The Hope of Athena

So I've been in Athens three days now and am just blown away by the rich history that this place holds. The birthplace of democracy, theater, and art---most of Western Civilization owes many of its foundational assumptions to the theoretical, mathematical, and physical battles played out in this space. It really is incredible.

What I love hearing about most is probably ancient Greek mythology. It’s always held a place of deep fascination in the US and perhaps a bit of reverent nostalgia to our former pagan days, as many students are taught its royal pedigree at least once throughout their formal education. Fortunately, Athens is a central point for a lot of that mythology, so I've been able to piece together bits and pieces while going through these ancient structures, wondering about how these two worlds influenced each other.

It is no surprise to anyone that these mythological gods were extremely misogynist. Besides the fact that Zeus was a notorious womanizer, many other gods followed in his path and enjoyed a similar superiority complex over their fellow goddesses—oftentimes who ended up being raped.

That’s not to say that the greek goddesses were less than their male counterparts or merely victims. They were immortal in their own right—strong, confident, and really admirable women. Perhaps one of the most familiar, especially here in Athens, is the goddess Athena for which the city is named. Born fully grown from the head of Zeus after he ate her pregnant mother, Athena was known best for being the goddess of wisdom and victory. She was also known for her lesser roles as patron of the crafts and horses. Athena is depicted in many European cities as the “winged goddess of victory,” the goddess Nike, as on top of the Arc de Triomph in France and the Brandenburg Gate in Germany (as well as the shoe brand).

The goddess Athena

Athena became an important here when she won jurisdiction over the city after a competition with Poseidon, where her gift of the olive tree won out over Poseidon’s gift of water. As such, many architectural pieces around here bear her presence, and the famous acropolis itself based high over the city (acro=high; polis=city) was an extremely religious point for Athena to rule over.

After the defeat of the Persians at marathon, the Greeks were so proud of their victory and wanted to lord it over any other potential invaders that they built the acropolis. These impressive monuments would then be seen from far distances as a glorious symbol of their strength. At the forefront of that monument they built a glorious statue of Athena. The thing that was curious about this statue was its absence of wings—usually associated with the winged goddess of victory Athena. This was actually quite on purpose, as the Greeks wanted to make sure that victory would not leave them, and so they grounded her to the spot and made her stay in Athens.

Now I’m all for dissecting narratives—especially ones of a religious nature that tend to be so real to so many people and provide a foundation for our modern day epistemologies. In listening to this story, and looking up at the acropolis and what it stood for, I can’t help but think about what kind of message this sent to women in power at the time. Women who looked up to Athena as a source of strength, a source of inspiration—shackled to the top of the acropolis as a victory prize for men, her wings clipped to remain in control of the goddesses’ power in one of the most historically important cities of the world. What kind of metaphor did this hold for women of power and influence in general, that their independent wings would be shattered to serve the purpose of catering to men’s pride. That they are forever to be solid masses of stone, rather than moving and living things with their own power and will.

Today, the world needs new narratives with strong female role models--ones with wings fully intact, ready to bear the banner of victory utilizing the wisdom they have developed from experience. We need to stop putting women on a pedestal and allow them to fly and fully use their potential--we need more winged goddesses. 

The more people I meet and cultures I encounter, the more hope I have that these ancient stories are being reworked to include the holistic power of women and men in this ever-changing world. If anything I’m glad to have come to Athens to remember how far we’ve come, to see how many women have found their wings and the men and women who have helped to restore her place in Olympus.