Читать книгу The Mythology of Greece and Rome, With Special Reference to Its Use in Art онлайн

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By later writers this skill in art is extended to other things, and she is represented as the patroness of every branch of science, art, and manufacture.

She is also called Athene Hygiea, because she was believed to send pure atmosphere, to ward off pestilence, and to promote the growth and health of the youth of the land.

We cannot wonder, therefore, that the worship of a goddess so benevolent, and exercising such an important influence on human life, was very extensive in Greece. Nowhere did she receive a higher degree of veneration than at Athens, of which city she was really the tutelary deity. Her most important shrine was the Parthenon (temple of the virgin goddess), which was erected by Pericles on the Acropolis, and the remains of which, even in the present day, excite the wonder and admiration of the world. The whole land of Attica was, indeed, in a certain measure, the peculiar property of the goddess, which she won after her well-known contest with Poseidon. Zeus had decreed the sovereignty over Attica to that deity who should bestow on the land the most useful present. Poseidon thereupon created the horse; but Athene caused the olive-tree to grow, and was thus held to have won the victory. The sacred olive-tree, which was thus called into existence, was shown in the Temple of Erechtheus on the Acropolis, and possessed such a wonderful vitality that, when the Persians burnt it after capturing the town, it immediately put forth a fresh shoot. Argos and Corinth were also renowned seats of the worship of Pallas Athene; and she also enjoyed the highest veneration in Sparta, Bœotia, Thessaly, Arcadia, and Rhodes.