Discuss the role of Athena as a patron deity in Athens.

University Degree Historical and Philosophical studies

Religion and the Polis

Exam no: 0078867

Discuss the role of Athena as a patron deity in Athens

Athena the goddess is Athens itself - i.e. the real and concrete spirit of the citizens.' As Hegel notes, Athena was a vital component to the formation of an Athenian identity. As a 'splendid symbol' of the Athenians aims and achievements, she encapsulated the image of how the Athenians wished to be perceived and how they regarded themselves in comparison to the other nations of the Greek world. Furthermore, an examination of the varying depictions of Athena in art (both literary and visual) during the rise and fall of Athenian fortunes, provides important insights into how religious motifs could be manipulated for with political ends, and how far the image of a patron deity was used to represent the polis.

As Christine Sourvinou-Inwood rightly states 'religion provided the framework and the symbolic focus of the polis.' The role of patron deity was therefore far more than simply a protector or source of comfort for the population. They were emblem of the polis, and would have reflected how the community of that polis wished to be perceived, both by their own citizens and by the other nations of the Greek world.

Through symbols and rhetoric, the image of a patron deity could be manipulated to meet the image of the polis. Nowhere is this more apparent than in fifth century Athens, where the patron deity of Athena was deliberately and consciously directed in art, literature and cult to highlight Athens' identity as a patriarchal democracy and the leader of an Ionian Empire.

However, it is important to keep in mind that although the goddess Athena and the Athenian polis were certainly closely associated with each other, Athena's role as the patron deity of Attica was by no means exclusive. Athena was widely worshipped across Greece, and, in her capacity of 'Athena Polias', the city-protecting goddess of the Acropolis, she was adopted as the patron of a various cities and citadels throughout the Greek world. Temples to Athena as a city protectress can be found in cities as diverse as Argos, Sparta, Gortyn, Lindos, and the Thessalian town of Larisa, for example, and she was also regarded as the traditional patron deity of Homer's Troy. It was not, therefore, Athens alone who championed Athena as their patron - she was adopted as the protectress of numerous poleis and was generally considered to be the dominant city-protecting deity of the Hellenic world: the civic deity par excellence. Athens was unique only in the degree of prominence that it ascribed to her in this role.

The decision to identify one's polis with Athena as a patron deity must have been obvious for any polis leaders. From the surviving myths, Athena is regularly shown to be the best of the Greek pantheon, and she greatly surpasses her Olympian counterparts both as a godly personality and in terms of the divine power she wields.

As the favoured child of Zeus, she was deemed to hold more authority than her ethereal counterparts, and was generally regarded as a benevolent, rather than vengeful, god. As the most active champion of the Greeks at Troy, she had assured her position as a warrior-goddess, and was respected throughout the myths as the benefactor to a number of legendary heroes. Moreover, as the embodiment of wisdom, she combined the finest characteristics of both male and female in a personification of rational thought and intelligence.

I shall explore the nature of the goddess in greater length later, but it is clear, even on a cursory examination, that Athena would have been a considerably more appealing symbol for a city than any of her Olympian brethren. The deliberate cultivation of the goddess as a civic patron was therefore an understandable pursuit for any polis hoping to unite its population under a recognisable emblem, and place it under the protection of an enlightened and benevolent deity.

It was Athens, though, above all others, that was singularly successful in establishing a convincing identification with the goddess. Even in modern thought, the association between Athens and Athena endures, proving that the conscious identification of polis and patron deity was effective, and the link would have been recognised in the ancient world.

Athena, or at least a 'proto-Athena', must have been an important deity in Athens from a very early point in the city's development. Whether the goddess was named after the city, or the city after the goddess, is an ancient dispute, but it is obvious that the immortal had a special relationship with Athens, which was reflected in her name. The Athenians themselves, of course, stressed the goddess' association with their city enthusiastically and it can be seen that there was a conscious effort during the blossoming of Classical Athens to link the two through art, literature and cult practice.

By the fifth century, Athena had become an essentially exaggerated figurehead of Athenian identity, and had come to be regarded as both a Panhellenic deity and 'local' goddess to the city. As Blundell puts it, 'Athene the patron deity of Athens [had become] both a divine being and the symbol of the polis.' The image of the enlightened and warlike goddess was now intrinsically interwoven into the identity of the polis, a fact reinforced by the development of an Athenian 'political mythology' as Athenian influence grew in the Aegean.

