There once came a time in Ancient Greece when the first king of Athens, Cecrops (his name implying that he was half person and half snake) had to find a patron deity for the city state of Athens.
The two Olympian gods who were particularly interested in the patronage were Poseidon (Neptune), the god of the Seas and Athena(Minerva), the goddess of Wisdom and Skill. They presented themselves in front of Cecrops and Cecrops asked from them to offer a gift truly valuable for Athens.
Poseidon came first: he powerfully struck the earth and created a well with his trident ; immediately streaming water shot forth, but water turned out to be salty and not very useful for the population.
Next, it was goddess Athena’s turn. Athena stepped forward, struck her spear in the ground and then she kneeled and buried an olive branch in the ground, creating an olive tree as a symbolization of peace and prosperity.
Cecrops was very impressed by Athena’s gift- much more than that from Poseidon- so he chose Athena to lay claim of the city of Athens and Athens was named after her.
God Poseidon, however, was not pleased by the decision of Cecrops and cursed the city of Athens to never have enough water from then on; after that, a major problem of water shortage started in Athens, which continues until nowadays.
Athena was referred to with the epithet(s): Hippia("guide of the horses") , Nike("victorious") , Pallas("virgin") Soteira("Saviour")
