Despite the close connection between the goddess and the city, it was believed that Athena had once been forced to compete to win her pre-eminent position. In the time of the first king, Kekrops, the god Poseidon, discontented with his dominion over the seas, and jealous of the authority his brother Zeus exercised over the land, was determined to extend his own influence. One day he appeared on the Acropolis to demonstrate his power and usefulness to the citizens. In the presence of the king and people, he struck a great blow with his trident on the rock, and a saltwater spring gushed out. At that point, the goddess Athena appeared and caused an olive tree to emerge out of the ground. As it grew to maturity and fruitfulness in front of their eyes, she explained the many ways in which its fruit could be useful to them. Kekrops and his people were so impressed that they pledged their loyalty to Athena.
Angry and humiliated, Poseidon challenged Athena to single combat, but Zeus intervened to keep the peace, appointing the gods as arbiters. All the gods supported Poseidon, while the goddesses each voted for Athena. As their president, Zeus was obliged to remain neutral, leaving the goddesses with a majority of one; and so the city was awarded to Athena.
Humanities
The resentful sea-god caused a disastrous flood on the plain, and in order to conciliate him, the men of Athens decided no longer to be known by their mothers' names, as had been the custom in the past, but to use their fathers' names instead. They also deprived the women of all their civic rights: even of the right to call themselves Athenians.
The print of Poseidon's trident on the rock was shown to visitors down to Roman times. The source of the salt water lay within the Erechtheion. Pausanias described it as a deep well, and claimed that when the south wind blew, the waves of the sea could be heard from inside. The olive-tree planted by Athena was exhibited in the Pandrosion, just to the west of the Erechtheion, down to the second century AD. Although apparently destroyed when it was burned by the Persians in 480 BC, on the return of the Athenians it put out new shoots.
Behind these stories seems to lie the memory of a deliberate choices which the Athenians made at some date in their past, to give precedence to the cultivation of the olive tree over sea-faring, and to recognize males as possessing superior status over females.
Acropolis - The Contest Between Athena and Poseidon
Learn more about Ancient Greece, Athens and Greece in general.
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