The interest in specifically Attic myths, for example, began to make a considerable impact on Athenian statesman, poet and artists during this period, and the image of Athena became a constant feature in Athenian art both under the tyranny and during the years of democracy. From c. 560 onwards, a new preference for mythological subjects with specific Attic associations emerged in Athens, culminating in the construction of the Parthenon between 447 and 438 BC. This increase in the number of artistic depictions of Athena during Athens' rise to supremacy in the sixth and fifth centuries BC clearly illustrates the affiliation of Athena with the fortunes of Athens, especially as the depictions of Athena in monumental iconography were to drop significantly as Athenian power declined.

Also during this period, under Peisistratidae rule, the 'owls', bearing Athena's symbol, became the first internationally recognised standard for coinage in the Mediterranean world - an indication of Athens' leadership in craftsmanship and trade, as well as of Athena's acceptance as a symbol of the state. However, it must be remembered that Athena was also a popular motif on the coinage of other cities, such as Corinth (Ritter 2001; 143ff) and Pergamon (Faita 2001; 165ff). These images come as a necessary reminder that the close connection between Athens and Athena was by no means as exclusive as the overwhelming predominance of Athenian sources, monuments and representations of Athena in that polis would have us believe. Despite their affiliation with the goddess, then, the Athenian people by no means held a monopoly on the use of Athena as an image to represent their community. However, the promotion of Athena as a patron was doubtless undertaken with greater devotion in Athens than it was in any other Greek polis, particularly as a means of forming an identity.

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The three principal functions traditionally associated with the Athena of Homeric verse were each to become particularly associated with the Athenian polis in the late sixth and fifth centuries BC. Firstly, as a Warrior-Goddess, she greatly aided the Greeks in battle, assisting both the individual champions in battle and guiding the Achaean force as a whole to victory. Secondly, as a sage councillor, she plays a prominent part in advising and helping the Greeks off the battlefield, most notably in checking Achilles' rage against Agamemnon, and guiding the wily Odysseus on his journey home. Finally, she was seen as a patroness of craftsmanship, overseeing both the male dominated crafts of carpentry and sculpture, and the female arts of weaving and spinning. However, in addition to these functions, she was, ultimately, the personification of wisdom, and a representation of civilisation and rationality compared to the forceful but unrestrained passion of Ares and Poseidon.

The protecting function of Athena was ably demonstrated in her armed appearance. Athena's role as a goddess of war would doubtless have been one of her most appealing traits for the Athenian citizenry. As a symbol of strength in war, the aegis-clad goddess was the very picture of military might, instantly recognisable in artistic depictions from her warlike helmet and spear. For the power-hungry war machine developing in fifth century Athens, Athena became a constant visual reminder that her role as protectress of the glorious Greeks at Troy had now been transferred to her favourites in Attica, and their position as leaders of the Greeks was ensured.

'The Athenian citizens were exposed to a constant barrage of visual and oral expressions of a highly militaristic ideology of war, power, and commitment to service and sacrifice for the polis. Sites, monuments, and rituals reminded them of their city's glorious past and unprecedented power, of their ancestors' heroic accomplishments, and of their obligation to live up to these examples.'

Like Athens' claims to Salamis, Athena's warlike aspect also provided the Athenians with a necessary link to the Trojan conflict. For Athens, it must be remembered, had played little part in the Greek victory at Troy, and received very little attention in the Homeric poems. The single mention of Athens in the catalogue of ships, for example, records an obscure and inglorious Athenian leader, and has been regarded by modern scholars as a later interpolation to the Homeric text - a means of including Athens amongst the heroes 'by fair means or foul'. Whether a later addition or not, the reference directly registers Athena's connection with Erechtheus and the city of Athens. As the embodiment of the Athenian spirit and people, therefore, Athena became a representative of the Athenians at Troy, and confirmed her role as the warrior-goddess who would continue to guide the Greeks against their eastern foe in the fifth century.

