Argumentative Essay
Adamaris Duran
Professor Toohney
ENG 170-32
Argumentative Essay
2 April 2024
“Athena Vs. Poseidon”
In Greek mythology, there are all sorts of creatures that one could consider monsters, ranging from beasts to gods such as Athena and Poseidon. The gods in Greek mythology are known for their wrath and jealousy, which led them to harm many individuals, ranging from nymphs to mortals and even other gods at times. Athena, the goddess of wisdom, and Poseidon, the god of the sea, have harmed and placed many curses on many individuals due to their wrath, which is why both are considered monsters. However, although Athena may have cursed more people, her curses seem to be more reasonable and less cruel than those of Poseidon, and she was able to form a bond with a mortal, therefore showing respect, which is something Poseidon never did. On the contrary, he is known for having raped many people.
Both gods are known to have cursed many people in Greek mythology. One of the most famous myths is the tale of Arachne. “Before she was cursed, Arachne was famously known for being a talented weaver; many people praised her work. However, Arachne grew cocky and made the mistake of claiming to be a better weaver than Athena. Having heard this, the goddess first warned Arachne that if she continued provoking the goddess, there would be consequences. Arachne ignored that warning and challenged Athena to a weaving contest, agreeing that if she lost, she would accept any punishment that Athena would decide for her.” (+Greekacom Myth of arachne, the spider woman – greek myths: Greeka). In the end, Arachne lost, and Athena turned her into a spider. From this story, it is clear to see that Athena was trying to be rational. She gave a warning to Arachne, which is not something commonly done by gods; usually, if they were angered, they would immediately curse those who offended them. Additionally, it was Arachne who set up the terms and agreed to accept any punishment. In contrast to this story, the curse that Poseidon bestowed upon Queen Pasiphae was far more cruel and unreasonable. “Queen Pasiphae was married to King Minos, who had broken his promise to Poseidon. He had promised Poseidon that he would sacrifice the white bull that Poseidon had given him; however, upon seeing it, he didn’t sacrifice it and instead chose another bull to sacrifice” (Miate Pasiphaë). Of course this angered Poseidon, but “ instead of punishing Minos, he punished his wife, Pasiphaë, by making her fall madly in love with the bull.” (Miate Pasiphaë). This was unreasonable since Pasiphae had nothing to do with the incident and was innocent, but yet Poseidon thought it best to punish her rather than her guilty husband. Additionally, “as a result of the intercourse between Queen Pasiphae and the bull, a monster called the minotaur was born” (Miate Pasiphaë). The minotaur brought more tragedy to the world since it killed humans. Since he not only cursed an innocent person but was also the reason why another monster was created, Poseidon seems to be more monstrous than Athena.
Aside from curses, Poseidon is also known to have raped many women, which is something that only a true monster is capable of doing. Some of Poseidon’s victims include a nymph named Caenis and his own sister, Demeter. “After he had raped Caenis, Poseidon offered to grant whatever wish she most desired. Having become so devastated by the events that happened, Caenis wished to become a male so she could never be taken advantage of again, and thus her wish was granted, and she became a male named Caeneus.” (Caeneus in Greek mythology). In order for her to ask for this wish, she must have been truly desperate to get away from Poseidon and believed that the only solution would be changing her gender, which was a very extreme decision to make, but in her case, it seemed fitting. As for how Poseidon managed to rape Demeter, it was also very inhumane. “At the time, Demeter was searching for her daughter Persephone, and throughout her search, Poseidon was lusting after her. In order to escape his gaze, Demeter turned into a horse and blended in with the other horses. After realizing what she had done, Poseidon also turned into a mare, and that was how he raped her. Filled with the grief of having lost her daughter and being raped, she caused a famine, which caused many humans to die” (Atsma Demeter wrath). Once again, it shows how Poseidon’s actions have severe consequences that hurt many innocent people who had nothing to do with him. Athena, on the other hand, is more humane since she helped many people, such as Odysseus and Erichthonius, and she has never raped anyone.
