Now among gods and mortal men, she was the most intelligent. But when she was about to give birth to the clear-eyed goddess Athena, Zeus slyly deceived her with flattering words and lodged her in his own belly. Earth and starry Heaven had advised him to do this, so that no other would hold power over the eternal gods in place of Zeus. Metis was destined to bear very shrewd children, first the clear-eyed Tritogeneia (Athena), equal to her father in strength and in wise counsel. Then later she was to bear a son of domineering spirit, king of gods and men. But Zeus lodged Metis in his own belly first, so that the goddess could advise him on both good and evil” (Steele and Alwa 2014, …show more content…
He swallowed Metis while she was still pregnant with Athena, just so she could not tell him what to do. Instead Zeus gave birth to Athena and was the goddess of wisdom and wisdom of war strategies. My interpretation is that Zeus was afraid that if he did not swallow Metis, he would not be the wisest of the gods, Metis and Athena would be the wisest. I think the reason why Zeus made Athena remain a virgin is because if she was to have a generation of children and some were female, the male gods and men would see that as a huge threat in losing power. For an example, corporations and businesses would rather see a man take charge than a woman due to men in society think women act on emotion which would result in poor decisions. There have always been issues regarding women’s rights of equality to men since the early