Athena

Athena’s name probably comes from the city of Athens and not the other way

around. In a Linear B tablet from Knossos, we hear of the Potnia (Mistress) of

At(h)ana, and there is a consensus that Athena was in origin a Minoan or

Mycenaean deity, perhaps identical with the shield goddess who appears on

a painted tablet at Mycenae itself.

 As a warrior goddess who protected the  king and citadel, this Mistress had parallels in the Near East (Ishtar,Anat)  and Egypt (Neith). Still, the exact relationship between the Bronze Age goddess and the Athena of the Classical Greeks is unclear, for gaps and inconsistencies in the archaeological evidence mean that we cannot demonstrate  continuity of worship. Athena’s sanctuaries and temples are very often to be found at the city center, particularly on fortified heights like the Athenian  Akropolis. In Greek towns of the early Iron Age, her dwelling place was often  juxtaposed to that of the local chieftain or king; later she championed the polis with its varied forms of government. She presided over the arts of war, such as the taming of horses, the training of warriors, and the building of ships. As a goddess of crafts, particularly weaving and metalworking, she evokes the palace economies of the Bronze Age.

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Apollodorus the library of Greek mythology

Here I would like to present you Apollodurs the Library.

I tend to cover  not only archaeological "news" that tell us about history of our planet, but also works from the ancient times that were made and read by the ancients.

Works like that and survived till our days so you could have insight into their world with their own eyes, as they saw it and understand it.

Apollodorus is such work were you can see how the ancient Greeks saw the world around them and how they used stories about heroes and Gods to explain that same world they lived in.

The only work of its kind to survive from classical antiquity, the Library of Apolodorus is a unique guide to Greek mythology, from the origins of the universe to the Trojan War.

The only work of its kind to survive from classical antiquity, the Library of Apolodorus is a unique guide to Greek mythology, from the origins oft he universe to the Trojan War.

Apollodorus’ Library has been an invaluable source book for early Greek myths from the time of its compilation in the first/second century AD to the present, influencing writers from the scolars of Byzantium to Robert Graves. It provides a complete history of Greek myth, telling the story of each of the families of heroic mythology and the various adventures associated with the main heroes and heroines, from Jason and Perseus to Heracles an Helen fo Troy. As a primary source for Greek myth, as a reference work, and as an introduction of hoe the Greeks themselves viewed their mythical traditions, the Library indispensable to anyone who has an interest in classical mythology.

APOLLODORUS is the name traditionally ascribed to the author of the Library. Although he was formely identified as Apollodorus of Athens, a distinguished Alexandrian scholar of the second century BC, it is now recognized that the Library must have been written at a later period, probably the first or second century AD. It is not know wheter Apollodorus was the author’s true name; in any case we know nothing about him...................................

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