We Need to Undertake an Odyssey Toward Wisdom

"Athena and Pegasus," 1654, by Theodoor van Thulden. Oil on canvas. Public Domain

Today, when entitlements and rights supersede any sense of citizens’ responsibilities and contributions, wisdom is ever more important.

In part 2 of this article series, we considered how the origins and birth of the Greek goddess Athena tell us much about how wisdom operates in the world. Perhaps the most important point was what Athena’s own birth and her chaste life represents: Wisdom cannot be sullied or corrupted; it has an inherent integrity that cannot be broken.

For those who think this argument is pagan or purely an ancient understanding as opposed to a profound psychological or spiritual insight, compare what the book of The Wisdom of Solomon, generally considered apocryphal by Protestants, says about wisdom. The parallels between the Greek understanding of wisdom and the Christian are striking:

“There is in her [Wisdom] a spirit that is intelligent, holy, unique, manifold, subtle, mobile, clear, unpolluted, distinct, invulnerable, loving the good, keen, irresistible, beneficent, humane, steadfast, sure, free from anxiety, all-powerful, overseeing all, and penetrating through all spirits that are intelligent, pure, and altogether subtle. For wisdom is more mobile than any motion; because of her pureness she pervades and penetrates all things. For she is the breath of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty; therefore, nothing defiled gains entrance into her. For she is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness.”

This language substantiates and elevates the nature of the goddess we are examining. As the goddess of wisdom, Athena is the extension of her father, Zeus, the supreme god, whose victory ended the chaos and destructive powers of the cosmos.

Athena’s Appearance

A print of Athena (Minerva) armed with a shield and lance, 17th century, by Grégoire Huret. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. Public Domain

Athena carries a spear, holds a shield, and wears an aegis—a goat-skin covering. The aegis serves to protect. We speak of someone who is “under the aegis of,” meaning under the protection and authority of, someone or something. Wisdom is a high authority and source of protection.

The shield Athena carries has the head of Medusa emblazoned on it: It can literally petrify, turn to stone, whoever looks at it. Metaphorically, the shield isn’t just a protection, but a form of offense. It terrifies its enemies. Those who speak with wisdom or “truth to power” terrify their enemies, who cannot abide the truth.

A detail of Athena's shield from a statue at the Vatican Museum in Rome. (Cropped image/Darafsh/CC BY-SA 3.0 DEED)

Finally, her spear represents her wisdom in strategic warfare, her upholding of justice, and punishing evil-doers, especially those guilty of hubris.

Athena’s Gifts

Athena was a benefactress of humanity. Among other things, she invented the trumpet, the flute, the earthenware pot, the plough, the rake, the ox-yoke, the horse-bridle, the chariot, and the ship. It was she who first taught the science of numbers, cooking, weaving, and spinning. All these are tremendously useful, and all should be cultivated. With Athena, we are bestowed with civilization.

The Athenians, wanting to name their city, considered: Was it to be named after the god Poseidon (god of the sea and brother of Zeus) or after Athena? In the contest that ensued, Poseidon demonstrated his power by producing a salt water spring, which was nice but of what use? Athena created an olive tree, which produced fruit, oil, and wood. Hence, the city was named Athens in her honor. It’s perhaps the most famous city in the world for its philosophers and much that determined Western culture.

Encouraging Heroes

Heracles and Athena expelling Ares in "Allegory of War," between 1630 and 1640, by Victor Wolfvoet. Oil on canvas. Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg. Public Domain

If these gifts were not enough to demonstrate the power of wisdom and the “wisdom of following wisdom,” then the second area of Athena’s excellence is even more striking. She is the great encourager of the Greek heroes. She excelled in strategic warfare. Although Ares (Mars in the Latin tongue) is the Greek god of war, his domain lay in the actual fighting—the blood and guts of war. Athena is the goddess of strategic warfare: the planning, the stratagems, and the ruses that lead to victory.

When Ares and Athene worked together, they were unstoppable; but when they opposed each other, Athena always won. The Trojan War is a classic example. Brute strength is not enough to win. Ask Muhammed Ali’s opponents in the ring. Many were stronger than Ali, but the goddess of “ring strategy” was his frequent aid.

