Yes, with all my heart I am my Father’s child. I cannot set
more store by the women’s death-she killed her husband, guardian of their
house...(644) With this trial Athena presented a new form of justice, trial by
jury. The jury had voted equally but Athena broke the deadlock with a innocent
vote setting Orestes free. But of all the people Athena helped, Odysseus was the
Greek that she liked the most. According to Kathleen Daly, author of Greek and
Roman Mythology A-Z, Athena displays her “unique intellectual qualities” the
best in Homer’s Odyssey (20). If it was not for her help and guidance Odysseus
would have never reached his beloved Ithaka. With all the phenomenon’s that were
unexplainable in the ancient world; mythology was able to shed some light on the
subject. By today’s standards these mythological explanations seem a little far
fetched. But for the time, accomplishments and triumphs that many Greeks made
where do to the help of the gods like the wise Athena. She saved Greece from
being defeated by holding back the anger of Achilles. A new form of government
was established thanks to Athena’s idea of trial by jury which allowed Orestes
to go free. She also helped the mighty Odysseus find his path home. In respect,
Athena was a goddess that was for all of Greece not just a single city. This
made her one of the more favorable goddess and for this she was paid much
homage.
Bibliography
Aeschylus. “The Eumendies.” Vol I of The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces.
Ed. Maynard Mack, et al. 6th Ed. 2 vols. New York: Norton, 1985: 1991. “Athena.”
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Zeus.”: n. pag. Online. Internet. 21 Oct. 1999. Available World Wide Web:
http://www-st.towson.edu/~dbaker2/. Daly, Kathleen N. Greek and Roman Mythology
A-Z. New York, NY.: Facts on File, Inc., 1992. Grant, Michael, John Hazel. Gods
and Mortals in Classical Mythology. Springfield, Mass.: G. &C. Merriam Company,
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