Article. Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, Vol. 83, 1952,pp. 130-143.
Wesleyan University.
A paper on the birth of Athena should try to justify its existence at the outset by stating the methodological principles whereby it hopes to throw fresh light on the subject. The author takes as his motto what Jaeger says apropos of myth in Hesiod in Paideia: "Myth is like an organism which undergoes incessant transformation and renovation. The poet completes that transformation: but he does so not simply at his own whim. For it is he who creates a new life-pattern for his age, and he reinterprets the myth to harmonize with his knowledge of that pattern. Only by the incessant metamorphosis of its central idea can the myth continue to live."' Translating this notion of myth into a methodology, the author assumes that (1) the focus of attention in the study of Greek mythology should be on concrete representations of myth in art and literature; (2) the intensive analysis of particular concrete versions of a myth should be directed at grasping the individuality of each version, its differences from other versions; (3) the individual version should be seen as an innovation in the mythological tradition of the culture; (4) the innovations in the tradition should be seen in historical context, as responses to changing human experience.2 To attempt a philosophic justification of these assumptions would be out of place, and of doubtful value: in the last resort their validity depends on the results.Methodology.
The Birth of Athena in Hesiod's Theogony.
The Ax-blow to the Head of Zeus.
Athena in Homer: Origin of the Myth.
