Myth of the 'Glorious City' of Athens

Both Greece and its capital Athens are surrounded by many mythological stories. Long before those lands were called Greece, they were known as Attica.  Almost every town in the ancient Attica had a god or goddess that looked after the townspeople.

One of the goddesses was Athena. She was known as smart, just and talented. Her favorite town in the whole Attica was Athens. She wanted to offer her patronage to its people. But her uncle, Poseidon, wished to do the same. He was the god of the sea. He loved the coastal towns and got very annoyed with Athena that she dared to claim Athens for herself.

The situation worried other gods, who didn’t want any fight between those two. Zeus, father of Athena and brother of Poseidon, announced, “Why don’t you allow the people to decide who should be the patron?” People didn’t want to anger any of the gods by choosing. Instead they asked Zeus to do so. In reply Zeus proclaimed, “Let the best gift, the most beneficial to the city, decide about the patronage.” The confused people looked at each other.

Poseidon not wasting any time struck a rock with his trident causing a spring of water to gush forth from the ground and declared, “Dear people of Athens, my gift assures you with water. Therefore, you wouldn’t have to worry about any drought.”

Impressed people tasted the water, hiding their disappointment. The water was salty and tasted exactly like the sea water.

Now it was Athena’s turn. All eyes fell upon her.

Athena calmly planted a seed in the ground. A twig sprang from the ground. The people robbed their eyes in disbelief. The twig continued to grow upwards, branching outwards; the trunk was getting thicker and thicker. The green leaves started to show on the branches, with flowers blooming among them and at the very end shiny fruits dark in color appeared. Then Athena said, “My dear people, the olive tree will give you food, oil and firewood.”

The people tasted the fruit; impressed in unison loudly acclaimed Athena as their patron.

With time the people so many benefits of the olive tree. Its tasty olives and golden oil provided food, further giving benefits to their skinny skin and long age.

In return people named the town Athens after Athena and built numerous temples dedicated to her. One of them stands proudly atop Acropolis hill.

Temple of Athena at Acropolis 

Acropolis