The conflict between the Greeks and the Trojans is depicted on the North metopes of the Parthenon - the construction which best displays the intimate relationship between the goddess and the polis and stresses the wealth and importance of Athens. This fifth century Temple, though nominally dedicated to Athena Parthenos - 'the Virgin' - was undoubtedly a celebration of the goddess in a military capacity. Though impressive in all aspects, the focal point (and apparently most spectacular part) of the Parthenon was a colossal statue of Athena holding a winged Nikē. The statue therefore underscored the warlike attributes affiliated with Athena and demonstrated the goddess in all her victorious glory. Further to this, the various mythological battle scenes adorning the sides of the temple show a noticeable theme of civilised order defeating barbaric chaos, with Athena taking a central role in defeating the Giants, at the side of Zeus and the other Olympian immortals. The east and west pediments served as visual depictions of Athena's miraculous birth and contest with Poseidon for patronage of the city; constant reminders of the city's debt to Athena and her favour over them. The symbolism of the Parthenon sculptures, therefore, expressed the Athenian ideal through association with their patron deity, noting their military prowess, godly favour, strength and supremacy to all citizens and visitors to their land.

The immediate motives for the erection of the Parthenon were therefore chiefly political - it was built as an ostentatious display of wealth and power to the subject-states of the Delian League. But the religious motives of such a construction cannot be entirely divided from the political ends. The building was primarily a means of praising the goddess, and, by extension, praising the Athenian polis who the goddess represents. 'The Athenians are her people, she is their goddess.'

The subject matter depicted on the Parthenon Frieze has long been a matter of some debate. The issue is a thorny one (and one I shall not discuss here), but it is noteworthy that a number of scholars maintain that the frieze represents a procession of the Panathenaea, the festival of games to commemorate the war between the Giants and the Gods, and particularly Athena's part in that conflict.

Like the Parthenon, the Panathenaea mirrored the development of the city, in that it was central to the civic ideology of the polis and that it grew in popularity and importance as the polis' power increased. From 566, for example, a number of innovations were implemented and the Panathenaea became Athens' greatest festival, moving from being a domestic affair to a ceremony that was to include 'all Athenians'. This sixth century reorganisation, then, like the later additions to the cult and the construction of the Parthenon, shows a concerted need to honour Athena as the fortunes of the city expanded. Through subtle innovations, the festival became a justification of both the democracy and the empire that were so closely connected with the city. As Shapiro neatly summarises, 'the Panathenaic Festival was the most visible symbol of the ideological duality of Periklean Athens.' Moreover, this concept of a 'Pan-Athenian' festival provided, in Athena, a striking emblem for a particular way of life and the notion of a united Attica. 'In the end, what made the Panathenaea the most visible symbol of Empire was not the sparkling new temples or big parades or lavish prizes, but Athena herself'

As a new democratic state, all segments of the community were represented in the Panathenaic procession, and both men and women played important roles in the ritual. However, despite their role in polis religion, women, like metics and slaves, were not allowed to hold any political powers in Athens, a system that was aetiologically explained, in part, through Athena's dual nature as both a 'male' and female deity, and through Athenian foundation myth.

The story of Athena's contest with Poseidon to become patron deity of Athens was crucial for the Athenian justification of women's lack of political rights. As Blundell speculates, 'there is a casual link between Athene's pre-eminence and the political and social subordination of the human female: you cannot, in other words, have a top goddess without also having inferior mortal women.' A female's victory over a male deity, therefore, had to be counter-balanced by depriving mortal women of various rights in order to appease the vengeful Poseidon. The establishment of a patriarchal government, and the submission of women was therefore in keeping with the natural order of the cosmos, and was upheld by Athena, the patron deity who, despite her feminine frame, incorporated the best of both sexes and advocated 'male supremacy in all things'.

This dual nature of the goddess, as both a 'male' and 'female' being, was reflected in the strange manner of her birth, which was generally regarded as the most important part of the Athena legend. The Hesiodic version of the myth saw Athena springing fully formed and battle-armed from Zeus' head, and goes some way to explaining some of the attributes associated with the goddess in accepted Greek mythology.

Here was a female deity, born directly from a male parent, fully mature and ready for battle. As well as binding Athena directly the King of the Gods, therefore, Athena's miraculous origins meant that she had wholly escaped any fragility associated with feminine influence. Despite her womanly form, she is as strong and fearless as any of the male Olympians, indeed stronger, as she had not been tainted with the impotence of childhood. As Robert Parker puts it, 'the weakness of infancy, where even men are womanly, is not for her'.

