Athena is the Greek goddess of wisdom, strategy, and craftsmanship. She is the daughter of Zeus and the Titaness Metis, the latter being the embodiment of wisdom. When Zeus learned that his escapade with Metis had resulted in her pregnancy, he decided to eat her. A classic Zeus move. And a move that his father, Cronus, would have approved of has well.
Athena was born from his own body after that, which is (almost surprisingly) not the first time that he gave birth to a child himself. The Greek pantheon is quite progressive that way. Athena was born from his head, which had to be split open to let her out.
Having spent time in both Zeus’ head and Metis womb, it is no wonder that when Athena emerged from her father, she already showed signs of wisdom well beyond any of the other gods. In the end, she would turn out the become the goddess of ratio herself.
As with any deity, it was best to stay on Athena’s good side. She bestowed boons on the citizens of Athens to win their favor and she granted assistance to both Odysseus and Herakles on their epic journeys. Others were less fortunate. Both Medusa and Arachne are examples of how mortals could get on her bad side: she put a curse on them both, taking an affront to their actions. Similarly, she would lash out to other deities. In particular, Poseidon, Ares, and Hephaestus were known to suffer her wrath. One might start to think that she is not one of the most liked characters in Greek mythology, but that would be a mistake. In fact, she is one of the most revered deities in ancient Greek culture