Contrast of Eastern and Western Goddess of War

【Abstract】Athena， she is also called she Pallas Athena， the daughter of Zeus and Metis， and one of the Dodekatheon. She is in charge of intelligence， war， agriculture， the dark clouds，the power of thunder and lightning， horticulture， graziery， and law. Empyrean Fairy，she is a blue bird of Xiwangmu，and she is the teacher of Huangdi. Athena is the western goddess of war and Empyrean Fairy is the Orients. This paper contracts these two goddesses.

【Key words】Athena； Empyrean Fairy

1. Introduction

Athena and Empyrean Fairy are the goddess of war in each own civilization， they have many similarities and differences. We can contrast them to explore some eastern and western military thoughts.

2. Similarities

2.1 Appearance

They are both zoomorphic deities at first. Actually they are birds. Athenas appearance mix the features of the primitive vulture goddess and force factors： she has a substantial shield， appears with some birds （pigeons， duck， gulls） （Odyssey）， “But when she was about to bear Athena of gleaming eyes…” and so on， words “gray” and ”gleaming” are a group of contradictive words， but they are the features of owls eyes， it shows that Athena has eyes of owls.

Empyrean Fairy is a blue bird. From egg of god—sent swallow Qi sprang， forefather of the House of Shang； The “swallow”is Empyrean Fairy.

2.2 Wisdom

Both of two goddesses have intelligence. Athena takes charge of wisdom in the Greek and Roman mythology. She is the daughter of Zeus and Metis， who is the original goddess of wisdom. She was born in the head of Zeus， while the brain controls the intelligence （Theogony）. Empyrean Fairy is the teacher of Huangdi. （a）When Huangdi was fighting with Chiyou， she teach Huangdi “奇門遁甲，陰符” to defeat his enemies.

3. Differences

3.1 Sex

Athena is one of three virginal goddesses in Greek mythology. Athena is also called Pallas Athena， Pallas means “virgin” in Greek， and her fane， Parthenon means virginal boudoir. A diviner who is called Tiresias snooped the goddess took shower， the goddess make him blind；

Empyrean Fairy is the originator of Taoist sexual practices. The book 《列仙傳》 said that Huangdi asked Empyrean Fairy： Then Empyrean Fairy gave Huangdi five books called 《玄女經》to teach Huangdi Taoist sexual practices.

4. Conclusion

Myth can reflect ancestors world views， Cognition of things， and knowledge of the world in some degree. Image of the goddess of war reflects the cognition of war. We analyze the appearance of eastern and western goddesses， we can infer some similarities and differences of military thoughts.

References：

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[4]Barringer，JudithM.Hurvvit，JeffreyM.eds.，Periklean Athens and Its Legacy：Problems and Perspectives，University of TexasPress，2005.

作者簡介：史鵬程，男，山西長治人，山西師范大學外國語學院，碩士在讀。