House of Athena

Copied from the ORK

Description: We are an academy created to promote learning. We encourage our members to push their boundaries, moving out of their zone of comfort and trying everything that Amtgard has to offer. If they are stick-jockeys, we teach them to flurb. If they are armorers, we teach them to garb. We learn from each other, no person considered to be a "teacher", but instead a democracy for a school. Our Master and Mistress ensure that the Household is running smoothly. Our Head Student oversees all the leads, providing assistance when necessary. Our Lead students are responsible for encouraging other students to learn the different aspects of their specialty, holding workshops and bringing in outsiders, such as Knights, who can enrich our knowledge base.

We have three levels of achievement. The first is Student. To be a Student all you have to do is show a desire to learn; they are represented with a belt favor of a pair of wings. A Knowledgeable Student has fulfilled certain requirements and has shown adequacy in the different areas Amtgard provides; they are represented with a belt favor of an owl. A Master Student is the highest ranking. Students who achieve this status have shown a high level of proficiency in a variety of areas and have fulfilled a rather rigorous list of requirements. These Students receive a tabard with the head of Athena on it and can wear a belt favor with the same symbol.

History:

Created on October 4th, 2006 by Master Bran and Mistress Sita.

In Greek mythology, Athena was the goddess of civilization, specifically wisdom, weaving, crafts, and war. Athena's wisdom encompasses the technical knowledge employed in weaving, metal-working, and war, but also includes cunning intelligence.

She is attended by an owl and is often shown helmeted and with a shield bearing the Gorgon Medusa's head, a votive gift of Perseus. Athena is an armed warrior goddess, and appears in Greek mythology as a helper of many heroes, including Heracles, Jason, and Odysseus. She never had a consort or lover, and thus was often known as Athena Parthenos ("Athena the virgin").

In the Olympian pantheon, Athena was remade as the favorite daughter of Zeus, born fully armed from his forehead. The story of her birth comes in several versions. In the one most commonly cited, Zeus lay with Metis, the goddess of crafty thought and wisdom, but immediately feared the consequences. It had been prophesied that Metis would bear children more powerful than the sire, even Zeus himself. In order to forestall these dire consequences, Zeus transformed Metis into a fly and swallowed her immediately after lying with her. He was too late: Metis had already conceived a child. Metis immediately began making a helmet and robe for her fetal daughter. The hammering as she made the helmet caused Zeus great pain and Prometheus, Hephaestus, Hermes or Palaemon (depending on the sources examined) cleaved Zeus's head with the double-headed Minoan axe (labrys). Athena leaped from Zeus's head, fully grown and armed, and Zeus was none the worse for the experience.

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