Athens
The City of Athena
Athens was the great Greek city of the goddess Athena, a hub of culture and worship. When Ares laid siege to it, Kratos was sent to save the city, a quest that ended with his slaying of Ares and his rise as the new God of War.
Athens was a great Greek city, the city of the goddess Athena and a hub of Greek culture and worship. When Ares laid siege to it out of his hatred for Athena, Kratos was sent by the gods of Olympus to save the city, a quest that drove him to the Underworld and to Pandora's Box. His journey through Athens ended in his duel with Ares and his rise as the new God of War.
The city of Athena#
Athens was the city of the goddess Athena, won by her in an ancient dispute with Poseidon over its patronage. Its citizens preferred Athena's olive tree to Poseidon's salt spring, and to soothe the wrath of the Sea God they made many sacrifices and tributes to him, which helped them become a mighty naval power. Athens was a hub of Greek culture, and its people devoted worship to Athena, to Poseidon, and to Zeus, the father of Athena and King of the Gods.
The Siege of Athens#
Ares laid siege to the city, an event known as the Siege of Athens, driven mostly by his hatred for Athena and his bitterness at having been tricked by her out of the lordship over the armies of humanity. The gods of Olympus asked Kratos to save the city from the God of War. Not all the gods were moved by Ares' onslaught; Zeus was conflicted over the insult to himself as his temples were destroyed, Artemis was more concerned with her own domain, and Hermes found the agony of the city amusing. Poseidon, despite the city's long tributes, held it in special disregard, telling Ares he could burn it to the ground for all he cared.
Kratos, a Spartan who held the Athenians in next to no regard, fought through the burning city against the minions of Ares, glad that his quest was to save the city and not its people. Among the Athenians he encountered were a woman who fell to her death from a balcony rather than face him, a cowardly bridgeman whom Kratos struck down to release a bridge, and the armed Athenian soldiers who assaulted him and were slain. Most important was the Oracle of Athens, whom Kratos rescued and who in turn opened the gate to the Desert of Lost Souls and told him of Pandora's Box.
The death of Ares and after#
When Kratos returned from the Underworld with the Box, he found the Oracle badly wounded, claiming that Ares had won and that there was no hope. Within the city, Kratos battled and killed Ares, becoming the new God of War. Athens did not vanish at once; it survived the costly siege in ruin and undertook a hard reconstruction, its people fearful that the new power of Sparta under Kratos might bring them the same fate Ares had. In the desolation that followed, some Athenians built modest shrines to Gaia and the Titans, a thing Athena noticed and chose to conceal from her fellow Olympians for fear of Zeus' wrath falling upon the city. Following the death of Poseidon, Athens was presumed wiped out by the flood that covered all of Greece.
Frequently asked questions
- What is Athens in God of War?
- Athens was a great Greek city, the city of the goddess Athena and a hub of Greek culture and worship. Its people devoted worship to Athena, Poseidon, and Zeus.
- How did Athena win Athens?
- Athena won the city in an ancient dispute with Poseidon over its patronage. Its citizens preferred Athena's olive tree to Poseidon's salt spring, and to soothe the wrath of the Sea God they made many sacrifices, which helped them become a mighty naval power.
- Why did Ares lay siege to Athens?
- Ares laid siege to the city driven mostly by his hatred for Athena and his bitterness at having been tricked by her out of the lordship over the armies of humanity. The gods of Olympus then asked Kratos to save the city from the God of War.
- What happened when Kratos fought through Athens?
- Kratos fought through the burning city against the minions of Ares and rescued the Oracle of Athens, who opened the gate to the Desert of Lost Souls and told him of Pandora's Box. After returning from the Underworld with the Box, he battled and killed Ares within the city and became the new God of War.
- What happened to Athens after the siege?
- Athens survived the siege in ruin and undertook a hard reconstruction, its people fearful of Sparta's new power under Kratos. Following the death of Poseidon, Athens was presumed wiped out by the flood that covered all of Greece.
