Within Ancient Greece people were polytheistic, worshipping many different gods and goddesses and using their stories to explain the unexplainable. One of these divine, important figures to the Greeks was Athena, a very wise goddess who often shared her knowledge with the Greeks. She was worshiped largely by the Greeks, especially in the city of Athens which patronized her for her impeccable skills. Since her traits were admired by people of many different professions and she is seen competing with other gods and mortals in a very large number of myths, she is one of the more widely known goddesses. Athena was born from the head of Zeus, king of the gods, fully grown and dressed in armor ready to win battles due to her extraordinary brainpower and extremely sharp reflexes (Downing and Ceccarelli). Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom and …show more content…
One famous myth about Athena that shows that she is competitive is the contest for the patronage of Athens, Greece. Within this myth, King Cecrops seeked to choose a patron god to bless his city, and was considering both Athena and Poseidon. Rivalry began between the two gods/goddesses and almost lead to great war, until finally Athena suggested that they should hold a contest to find who would patronize Athens. Guidelines for the contest were as follows, each god/goddess was to provide a gift to the city and the most beautiful but still useful would win and be deemed the official patron. When Poseidon heard this news, he immediately summoned all of his mighty power and created a spring to provide water to the city. Citizens rushed around the spring and ran to drink the gifted water, only to find that it was not freshwater but saltwater. Saltwater