When a lady in a supercar rolled up to a bar where I was sitting outside, promptly opened the wing-like doors, and perched herself on the bonnet to the tune of Missy Elliott's Work It, I knew I'd found my Athenian muse. The image I could mould in clay to best capture the essence of this queeeeen was right in front of me. Unapologetically badass and bristling with humour, Athena was someone you'd meet and immediately be in awe of: your mate's fit older sister, the history teacher you could swear was giving you the eye, and, in my case, the archetypal love-at-first-sight bestie and unsettlingly attractive stepsister.

Almost the complete opposite of me in temperament, Athena was one of the most influential deities in the Greek pantheon because she embodied the qualities the Greeks believed transformed human society: wisdom, skill, foresight, and disciplined action. While many gods were associated with overwhelming power, passion, or destruction, Athena represented intelligence applied to real-world problems. She was the goddess of strategic warfare, practical knowledge, craftsmanship, and civic order.

She was not merely a symbol of wisdom but an active force in myth. Athena was born fully grown and armed from the head of Zeus, a remarkable origin that linked her directly to divine authority and intellect. Unlike Ares, who personified the violence, fury, and chaos of battle, Athena represented planning, discipline, and military strategy. Whereas Ares embodied war's destructive impulses, Athena embodied the judgement required to wage and survive it.

The Greeks looked to Athena as a patron of civilisation itself. She was associated with weaving, shipbuilding, craftsmanship, and the practical arts that allowed communities to flourish. Rather than ruling through fear or force, she presided over the skills, technologies, and knowledge that turned settlements into cities and labour into culture. Her gifts were not miracles but the tools of human achievement.

What made Athena remarkable was her union of wisdom and action. She was neither a detached philosopher nor a reckless warrior. She represented the idea that intelligence is most valuable when put to practical use—whether in government, craftsmanship, warfare, or daily life. For the Greeks, Athena stood as a powerful symbol of humanity's capacity to create order, solve problems, and build lasting civilisation through skill, judgement, and reason.