Furthermore, the myth stressed the unique closeness between Athena with the Father of the Gods. As an offspring directly of the father, Athena had a particularly close attachment to Zeus, a fact that is reflected in much of the literature and artwork from the entire Aegean world, and would have been exploited by those hoping to promote Athens' position as rightful leader of the Greek peoples.

Although in some versions of the myth Zeus produces Athena entirely on his own, without the need of any mother, in the Hesiodic version Athena was the union of Zeus and Mētis, a personification of wisdom or 'cunning intelligence'. Both versions see her born from Zeus' head, and she was therefore an incarnation of the great god's mind, made flesh and given a warrior-like female form. This intimate connection has led some modern scholars to describe her as 'Zeus' alter ego', and upon examining her depictions in extant literary texts it is hard not to agree with this conclusion. Homer, for example, describes the special relationship between the two divinities and the chagrin this provoked amongst the other immortals, whilst Aeschylus' play The Eumenides notes that Athena is the only god with direct access to Zeus' thunderbolts. For the Athenian citizens the implication was clear: the protection of Athena ensured the protection of Zeus, 'thus prayers on behalf of the city call upon not only Athena, but also her father… it is precisely this paring that guarantees the wellbeing and prosperity of Athens.' The association between Athena and Zeus was therefore an important part of Athena's appeal for the Athenians, and she was closely associated with the leading deity in much of the surviving artwork of the sixth and fifth centuries.

Athena's paradoxical nature as both male and female is encapsulated in a passage from the fifth book of The Iliad. The description of Athena shedding 'her soft embroidered robe, which she had made with her own hands' and arming herself for war, highlights the dual nature of this deity who is as much man as she is woman. She is both accomplished in the womanly arts of dressmaking and a fearless fighter when entering battle. As patroness of crafts, Athena would have been a popular motif for potters and vase painters across the Greek world, and the myths surrounding her were clearly a popular theme in Attica.

However, though vase paintings often reflected ideas circulating throughout Athens, they represented an essentially private art form, very different to the large-scale frescoes and sculptural reliefs which were used to decorate public and civic buildings during the early years of Athens' democracy. 'The role of these paintings [and sculptures] in shaping popular perceptions of Athens, her history and place in the world can hardly be overstated.' For as Shapiro rightly comments, these artistic depictions contain many examples of the Athenian democracy's need to forge an image that embodied their own values and ideals.

The promotion of the Athenians as an autochthonic race took on a new prominence in the fifth century following the fall of the Peisistratid tyranny, when the notion of autochthony was shaped in direct response to the growing importance of Athens as a polis in the Delian League. The birth of Erechtheus/Erichthonius is one of the earliest attested Athenian legends, but was given a new spin in the post-Peisistratid period, when the proto-Athenian, as well as being earth-born, was placed under the joint patronage of Athena and Hephaistos. Thus, whilst still respecting Athena's virginity and the Athenian notion of being born 'of the soil', the Athenians were now 'children of blessed gods', and enjoyed the divine favours that this position entailed as leaders of the Hellenic people.

This combination of autochthonic status and their maternal closeness to the best of the gods marked the Athenian superiority over other Greeks and granted them a historic right to lead their fellow Hellenes, expressed in the hyper-patriotic rhetoric of the Imperial era. Athena's image, now accepted as a divine abstraction of the Athenian polis, was further manipulated through various coercive movements during the years of the first Delian League, with an aim to transfer the balance of power from a League to an Empire. For example, the removal of the Treasury from Delos to Athens around 454/3 was a major step formalising the relationship between Athens and her allies and cementing her position as ruler of an Empire. This action, ostensibly to protect the allied funds against barbarian raids, was rightly seen as a symbol of Athens' growing domination. Not only did the movement place any tribute payments directly under Athenian control, but it marked the adoption of Athena Polias as the League's chief patron, in place of Delian Apollo. As well as being based in the city of Athens, therefore, the Delian League was also now symbolically under the protection of their patron deity and any affiliation to the League was also a public display of loyalty for Athens. Once more the image of Athena was exploited to highlight the Athenians' god-given position as rightful leaders of the Ionian people.

