Athene

• plays an important role in bk 1 - secures Zeus' approval for Ody's release from Calypso
• then she visits Telemachus
• she links Olympus, Odysseus and Ithaca
• her presence is felt in the Phaeacia books
• she provides Ody with the olive-bush bed, clothes via Nausicaa, directions to the palace, an audience in the assembly and witnesses to his winning discus shot
• bk 13 - Athene engages with him as if she is talking to an equal
• she appears as a shepherd boy
• when he asks where he is, she says he must be a simpleton not to know
• only she could address him like this and not get a hostile, indignant response
• Athene lets him finish his lying tale
• now a tall, beautful woman, she teasingly caresses him with her hand and mocks him for being a trickster who cannot resist making up stories
• the 2 act like partners in crime, delighting in their talent for ingenuity and ready to embark upon a cunning scheme to defeat the Suitors
• Athene helps P, prompting her to action, beautifying her or sending her to sleep as needed
• we come to see her as a kindly presence