“Athena leaped from Zeus's head, fully grown and armed, with a shout— "and pealed to the broad sky her clarion cry of war. And Ouranos trembled to hear, and Mother Gaia" (Pindar, Seventh Olympian Ode).” O_O ikr. random, but awesome. unrelated though.
So this is just a list of theories as to why I think the Romans hate Athena.Which is weird, cause Jason never really hated Annabeth… or any child of Athena.. hm. Leave a comment and tell me what you think! I have no life now that its summer so I’ll be on here… too much reading all these… I hope…
1.Statement: Romans DON’T like Athena
a.Evidence: um. This was definitely pretty obvious, and the main reason for this article, but I’ve put some quotes in here. So I have quotes.
I.“’Oh I know who you are!’…’A child of Athena, Minerva’s Greek form. Scandalous! You Greeks have no sense of decency. We Romans know the proper place for that goddess.”
II.“’You may climb down your ladder to New Rome, daughter of Athena. Please try not to destroy my town.”
b.Possible reasons
I.Okay, so I’m an APUSH dork and went straight for the history aspect and found some semi interesting things… For example, Athens (Athena’s city) revolted against Rome.. a lot and at one point Roman soldiers came in and practically destroyed it, including the entire library of Aristotle. So… maybe the Roman’s don’t like Athena because she doesn’t like them. I mean Greek gods and Roman gods are separate, but maybe Athena somehow stayed powerful in Athens and there was a little somethingsomething arguation fight goin on? Dang. This is like the Ancient World Soap channel. DRAMAH. Anyways…

II.“There were some who resisted this Greek influence on every aspect of life. For example, Cato the Elder prophesied Rome's demise; he considered everything Greek to be suspect; he even mistrusted Greek actors, claiming that they only wanted to poison Romans.Indeed some Greeks might have had every reason to hate the Romans, who had devastated their home, robbed temples and public buildings, decimated the population and brought many Greeks to Rome as slaves”

So, Wikipedia quote I know, but it’s about Roman’s resisting Greek’s influence on their culture. Relation? Maybe. Am I getting off topic? Probably. But it’s almost relevant. Athena was the goddess of craftsmanship so maybe she was more influential than some of the Roman gods wanted her to be? This is building off my last point too, the whole she remained powerful in Athens thing. Side note, she was also a patron of Sparta. (SPAAAHHHRRTAHHH!!! YAAARRGHH!!!) echhem. Ignore that.

III. “Minerva was worshipped throughout Italy, though only in Rome did she take on the warlike character shared by Athena.”

If Athena was more warlike, maybe that is why she’s deemed “indecent” by the anti-weapons Terminus. But, again, this was a Wikipedia quote. Errors are likely. But I kinda like this one too...

IV.Unless I’m drastically mistaken here, Rick said something about Aeneas helping to found Rome? And Aeneas was an escaping Trojan, and Athena sided with the Greeks in the Trojan war, even giving Odysseus the idea of using the wooden horse. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you better be 10&U. Now go look it up;)) So maybe they hate her because she fought their founder? Waaaay long shot. But whatevs. It could happen.

V.So basically here I was just trying to show that maybe the reason Romans don’t like Athena but do like Minerva lies in some obscure myth/history lesson, that’s all.. So! Leave a comment, share your ideas, rant about how much MOA needSTOCOMEOUTNOWORIMGOINGTOEXPLODe. Sorry. That was unprofessional. Anywayyys… comment! *points wand* COMMENTUS!!!!

-luvseaweedbrain out-

PS. Am I the only one who saw the cover and started freaking out like a fangirl because Percy and Jaon are going to fight? Can I be the only one who wants the Romans and the Greeks to get along horribly and there be fighting and name calling and stabbing and OCTAVIANDYING. Well maybe not that last part. But seriously, after Percabeth reunion, THIS IS WHAT I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FORWARD TO.

well now i feel like a terrible person -___-