Athena: A Biography by Lee Hall

by Lee Hall

Author Lee Hall takes the unusual tack of melding the hypothetical “life” of one mythological being—the goddess Athena—into a single, chronological narrative. By drawing upon the richness of ancient history, archaeology, and classical art and literature, she follows the metamorphosis of Athena’s identity, tracing through it not only the origins of our concepts of justice and revenge, our attitudes toward wisdom and the useful arts, but the disturbing mistrust of women inherited from the ancient world, as well as the struggle between male and female that attended the very birth of western culture.Hall traces the earliest vestiges of Athena back to the fertility and survival rituals of prehistoric Crete. She then follows this diety associated with the “mother goddess” as she migrates to the mainland. But once there, Hall finds, Athena becomes an “honorary male,” complete with helmet, spear, and sheild. The goddess once associated with rituals of nurturing and fecundity now relishes the savagery of war, even masterminds the triumph of the Greeks over the Trojans in Homer’s Iliad. Athena forsakes her elemental female virtues and identity as she is co-opted by the male-dominated warrior culture of the Mycenaeans.The third distinctive phase of Athena’s career is as the special deity of Athens, wher she makes herself felt in the great festivals, art, and architecture of her city, but here too she must betray her gender as the price of civilization. In completing the transition to urban life, one of her last acts is to drive underground the Furies, trapping and containing the ancient and angry female energy.Athena is thus a profound and often troubling exploration of the changes in human consciousness—especially with regard to gender and power—that brought humanity from fertility cults to the Age of Heroes to a time that embraced civic order and the search for wisdom and beauty. A fascinating story, is is also a boon to anyone looking for an entertaining and comprehensible narrative that effectively weaves together the Homeric epics, Greek drama, and modern archaeological discoveries.

Genres: Mythology, Greek Mythology, Philosophy

Hardcover

First published April 17, 1997

About the author

Lee Hall was the co-author of Dining with Friends: The Art of North American Vegan Cuisine as well as various articles, books, and encyclopedia entries on food security, climate and migration, environmental law, the feminist movement and animal rights. Lee's most recent book was On Their Own Terms: Bringing Animal-Rights Philosophy Down to Earth. Lee was a a member of the Adjunct Faculty of Law at Rutgers University, Newark. She taught immigration law and animal law, and worked full-time as the legal affairs VP for the international advocacy non-profit Friends of Animals.

Reviews

[Pallas Lane Umbra · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great, comprehensive mythological guide to Athena’s development as a goddess.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fangirl biography of Pallas Athena. What is not to love!

It's written by a Mt. Holyoke professor and touches on the modern cultural relevance of Athena. Should be fun!

EDIT: Well I finished it. Actually the author just retells the myths in which Athena appears. She also makes a number of suppositions that even an Athena fan girl (such as myself) would find doubtable. I find it difficult to believe that Athena was the basis for the African goddesses (especially knowing Aphrodite hails from Africa). I also fail to see how Athena, a virgin goddess is the archetypal monotheistic goddess. In fact I would argue it is Hera, who was then subjugated and ridiculed by the Greeks.

But despite all her claims about how awesome Athena is...the retelling of myths is pretty good and some of her commentary is excellent.

[Dominique · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book relates the "biography" of Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom.

If I had no previous knowledge of Greek mythology, I would have found this book and the events covered therein much more useful and intriguing; or if I was not interested in ever reading either the Iliad or the Odyssey, I would have found this a good summary of the events in those poems. I was really put off by the constant reminders in this book that most of the Greek gods were selfish, horny brats; while I think this is an accurate description (of most) of the gods, I don't need the constant reference back to this particular fact. I also felt that the author was trying to channel Homer in writing this book with the abundance of reminders of what Athena was the goddess of and the overall writing style of this book.

I would not recommend this book to people interested in Athena.

[David Chmelik · Rating 5 out of 5]

    This book is not by a classical scholar, but I looked in it; it seems interesting if telling Athena's [his]story from birth to recent records, but unless it directly translates every mention of her from each primary source from the 1st to some current native Hellenismos I may research that instead. It is easy to read everything about mortal heroes and see their perspective, but not for all who affected mortals--writings about gods are in most legends/hero-myths as well as the rest of mythology versions. I have reservations/doubts about the book but plan to read at least enough more to see if I want to finish.

[Emily S. · Rating 2 out of 5]

A basic synopsis of the legends/stories that include Athena--although I thought it a little bit of a stretch to connect Athena with the old Minoan and Mycenaen worship of some fertility goddess.

I ended up not finishing it. I got bored. The author kept using the same phrases to describe each god/goddess and it became trite real fast. However, if you don't want to wade through the Iliad--this will tell you what happened without all the poetry.

[Bill · Rating 2 out of 5]

Somehow managed to be a little bland.