ation from his own self, justly his favourite child, his better
and purer counterpart, received from him several important prerogatives.
She was permitted to hurl the thunderbolts, to prolong the life of man, and
to bestow the gift of prophecy; in fact Athene was the only divinity whose
authority was equal to that of Zeus himself, and when he had ceased to
visit the earth in person {44} she was empowered by him to act as his
deputy. It was her especial duty to protect the state and all peaceful
associations of mankind, which she possessed the power of defending when
occasion required. She encouraged the maintenance of law and order, and
defended the right on all occasions, for which reason, in the Trojan war
she espouses the cause of the Greeks and exerts all her influence on their
behalf. The Areopagus, a court of justice where religious causes and
murders were tried, was believed to have been instituted by her, and when
both sides happened to have an equal number of votes she gave the
casting-vote in favour of the accused. She was the patroness of learning,
science, and art, more particularly where these contributed directly
towards the welfare of nations. She presided over all inventions connected
with agriculture, invented the plough, and taught mankind how to use oxen
for farming purposes. She also instructed mankind in the use of numbers,
trumpets, chariots, &c., and presided over the building of the Argo,[20]
thereby encouraging the useful art of navigation. She also taught the
Greeks how to build the wooden horse by means of which the destruction of
Troy was effected.

The safety of cities depended on her care, for which reason her temples
were generally built on the citadels, and she was supposed to watch over
the defence of the walls, fortifications, harbours, &c. A divinity who so
faithfully guarded the best interests of the state, by not only protecting
it from the attacks of enemies, but also by developing its chief resources
of wealth and prosperity, was worthily chosen as the presiding deity of the
state, and in this character as an essentially political goddess she was
called Athene-Polias.

The fact of Athene having been born clad in armour, which merely signified
that her virtue and purity were unassailable, has given rise to the
erroneous supposition that she was the presiding goddess of war; but a
deeper {45} study of her character in all its bearings proves that, in
contradistinction to her brother