The myth has it that Zeus conceived Athena in the womb of the goddess Metis, but soon after he was afraid of the consequences that would ensue, as Gaea and Uranus told him that the children of Metis would have been more powerful than his father, was also Zeus himself.
To prevent this occurs Zeus turned into drops of water and swallowed the poor Metis, which became part of him.
But it was too late: the goddess had in fact already conceived a child.
Metis immediately began to make a robe and helmet for her daughter.
The hammer blows unleashed while building the helmet caused Zeus a terrible pain and from that moment the god was plagued by terrible headaches from which he found relief only through a stroke of double ax that Hephaestus struck him on the skull.
Athena sprang out from the wound she was already adult and armed, in this way Zeus came out, battered but alive, from a bad mishap.
As we said Athena is the daughter of Zeus (the strongest of the gods) and Metis (the wisest), and both inherited their main characteristics, so as to become herself, importance and power, the second of the Olympian gods : symbol of a perfect and balanced blend of strength and intelligence.
The devotion that the Athenians had in respect of the goddess is also evidenced by the continued use for centuries of the city's coins: the owl and the olive branch, both symbols of the goddess.
