Editing Athena (section)

===Lady of Athens===
[[File:René-Antoine Houasse - The Dispute of Minerva and Neptune, 1689.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.3|''The Dispute of [[Minerva]] and [[Neptune (mythology)|Neptune]]'' by [[René-Antoine Houasse]] ({{circa|1689 or 1706}})]]

As the goddess of war, good counsel, prudent restraint and practical insight, Athena became the guardian of the welfare of kings. In a [[founding myth]] reported by Pseudo-Apollodorus,{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=281}} she competed with [[Poseidon]] for the patronage of Athens.{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=124}} They agreed that each would give the Athenians one gift{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=124}} and that [[Cecrops I|Cecrops]], the king of Athens, would determine which gift was better.{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=124}} Poseidon struck the ground with his [[trident]] and a salt water spring sprang up;{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=124}} this gave the Athenians access to trade and water.{{sfn|Graves|1960|page=62}} Athens at its height was a significant sea power, defeating the [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian]] fleet at the [[Battle of Salamis]]{{sfn|Graves|1960|page=62}}—but the water was salty and undrinkable.{{sfn|Graves|1960|page=62}} In an alternative version of the myth from [[Vergil]]'s ''[[Georgics]]'',{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=281}} Poseidon instead gave the Athenians the first horse.{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=124}} Athena offered the first domesticated [[olive tree]].{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=124}}{{sfn|Garland|2008|page=217}} Cecrops accepted this gift{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=124}} and declared Athena the patron goddess of Athens.{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=124}} The olive tree brought wood, oil, and food,{{sfn|Graves|1960|page=62}} and became a symbol of Athenian economic prosperity.{{sfn|Garland|2008|page=217}}{{sfn|Kinsley|1989|page=143}} [[Robert Graves]] was of the opinion that "Poseidon's attempts to take possession of certain cities are political myths",{{sfn|Graves|1960|page=62}} which reflect the conflict between matriarchal and patriarchal religions.{{sfn|Graves|1960|page=62}}

[[File:Atena-Giustiniani---Vatican.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|The ''[[Athena Giustiniani]]'', a Roman copy of a Greek statue of Pallas Athena. The guardian serpent of the Athenian Acropolis sits coiled at her feet.{{sfn|Deacy|2008|page=88}}]]

Afterwards, Poseidon was so angry over his defeat that he sent one of his sons, [[Halirrhothius]], to cut down the tree. But as he swung his axe, he missed his aim and it fell in himself, killing him. This was supposedly the origin of calling Athena's sacred olive tree ''[[Moria (tree)|moria]]'', for Halirrhotius's attempt at revenge proved fatal (''moros'' in Greek). Poseidon in fury accused Ares of murder, and the matter was eventually settled on the [[Areopagus]] ("hill of Ares") in favour of Ares, which was thereafter named after the event.<ref>[[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]] ''On Virgil's Georgics'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2007.01.0092%3Abook%3D1%3Acommline%3D18 1.18]; [[scholia]] on [[Aristophanes]]'s ''[[The Clouds|Clouds]]'' 1005</ref>{{sfn|Wunder|1855|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=4grgAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA2-PA100, note on verse 703]}}

Pseudo-Apollodorus{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=281}} records an archaic legend, which claims that [[Hephaestus]] once attempted to rape Athena, but she pushed him away, causing him to [[ejaculate]] on her thigh.{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=123}}{{sfn|Burkert|1985|page=143}}{{sfn|Hansen|2004|page=125}} Athena wiped the [[semen]] off using a tuft of [[wool]], which she tossed into the dust, impregnating [[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]] and causing her to give birth to [[Erichthonius of Athens|Erichthonius]].{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=123}}{{sfn|Burkert|1985|page=143}}{{sfn|Hansen|2004|page=125}} Athena adopted Erichthonius as her son and raised him.{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=123}}{{sfn|Hansen|2004|page=125}} The ''[[Fabulae]]'', a work of Roman mythography attributed to [[Gaius Julius Hyginus]], records a similar story in which Hephaestus demanded Zeus to let him marry Athena since he was the one who had smashed open Zeus's skull, allowing Athena to be born.{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=123}} Zeus agreed to this and Hephaestus and Athena were married,{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=123}} but, when Hephaestus was about to consummate the union, Athena vanished from the bridal bed, causing him to ejaculate on the floor, thus impregnating Gaia with Erichthonius.{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=123}}

The geographer [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]]{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=281}} records that Athena went to place the infant Erichthonius into a small chest{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=125}} (''cista''), which she entrusted to the care of the three daughters of [[Cecrops I|Cecrops]]: [[Herse]], [[Pandrosos]], and [[Aglaulus, daughter of Cecrops|Aglauros]] of Athens.{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=125}} She warned the three sisters not to open the chest,{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=125}} but did not explain to them why or what was in it.{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=125}} Aglauros, and possibly one of the other sisters,{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=125}} opened the chest.{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=125}} Differing reports say that they either found that the child itself was a serpent, that it was guarded by a serpent, that it was guarded by two serpents, or that it had the legs of a serpent.{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|pages=125–126}} In Pausanias's story, the two sisters were driven mad by the sight of the chest's contents and hurled themselves off the [[Acropolis]], dying instantly,{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=126}} but an Attic vase painting shows them being chased by the serpent off the edge of the cliff instead.{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=126}} An alternative version of the story is that Athena left the box with the daughters of Cecrops while she went to fetch a limestone mountain from the [[Kassandra, Chalkidiki|Pallene peninsula]] to use in the Acropolis. While she was away, Aglaurus and Herse opened the box. A crow saw them open the box, and flew away to tell Athena, who fell into a rage and dropped the mountain she was carrying which became [[Mount Lycabettus]].

