The Naming of Athens

The Contention of Poseidon and Athena
Early in the mythic history of ancient Greece, during the reign of serpent-man, King Kekrops, the gods decided to lay claim to cities across Greece, so that each god could receive their own worship from humanity. As a result, some territories became contested lands for the gods. Kekrops' kingdom, Kekropia, became one of those contested lands when both Poseidon and Athena attempted to laid claim to it.


 * ''"Kekrops, a son of the soil, with a body compounded of man and serpent, was the first king of Attika . . . In his time, they say, the gods resolved to take possession of cities in which each of them should receive his own peculiar worship."


 * -Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3.14.1, 2nd Century A.D. (Translated by Frazer)


 * ''"The strife of the gods (Athena and Poseidon) who contended over her (the land formally known as Kekropia) and their judgement testify to the truth of our statement."


 * -Plato, Menexenus 237c, 4th Century B.C. (Translated by Fowler)

Athena and Poseidon Lay Their Claims
Poseidon acted first to try and lay claim to Kekropia by striking his spear atop of an area of ground that would one day be risen by Athena to form the Acropolis. At the point where his mighty spear landed a spring erupted, but it was a spring of briny ocean water. This spring was later known as "The Sea of Erechtheus," and was located beneath the Erechtheion, a temple located atop the Acropolis in modern-day Athens. This spring has long since stopped producing water, but was a sacred site in ancient Greece.

Athena, in retaliation, struck her great spear into the ground nearby, and a great olive tree sprung fourth. This tree was also considered sacred and was located in the Pandrosion, which was just outside the walls of the Erechtheion. This tree was said to have been burnt down by the Persians, but miraculously grew back. In modern times, this olive tree is no longer present.


 * "So Poseidon was the first that came to Attika, and with a blow of his trident on the middle of the acropolis, he produced a sea which they now call Erekhtheis. After him came Athena, and, having called on Kekrops to witness her act of taking possession, she planted an olive tree, which is still shown in the Pandrosion."


 * -Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3.14.1, 2nd Century A.D. (Translated by Frazer)

A Vote of the Gods
Athena and Poseidon's contention grew to be to great that the other gods decided to intervene. Zeus split the arguing pair away from one another and appointed gods to act as intermediaries between the two arguing sides. Zeus then commanded that the rest of the Twelve Olympians vote to determine which of the two gods would become the patron of Kekropia, and Kekrops served as a witness. The gods based their votes on the quality of the gifts given to the land by Athena and Poseidon, and it was determined that Athena's olive tree was the superior gift. So it was decided that Athena would be the patron deity of Kekropia, which was soon renamed to "Athens" in Athena's honor. Poseidon was enraged by this, and threatened to drown all of Athens in a flood, but Zeus intervened a second time. He sent Hermes to send a message to Poseidon forbidding him from flooding Athens.


 * "But when the two strove for possession of the country, Zeus parted them and appointed arbiters, not, as some have affirmed, Kekrops and Kranaus, nor yet Erysikhthon, but the twelve gods (dodekatheoi). And in accordance with their verdict the country was adjudged to Athena, because Kekrops bore witness that she had been the first to plant the olive. Athena, therefore, called the city Athens after herself, and Poseidon in hot anger flooded the Thriasian plain and laid Attika under the sea."


 * -Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3.14.1, 2nd Century A.D. (Translated by Frazer)


 * "When there was a contest between Neptunus [Poseidon] and Minerva [Athena] as to who should be the first to found a town in the Attic land, they took Jove [Zeus] as judge. Minerva [Athena] won because she first planted the olive in that land, said to be there to this day. But Neptunus [Poseidon], in anger, wanted to have the sea flood that land. Mercurius [Hermes], at Jove's [Zeus'] command, forbade his doing that. And so Minerva [Athena] in her own name founded Athens, a town said to be the first established in the world."


 * -Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 164, 2nd Century A.D. (Translated by Grant)