If you use any of the content on this page in your own work, please use the code below to cite this page as the source of the content. However, because she never received a mother’s care, she inevitably possessed more masculine than feminine attributes. Having wrestled and defeated Achelous, god of the Acheloos river, Heracles takes Deianira as his wife. Death of Hercules (painting by Francisco de Zurbarán, 1634, Museo del Prado) This is described in Sophocless Trachiniae and in Ovids Metamorphoses Book IX. Immediately, the goddess Athena sprang out of Zeus’ head, fully grown and armed with armor, shield, and cries for battle!įrom the first moment the goddess Athena came into the world, she won the heart of Zeus and became his favorite child. Heracles was the son of the affair Zeus had with the mortal woman Alcmene. Hephaestus did as he was told and opened Zeus’ head with an axe without harming him. So as soon as Metis revealed her pregnancy to him, out of fear for his kingdom, Zeus turned her into a fly and swallowed Metis.Īfter some time had passed, Zeus began to feel a great pain in his head and asked the Gods’ smith Hephaestus to help him. Zeus’s first wife was the Oceanid Metis, and after they married, Metis became pregnant quickly.Īccording to a prophecy circulating at that time, though, the child she would bear would grow up to be a severe threat to Zeus and all he held dear just as he had been to his father Cronus. In this retelling of the myth, we will explore the story of Athena’s birth. She was born from the head of her father Zeus, fully grown and dressed in armor. In Greek mythology, Athena was the goddess of wisdom, courage, and justice.

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