i n t h e O l y m p i a n F a m i l y
o f t h e G o d s
Probably the most human systematization of a mythology is that which came about through the constitution of the Olympian family of Gods [Image: The Olympus by Janssens]. This happened through an historical process whose presupposition was that the more patriarchal Zeus religion and the more matriarchal Hera religion would encounter one another in the context of this family. Within the sovereign dominion of the Mistress of the Heraion in Argos and of the kings of Mycenae, Greek mythology receives its ordering principle, through the association into which Hera entered with Zeus. Greek religion, however, is characterized much more through the high rank and position of another Great Goddess, Pallas Athena.
This does not mute the dominant patriarchal disposition of the Divine Family, so well-known from Homer [Image: The Olympus by Pippi]. An earthly family, too, in which a daughter of the father -- of the father only and not also of his wife -- played the leading role after the father and beside his wife, would nonetheless count as a patriarchal family. Granted, this would not be an ideal family of father-right, wherein the third place (after the spouse-and-queen) and in some cases even the second place (ahead of the first spouse) would be occupied by the son and heir to the throne. In Homer this second position is given to Pallas Athena. In a strict religious formula, which is a frequently recurring prayerful invocation of the three major Deities of the Greeks, Athena is named after Zeus, and Apollo is named third:
Ai gar Zeu te pater kai Athenaie kai Apollon
This trinity of father-daughter-son would exist even without Hera. The Divine Patriarchy, which is an historical fact of Greek religion, is corrected from the viewpoint of a human ideal when Hector adds the missing spouse. He wishes the Divine Couple were his parents and his own rank that of those two which the previous prayer named:
If I could only be called son of Zeus of the aegis
The cult of Hera remained locally characterized on the one hand; on the other, it was tied to specific times of human life: to the time of wedding, to the times in the feminine life-cycle generally which made possible or impossible the encounter between wife and husband. In contrast, a survey of the major locations of the Athena cult gives the impression that this Goddess belonged to the common property of the Greek race altogether differently than did Hera. Athena seems to be equally primary, if not equally prominent, every-where. So self-evident to all Greeks was her high rank that it did not have to be emphasized at every opportunity. The cult of Hera is more precisely fixed geographically, much more tied to particular shrines. Moreover, these shrines are dedicated exclusively to the Goddess as Protectress of a specific, feminine area of life, even though whole cities and islands, including both women and men, and these latter not only for their roles as husbands, submit themselves to her. This is a venerable heritage from pre-Greek, probably from Neolithic, times. The cultic places of Athena belong to the peaks of a wider realm, not only feminine and not only inclusive of married life. They exist mostly as shrines of a fortress and city Goddess. This too is a heritage from pre-Greek times. The early history of Athena has been traced back as far as the armed Protectress of the lords of Mycenean times and beyond that, though somewhat summarily, to the serpent-holding Protectress of the Minoan palaces on Crete. The arms of shield and lance, the worship in more or less lofty and heavily fortified strongholds, the connections with bronze-casting and highly developed metallurgy, with the working of wool and with the harnessing of horses, are stylistic elements which characterize the Greek, and especially the Athenian, cult of Pallas Athena. And they appear as early as Mycenean culture. The serpent and steer, with which Athena was likewise connected, belong to still more ancient times.
