Post by Ionian_Mick on Dec 18, 2005 18:29:40 GMT -5
According to Ionian mythology, the father of the gods promised the land of Attica to the god or goddess who would give it the most original and useful gift. Athena, the goddess of Wisdom, won the land from Poseidon, by offering an olive tree, symbol of welfare and peace. This is why the city was called after the goddess and the sacred olive tree was carefully tended on the rock of Acropolis. However, Cretan mythology has it that the goddess Athena was born in Crete at the mouth of the river Tritonas and made a gift of the sacred tree to the inhabitants of the island. According to a third myth, Daktylos Hercules travelling in a Minoan ship, reached the Peloponnese and from there the olive tree he carried with him spread to the whole of Greece.