The origin of Athena's name

But Athena is also called pallas Athena (π α λ λ θ? νη)。 Understanding the meaning of pallas is the key to understanding the origin of Athena. In Greek mythology, the story is very contradictory. Harrison, a British ancient Greek scholar and archaeologist, thinks that the title of "Introduction to Greek Religious Studies" means "pallas the Maiden of Athens". Homer's epics often call Athena this way, which shows that the goddess originally had a name called pallas. Later, with the development of Athenian worship, she was called Pallas Athena, which means "pallas of Athens". Later, Athena could be the name of the goddess alone. However, according to the legend of Pyrrhus, Athena was born by Zeus and raised by Tritton, the river god. Pallas, the daughter of Tritton and Athena's playmate, was unfortunately killed by Athena, which linked the origin of Athena with the girl god worshipped by Libya. Cicero thinks that pallas is the father of Athena (Minerva). He tried to rape Athena and was killed by Athena. However, the French classicist Kurange once said, "The Athenian army never goes out on the seventh day of every month, and when the navy goes out, it will carefully re-gild the statue of pallas".

But unfortunately, people still don't understand the true meaning of this word. Sue Iddas explained it this way: "(pallas is) a great girl (π? λ λ α ξ) is the title of Athena "; Also from the verb π? λ λ ω (waving, throwing). However, due to the lack of evidence, they can not be generally recognized, and can only be regarded as a possibility, not as a conclusion. The ancients regarded Nite and Athena as two names of the same god. In Egypt, it is normal to address gods by their place of residence, which can explain the confusion between the names of goddesses and their cities in Greek. Finally, there is a saying by Calaque of Pagama, a writer in the 2nd century A.D., called "The Seth called their city Athens (? θ? ν α ι) ",this sentence can't be understood unless the Seth people regard Kesternt as Seth's name.

The image connection between Nestor and Athena. From before the dynasty, the symbol of Niet was a cockroach on a wooden stick, and later it evolved into a splayed shield, which was often associated with weapons. This symbol seems to be the origin of the so-called "shield goddess" found in Minos Crete, and the "shield goddess" is usually associated with the painted limestone badge found in Mycenae, which shows a goddess' arms and neck appearing from behind a figure-eight shield. Today, this image is regarded as the goddess of wisdom (π α λ λ? Δ ι ν), an early form of expression, is a kind of standing armor, which is related to the worship of Athena in pallas and the goddess itself. In this way, people can outline the development of images, from Egypt in 4000 and 3000 BC, to Crete and Mycenae in 2000 BC, and then to the famous goddess in 2000 BC; -This is just the legendary connection between Nestor and Athena and the etymology here. And the climax of Athena worship in Athens was in the middle of the 6th century BC. At this time, Egypt's Pharaohs of Amassis, Seth, vigorously promoted Athena worship in other parts of the eastern Mediterranean.

Seth is on the border between Egypt and Libya, and sometimes part of it belongs to Libya, which can explain Herodotus' detailed description of Athena's connection with Libya. In his history, you can find several circumstantial materials:

(Volume IV, paragraph 180) "The man next to Maclaus is Ossius; They live on the shore of Loch Ness in Tritto, across the Triton River from Marcruz. Maxius people leave their long hair behind, while Osaeus people leave it in front. They offer sacrifices to Athena every year. During the sacrifice, their girls divided into two teams and fought with stones and sticks. According to them, this is to respect the local goddess Athena in the way of their ancestors. A girl who dies of injury is called a fake virgin. Before the girls started fighting, everyone always chose the most beautiful girl, put on a Corinthian helmet and a full set of Greek armor, and then put her in a chariot and ran across the lake. I don't know what weapons the Greeks used to equip their girls before they lived nearby, but I think this weapon belongs to Egypt, because I think the Greek shields and helmets came from Egypt. As for Athena, they said that she was the daughter of Poseidon and Ann Ritoni, but for some reason she fell out with her father, so she went to Zeus, who took her as his own daughter. This is the content of their legend. "

(Volume IV, paragraph 189) "It seems that the clothes and goatskin jacket worn by Athena were learned by the Greeks from Libyan women. Because except Libyan women's clothes are made of leather, the ears of goatskin jackets are not snakes but leather, and their clothes are the same in all other aspects. The name itself proves that the clothes of the statue of pallas came from Libya. Because Libyan women wear goatskin dyed with madder, which is hairless but has spikes, it is called Ajax, and the Greeks changed the name of this goatskin dress to Igis. Besides, I thought the shouts at the ceremony originally came from Libya: because the women there shouted beautifully. Moreover, the method of driving a four-horse chariot was also learned by the Greeks from the Libyans. " Athena is the product of the integration of North and South nationalities. It is generally considered to be the godhead of the matriarchal society, which evolved from the ancient goddess of birds and snakes. The prototype of Mother Goddess occupies the primitive state of human psychology, and consciousness can only develop slowly and be gradually liberated from the direct process of unconsciousness.