Additionally, Poseidon is such a feared monster that even other gods, such as Athena herself, are afraid of angering him. This is proven in the myth of Medusa. “Medusa was originally a beautiful woman who was later raped by Poseidon in Athena’s temple; however, despite the fact that Poseidon was the one who raped Medusa, Athena only punished Medusa by turning her hair into snakes, cursed her by making anyone who looked at her turn into stone, and didn’t do anything to Poseidon.” (World History Edu Medusa in greek mythology – origin story & death). Athena is greatly known for being the goddess of wisdom, so therefore, during this incident, the reason why she may have only punished Medusa and not Poseidon was because she thought it would be unwise to anger Poseidon. Although they are both gods, Poseidon is still one of the most powerful gods in Greek mythology. Another instance where Athena didn’t interfere with Poseidon was during Odysseus’ journey. “Odysseus had angered Poseidon by blinding his son the cyclops during his journey; therefore, Poseidon prevented Odysseus from returning home by making the ocean waves violent.” (Britannica Odyssey) During this instance, even though Athena is Odysseus’ patron and she greatly favors him, she isn’t able to interfere because Poseidon has a higher rank amongst the gods in Olympus than Athena and is more powerful than her. However, Athena is eventually able to help the hero return home, but that is only when “Poseidon, who had a long-standing grudge against the Ithacan king, is absent. Athena petitions Zeus to allow Odysseus to return home.” (Greenberg How does Athena help Odysseus?). Once again showing that when it comes to terms of physical power, Poseidon is stronger, and it is a well-known fact that the more power someone has, the more intimidation and fear they are able to create, to the point that even other gods fear them.
Although throughout most of Greek mythology Poseidon is known to be one of the more monstrous gods, there were some cases where Athena’s actions were shown to be equally, if not more, monstrous than Poseidon. For starters, Athena is known to have cursed more people than Poseidon; the list of her victims includes “Agraulos, Aias Oileus, Auge, her own crow, Idiona, Ilios, Aglauros, Herse, and Pandrosos; the people of Opuntia Lokris,Medusa, Teiresais, Arakne, Alkinoe, Aias Telamonian, Harmonia, Lakoon, and Teuthis” (Atsma Athene wrath). Additionally, not all these people were deserving of her wrath, such as the people of Opuntia Lokris and the previously mentioned Medusa, who were innocent and were being punished because of another person’s misdeeds.“. The people of Opuntia Lokris were struck down by a deadly plague sent by Athena as punishment for the desecration of her Trojan temple by their king Aias.” (Atsma Athene wrath). In order to appease Athena, they sacrificed “two maidens to Troy regularly for a thousand years” (Atsma Athene wrath). The people had nothing to do with the king’s actions and couldn’t have possibly prevented what happened, yet she released a plague that killed many of them. Additionally, her anger lasting for a thousand years was very extreme, and it also means that almost two thousand innocent maidens were sacrificed for something that happened many years ago. Apart from this incident, the story of Medusa is another example of Athena’s cruelty. As if cursing Medusa with hair made of snakes was not enough, she was also a supporter of Perseus, and that influence could be another reason why Perseus, “with Athena guiding his hand, kept his eyes on the reflection in a bronze shield as he stood over the sleeping Gorgones, and when he saw the image of Medusa, he beheaded her” (Atsma Athene wrath). After he beheaded her, “Perseus gave the Gorgon’s head to Athena, who placed it on her shield” (Britannica Perseus). Therefore, as if taking away Medusa’s beauty wasn’t enough, Athena had her killed and then used her head as a shield.
However, despite these instances of Athena displaying injustice to some people, Poseidon is still the greater monster that many should fear. After all, he mercilessly raped many people, which had dire consequences, dealt punishments that were far too harsh and cruel, and was already feared by many of his own fellow gods. If the fact that other immortal gods fear him doesn’t scare you and make you view him as more monstrous than Athena, then I’m not sure what will.
Works Cited
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