Editing Athena (section)

==Origins==
[[File:Goddess-boars-tusk-griffin.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Fragment of a fresco from the Cult Center at [[Mycenae]] dating the late thirteenth century BC depicting a warrior goddess, possibly Athena, wearing a [[boar's tusk helmet]] and clutching a [[griffin]].{{sfn|Hurwit|1999|page=14}}]]

Athena was originally the [[Aegean civilization|Aegean]] goddess of the palace, who presided over household crafts and protected the king.{{sfn|Nilsson|1967|pages=347, 433}}{{sfn|Burkert|1985|page=140}}{{sfn|Puhvel|1987|page=133}}{{sfn|Kinsley|1989|pages=141–142}} A single [[Mycenaean Greek]] inscription {{lang|gmy|{{script|Linb|𐀀𐀲𐀙𐀡𐀴𐀛𐀊}}}} {{Lang|gmy-Latn|a-ta-na po-ti-ni-ja|italic=no}} appears at [[Knossos]] in the [[Linear B]] tablets from the Late Minoan II-era "Room of the Chariot Tablets";{{sfn|Ventris|Chadwick|1973|page=126}}{{sfn|Chadwick|1976|pages=88–89}}{{sfn|Hurwit|1999|page=14}} these comprise the earliest Linear B archive anywhere.{{sfn|Ventris|Chadwick|1973|page=126}} Although ''Athana potnia'' is often translated as "Mistress Athena", it could also mean "the ''[[Potnia]]'' of Athana", or ''the Lady of Athens''.{{sfn|Hurwit|1999|page=14}}{{sfn|Palaima|2004|page=444}} However, any connection to the city of Athens in the Knossos inscription is uncertain.{{sfn|Burkert|1985|page=44}} A sign series {{Lang|gmy-Latn|a-ta-no-dju-wa-ja}} appears in the still undeciphered corpus of [[Linear A]] tablets, written in the unclassified [[Minoan language]].<ref>[[Kophinas|KO]] Za 1 inscription, line 1.</ref> This could be connected with the Linear B Mycenaean expressions {{Lang|gmy-Latn|a-ta-na po-ti-ni-ja}} and {{Lang|gmy-Latn|di-u-ja}} or {{Lang|gmy-Latn|di-wi-ja}} (''Diwia'', "of Zeus" or, possibly, related to a [[List of Mycenaean deities#Goddesses|homonymous goddess]]),{{sfn|Ventris|Chadwick|1973|page=126}} resulting in a translation "Athena of Zeus" or "divine Athena". Similarly, in the Greek mythology and epic tradition, Athena figures as a daughter of Zeus ({{Lang|grc|Διός θυγάτηρ}}; ''cfr.'' [[Dyeus]]).{{sfn|Best|1989|page=30}} However, the inscription quoted seems to be very similar to "{{Lang|gmy-Latn|a-ta-nū-tī wa-ya}}", quoted as [[Kato Syme|SY]] Za 1 by Jan Best.{{sfn|Best|1989|page=30}} Best translates the initial {{Lang|gmy-Latn|a-ta-nū-tī}}, which is recurrent in line beginnings, as "I have given".{{sfn|Best|1989|page=30}}

A [[Mycenea]]n fresco depicts two women extending their hands towards a central figure, who is covered by an enormous figure-eight shield; this may depict the warrior-goddess with her ''[[Palladium (classical antiquity)|palladium]]'', or her palladium in an aniconic representation.{{sfn|Mylonas|1966|page=159}}{{sfn|Hurwit|1999|pages=13–14}} In the "[[List of Aegean frescos|Procession Fresco]]" at [[Knossos]], which was reconstructed by the Mycenaeans, two rows of figures carrying vessels seem to meet in front of a central figure, which is probably the Minoan precursor to Athena.{{sfn|Fururmark|1978|page=672}} The early twentieth-century scholar [[Martin P. Nilsson|Martin Persson Nilsson]] argued that the [[Minoan snake goddess figurines]] are early representations of Athena.{{sfn|Nilsson|1967|pages=347, 433}}{{sfn|Burkert|1985|page=140}}

