The birth of Athena

The king of the gods Zeus was the father of Athena and her mother was Metis, which means wisdom. Zeus was told before Athena was born, that any child girl or boy born of Metis would be more powerful than it's father. Zeus was very worried by this and decided to swallow Metis before she gave birth to the child.

Some time later Zeus began to have terrible headaches. The pain grew so unbearable that Zeus asked ( the god of fire, volcanoes, blacksmiths and craft workers) Hephaistos to cut open Zeus' head to see what was wrong.

When Hephaistos opened Zeus' head Athena emerged from Zeus' skull, fully grown and dressed for battle.