[Tidbits] Athena

Kul-Oba–meaning “hill of ash” in Crimean Tatar–is an ancient
archaeological burial site located near Kerch in eastern Crimea,
Ukraine, on the right side of the M25 road to Feodosiya. These exact
geographical directions are for those of you who might one day want
to go for a bit of a walk-about with the thought of visiting an
ancient grave.

There once was a great Olympian goddess of war, wise council, heroic
endeavour, weaving, pottery, and other crafts, who was often
depicted crowned with a crested helmetm armed with a shield and a
spear, wearing a snake-trimmed collar adorned with the head of a
Gorgon. She was born out of the head of her father fully grown and
arrayed in arms and ready for battle. Her name was Athena. Her
father was Zeus.

Once upon a time back in the 1830’s on the slope of a mountain near
Kersh some soldiers came across a rich tomb in which Bosporan–a
noble–and his wife and slave were buried. They found jewelry
galore.

Athena’s mother was supposedly Metis … first wife of Zeus. But
when Metis was pregnant with her … Zeus swallowed her up … fetus
and all … and thus later gave birth to this warrior child who
sprang forth from his head. This of course had the enormous
advantage of avoiding labor pains and perhaps later even an
episiotomy. However … as a matter of counter-consequence … the
decision may have been a tad rash when considering what must have
been an enormous ensuing headache. The lesson to be learned here is
that no matter how great the god is and was–such as Zeus–making a
mistake can easily turn into a severe migraine.

There are others who say Athena was the daughter of Pallas–a winged
giant–and there are still others who say she was the daughter of
Poseidon. Still … I favor the Zeus version. When aspiring for a
god for a father … aspire for the top man I always say.

There are more stories of Athena than there are of the jewelry found
in the tomb … and since this is supposed to be about jewelry and
its related subjects … I shall try to refrain from historical
pedantry other than to say that among the divinities Athena was
considered to be the most ethical of them all … with a harmonious
blend of wisdom and power imbued into her soul. Not bad for a
goddess for whom jewelry and other knick-knacks were created.

So …

Among the things the soldiers found in the tomb was a stunning gold
temple pendant of Athena … intricate in its carvings and detail …
and quite perfect to even the most critical eye. When they made
jewelry in them thar days … they made jewelry.

For those of you who are new to this thing called Tidbits…may I
direct you to my home page at http://www.tyler-adam.com where you
will scroll down the left side menu till you get to the area that
says Current Tidbits. Click it … and you will see represented on
our pages … a gold temple pendant of Athena.

And there ya have it. That’s it for this week folks.
Catch you all next week.
Benjamin Mark