Nilsson and others have claimed that, in early times, Athena was either an owl herself or a [[bird goddess]] in general.{{sfn|Nilsson|1950|page=496}} In the third book of the ''[[Odyssey]]'', she takes the form of a [[Sea eagle (bird)|sea-eagle]].{{sfn|Nilsson|1950|page=496}} Proponents of this view argue that she dropped her prophylactic owl mask before she lost her wings. "Athena, by the time she appears in art," [[Jane Ellen Harrison]] remarks, "has completely shed her animal form, has reduced the shapes she once wore of snake and bird to attributes, but occasionally in [[Black figure pottery|black-figure vase-paintings]] she still appears with wings."<ref>Harrison 1922:306. ''Cfr. ibid.'', p. 307, fig. 84: {{cite web|url=http://people.uncw.edu/kozloffm/Winged_Athena.jpg |title=Detail of a cup in the Faina collection |access-date=6 May 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041105112709/http://people.uncw.edu/kozloffm/Winged_Athena.jpg |archive-date=5 November 2004 }}.</ref>

[[File:Seal of Inanna, 2350-2150 BCE.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|left|Ancient [[Akkadian Empire|Akkadian]] [[cylinder seal]] (dating {{circa}} 2334–2154 BC) depicting [[Inanna]], the goddess of war, armored and carrying weapons, resting her foot on the back of a lion{{sfn|Wolkstein|Kramer|1983|pages=92, 193}}]]

It is generally agreed that the cult of Athena preserves some aspects of the [[Proto-Indo-European religion#Societal deities|Proto-Indo-European transfunctional goddess]].{{sfn|Puhvel|1987|pages=133–134}}{{sfn|Mallory|Adams|2006|page=433}} The cult of Athena may have also been influenced by those of Near Eastern warrior goddesses such as the [[East Semitic]] [[Ishtar]] and the [[Ugarit]]ic [[Anat]],{{sfn|Hurwit|1999|page=14}} both of whom were often portrayed bearing arms.{{sfn|Burkert|1985|page=140}} Classical scholar Charles Penglase notes that Athena resembles [[Inanna]] in her role as a "terrifying warrior goddess"{{sfn|Penglase|1994|page=235}} and that both goddesses were closely linked with creation.{{sfn|Penglase|1994|page=235}} Athena's birth from the head of Zeus may be derived from the earlier [[Sumer]]ian myth of Inanna's descent into and return from the [[Ancient Mesopotamian Underworld|Underworld]].{{sfn|Deacy|2008|pages=20–21, 41}}{{sfn|Penglase|1994|pages=233–325}}

Plato notes that the citizens of [[Sais]] in Egypt worshipped a goddess known as [[Neith]],{{efn|"The citizens have a deity for their foundress; she is called in the Egyptian tongue Neith and is asserted by them to be the same whom the Hellenes call Athena; they are great lovers of the Athenians, and say that they are in some way related to them." (''[[Timaeus (dialogue)|Timaeus]]'' 21e.)}} whom he identifies with Athena.<ref>Cf. also Herodotus, ''[[Histories (Herodotus)|Histories]]'' 2:170–175.</ref> Neith was the ancient Egyptian goddess of war and hunting, who was also associated with weaving; her worship began during the Egyptian Pre-Dynastic period. In Greek mythology, Athena was reported to have visited mythological sites in North Africa, including Libya's [[Triton (mythology)|Triton River]] and the [[Phlegra (mythology)|Phlegraean plain]].{{efn|[[Aeschylus]], ''[[The Eumenides|Eumenides]]'', v. 292 f. Cf. the tradition that she was the daughter of Neilos: see, e.&nbsp;g. Clement of Alexandria ''Protr.'' 2.28.2; Cicero, ''[[De Natura Deorum]]'' 3.59.}} Based on these similarities, the [[Sinologist]] [[Martin Bernal]] created the "[[Black Athena]]" hypothesis, which claimed that Neith was brought to Greece from Egypt, along with "an enormous number of features of civilization and culture in the third and second millennia".{{sfn|Bernal|1987|pages=21, 51 ff}}{{sfn|Fritze|2009|pages=221–229}} The "Black Athena" hypothesis stirred up widespread controversy near the end of the twentieth century,{{sfn|Berlinerblau|1999|page=93ff}}{{sfn|Fritze|2009|pages=221–255}} but it has now been widely rejected by modern scholars.{{sfn|Jasanoff|Nussbaum|1996|page=194}}{{sfn|Fritze|2009|pages=250–255}}
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