Another version of the myth of the Athenian maidens is told in ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' by the Roman poet [[Ovid]] (43 BC{{snds}}17 AD); in this late variant [[Hermes]] falls in love with Herse. Herse, Aglaulus, and Pandrosus go to the temple to offer sacrifices to Athena. Hermes demands help from Aglaulus to seduce Herse. Aglaulus demands money in exchange. Hermes gives her the money the sisters have already offered to Athena. As punishment for Aglaulus's greed, Athena asks the goddess [[Invidia|Envy]] to make Aglaulus jealous of Herse. When Hermes arrives to seduce Herse, Aglaulus stands in his way instead of helping him as she had agreed. He turns her to stone.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''Metamorphoses'', X. Aglaura, Book II, 708–751; XI. The Envy, Book II, 752–832.</ref>

Erichthonius was one of the most important founding heroes of Athens{{sfn|Burkert|1985|page=143}} and the legend of the daughters of Cecrops was a cult myth linked to the rituals of the [[Arrhephoria]] festival.{{sfn|Burkert|1985|page=143}}{{sfn|Deacy|2008|pages=88–89}} Pausanias records that, during the Arrhephoria, two young girls known as the ''[[Arrhephoroi]]'', who lived near the temple of Athena Polias, would be given hidden objects by the [[High Priestess of Athena Polias|priestess of Athena]],{{sfn|Deacy|2008|page=89}} which they would carry on their heads down a natural underground passage.{{sfn|Deacy|2008|page=89}} They would leave the objects they had been given at the bottom of the passage and take another set of hidden objects,{{sfn|Deacy|2008|page=89}} which they would carry on their heads back up to the temple.{{sfn|Deacy|2008|page=89}} The ritual was performed in the dead of night{{sfn|Deacy|2008|page=89}} and no one, not even the priestess, knew what the objects were.{{sfn|Deacy|2008|page=89}} The serpent in the story may be the same one depicted coiled at Athena's feet in Pheidias's famous statue of the ''Athena Parthenos'' in the Parthenon.{{sfn|Deacy|2008|page=88}} Many of the surviving sculptures of Athena show this serpent.{{sfn|Deacy|2008|page=88}} Herodotus records that a serpent lived in a crevice on the north side of the summit of the Athenian Acropolis{{sfn|Deacy|2008|page=88}} and that the Athenians left a honey cake for it each month as an offering.{{sfn|Deacy|2008|page=88}} On the eve of the [[Second Persian invasion of Greece]] in 480 BC, the serpent did not eat the honey cake{{sfn|Deacy|2008|page=88}} and the Athenians interpreted it as a sign that Athena herself had abandoned them.{{sfn|Deacy|2008|page=88}}

Athena gave her favour to an Attic girl named [[Myrsine (mythology)|Myrsine]], a chaste girl who outdid all her fellow athletes in both the [[palaestra]] and the race. Out of envy, the other athletes murdered her, but Athena took pity in her and transformed her dead body into a [[myrtus|myrtle]], a plant thereafter as favoured by her as the olive was.<ref>{{cite book | title = Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World | volume = IX | first1 = Hubert | last1 = Cancik| first2 = Helmuth | last2 = Schneider | first3 = Christine F. | last3 = Salazar | first4 = David E. | last4 = Orton | publisher = [[Brill Publications]] | date = 2002 | page = 423 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=DzIOAQAAMAAJ | isbn = 978-90-04-12272-7}}</ref> An almost exact story was said about another girl, [[Elaea (mythology)|Elaea]], who transformed into an olive, Athena's sacred tree.<ref>{{cite book | page = 278 | title = Metamorphosis in Greek Myths | first = Paul M. C. | last = Forbes Irving | publisher = [[Clarendon Press]] | date = 1990 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=URvXAAAAMAAJ | isbn = 0-19-814730-9}}</ref>

According to Ovid, one day as the mortal maiden [[Corone (crow)|Corone]] was walking by the seashore, Poseidon saw her and attempted to seduce her. When his efforts failed, he attempted to rape her instead. However, Corone fled from his rapacious advances, crying out to men and gods. While no man heard her, "the virgin goddess feels pity for a virgin"; Athena saved her by transforming her into a [[crow]].<ref name=":1" />{{sfn|Sax|2003|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=jYDxAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA45 45–46]}}

After the deaths of their parents, the orphaned [[Cleothera]] and [[Merope (mythology)|Merope]] were raised by [[Aphrodite]].<ref name="ody">[[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hom.+Od.+20.66&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0136 20.66-78]</ref> The other Olympian goddesses also blessed the girls with gifts and blessings; [[Hera]] gave them beauty, [[Artemis]] high stature, and Athena taught them women's crafts.<ref name="ody" /><ref name="paus1">[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D10%3Achapter%3D30%3Asection%3D1 10.30.1]</ref>