Who is the goddess Athena married to?

In Classical Greek myths, she never consorts with a lover, nor does she ever marry, earning the title Athena
Parthenos (Athena the Virgin). A remnant of archaic myth depicts her as the adoptive mother of
Erechtheus/Erichthonius through the foiled rape by Hephaestus.
Goddess of wisdom, war and the crafts, and favourite daughter of Zeus, Athena was, perhaps, the wisest, most
courageous, and certainly the most resourceful of the Olympian gods.
The Birth of Athena
Athena is said to have emerged fully formed from the head of Zeus, but there is a backstory. One of Zeus'
many loves was an Oceanid named Metis. When she became pregnant, the King of Gods remembered the danger
he posed to his own father, Cronos, and in turn, how Cronos dealt with his father Ouranos. Wary of continuing
the cycle of patricide, Zeus swallowed his lover.
But Metis, in the darkness of Zeus' interior, continued to carry her child.
The Judgement of Paris: In the unenviable position of judging a beauty contest between Hera, Athena, and
Aphrodite, the Trojan Paris put his money on the one Romans would call Venus. His prize:Helen of Troy, ne
Helen of Sparta, and the enmity of Athena, who would tirelessly back the Greeks in the Trojan War.
Athena Fact File
Occupation:
Goddess of Wisdom, Warcraft, Weaving, and Crafts
Other Names:
Pallas Athena, Athena Parthenos, and the Romans called her Minerva
Attributes:
Aegisa cloak with the head of Medusa upon it, spear, pomegranate, owl, helmet. Athena is described as grayeyed (glaukos).
Powers of Athena:
Athena is the goddess of wisdom and crafts. She is the patron of Athens.
Sources:
Ancient sources for Athena include: Aeschylus, Apollodorus, Callimachus, Diodorus Siculus,Euripides, Hesiod,
Homer, Nonnius, Pausanias, Sophocles and Strabo.
A Son for a Virgin Goddess:
Athena is a virgin goddess, but she has a son. Athena is credited with being part-mother of Erichthonius, a
half-snake half-man creature, through an attempted rape by Hephaestus, whose seed spilled on her leg. When
Athena wiped it off, it fell to earth (Gaia) who became the other part-mother.
The Parthenon:
The people of Athens built a great temple for Athena on the acropolis, or high point, of the city. The temple is
known as the Parthenon. In it was a colossal gold and ivory statue of the goddess. During the annual
Panathenaia festival, a procession was made to the statue and she was clothed in a new outfit.
More:
Since Athena was born without a mother -- sprung from her father's head -- in an important murder trial, she
decided that the role of the mother was less essential in creation than the role of the father. Specifically, she
sided with the matricide Orestes, who had kiled his mother Clytemnestra after she had killed her husband and
his father Agamemnon.
Dionysus

Dionysus is the god of wine and drunken revelry in Greek mythology. He is a patron of the theater and an
agricultural/fertility god. He was sometimes at the heart of frenzied madness that led to savage murder.
Writers often contrast Dionysus with his half-brother Apollo. Where Apollo personifies the cerebral aspects
of mankind, Dionysus represents the libido and gratification.
Occupation:
God
Family of Origin:
Dionysus was the son of the king of the Greek gods, Zeus, and Semele, the mortal daughter of Cadmus and
Harmonia of Thebes [see map section Ed]. Dionysus is called "twice born" because of the unusual manner in
which he grew: not only in a womb, but also in a thigh.
Dionysus the Twice-Born:
Hera, queen of the gods, jealous because her husband was playing around (again), took characteristic revenge:
She punished the woman. In this case, Semele.Zeus had visited Semele in human form, but claimed to be a god.
Hera persuaded her that she needed more than his word that he was divine.Zeus knew the sight of him in all
his splendor would prove fatal, but he had no choice, so he revealed himself. His lightning brightness killed
Semele, but first, Zeus took the unborn from her womb and sewed it inside his thigh. There it gestated until it
was time for birth.
Zeus
The Greek god Zeus was the top Olympian god in the Greek pantheon. After he took credit for rescuing his
brothers and sisters from their father Cronus, Zeus became king of heaven and gave his brothers, Poseidon
and Hades, the sea and the underworld, respectively, for their domains.
Zeus was the husband of Hera, but he had many affairs with other goddesses, mortal women, and female
animals. Zeus mated with, among others, Aegina, Alcmena, Calliope, Cassiopea, Demeter, Dione, Europa, Io,
Leda, Leto, Mnemosyne, Niobe, and Semele.
In the Roman pantheon, Zeus is known as Jupiter.
Family
Zeus is father of gods and men. A sky god, he controls lightning, which he uses as a weapon, and thunder. He is
king on Mount Olympus, the home of the Greek gods. He is also credited as the father of Greek heroes and the
ancestor of many other Greeks. Zeus mated with many mortals and goddesses but is married to his sister Hera
(Juno).
Zeus is the son of the Titans Cronus and Rhea.
He is the brother of his wife Hera, his other sisters Demeter and Hestia, and his brothers Hades,Poseidon.
Roman Equivalent:
The Roman name for Zeus is Jupiter and sometimes Jove. Jupiter is thought to be made up of a ProtoIndoeuropean word for god, *deiw-os, combined with the word for father, pater, like Zeus + Pater.
Attributes
Zeus is shown with a beard and long hair. His other attributes include scepter, eagle, cornucopia, aegis, ram,
and lion.
The cornucopia or (goat) horn of plenty comes from the story of his Zeus' infancy when he was nursed by
Amalthea.
Powers of Zeus
Zeus is a sky god with control over weather, especially of rain and lightning. He is King of the gods and a god of
oracles -- especially in the sacred oak at Dodona. In the story of the Trojan War, Zeus, as a judge, listens to

