Athena (Pallas Athene; Minerva)
Athena was the goddess of wisdom, the intellectual goddess, born full-grown out of the head of her father Zeus. She was logical, rational, decisive, practical, and urban. As master strategist, she protected cities and armies, and introduced civilized legal proceedings with juries and due process, outlawing personal retribution. She was also the goddess of the practical arts, overseeing artisans such as weavers, goldsmiths, potters, dressmakers and shipbuilders. She gave people the tools for civilization, including plows, rakes, chariots, bridles for horses and yokes for oxen. She was associated with men rather than women (her father Zeus; the mythic heroes of ancient Greece), but she never married or took lovers - she was too intellectual for that. Athena wore armour and carried a spear and shield (the power suit of classical Greece).
Today Athenas wear power suits and carry laptops rather than body armour and weapons of war. They work within the system in positions of responsibility, and they get the job done. They are status oriented, and often gravitate towards men in power. They may marry and have children, but only if it doesn't interfere with the work they want to do. Athenas are logical, analytical, clever, politically astute, mature, and not given to extremes. They are calm, cool and collected. They are practical, sensible and rational rather than imaginative or idealistic; "tradesmen" rather than "artists". They can have their hearts broken just like anyone else, but they don't let their hearts rule their heads, and keep their cool under fire. Athena is the woman who does the job when it takes a woman to do a man's job.
IMPORTANT!!! Athena was known for her keen intelligence, but being intelligent does not make a woman an Athena. Gifted women come in all types, and it's not her intelligence that makes a woman an Athena, but the way in which she uses it.
Themes
the career woman; the political leader; the lawyer or lawmaker; the practical artisan; the savvy businesswoman; the capitalist; the father's daughter; the practical scholar/researcher; the "suit"
|
Ancient symbols
the owl
intertwined snakes
Modern symbols
the owl
the scales of justice
|
Examples
- Business: Elizabeth Arden* (cosmetics); Coco Chanel* (fashion designer); Edith Head* (costume designer); Jane Pauley* (journalist); Helena Rubinstein* (cosmetics); Dr. Laura Schlessinger* (radio talk show host); Martha Stewart* (lifestyle guru); Pamela Wallin* (journalist); Oprah Winfrey* (television talk show host)
- Politics/law: Hillary Clinton (politician - USA); Elizabeth I* (England); Anita Hill* (lawyer - USA); Condoleeza Rice (politician - USA); Margaret Thatcher* (British Prime Minister)
- Science: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross* (physician)
- Actresses: Kirstie Alley; Gillian Anderson; Glenn Close; Claire Danes*; Jodie Foster*; Katharine Hepburn*; Kate Jackson; Nichelle Nichols*; many actresses who play doctors, lawyers and other professionals on TV
- Writers: Jane Austen*; Simone de Beauvoir*; Patricia Cornwell; Ayn Rand*
|
Fictional Athenas
Dr. Crusher, 7 of 9, and other women on Star Trek (the most common type of woman in the Star Trek universe)
Kay Scarpetta (in novels by Patricia Cornwell)
Nancy Drew
Kitty Pride of the X-Men
|