With a battle cry that resounded through the kingdom of heaven and earth she sprang from the head of Zeus. She is one of the most powerful forces on Mount Olympus, representing war and the immortal spirit of wisdom. Athena embodies the matriarchal goddess, a complex figure of internal strength and reflection. She is a powerful source of interpretation for the idea of the goddess as a balance between nature and humanity. In one aspect she embodies the civic patron of Athens, with her benevolence and strategic defenses. However her mythological nature as the mother goddess and eternal being connects her with four thousand years of sacred expression through intuition, creation and instinct. Athena represents the unity of these powerful symbols and their underestimated force. What distinguishes Athena from the other gods is that while she has the elements of the female, matriarchal goddess she has patriarchal characteristics that earn her great respect and honor among other gods and mortals that she assists. Her strengths in crafts with weaving, wool-working, and carpentry are symbols of her multiple, beneficial abilities. Athena is a figure mixed with aggression, belligerence, virtue and benevolence. She will take on any opposing force, where she is most often the victor, and uses her metis strategies against any who will challenge. Mortal men worshipped and sacrificed in her honor as she was one of the most threatening figures in Greek imagination. She represented the rational power restoring order and justice. The attributes that express these characteristics include her shield with the head of the gorgon, her helmet with the symbol of the serpent, and she is often depicted with her aegis, a cloak made form the skins of Haephestus. In most depictions of Athena's birth she is shown springing from the head of Zeus, fully clad in armor with her shield and spear ready in hand. In birth she is a symbol of the threatening force of dominanc...
