Nothing says sibling rivalry like two Greek war gods. That’s right, folks. We’re jumping back into the Agrippina Files, focusing our energy on Ares and Athena, the god of war and the goddess of wisdom and battle strategy, respectively. We hope this article and others that will follow it will lead to a more significant project sometime in the future.
So, let’s start. The research we’ve done might surprise you. Just a quick FYI: our information here is not from any one version of mythology. It will come from all over as the myths are everywhere.
Zeus’ Heirs
The King of Gods, Zeus, has many children, both god and mortal, and he’s a well-known womaniser. However, he has a handful of legitimate heirs via his three wives. However, Hesiod says there were up to seven wives. Yes, you read that right. According to myth, he had three wives. His most notable spouse is Hera, his third wife; we’ll return to her.
So, Zeus’ first wife was Metis, an Oceanid and a cousin of the King of the Gods. She helped him overthrow his father, Kronos, by tricking him into throwing up the other siblings.
Athena and Ares are the two heirs heavily featured in this article.
Athena – Daughter Of Zeus And Metis
A prophecy told that Metis would bear Zeus two children: a daughter who would be wiser than her mother and a son who would be more powerful than his father. Other sources say that the girl would be as strong as her father. Zeus feared the son would overthrow him, so he turned Metis into a fly or a drop of water (depending on the source) and swallowed her. However, she was already pregnant.
One day, he had a terrible headache and had to have someone smash open his head to relieve the pain. Athena emerged from her father’s head, fully grown and dressed in battle armour. The sources vary as to who smashed open his head. Some versions of the story say it was Hephaestus. Others say it was Prometheus.
Metis did give birth to a son, Porus, but the child was not Zeus’.
Zeus’ Many Children With Themis
After swallowing Metis, Zeus married his aunt, Themis, who would become the mother of the Moirai, better known as The Fates and several other children. However, these offspring were not considered heirs as they weren’t gods like Athena.
Children Both Between Hera And Zeus
Now, we have the children born between Zeus and his third (or seventh) wife, Hera. She had several children via her brother-husband. Among them includes Ares, Hebe, Hephaestus (depending on the source), Eris, Angelos, and Arge. There are others.
Ares
A son of Zeus and Hera, Ares and Athena have many similarities, but at the same time, they have a lot of differences. For instance, they’re both war deities who cater to different aspects.
Ares caters to bloodshed and bloodlust, while Athena deals with battle strategy. His city-state is Sparta. Athena’s is Athens, which she won in a contest with their uncle, Poseidon.
There was a fierce rivalry between the half-siblings and their city-states.
Moreover, Ares was jealous of Athena because she was Zeus’ favourite child.
Rivalry
Athena and Ares are often depicted as taking opposing sides. For example, Athena sided with the Greeks during the Trojan War, while Ares sided with the Trojans. There is even one story where the goddess defeated her brother in a fight.
During the Trojan War, Athena beat Ares with a boulder to the head, and their father, Zeus, had to intervene and stop them. There were also other conflicts between them, and Athena emerged as the victor every time.
The rivalry goes even further. The Greeks preferred Athena over Ares as they named their city-state after her: Athens.
Who Would Emerge As Zeus’ True Successor?
Given her track record, the victor would be Athena. She has the intelligence and the patience to be Queen of Olympus. Ares would rather see the world burn than deal with keeping a level head. Would he try to usurp his sister? He could attempt it, but he wouldn’t get far.