In aiding the Greek heroes, Athena’s mandate was to create a world of peace and order. Some of her fellow Olympians were disorderly, most famously Dionysus; yet “Athena did not permit his goat in her terrain,” notes psychologist James Hillman in his book, “The Force of Character and the Lasting Life.”

It is Athena who watches over Heracles, who cleanses the world (imperfectly, admittedly) from terrors, monsters, and injustice; it is Athena who supports Perseus in his quest against Medusa; it is Athena who helps construct the ship Argo, on which Jason and the Argonauts sail; and it is Athena who helps Theseus in his adventure against the Minotaur. It is worth noting on this last point that not only did she help Theseus defeat the monster, but also resolved a monstrous injustice: the annual blood sacrifice of innocents.

"Perseus with the Head of Medusa" by a 17th-century painter after Pietro da Cortona. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. Public Domain

Perhaps the best-known encouragement of heroes comes at the end of the Greek hero lineage: We move from the golden age of heroes, Heracles, to the silver age of Theseus, to the bronze and last age of the real heroes, Achilles, who was half-immortal. In the final Trojan War, most heroes no longer had immortal blood. Certainly, Odysseus and Diomedes were human, more like us, than the demi-gods who preceded them.

Athena’s Full Power

Diomedes, assisted by Minerva (Athena), wounds Mars (Ares)," 1831, by Rafael Tejeo. Oil on canvas. Museum of Fine Arts, Murcia, Spain. Public Domain

During the Trojan War, Athena supported Diomedes in battle against Ares, in which Diomedes prevails. She gave Diomedes special abilities to distinguish between gods and mortals on the battlefield. Through Odysseus, who devises the ruse of the Trojan Horse, she accomplishes Troy’s destruction, which all of the previous fighting did not.

Further, Athena protects Odysseus on his journey home from Troy, including shielding him from the wrath of Poseidon, Odysseus’s enemy. The protection extends to Odysseus’s family—in particular, his son, Telemachus, when she assumes the appearance of Mentor, who has died, to continue Telemachus’s education. In other words, she is a ‘mentor.’

Athena appearing to Odysseus to reveal the island of Ithaca, 18th century, by Giuseppe Bottani. Oil on canvas. Private collection. Public Domain

Finally, both Odysseus and Diomedes survive the Trojan War. According to most traditions (excepting Dante) these heroes live into a ripe old age. Yet virtually all the Greek heroes (and certainly all the Trojan ones, except Aeneas) died violent and unpleasant deaths: Ajax the Great, Agamemnon, Achilles, and Patroclus. Those who revere wisdom survived.

A Call to Seek Wisdom

What can we learn from these stories today? First, wisdom is a spirit that we need to seek out and embrace. The Bible advises us to actively seek out wisdom (Job 28:12). We need to be proactive about it. Put another way, we have no entitlement to it, no rights to it, but we need to find it. It’s a journey—an odyssey.

The quest to seek wisdom is a journey. A study for "The Cross and the World" series, circa 1846–1847, by Thomas Cole. Oil on panel. Brooklyn Museum. Public Domain

Second, in pursuing wisdom, we are all called to be heroes. Life requires heroism to confront the monsters, the apparitions, the fear, and all other distortions that lead to death. From the perspective of the goddess, being a hero is not about brute strength or power: There’s a strategy to it, a direction; it’s goal-focused and has a higher purpose.

Third, we learn that we need to be persistent, consistent, and never to give up on doing good. Dr. Johnson said it this way: “great works are not achieved by strength but by persistence.” More recently, the Hungarian-American physicist Albert-Laszlo Barabas remarked in the UK magazine MoneyWeek, “Contrary to what many believe, your chances of success do not decline with age. With persistence, success can come at any age.”

These remarks indicate a most powerful virtue: hope. Hope underpins wisdom, because by believing that wisdom will prevail, we also believe that order and justice will prevail too. This gives us hope and determination.

Currently, when passiveness is all too apparent—time spent on mobile phones and within virtual universes—committing to being a hero is even more urgent. With this goal, we can carve out our own real lives. In a period when unjust laws, rules, and regulations depress, demoralize, and de-humanize us, we can practice the wisdom of Athene’s persistence. We can stay true to our hopes for a better future created in part by our own efforts. Studying wisdom, then, is not time idly spent.

The scripture is from the New Revised Standard Version.

To see the first article in the series, visit “Can Athena Help You Find Wisdom? Part 1.“

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