greek and roman mythololgy

athena

 athena is an associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretized with the roman goddess minerva. Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress of various cities across Greece, particularly the city of athens , from which she most likely received her name.

Athena was believed to have been born from the forehead of her father . In some versions of the story, Athena has no mother and is born from Zeus' forehead by parthenogenesis. In others, such as hesiod's theogony, Zeus swallows his consort metis, who was pregnant with Athena; in this version, Athena is first born within Zeus and then escapes from his body through his forehead. In the founding myth of Athens, Athena bested in a competition over patronage of the city by creating the first olive tree. She was known as "Athena the Virgin", but in one archaic myth, the god hephaestus tried and failed to rape her, resulting in gaia giving birth to erichthonius, an important Athenian founding hero. Athena was the patron goddess of heroic endeavor; she was believed to have aided the heroes perseus, heracles ,bellorophon , and jason. Along with aphrodite  and hera , Athena was one of the three goddesses whose feud  resulted in the beginning of the trojan war.