Greek Mythology : Athena And Achilles

I love greek mythology. It is one of the first literature genres that got me reading at young age, and still got me charmed. I am fond of epic literature and epism as a consequence as well.

While I love most of the myths,mos of the ones beautifully written in the answers, I am biased to the myths of my two most favorite characters, that is Athena, the goddess of wisdom and war, and Achilles, supposedly the mightiest man on earth.

Before telling their legends, I’d like to point out a common aspect found in both. They were both feared to be greater than their father(s), which happens to be the same guy. Yup! Zeus!

Athena

Athena is the daughter of Zeus and Metis, the goddess of memory. When Metis was pregnant, Zeus was forced to ingest her, fearing the baby would be greater than him, and overthrow him. A while latter, Zeus has some extreme headaches and asks Haephestus to cut his head open with an ax. From there emerges Athena, fully armored, head to toe. Having come out of the head of Zeus, and fully armored, she is the goddess of wisdom, rightfulness and war. What takes Athena apart from the rest of the olympian gods is her choice of chastity and life free of romantic drama. She was a no-nonsense goddess, reasonable, until her ego got stroked (the legend of Arachne) fair and strong. Athena is probably the only strong, non-sexualized female of the greek mythology.

Achilles

Achilles is the son of Thetis, a nereide, and Peleus, a human king. But he was almost son of Zeus, since Zeus pursued Thetis before. But when a prophecy stating that the son coming from such a union would result in a child so strong that he would overcome his own father, Zeus stepped down and decided to marry Thetis off to Peleus. After all, he himself was guilty of such crime, having overthrown his own father Chromos, and becoming the king of gods.

When Achilles was born it was prophetized that he would die young. Fearing for his life, Thetis decided to make him immortal by dipping him in the river Stigx, the river passing by the entrance of Hades. Since she kept him by the heel, that part of baby Achilles remained untouched by water, thus making him vulnerable at that point.

Another interesting myth I have heard about Achilles is that at young age he was presented with two choices. He would either live a long, uneventful life, get married and have children and grandchildren or die young in battle. If he were to choose the first choice he would be a good and happy man, loved by his people, but he would be forgot by the time he grand-grand children would die. If he were to choose the second choice he would die young, but his existence would be filled with glory, and he would be remembered by generations after generations, in eternity, for his glorious deeds. He choose the second option in a heartbeat, and I fell in love with the character and greek mythology as a whole, in a heartbeat at reading this myth.

P.S. Looks like Achilles’s choice of glorious life to be remembered for eternity really worked out, since still more that 3000 years after the war of Troy is supposed to have take place, Achilles is known.

Sorry for any inconsistencies and mistakes that might exist in the story. I haven't read or studied mythology, I just know a couple of myths. If you spot mistakes in my blog, feel free to offer corrections.