In Greek mythology, Athena was born from Zeus’s union with the Titaness Metis.
Metis was an ancient goddess of wisdom, cunning thought, and good counsel. She was Zeus’s first wife in the genealogy presented by Hesiod’s Theogony. A prophecy warned Zeus that Metis would bear children who might eventually surpass him, so Zeus swallowed her while she was pregnant.
Athena later emerged from Zeus’s head, fully armed. This unusual birth connected her to Zeus’s authority and to the intellectual qualities represented by Metis. Ancient sources do not all narrate the event identically, but the relationship between Metis and Athena is a well-established feature of Greek mythology.
Metis should not be confused with Hera, Zeus’s wife in the Olympian family tradition. Athena was associated with wisdom, crafts, civic order, and strategic warfare, while Metis was an earlier divine personification of intelligent counsel.