achaeans, the true ancestors of the Greeks who moved into Greece around 2000 BC, symbolize the spiritual beliefs of the original indigenous Greeks who regard Metis as the goddess of wisdom. It may mean that the Greek native civilization at that time was superior to the civilization of the later immigrants; when Zeus swallowed her, it was the fusion of different religions and civilizations of the indigenous people, Achaeans and West Asian immigrants, thus forming The new Greek classical civilization system - "Athena" - of course, this word is just a metaphor. The symbol of Greek orthodox religion is still Zeus rather than Athena, because she is not the "son" in the "prophecy", so she is not the "son" in the end. It failed to truly replace Zeus. This somewhat represented the submission of the conquered peoples at that time; but although Metis was swallowed, she still remained in Zeus's belly, which also symbolized that these peoples still retained their own traditions. The legend of Athena becoming the patron saint of Athens is related to the struggle between the goddess and Poseidon when Athens was first built by a Phoenician. Poseidon and Athena competed for the honor of naming it; The person who provided the most useful things to mankind would become the patron saint of the city. Poseidon struck the ground with his trident and conjured a war horse, while Athena conjured an olive tree - peace and prosperity. Symbol. Because war horses were considered to represent war and sorrow, Athens was named after the goddess, who quickly took the city under her protection.

On the Acropolis of Athens, one of the most famous buildings in ancient Greece still remains - the Parthenon, which worshiped the goddess Athena. Athena was the goddess of arts, crafts and women's handiwork, dexterous with her hands and intolerant of challenges from others. A Lydian girl named Arachne seemed to despise Athena's abilities and often boasted that she could defeat the goddess Athena if given the chance. In anger, the goddess disguised herself as an old woman and advised Arachne to be more modest. But the ignorant craftswoman bravely challenged her. The goddess took off her disguise and accepted the challenge. Both women immediately set to work on their respective works. The patterns designed by the goddess told the story of her fight with Poseidon, while Arachne weaved the story of the Golden Apple Incident, in which the three goddesses stripped off their clothes to a mortal in a fight for vanity. Later, Athena was surprised to find that her work was not good enough, so she became angry and tore the other person's work into pieces. Arachne laughed at her and mocked her, so the furious goddess turned her into a spider and made her weave forever. Athena is also the goddess of war. Because of Athena's active performance in the Trojan War, her reputation as the God of War even surpassed Ares. Her Trojan horse strategy was also one of the main reasons for the Greeks' final victory. But Athena is different from Ares. Ares was war-loving, while Athena, although the god of war, loved peace. This is why Athens is called the "peace-loving city." Athena also helped many Greek heroes: with her help: Jason built the Argos ship and completed the voyage to find the Golden Fleece; Perseus cut off the head of the enchantress Medusa; Heracles accomplished many great deeds; Odysseus, a participant in the Trojan War, returned to his homeland after drifting on the sea for 10 years. There was also the Golden Apple Incident, where she was one of the three goddesses competing for the Golden Apple, leading to the famous Trojan War.