the claims of other gods in support of their side. He then renders decisions on acceptable behavior. He
remains neutral most of the time, allowing his son Sarpedon to die and glorifying his favorite, Hector.
Etymology of Zeus and Jupiter
The root of both "Zeus" and "Jupiter" is in a proto-Indo-European word for the often personified concepts of
"day/light/sky".
Zeus Abducts Mortals:
There are many myths about Zeus. Some involve demanding acceptable conduct of others, whether human or
divine. Zeus was enraged with the behavior of Prometheus. The titan had tricked Zeus into taking the nonmeat portion of the original sacrifice, so that mankind could enjoy the food. In response, the king of the gods
deprived mankind of the use of fire so they wouldn't be able to enjoy the boon they'd been granted, but
Prometheus found a way around this, and stole some of the gods' fire by hiding it in a stalk of fennel and then
giving it to mankind. Zeus punished Prometheus with having his liver pecked out every day.
But Zeus himself misbehaves -- at least according to human standards. It is tempting to say that his primary
occupation is that of seducer. In order to seduce, he sometimes changed his shape into that of an animal or
bird.
When he impregnated Leda, he appeared as a swan [see Leda and the Swan].
When he abducted Ganymede, he appeared as an eagle [see Zeus and Ganymede] in order to take Ganymede to
the home of the gods where he would replace Hebe as cupbearer; and
when Zeus carried off Europa, he appeared as a tempting white bull
[see Europa and Zeus] -- although why the Mediterranean women were so enamored of bulls is beyond the
imaginative capacities of this urban-dweller -- setting in motion the quest of Cadmus and the settling of
Thebes. The hunt for Europa provides one mythological version of the introduction of letters to Greece.
The Olympic Games were initially held to honor Zeus.
Theatre of Dionysus, prototype of Greek theatres, situated on the south side of the Acropolis in Athens, in
which all extant classical Greek plays were first presented. Development on the site began with the creation of
the orchestra, a circular floor of earth 60 feet in diameter with an altar at the centre. Placed adjacent to
temples of nature and of the fertility god Dionysus, the orchestra was used for dramatic performances, which,
together with a procession and sacrifice, composed the annual spring festival of the god. During the 5th
century bc, the theatre served as the locus of the contests in which the plays of Sophocles,Euripides,
Aeschylus, and Aristophanes (which developed from the Dionysian tradition) were first performed. At the
time, the auditorium, perhaps with wooden benches, was set into the hillside, and the skene, or building serving
as the background of the play, was built on the opposite side of the orchestra.
In the mid-4th century bc, raked tiers of stone seats capable of accommodating as many as 17,000 spectators
were constructed, as well as an enhanced stone skene. Major revisions, probably including the introduction of a
raised stage, were carried out in c. ad 61 under the Roman emperor Nero. After the 4th century the theatre
fell into disuse and decay. It was rediscovered in 1765, and major archaeological restoration was undertaken in
the late 1800s under archaeologist and Greek architectural authority Wilhelm Drpfeld.
Theatre of Dionysus, prototype of Greek theatres, situated on the south side of the Acropolis in Athens, in
which all extant classical Greek plays were first presented. Development on the site began with the creation of
the orchestra, a circular floor of earth 60 feet in diameter with an altar at the centre. Placed adjacent to
temples of nature and of the fertility god Dionysus, the orchestra was used for dramatic performances, which,
together with a procession and sacrifice, composed the annual spring festival of the god. During the 5th
century bc, the theatre served as the locus of the contests in which the plays of Sophocles,Euripides,

Aeschylus, and Aristophanes (which developed from the Dionysian tradition) were first performed. At the
time, the auditorium, perhaps with wooden benches, was set into the hillside, and the skene, or building serving
as the background of the play, was built on the opposite side of the orchestra.
In the mid-4th century bc, raked tiers of stone seats capable of accommodating as many as 17,000 spectators
were constructed, as well as an enhanced stone skene. Major revisions, probably including the introduction of a
raised stage, were carried out in c. ad 61 under the Roman emperor Nero. After the 4th century the theatre
fell into disuse and decay. It was rediscovered in 1765, and major archaeological restoration was undertaken in
the late 1800s under archaeologist and Greek architectural authority Wilhelm Drpfeld.