Post by Athena on Dec 22, 2007 22:15:24 GMT -5
[ATHENA]
The Basics
Name: Athena. Alternately called Athene, Pallas Athene and Minerva.
Race: Godess of wisdom, crafts, strategic warfare and heroes.
Age: She's older than legends but not quite as old as the hills.
Height: Five foot seven.
Hair Color and Eye Color: In the Odyssey, Homer describes her as "gray-eyed Athena." He was right, though it was probably just a lucky guess or paying attention to the folklore. Athena doesn't exactly have anything to do with the writing of epic poems.
Her hair is brown and somewhat curly. Not that she pays it much attention--there are more important things.
Make Us Love You
Likes:
Weaving
Smart people
Anything planned well and executed according to plan
Epic heroes
Athens
Fencing
Writing
Chess (the ultimate game of strategy)
Ships
Masquerading as a mortal
Ambrosia and nectar (the food of the gods)
Fish and chips (not exactly the food of the gods, but even godesses have thier oddities)
Lilacs
Owls
Dislikes:
Stupid people
Things gone awry, such as the French Revolution, or more specifically the Reign of Terror
Vainglory
Tragic heroes (a proper tragic hero is brought down by his own faults, and therefore is often quite stupid)
Spiders (because of Arachne)
Lizards and snakes (because they're just creepy)
Excess
Alcohol
Overtly flirtatious behavior
Cars
Habits: Chews on the end of a lock of hair while thinking. She also has a habit of expecting the worst when Ares turns up.
Personality: Athena is, first and foremost, sensible. She doesn't like to overdo things and she thinks stupidity annoying. She is nice when left alone, but sooner or later she'll lose her temper or get involved in things. She's a godess; she can't really help being meddlesome. When she does lose her temper, it's usually because someone deserves it.
She likes carrying on long conversations, especially debates. Arguing with her father, her stepmother, and her various half-siblings and other relatives is a part of daily life. She has a good sense of humor and a loud laugh. She doesn't mind pranks, as long as they're well done, and generally takes insults well enough.
I suppose you could say she's bookish for a godess, though she likes to stick to what we peg as the classics--Dickens and so on. Occasionally she'll get fed up with this human literature. At this point, she's glad humans are smart enough because fencing and chess weren't always around. Fencing is easier for her to do if she fights an enemy who isn't there, but it's hard for her to find a partner for chess. When she can't, sometimes she'll play herself, which usually turns out to be interesting.
She knows they weren't to meddle in the mortal world, and she doesn't, not really. But face it, you can't stay cooped up with your dysfunctional, ancient family for long without going completely nuts. So she likes to retreat to the mortal world and pretend to be a mortal. As she's very wise and likes to keep at least one owl close by, she's usually thought odd. Not to mention the fact that she hates riding in cars.
Family;; Keeps Us Insane
Parents: Zeus and Metis
Siblings: No full siblings. Plenty of half-siblings, though. She's probably related to half the mythological world.
Family Dynamics: You might say that her family is the original dysfuctional family. Half the gods and most of the heroes of Greek mythology are descended from her father, who despite having fathered all these children by different mothers is married to Hera. As the godess of marriage, poor Hera was quite justified in all her jealousy; after all, what's the point of a godess of marriage who can't keep her own husband in check? Nevertheless, Athena doesn't like her stepmother much. She thinks she makes too big a fuss, and anyway if Hera objects to all those other children, Athena assumes she objects to her as well. She and her father get along well enough together; at any rate, she argues with Zeus a lot less than with Hera.
She gets along with the other Olympians, for the most part. The exceptions to this are Ares and Aphrodite. To the casual observer of mythology, Ares and Aphrodite are both just gods of war. But Athena and Ares are in fact gods of two very different parts of war. Athena looks over strategy; Ares over the mindless violence--the bloodlust. Therefore they disagree quite a bit and Ares gets on Athena's nerves. As for Aphrodite...well, besides the affair with Ares, she's just annoying. In Athena's eyes she's silly--and a flirt, and Athena hates a flirt.
History: Zeus tricked the wisdom godess Metis, who was carrying his child, into turning into a fly and then swallowed her whole. (Does anyone else see the irony of a godess of wisdom being tricked?) In any case, this didn't stop Metis bearing Athena, because not too long after Zeus started getting some killer headaches. Finally there was one so bad he made Hephaetus break his head open with an axe to let the headache out. Of course, no headache came out, but his daughter Athena did, full-grown.
Athena, of course, turned out to be a godess of many sensible and useful things, such as strategy and crafts. She sat on one of the twelve thrones of Olympus and many people came to worship her. Such famous creations as the Parthenon and the statue within were dedicated to her.
She was also patroness of many heroes. Perseus, among whose deeds was the slaying of Medusa, gave her the Gorgon's head to keep on her shield. She helped Telemachus to find out the fate of his famous father Odysseus in the guise of the man Mentor. These are only a few of the places she's lent a hand. She also created a sort of animal that's well-known the world over: the spider. I'm sure we all know the story of Arachne, correct? Well, that's an example of her losing her temper.
Since the end of the time when Greek gods were worshipped, she's watched the degression of weaving from a form of art to a task performed by machines basically with her head in her hands. The method of warfare has changed, but the strategy still keeps her amused, even if she can't help out. There have been less and less epic heroes but there have been quite a few wise heroes she's liked very much. She's had more leisure time than she knew what to do with, and so has been making periodical visits to the mortal world.
Extra:When in the mortal world for the heck of it, she uses the alias "Minerva Hawkins."
