Athena

Also known as: Athena Daughter of Zeus / Pallas / Pallas the Gracious / She of the Mighty Father / The Trito-born / the Child of Thunderer Zeus / the Goddess / the Immortal One celestial / the Trito-born / the aweless Maid / the glorious Trito-born / the haughty Trito-born · Family: Gods · Role: goddess · First appears: Book I · Part 1

At Priam’s halls, Athena commanded a deceitful dream to appear to Penthesileia in her father’s likeness and urge her to fight Achilles. In Book III, Athena saw Achilles’ corpse and anointed it with ambrosia to keep it from decay. In Book V, she smote Ajax son of Telamon with madness, turning him from the Argives to slaughtering sheep, then removed the madness and its deception from his mind and eyes. At the last in Book VII, she inspired the Argives with courage against Eurypylus; at Troy in Book VII, she gave the Achaeans glory in battle.

At Olympus in Book VIII, she was about to fight Ares, but Zeus’ thunder deterred them both. She then left Troy for Athens. At Lemnos in Book IX, she caused Philoctetes’ anger toward Odysseus and Diomedes to melt away. In Book XII, she appeared in a dream to Epeius, bade him build the wooden Horse, and promised to aid him in the work. At Xanthus’ stream in Book XII, Ares charged her and the Immortals fought until Themis warned them; they stopped and made peace.

In Book XII, Athena struck Laocoon blind and sent serpents that seized and killed his sons. After Ajax son of Oileus assaulted Cassandra in Athena’s temple in Book XIII, she vowed vengeance; in Book XIV, she recalled the outrage and received Zeus’ permission to bring a ruinous storm upon the Argive fleet. She sent Iris to order Aeolus to release the winds, and at Caphereus the storm wrecked the Achaean fleet, with many men perishing at sea. She also struck Ajax son of Oileus’ ship with a thunderbolt, shattering it and casting its crew into the sea.