The beginning of psychological motherhood has disappeared in the prehistoric fog, but at the dawn of our historical era, its end is brilliantly displayed before our eyes. Later, it was replaced by patriarchy, and the great father (later God King: Gaia-Uranus-Cronus-Zeus) or male prototype gradually occupied the dominant position with its different symbols, values and trends.

From the story of Athena born in the skull of Zeus, we can see some symbol of the historical evolution of ancient Greece-the migration and integration of nations, and the matriarchal era was replaced by patriarchy. Zeus represents the religious belief of achaean, and achaean is the ancestor of the real Greeks. They created Mycenae civilization and the late Crete civilization, and moved to Greece around 2000 BC, while Metis symbolizes the spiritual belief of the original Greek aborigines. Taking Metis as a goddess of wisdom may represent that the Greek civilization at that time was better than the later immigrant civilization. When Zeus swallowed her, it was the fusion of different religions and civilizations of aborigines, immigrants from achaean and West Asia, thus forming a new Greek classical civilization system-"Athena"-of course, this word is only a metaphor, and the symbol of Greek orthodox religion is still Zeus, not Athena, because she is not the "son" in "prophecy", so she did not really replace Zeus in the end. This somewhat represents the submission of the conquered people at that time; However, although Metis was swallowed, she remained in Zeus' stomach, which symbolizes that these peoples still retain their own traditions to some extent. The image of Athena in Greece is a mixture of the characteristics of the ancient vulture goddess and the force factor-shield. She appears with birds (pigeons, ducks, seagulls, swallows and eagles, but the most common are owls and vultures). In the Odyssey, Homer described that Athena could become a vulture. The goddess also became an owl and intervened in the war against the Persians. People believe that she helped them win the war.

In the painting of the pottery bottle, we can see the image of her becoming an owl and equipped with a helmet and spear. Sometimes you can see two pictures at the same time: Athena is a goddess who looks like a human being, and behind her is an owl. In the Iliad, Homer called her "the owl's eye". πιν,γλαυκ? πι? The feminine possessive form should not be changed by non-professionals. (Translated by Mr. Luo Niansheng) "She also appeared in the image with wings. On the front of a black painted pottery cup, the painter painted her wings.

In orpheus's prayers, she was called "the ever-changing dragon (α? ολ? μορφε δρ? κ α ι ν α, literally means "dragon who is good at change"). Virgil said in Aeneas that she was "the protector of snakes". According to Herodotus' description in the eighth volume of History, there was a python guarding the Acropolis in the temple of Athens. These characteristics of Athena as an animal god originated from the goddess with snakes in the Crete-Mycenae era. In Crete mythology, owls and snakes guarded Minotaur's palace and the goddess holding Mycenae's shield, which was the prototype of Athena on Mount Olympus. One of Athena's symbols is a shield made of sheepskin, which is decorated with Medusa's serpentine hair (that is, Eggerz Egis). Homer described in the fifth volume of the Iliad: "She (Athena) threw that terrible shield with spikes on her shoulder and blessed Persia (φ? βο? , panic) for the crown, Eris (? ρι? , goddess of dispute), Arce (? λκ? , the goddess of power), the statue of Io (? ωκ? , the goddess of tracking), the head of the terrible monster Gorgo, very scary, very terrible, is a bad omen from Zeus carrying aegis. " 1, Hersiod's Divine Spectrum is called Athena: a girl with bright eyes.

Orpheus's Prayer Song: A God with bright eyes respected by all! [8][8] C book (green eyes); L This book (with bright eyes). C note: the original word is used to describe Athena's eyes, which has two meanings: light and some light blue and green.

2. Homer's epic Iliad: The beautiful Shannon holds up a woven robe and spreads it on Athena's knee with beautiful long hair.

