Many believe that Greek Mythology is one of the richest in the world. It has provided inspiration to poets and artists, from ancient times to the present day.
One such epic tale is the myth about how Athens got its name. That must have been quite a rivalry!
What was Athens prior to being Athens? The origin story!
Athens, even back then, was not just another city.
At the time, the legend says that a mythical creature was the city’s King, Cecrops.
Another king we meet in the city’s mythological origin is Aktaios and the city was called Akti because of him. Cecrops was his son-in-law and reigned right after him.
Cecrops was supposed to be the son of Mother Earth and Sky. He is supposed to be the mythical founder of the first city of Athens on the Acropolis which was called Cecropia at the time.
King Cecrops is credited as the city’s founder. He was usually depicted as a deity with half his body being human, and half, from the waist down, a dragon.
The actual king Cecrops must have lived around 3000 BCE. Athenians attributed to him the introduction of writing, marriage, the population’s census, the way of building their houses, an early set of laws, and much more.
During the patronage dispute, over the city’s name (Cecropia-later-to-be-named-Athens), he was supposed to be the one to play the role of the arbitrator.
The dispute between Athena and Poseidon
According to the myth, Zeus the father of the 12 gods (the dodecatheo) during a family meeting in Mountain Olympus (obviously!) asked them all to each choose one Greek city. For that city, the god or goddess would become a patron and a guardian.
Appolo chose Delphi, Artemis chose Efessos but when it came to Athens, the quarrel between Poseidon and Athena began!
Since both the goddess Athena, and Poseidon the god of the seas wanted to be the patron of the same city, the problem would be solved …democratically! They all decided that each of the two contestants would offer the people of the town a gift and the most welcomed gift of the two, would show the winner.
But let us get to know the two rivals.
Goddess Athena
Athena was the goddess of wisdom, intelligence, strategy, and logic.
The ancient Greeks believed that she was the one who had taught them agriculture.
As a token of their graditute they held annual festivals dedicated to her. The most famous festivals were the Panathenaia.
Athena’s emblems were the spear, the owl, and the olive.
Today in Greece whenever we want to suggest wisdom, for example in our school books, we still use the owl.
God Poseidon
Poseidon was the god of the Sea. For such a sea nation as the Greeks, this is not a small task.
He controlled all the ships and was aware of things concerning the sea and what was going on in it. Poseidon was also the god of rivers, springs, drinking water, and generally the liquid element. He also ruled storms and horses.
For more on Poseidon and especially his beautiful Temple in Cape Sounion, you can see here my post about him.
Mainly, the coastal cities adored Poseidon. They organized various celebrations in his honor, with the Isthmias being the most typical.
His symbol was the trident, which he held in his right hand, in accordance with the depictions on vases and coins that have survived to this day.
The contest
According to Pausanias, the famous Greek traveler, and documenter, the dispute was started by Poseidon, who asked the king of the city Cecrops to take over its protection and name it Poseidonia.
Poseidon struck his trident on the rocks of the Acropolis and immediately, a wave of seawater poured out, thus creating a well in the Erechtheion. The god’s offering to the inhabitants was this source of salty seawater.
Athena, however, presented herself and also claimed the sovereignty of the city. She struck her spear into the ground, causing an olive tree full of fruit to pop up.
Her gift would provide the townspeople with food, oil, and timber.
Arbitration
According to one version of the myth, King Cekrops asked for the help of the gods, in order to reach the best decision for the city’s future.
The gods concluded, after comparing the two divine gifts, that the olive tree has more value as a gift than the salt water. As the city was surrounded by seawater, the gift of the god Poseidon was deemed unnecessary for its inhabitants.
Thus, Athens, the goddess of wisdom, emerged victorious from this dispute.
The gift of the goddess Athena, was something unheard of until then. It was expected that people would enjoy olive trees in their everyday lives.
As a matter of fact, olive trees and olive oil has been proven to be valuable and cherished by Athenians, and Greeks overall, even to this day.
According to another version, Cecrops just asked the people to take a vote.
In both cases, this quarrel ended with the goddess Athena’s victory.
This is why they named the city “Athens”, in honor of the goddess Athena.
The value of a gift
According to legend, the actual olive tree offered by the goddess of wisdom was later burned by the Persians, during their invasion. But it did not disappear! Mythos claims that the tree bore fruit the very next day.
People thought that as proof that their patroness had not abandoned either the city or its inhabitants.
If Poseidon’s gift had proven more useful than the olive tree and he himself had been crowned the victor of the dispute, instead of the goddess Athena, the city which is today the capital of Greece would probably have been named Poseidonia.