Powers: Goddess of wisdom, war, weaving and other "women's crafts"; patroness of sculptors
Bird: Owl
Athene was the daughter of Zeus and Metis, according to most sources, and was born from his head. There are other legends regarding her birth; among them are the beliefs that she wasthe daughter of a monster, Pallas, that she was the daughter of Poseidon (originally), and others (please click here for details).
Athene was the goddess of war. In this capacity she was definitely superior to Ares, the god of war. She represented carefully planned strategy and intelligently fought warfare; he represented brute force and bloodlust. She defeated him whenever she fought him (directly or indirectly). She was a superior fighter as well as a better strategist. As time went on, this role became less important; her role as goddess of wisdom was important.
This introduction is brief, because many individual myths are dealt with in the specific sections about Athene.