ATHENA
Patron Goddess of Athens
Goddess of battle strategy, wisdom, and home crafts.
Her symbols are an owl and shield.
Athena and Athens
Athena won the hearts of the people of Athens after a contest with Poseidon.
Both Poseidon and Athena wanted to worshipped by the people
of Athens. In a contest Athena offered the city an olive tree and Poseidon
struck his trident into the Acropolis and produced a stream.
The people of Athens decided that the olive tree
was more useful to them than the stream.
While exploring the Acropolis you will see an olive tree planted there.
This, of course, is not the original tree, but represents the gift of
Athena to the people of Greece.
Even though Poseidon did not become the patron god of Athens,
he has a shrine inside of the Erechteion next to the shrine of Athena.