THE BIRTH OF ATHENA. 
BY EMILY C. THOMPSON. 
IT IS a study, interesting to some of 
our modern scholars, to fathom 
the depths of obscurity and bring 
up from the hidden past, from the 
minds of men long departed, their con- 
ceptions of the beings whom they wor- 
shiped. Still more interesting is it to 
surmise and conjecture the origin of 
these marvelous beings. Charming 
books have been written upon these 
subjects and they prove fascinating to 
the reader who, with vivid imagination, 
can follow the theories of each author 
and the long fantastic proofs. The gods 
of the Greeks, those anthropomorphic 
beings, throbbing with life, radiant with 
beauty, the ideal of all that is fair and 
lovely, and yet the prey of human pas- 
sions and desires, are a never-ending 
source of delight to classical students. 
All theories start from the supposi- 
tion that the gods had their origin 
eitherin physical or mental phenomena. 
Many try to trace out the effect which 
the world of nature with its wonders, 
its beauties, and its fearful realities, has 
had upon the savage and primitive 
mind, and how from these impressions 
arose the main gods of the Greek re- 
ligion. Of course there are schol- 
ars on the other side who will not admit 
that there is any physical aspect of any 
of the gods. So the conflict rages, ex- 
citing, even absorbing, but inconclusive. 
The method of proof must depend 
largely upon the actual remains of that 
civilization which are still left for us in 
the literature and art of that people. 
The Greeks had an established theog- 
ony very early, as we know by the 
"Theogony" of Hesiod, which still re- 
mains. In this the parents of the gods 
were traced far back, to Gaia, the earth, 
and Uranus, the sky, who themselves 
were sprung from Chaos. A minute 
relationship was figured out between all 
their deities which is to us almost too 
perplexing to follow. Many names in 
this theogony are names taken from 
nature, as those above, and so the schol- 
ars get a basis for their investigations. 
Athena was one of the principal god- 
desses of this race, the virgin goddess 
of wisdom and of the arts of life, espec- 
ially honored at Athens, the seat of an- 
cient culture. Could any goddess seem 
farther removed from anything phys- 
ical or material? — and yet we find many 
theories from competent, earnest schol- 
ars, brought forward to prove that such 
a relationship did exist. The birth of 
this goddess as recorded by the ancient 
writers was peculiar. At a blow given 
by Hephaestus (Vulcan) or Prometheus, 
she sprang from the head of Zeus, the 
great god of Olympus, clad in her ar- 
mor, full-grown, and perfect. 
A few quotations will tell us the story 
and show us all upon which the schol- 
ars have to base their theories about 
the origin of the goddess and her na- 
ture. 
Homer presents Athena to us as the 
daughter of Zeus, and of Zeus alone, 
but he does not tell anything about her 
birth. She seems to be the spoilt dar- 
ling of her father, or as one German 
writer calls her, sein anderes Ich. She 
wears the aegis of her father and some- 
times all his armor, as she takes an ac- 
tive part in the battles, aiding her be- 
loved Achasans. 
Hesiod, Theogony 886-900; 924-926. 
"Zeus, the king of the gods, made 
Metis first his bride — Metis, most know- 
ing of gods and of mortal men. But 
when she was about to bear the glanc- 
ing-eyed goddess Athena, then deceiv- 
ing her mind by craft, by winning 
words, he swallowed her, by the 
shrewdness of Gaia and starry Uranus, 
for thus they advised him, that no other 
of the ever-living gods might gain 
kingly honor in place of Zeus. For 
from her it was decreed that there 
should spring clever children; first 
the glancing-eyed maiden, Tritogenia 
(Athena), having equal strength with 
her father and wise counsel; but that 
then she would bear a son, king of gods 
and men, with overbearing heart. But 
first Zeus swallowed her, since the god- 
dess purposed both good and evil for 
him. . . . So he himself bore from 
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