She gained the title of Pallas Athene/ Pallas Athena from either slaying a Titan called Pallas or for accidentally killing her friend Pallas. Pallas was a nymph and the daughter of Triton, who was said to have fostered Athena according to some versions. They were having a friendly fight, which either turned sour or saw the interference of Zeus, who stunned Pallas to prevent her from striking a blow on his daughter, Athena took advantage and accidentally killed Pallas. The other Pallas, was a Titan of war, son of Crius/Krios/Kreios and Eurybia, a minor sea goddess, brother to Astraeus/Astraeos the Titan of dusk, and Perses the Titan of destruction, husband to Styx, the deity of the Underworld river, and father to Zelus (zeal), Nike (victory), Kratos (strength), and Bia (force). Pallas fought against Zeus in Titanomachy whilst his children and wife fought for Zeus, and he was killed by Athena.
She had a competition with Poseidon over Attika/Attica, which the king of Attika Cecrops/Kekrops judged. Athena offered the people an olive tree whilst Poseidon offered a salt spring. As the olive tree gave oil, food and wood, Cecrops judged it the better gift and Attika became Athens in Athena's honour. According to some it was Zeus and the Olympians who intervened when the quarrel grew fierce and gave Athens to Athena.
Hephaestus tried to rape her but she escaped him and his semen fell onto the earth thus impregnating Gaia. A son, Erichthonius, was born as a result. Athena placed the infant into a box and gave to three sisters of Athens, princesses Herse, Pandrosus, and Aglaulus to mind, warning them never to open it. Aglauros and Herse opened it and found either an infant that was part serpent or an infant entangled with a serpent, the sight drove them to insanity, which led to them committing suicide by jumping off the Acropolis. Ovid writes that Athena's servant Cornix, a woman she turned into a crow to save her from rape by Neptune/Poseidon, told her of the treachery and in anger she turned the crow's feathers from white to black. Ericthonius grew up to be a king of Athens and founded the Panathenaic Games in Athena's honour.
She, Hera and Aphrodite competed for a golden apple addressed to the fairest that Eris threw into Thetis and Peleus' wedding as she was angry she had not been invited. Zeus deigned that Paris would judge the beauty of the three. Athena offered him strength, skill and wisdom, Hera offered him control of Asia and Europe and Aphrodite offered him the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen. Paris picked Aphrodite and ensured Athena and Hera's wrath against the Trojans during the Trojan War.
She could be a vengeful goddess as well as a kind one and punished many people. The weaver Arakhne/Arachne boasted she was better at weaving than Athena. Athena came to her in disguise as an old woman warning her not to offend the goddess, Arakhne ignored the warning and Athena accepted the challenge. Athena wove her victory over Poseidon during the contest for Athens whilst Arakhne depicted the infidelities of the gods. Arakhne's work was said to be flawness but outraged by what she had chosen to depict, and perhaps jealous, Athena tore up her work and beat the girl with her shuttle. Arakhne hung herself in grief but before she died Athena turned her into a spider.
When Aias/Ajax the Lesser raped Cassandra/Kassandra in Athena's temple, she avenged Cassandra by sending a storm to sink the Greeks' fleet, they survived it and Ajax even survived his ship being struck by a thunderbolt. She either killed him with a bolt of fire or Poseidon killed him after he boasted that even the gods could not kill him.
Auge, a princess and priestess of Athena, was raped by Heracles. Her father had been warned that his grandson would overthrow him, so she hid the baby in Athena's temple. Insulted by this, the goddess made the land barren until Auge's father found out about the treachery, had it exposed and Auge sold into slavery. The baby grew up to be the hero Telephus who killed Auge's father, and Auge became the adopted daughter of King Teuthras.
Medusa/Medousa was a priestess of Athena raped in her temple by Poseidon. As punishment Athena cursed her to have snakes in her hair and turn people to stone with her gaze. According to some versions she was made to match the form of her immortal sisters the Gorgons or they, upon hearing of her curse, begged to share it with her.
She is sometimes said to have blinded Tiresias because he saw her bathing but gave him the gift of hearing the birds/foresight to compensate. Other versions of the myth say Hera blinded him in anger and Zeus gave him the gift of prophecy to compensate.
Athena from The Immortals
She guided and aided many heroes, advising Cadmus/Kadmos to sow the teeth of a dragon to create warriors, Heracles to skin the Nemean Lion with its own claws and helping Bellerophon to capture Pegasus, gifting him with the first bridle. She also guided Jason and persuaded Aphrodite to have Medea fall in love with him, and advised Odysseus, helping him think of the Trojan horse, persuading Nausicaa to help him and disguising him when he returned to Ithaka/Ithaca. She aided Perseus with slaying Medusa, telling him to go to the Hesperides for weapons and giving him a shield in which he could safely see Medusa's reflection.
She and Artemis were said to have been companions of Persephone and some authors even suggest the two goddesses were there when Persephone was abducted, although this seems unlikely as they did not tell Demeter what had happened. She also took part in the creation of Pandora, clothing her and gifting her with the talents of needlework and weaving. As an inventor she created both the bridle and the flute but she did not like how it made her cheeks puff out when she played and so cast it down, where it was found by the satyr Marsyas.
She also helped the princess Eurynome, the mother of Bellerophon find a husband, Sisyphus' son Glaucus, and also taught her skills and wisdom.
Her symbols are the owl, the aegis (her shield with the head of Medusa), the olive tree, and the helmet. Homer described her as having flashing or gleaming eyes, usually thought to be grey. She is usually shown in armour or robes, wearing a maned helmet and carrying her aegis and a spear with an owl perched on her shoulder.
Her Roman counterpart was Minerva a goddess of poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, weaving and crafts. She was originally the Etruscan goddess Menrva and part of a trinity with Tinia, a sky god and supreme Etruscan god, and Uni, the supreme Etruscan goddess, effectively Zeus/Jove/Jupiter and Hera/Juno. She was a goddess of many things and only associated with war in Rome in later times. She was heavily associated with the arts and had a dominion over poetry until Apollo took over the role.
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