THE SCENE: The goddess Athena was second only to Ares in her thirst for the carnage of war; in the passage below, the terrifying deity readies herself for battle.
THE TEXT: Then Athena, child of Zeus whose shield is thunder, letting fall her supple robe at the Father’s threshold – rich brocade, stitched with her own hands’ labor – donned the battle-shirt of the lord of lightning, buckled her breastplate geared for wrenching war and over her shoulders slung her shield, all tassels flaring terror – Panic mounted high in a crown around it, Hate and Defense across it, Assault to freeze the blood and right in their midst the Gorgon’s monstrous head, that rippling dragon horror, sign of storming Zeus. Then over her brows Athena placed her golden helmet fronted with four knobs and forked with twin horns, engraved with the fighting men of a hundred towns. Then onto the flaming chariot Pallas set her feet and seized her spear – weighted, heavy, the massive shaft she wields to break the battle lines of heroes the mighty Father’s daughter storms against.
– The Iliad, Homer, 8th Century BC
