Thursday, June 11, 2009

A tale of Athene

It is said that Athene gave man knowledge of math and tools because she feel in love with a man. He was the reason that she destroyed Arachine, for she feared he would fall in love with her weaving had she spared her life.

It is said that Athene loved him unconditionally, and in order to protect him hid him mostly from the world and she alone could visit him. He was a gentle man, a farmer by nature, a provider by profession and so he grew Athene a garden. He filled it with all sorts of plants and she so he would not be lonely blessed it with animals.

He loved Athene with every bit of his soul and so he should for she was the only woman he had ever known. Brought to her temple as a baby he had known no other, interacting only with the priests. His innocence fascinated Athene and she guarded it above all things and prided herself on it.

Her relationship with him angered Zeus but there was little he could do about it. And in truth Athene did not care, she enjoyed rebelling against the wished of Zeus and Ares.
As all things go, man is born one day and another he is gone. And so it was the very garden the love of Athene had planted for her had been responsible for his death. He fell prey to the poison of a thorn. And Hades as it was his right laid claim to his soul.

Athene on her return as she had left him to tend to her godly duties raged and demanded his soul from Hades, but as the souls of the dead belong to Hades and they dwell in his domain she had no rights to claim. Hades enjoying the ranting of his niece refused every bargain that Athene offered him and the soul he kept.

Athene refusing to be parted from her one love broke into the underworld and stole her lover’s soul. Convinced that Hades would come for his soul and knowing she could not always be there to protect him stole away the souls of three others as well. She granted these three powers of demigods and gave them the charge to protect her love. For Athene had refused to defile the innocence that she so prided in her love.

And so day after day they warded off the minions of Hades, sent to retrieve the lost prize of their lord, the soul of the love of Athene. As it came about the men grew weary of returning to the land of the living, existing only to protect another. Unable to enjoy the simple pleasures they had began to crave for like love and other things that their charge did.

And perceiving Athene’s illicit love angered not only Hades but Zeus as well decided to make a bargain in exchange for their now un-enjoyed freedom. And so an accord they reached with the angered gods; that for the soul of Athene’s beloved they would be allowed to retain their powers for the eternity they lived outside the underworld.

And so as planned amongst the three when Athene left one morning to attend to her godly charges they stole away the soul of her love. But rather than deliver up his soul to Hades as planned they hid him deep with the core of the earth. Binding him in such a way, that anyone who tried to release him would have to defile the innocence that Athene so prided on unless they knew how he was bound. This secret the three kept to themselves and fled.

Zeus and Hades laughed at this trickery, for they had planned to default on their agreement delivering up the three to Athene. As it stood they had lost nothing and had enjoyed a good laugh.

As for Athene on returning and discovering her love gone went into rage, and sent her minions after her lover’s wards. But she had blessed them with powers of demigods and they were able to fight these off. And then Athene herself approached them on their betrayal at which they explained to her that if any of them were harmed the binder would be broken and her love would loose his innocence. At this Athene knowing they had done this to be able to enjoy the gift of love taught women the art of seduction. With this she hoped they would learn the secret of the three souls and thus free her love but more so to ensure that no matter the treachery man played there would always be a woman that she could use to subdue or destroy him.

3 comments:

  1. wow..ive never heard this one before..but the last sentence i like!

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  2. Hey, reason you never heard this before is cos I just made it up dear. That's why the story's so bad!!!

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  3. love this
    had a friend in secondary school who always toldme greek mythology

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