The Athenian Tribute Lists (ATLs), catalogued from 454/3 onwards, are also vital documents for assessing the role of Athena in Athens' manipulation of the Delian League. From these inscriptions, which record the one-sixtieth of the phoroi - the contributions to the Delian League - paid by the tribute states to the goddess Athena at Athens, we are able to discern two important facts. Firstly, we can determine the total amounts of cash paid annually by each member of the Delian League, thereby noting which states were added to the League in the years after its foundation. Secondly we can see that these payments were now being made in the name of Athena, a deity who had had little connection with the original formation of the Delian League in 478/7 BC. The Athenians were therefore using the symbol of Athena to set a precedent for their own divine right to rule over the Greeks of the Delian League, an indication of the assertions of Athenian power that were to follow.

The concept of Athena as a symbol of the Athenian people was spreading, and imperial edicts in the early years of her Empire certainly demonstrate a careful strategy to place the entire Ionian people under the banner of Athena, and therefore that of the Athenian polis. For example, though never fully enforced, the so-called Coinage decree, dated between c.450 and c.446, sought to impose the use of Athenian coins, weights and measures on all the cities of the Empire, to the exclusion of all others. The Decree, which survives only in fragmentary form, had no obvious economic significance for Athens, and we must therefore assume that the true significance was political: that Athens was aiming to diminish sovereignty by removing their right to strike coins bearing their own city's badge. Athena, the personification of Athens, was to be the emblem of the entire Aegean and the Ionian people. They were bonded by their link to the goddess, and the gods approved of Athens' position as leader of Greece.

It can be seen, therefore, that the image of Athena as a patron deity was a vital factor in the perception of the Athenian polis, particularly in the years of the late sixth and fifth centuries, when the polis sought to form an identity that would encapsulate their emerging democracy and empire. Through a careful manipulation of the mythological attributes associated with the goddess, Athens was to stake her claim as the champion of the Greek people. Not only were they the foremost state in the arts of warfare and the crafts, the traditional attributes of Athena, but their closeness to the Olympian pantheon and autochthonic status granted them the right to rule over the other Greek poleis. The image of Athena symbolised Athens as the greatest nation of all the Greeks.

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Hegel 1956; 252 cited in Loraux 1993; 66. See also Herington 1955; 56 'To the Pericleans, it seems, Athena is Athens; the best that Athens stands for.'

Herington 1955; 59

Sourvinou-Inwood 1990; 322

Howatson 1989; 70. (cf. Burkert 1985; 140)

Despite being vehemently opposed to the Trojans, possibly as a result of the judgement of Paris [cf. Hera's words in Iliad xx.313ff]

Ritter 2001; 143, Faita 2001; 163, March 1998; 78, Hopper 1963; 1

Oxford Classical Dictionary 2003; 202

The male Olympians gods in particular were morally questionable. eg. Xenophanes DK 21 fr. 11 'Both Homer and Hesiod have attributed to the gods everything which brings shame and reproach among men: theft, adultery and mutual fraud.' See also Eur. Ion 430ff '…if you, Apollo, and Poseidon, and Zeus King of Heaven, are to pay to men the lawful indemnity for every rape you commit, you will empty your temples in paying for your misdeeds.'

Bremmer (1994; 22) notes the 'power' and the 'person' as two sides to the Greek gods which come to the fore at different times and in different contexts.

Compared to, say, Hera, whose merciless persecution of Heracles and Io can only be regarded as malicious and spiteful. Even Athena's few moments of anger are generally followed by benevolent acts, such as granting Tiresias the gift of prophecy, having blinded him and taking pity on Arachne as she tried to hang herself (March 1998; 77)

Odysseus being the most obvious example. Athena was also the adviser of Perseus, Bellophron, Heracles, Jason, Telemachus, Achilles and Diomedes.

Howatson 1989; 70, Burkert 1985; 139

Oxford Classical Dictionary 2003; 202

Loraux 1993; 186

Herington 1963; 63

Blundell 1998;51

Parker 1987; 187

Herington 1963; 62

Herington 1963; 65

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Loraux 1993; 186

See Figs. 1 & 2 attached

Loraux 1993; 162

Pope 1960; 119

Iliad.i.188ff

Seen throughout The Odyssey, but summed up well in Od.xiii.290ff

eg. aiding with the construction of the Wooden Horse [Od.viii.492f] See also the carpenter from the 'School of Athene' mentioned in Iliad.xv.412f, and Od.xx.70f '…and Athene taught them the skills to make beautiful things.'