3. Homer's epic Iliad Zeus said to Hera and Athena: Your beautiful limbs.

Homer's Odyssey describes Athena as a beautiful woman who is good at making all kinds of exquisite handicrafts.

5. "Homer's Epic Ode to Athena": The golden light shines on people, and the staring gods are amazed.

5. On/kloc-The beauty of women in the 6th century is called the aesthetics of women's arms: as soft as the arm of the goddess pallas standing in front of a shepherd on Mount Ida.

Athena has a pair of famous bright eyes. Judging from the ancient Greek statues, her face is generally oval, her nose is straight and her mouth is small. Hair is sometimes covered and sometimes tied in a bun. She usually wears a beautiful dress she knitted. When fighting, he wore a helmet and armor, a spear or a statue of victory in his right hand, a sheepskin shield inlaid with Medusa, a gorgon in his left hand, and an owl that could only stop on his shoulder. Athena acquired military characteristics in the Bronze Age, and became the victim of a rather absurd Olympian myth, in which she was described as the daughter of Zeus and jumped out of his head armed to the teeth. But as Sivir, her wisdom and strength surpass Ares. In hesiod's Divine Spectrum, she was described as follows: "Zeus gave birth to Tritogna, the goddess with bright eyes, from his own mind. She is a terrible, screaming general, an invincible queen who longs for noise and war. "

Ares and Athena are different manifestations of war. Ares represents the cruel side of war, fleeing in a hurry and killing people without blinking an eye; Athena, on the other hand, showed resistance to aggression, defense against war, and rationality in war-winning war with wisdom and strength. For example, in the last period of the Trojan War, she taught Odysseus how to use wooden horses, which also enabled Achaia (the Greek) to win the war at last. Jane Ellen Harrison, a famous British classicist, said in the ninth section of Chapter VI of her book Introduction to Greek Religious Studies (1903): "But according to the tradition of ancient matriarchal society, she (Athena) has raised many heroes as an adoptive mother: Gaia, the real mother, gave birth to Aurek Toni. She has a similar relationship with Hercules, who is the foster mother of Hercules (a virgin) ... "。

Besides, she helped many Greek heroes. For example, he helped Jason build the Argos and completed the voyage to find golden fleece; Help Poerxiusi cut off the head of Medusa, the gorgon; Odysseus, a participant in the Trojan War, drifted at sea for 65,438+00 years and returned to her hometown under her protection. Athena is the god of art, craft and women's handiwork, with dexterous hands.

Textile: According to legend, Athena invented textile and helped Hera and Hercules weave robes. In Heriat, Hera puts on a robe woven by Athena and a gold pin, and then meets Zeus. In the library, this robe was torn by the elf Niels Bohr Ferrion. All the gods equipped Hercules and got robes from Athena.

Shipbuilding: Instruct Argos, the shipbuilder, to build the Argos and put a statue of goddess carved with Tatano oak on the bow. But he's not the first. In order to escape from Egypt, Danaus of Libya also made the first ship on earth under the instruction of Athena.

Flute: A musical instrument invented by Athena. Because the cheeks would swell when playing, it was laughed at by the gods, so it was abandoned and picked up by Malthus. Malthus thought that the musical instrument invented by the gods could certainly compete with the sun god who was also playing the musical instrument, so she challenged Apollo, the sun god, because Apollo stipulated that the musical instrument must be played backwards, and the flute could only blow out sound at the front end, so she lost.

Building a house: In Aesop's fable, Zeus created a bull, Athena invented a house, and Prometheus created a man, but it was criticized by Momus, the god of ridicule: if the house is built on the side of an evil neighbor, the house cannot grow wheels and move away immediately. (According to hesiod's "Divine Spectrum" and the pseudo-Apollo Dolos' "Book Collection")

After the Battle of Titan, Zeus became the master. He married Metis first. Before that, Metis had avoided his pursuit through various changes, but Zeus finally got Metis. However, when she was pregnant, Zeus swallowed her early, because Gaia had predicted that after giving birth to a pregnant daughter, she would give birth to a son and become the king of God. Zeus was afraid that this would happen, so he swallowed her. Zeus had a severe headache when she gave birth. Prometheus or hephaestus split Zeus' head with an axe, so Athena jumped out of her head and landed on the banks of the Tritton (or the lake Nice in Tritton). Metis stayed in Zeus' womb and gave Zeus advice. (Based on the pseudo-Apollo Dolos "Book Collection")