Pallas Athena is a much richer, more complex and enigmatic divine figure than is Hera, the "Divine Wife." Were the puzzle once solved, along with the stories surrounding it, its mystery would still not disappear. Perhaps it is the mystery of Greek antiquity itself, whose historical development advanced, as it seems, under the sign and under the, let us say, protection of this Goddess. In contrast to the natural periodicity of Hera, the image of Athena contains a polarity and an inner tension which one cannot assert a priori was an accidental product of history. A friend of Goethe's, with whose thought and formulations he had much in common during his Roman period, Karl Philipp Moritz, first described and called attention to that tension and polarity. Pallas was for him "the wonder and healer, the destroyer and creator; the Goddess who delights in the turmoil of arms and in stormy, pitched battle, yet instructs man in the arts of weaving and of pressing oil from the olive." (Gitterlehie oder mythologische Dichtung der Alten, 1791) Another observer of Pallas in Goethe's time also saw the inner antitheses, and in these he saw a problem that needed to be resolved: "It was and still is very common to consider Athena the Goddess of Wisdom, even though it is not easy to understand how as such she could have become associated with the deeds of a war Goddess. But if one looks upon her as a war Goddess, as a symbol of martial bravery combined with sagacity and cunning, one cannot easily understand why such a divinity was not conceived of in a masculine form, nor what she would have had in common with the arts of peace." (Ruckert, E., Der Dienst der Athena, 1829)
The solution recommended by this old monograph on Athena should be at least summarily cited here, since it sketches a unified image which one will perhaps gladly look back to. Whoever surveys the multifaceted forms of the Goddess cult, it claims, will be led to the conviction that it was all-mighty divine Power, Wisdom, and Goodness, in short Divine Providence, which the Greeks worshipped as the mighty, high-minded, gracious daughter of the Lord of Heaven, as Pallas Athena. From this center radiated the whole variety of the Goddess's traits and achievements; toward this center are directed all of her epithets, symbols, customs, and cultic celebrations, all of her associations and relations to other Gods, all of her mythical deeds. The Heavenly Power above all else had to appear as a Protectress into whose care one could commend oneself with pious trust in those peaceless, war-filled times when the only rule that held was "might makes right." The Strong, the Valiant, the Defender, she protects cities and fortresses from hostile invasions and harbors from hostile landings. She holds her hand outstretched over cities and covers them with her golden shield; she watches over them with a reconnoitering, spirited, menacing gaze. Amidst the inspiring noise of trumpets and flutes she leads the army to victory, glory, and booty. Militant warriors favor her above all the Gods. She is the strong, unvanquished, virginal Goddess, and her image, the Palladium, guarantees security for the city and for the besieged a sacred place of refuge whose desecration by force is fiercely punished by her fierce anger.
She is the rescuer from every danger and peril, the advisor for every tight spot, and the highest wisdom. The people's chiefs and leaders, as well as the whole people itself, are advised by her; she presides over all local, tribal, and national gatherings. She maintains life and health. She is the gracious, gentle nurse who takes the children of mankind to herself, who makes mothers fertile and children grow and develop, who increases the stock of the people through a strong younger generation. She preserves the divine order in nature, protects the seedlings and fruits from damage, sows and tends the noble and nourishing olive trees; she teaches men how to manufacture the plow, how to yoke oxen, and how to loosen up the hard ground with the rake. From her mankind receives the materials for all the arts that beautify life, and from her the metal workers and the armssmiths, the housewives and weavers, receive their skillfulness. She gave mankind the bridle so that he could master the horse for his own use. Shipbuilders work under her inspiration. She is enthroned protectively on the headlands, stirring up and stilling the storms. To her the sailor offers thanks as he happily steps to land at his desired goal. She guides the wanderer and the stranger safely over sea and land, and she accompanies the heroes on their adventures, fills them with courage, and saves them from danger. But she is also righteous, strictly recompensing Providence: seated beside Zeus, she is the only one who knows where the lightning bolts lie hidden, has the full right and power to use them, and also employs the aegis, the terrible shield of her father Zeus. With him she has many traits and epithets in common, and she is frequently worshipped jointly with him, especially in the most ancient sites of her cult.
From the viewpoint of the history
of religions, it is necessary to strip away the Christian coloration of
this presentation and especially to disregard the reference to Providence,
a concept that was connected with the Goddess only very late. Yet, even
so, the agreement between a purely spiritual conception of Pallas Athena
and our oldest sources remains remarkable. Hesiod places the Goddess on
an equal footing with Zeus insofar as courage and wise counsel are concerned.
In this respect he does not contradict Homer, who places Athena second
in the significant trinity of Zeus-Athena-Apollo. The testimony of Hesiod's
Theogony states with even more historical clarity than do the Homeric
passages that in Greece the religion of Athena, next to that of the Zeus
religion and above that of the Apollo religion, had the most provisions
for existing as a spiritual religion which penetrated into every aspect
of life. Although it was the religion of a Goddess, it actually existed
side by side with the victorious father religion, in no respect subordinate
to it as was the naturalistic Hera religion, but in all practical respects
equal to it, yet without overthrowing the general patriarchal order [Image:
Olympus by Sabatelli]. Is this not really an accidental product of
history? But then one must also ask whether history could have produced
such a thing without there being some foundation for it in the structure
of human beings. If merely the result of historical accident, would this
position of the Goddess have been acceptable, and would her image itself,
with its internal tension and antitheses, have been tolerable?
Athena, Virgin and Mother in Greek Religion (1952)
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Copyright ©1999 Roy George