Athena Sthenias, Athena the Strong, done in pen and
ink with colored inks on tinted paper.

Sthenias (‘the Strong’, ‘of Strength’, or ‘the Powerful’), is an epithet of Athena by which She was known in the city of Troizen in the Argolis, a region of Greece in the Peloponnese to the south of Corinth. Her temple in Troizen was located on the acropolis or citadel there, a common place for a temple of Athena given Her long association with citadels or fortified palaces, which goes back to (at least) Mycenaean times. The epithet ‘Sthenias’ has its root in the Greek word sthénos (σθένος), which encompasses ideas like force, might, power, strength, and vigor, generally physical; in later times it came to include moral or emotional strength as well. In Troizen She was also called Polias, meaning ‘of the City’, and both Polias and Sthenias mark Her as a guardian of the city of Troizen, Her strength lying in Her ability to protect the city from harm.

Troizen was said to have been originally sacred to Poseidon, the sea God, and so was at first named Poseidonia; but in the time of the legendary King Oros Athena staked Her own claim over it and She and Poseidon fought over Troizen as They had once done for Athens. In this case however Zeus put an end to it, and commanded that They share the city between Them; and from then on both Poseidon and Athena were honored there equally. King Oros in legend is called autochthonous, meaning ‘self-sprung from the soil’, or primally indigenous to a place; his daughter, Leis, was by Poseidon the mother of another king, Althepos. Poseidon was honored in Troizen with the title basileus, or King; and I have to wonder if Athena’s addition to the protective Deities of Troizen might be a mythical explanation alluding to the political reach of Athens, as Athens was very much Her city. The coins of Troizen referred to both Divine guardians, usually showing a dolphin and/or trident on one side for Poseidon with the head of Athena on the other, though She was not depicted wearing a military helmet but a simple tainia or tied headband or fillet.

Athena Sthenias’s temple on the acropolis of Troizen was famous for having a wooden statue (xoanon) of the Goddess carved by one Kallon, who flourished in the late sixth century BCE; this statue was seen by Pausanias in the second century CE, when it must have been several hundred years old. Foundations of the several temples at Troizen, including Athena’s, remain today.

The bright Goddess Athena is profoundly entangled with the dark Gorgones, three monstrous sisters of legend, said to have appearances so frightening that just seeing them will turn one to stone. They share imagery of both birds and snakes—Athena’s birds include of course Her owl, as well as Her ability to transform Herself into an eagle (as in the Odyssey), while the Gorgones are said to have great wings of bronze. Athena is associated with snakes through the half-serpent child Erechthonios, whom She brought up, and who was represented by the great snake often shown supporting Her shield. And the aigis, the goat-skin She bears which represents the raw power of the thunderstorm was depicted as edged with snakes.

The Gorgones are also much associated with Poseidon, like Athena. In a late legend, Medusa (‘Queen’) was once a beautiful woman famed for Her long, lustrous hair. But when Poseidon ‘lay with’ (raped) her in one of Athena’s temples, Athena was so enraged by the desecration of Her sacred space that She transformed Medusa into a hideous monster with snakes replacing Her hair. (I assume that Athena took out Her wrath on Medusa, the victim, instead of Poseidon, the perpetrator because, one, patriarchy, and two, She couldn’t do much against Poseidon Himself as a fellow Deity.) That’s a late legend, though; others maintain that Medusa was always a monster. When Medusa was slain by the ‘hero’ Perseus, Athena took Medusa’s decapitated head and affixed it to the aigis.

Athena Herself could sometimes be called Medusa, or ‘Queen’; and She was so connected with the Gorgones that in Greek drama She could actually be called ‘Gorgon’ (by Euripedes), or Gorgopis ‘Gorgon-eyed’, by Sophocles. And Athena shares Her epithet of Sthenias at Troizen with Medusa’s sister Sthenno (‘the Strong’), which comes from the same root.

It is also interesting to remember that while Athena can be called Medusa or ‘Queen’, at Troizen Poseidon was called basileus or ‘King’. Lastly, Troizen was said to have a spring created by Pegasos, the offspring of Medusa and Poseidon.