The legend that Athena became the patron saint of Athens is related to the struggle between the goddess and Poseidon. When Athens was first built by Phoenicians, Poseidon and Athena competed for the honor of naming it. Finally reach an agreement; The man who can provide the most useful things for mankind will become the patron saint of the city. Poseidon struck the ground with his trident and made a war horse. On the other hand, Athena became an olive tree-a symbol of peace and prosperity. Because war horses are considered to represent war and sorrow, Athens is named after the goddess. The goddess soon put the city under her protection. On the Acropolis, there is still one of the most famous buildings in ancient Greece-the Parthenon dedicated to the goddess Athena. (According to hesiod's "Divine Spectrum", "Farming and Time" and the book collection of pseudo-Apollo Dolos)

In revenge for Prometheus, Zeus made hephaestus create the first woman in the world. Hermes, the messenger of the gods, taught her the most beautiful language; Athena dressed her in shiny white clothes, garlands and golden ribbons; Aphrodite, the god of beauty, endowed her with all kinds of attractive charm; Zeus, on the other hand, injected a vicious disaster into this beautiful image and asked all the gods to give her a gift that was harmful to mankind. The stone statue turned into a charming woman with a beautiful face. She has long black hair, mysterious veil and shrewd eyes. Zeus named her Pandora, which means that the giver gave her and a box full of disasters to Prometheus' brother Epimetheus.

Prometheus warned Epimetheus not to accept any food from Zeus. However, as soon as Epimetheus saw Pandora, she was fascinated by her beautiful appearance and beautiful language, so she married her. Later, driven by curiosity, Pandora opened the lid (Zeus warned Pandora; Never open it), a large group of hidden disasters suddenly flew out. They are silent and invisible, and cover the whole earth in a blink of an eye. Since then, mankind has suffered disasters, plagues and disasters. Before Athena could fly out of the box, Athena quietly put the beautiful thing "hope" at the bottom of the box to save human destiny, and Pandora closed the box in a panic.

Poerxiusi and Modusa.

(hesiod's Divine Spectrum, The Collection of Books by the Pseudo-Apollo Doro, euripides's Hyon)

Medusa is one of the three sisters of gorgon. Anyone who sees their eyes will immediately turn to stone. But among the three sisters, only Medusa is mortal, and her two sisters are neither old nor dead. According to Apollo dolores's library; Shen Jianing's son Poerxiusi killed the banshee with the help of Athena. According to the book, some people say that Medusa was killed for the goddess because she was more beautiful than the goddess. Later, Poerxiusi presented Medusa's head to Athena, who put Medusa's head on a aegis. In Hyon, euripides said that Gaia gave birth to Medusa, who was against the gods. Athena killed her and put her head on a aegis, so Athena had another name, the gorgon (ο ρ ο φ? να)。 (Based on the pseudo-Apollo Dolos "Book Collection")

In the battle between the gods and the goblin (Bacchus), because it was predicted that the Olympians would win the final victory only if mortals were allowed to join the war, Athena called Hercules from the mortal world and asked him to join the war. Pointed out Alcyoneus's weakness to him. I personally faced two elite clans on the battlefield, peeled off pallas's skin and put it on the shield to protect myself in the battle. Lift Mount Etna from Sicily and throw it at Enceladus, killing him.

Erich Tonios

(Based on the pseudo-Apollo Dolos "Book Collection")

Hephaestus also appreciates the goddess who is good at handicrafts. One day, Athena ordered new weapons from him again. Hephaestus was disappointed in this period, because Aphrodite was having an affair with Ares, so he started chasing Athena. Although he was lame, he managed to catch up with Athena with great effort and wanted to have sex with her, but she was a virgin god who would never get married, and he was not allowed to get close, but hephaestus's semen had dripped on the goddess' leg, and Athena wiped it with wool and threw it on the ground. Mother Earth Gaia became pregnant and gave birth to Erich Tonios. Ropes, the king of Athens, had three daughters, namely Agger Raulos, Heri Aplag and Pandelo Soth. Athena kept Orik Tonios in secret as soon as possible without telling the gods, and put it in a box for Pandelo Sotheby's to keep. But the other sisters opened him out of curiosity and found that the baby was entangled by a big snake, so the big snake ate them.