Gallery
Images via God of War Wiki
Sources
- WikiAthens — God of War Wiki entry
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Athena
Athena was the Olympian Goddess of Wisdom, patron of Athens and chief ally of Kratos through his quests against Ares. She sacrificed herself to save Zeus, ascended beyond the Gods, and in the end turned against the very Spartan she had guided when she sought the power of Hope for herself.
Gaia
Gaia was the Primordial Goddess of the Earth, mother of the Titans and grandmother of the Olympians. She raised the infant Zeus, mourned the fall of her children, and bound her fate to Kratos in a war of vengeance that ended with both betrayed.
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Aphrodite
Aphrodite was the Olympian Goddess of Love and Beauty, wife of the smith Hephaestus and one of the few deities to favor Kratos. She aided the Ghost of Sparta in Athens and remained in her chamber through the fall of Olympus.
Ares
Ares was the first Olympian God of War, the eldest son of Zeus and Hera and the most hated god on Olympus. Coveting his father's throne, he tricked Kratos into killing his own family to forge the perfect weapon, and so set in motion the fall of the Gods before dying at that same Spartan's hand.
Artemis
Artemis was the Olympian Goddess of the Hunt, daughter of Zeus and twin sister of Apollo. When Ares besieged Athens, she turned the beasts of the wild against his armies, and later gave Kratos the Blade of Artemis, a weapon she had wielded against the Titans, to aid him in the conquest of Pandora's Temple.
Athena
Athena was the Olympian Goddess of Wisdom, patron of Athens and chief ally of Kratos through his quests against Ares. She sacrificed herself to save Zeus, ascended beyond the Gods, and in the end turned against the very Spartan she had guided when she sought the power of Hope for herself.
Blade of the Gods
The Blade of the Gods was a colossal sword forged by the gods, set into the ground outside Athens as a footbridge to a great statue of Athena. Grown to the size of a god, Kratos wrenched it free and used it to kill Ares, claiming the mantle of God of War for himself.
Blades of Chaos
The Blades of Chaos were a pair of fire-imbued chained blades forged in the Underworld for Ares and bound to the arms of Kratos. They became the signature weapons of his Greek era and the symbol of the bloodshed that earned him the name Ghost of Sparta, returning years later in the Norse realms.
Cyclopes: the one-eyed giants of Greece
The Cyclopes were a race of burly, one-eyed giants of the Greek world. Once peaceful shepherds and master craftsmen, they were banished underground, freed by Zeus to fight in the Great War, and bred thereafter as beasts of war.
Cyclops
The Cyclopes were a species of burly, one-eyed giants, once peaceful herders and stonemasons banished to the Underworld before Zeus freed them to fight the Titans. In time they became beasts of war in the armies of the gods, their near-divine strength enough to threaten even demigods.
Daedalus
Daedalus was the master craftsman of Athens who built the great Labyrinth for Zeus in return for the promise of his lost son Icarus. Driven to madness in years of servitude and chained within his own creation, he was crushed when Kratos set the Labyrinth turning, and died grateful at last to be free.
Euryale
Euryale was an immortal Gorgon and the sister of Medusa, who took the throne of the Gorgons after Kratos slew her kin. From her temple on the Island of Creation she sought to sacrifice the Ghost of Sparta to the Sisters of Fate, until he cut off her head and turned it against his enemies.
Gorgon
The Gorgons were a serpentine race of female monsters whose gaze turned the living to stone. Ruled by three matriarchs, Medusa, Euryale, and Stheno, they marched in the army of Ares and were hunted across Greece by Kratos, who claimed their severed heads as weapons.
Grave Digger
The Grave Digger was a mysterious old man who dug graves outside the Temple of the Oracle in Athens and aided Kratos in his darkest hours. He was in truth Zeus, the King of the Gods, watching over the Ghost of Sparta in disguise.
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