Iliad.v.733ff.

Bremmer 1994; 15

Raaflaub 1998;18

Hopper 1963; 1

Iliad.ii.546ff

Hopper 1963; 1

The comparisons between the Trojans and Persians in Athenian drama is well documented. See for example H. H. Bacon Barbarians in Greek Tragedy (New Haven 1961) pp102ff

Blundell notes that there is little evidence to suggest a separate cult to Athene Parthenos, and so the Temple was more likely to be a dedication to Athene Polias (Blundell 1998; 49)

Plut. Pericles.xiii.14 See also the reconstruction in fig. 3

Greeks vs. Trojans (North Metopes), Centaurs vs. Lapiths (South Metopes), Gods vs. Giants (East Metopes.), Amazons vs. Athenians (West Metopes)

Connelly 1996; 71

East metopes of the Parthenon

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Herington 1955; 48

Herington 1955; 55

See Harrison (1996), Connelly (1996), Lefkowitz (1996) and Rotroff (1977) for some discussion on the subject.

Robertson 1996; 56

Robertson 1996; 65

Robertson 1996; 29, 56

Herington 1963; 64

The religious obligation for subject states to send a cow and a panoply to the Panathenaea festival [Meiggs and Lewis no.46], for example, is a noticeable innovation to demonstrate Athens' hegemony in the Delian League, and the Delian states' submission to 'Athena'.

Shapiro 1996; 216

Shapiro 1996; 222

Shapiro 1996; 221, Robertson 1996; 58

Lefkowitz 1996; 81

See Thuc.ii.45f for Pericles' advice on the deportment of women.

Mentioned in Hdt.viii.55 (Blundell 1998; 53). Also shown in the sculptures of the West pediment of the Parthenon. (Fig 5)

Blundell 1998; 57

Such as the right to vote, the ability to pass their names to their children, and the right to be addressed as 'Athenian women' (Athenaiai) (Blundell 1998; 56)

Aesch. Eum. 737

Although it does not appear in Homer - see the notes to E.V. Rieu's 1950 translation p467 (Also Oxford Classical Dictionary 2003; 202)

Hes. Theog. 886ff

On a side note, Athena's birth possibly reflects the notorious Greek conception that it was the father, rather than the mother, who was the 'true parent of a child' - that the female was merely a receptacle and nurse for the newly implanted seed [eg. Aesch. Eum. 658ff]. This may also have been reflected in the autochthonic birth of Erechtheus/Erichthonius (Garland 1990; 28) but is contrasted by the image of Hephaistos as the unsired son of Hera (Burkert 1985; 168).

Parker 1987; 190

Aesch. Eum. 730ff

Burkert 1985; 142

Oxford Classical Dictionary 2003; 202

cf. Neils (2001) esp. p232 n.57

Iliad.v.875ff

Eum.827f

Neils 2001; 222

Parker 1987; 192

For example the depiction on the East Pediment of the Parthenon (described in Paus.i.24)

Oxford Classical Dictionary 2003; 201

Iliad.v.733ff.

Wagner 2001; 95ff esp. 104

particularly during the period 570 - 530 BC. (Parker 1987; 191)

See for example J.M. Cook 'Pots and Pisistratan Propaganda' JHS 107 (1987) pp167 - 169 and

J. Boardman 'Herakles, Peisistratos and the Unconvinced' JHS 109 (1989) pp158 - 159 for examples of how the subject matter of vase paintings could be manipulated to reflect political messages.

Shapiro 1998; 129

Shapiro 1998; 130

Parker 1987; 193

Parker 1987; 194

Eur.Med.825 see also Fig. 4

eg. 'Are we not Athenians - the most ancient of all Greek peoples and the only nation never to have left the soil from which it sprang…' [Hdt.vii.161]

Crawford & Whitehead 1983; 246

Thuc.ii.13

Plut. Pericles.1f

Powell 1988;45

Barron 1964; 48

Powell 1988; 13

Powell 1988; 45

Meiggs and Lewis no. 45

JACT 1984; 241