Page:Myth, Ritual, and Religion (Volume 2).djvu/259

 thunder-cloud; and if she has not been recognised as the moon, it is not for lack of opportunity. These explanations rest on the habit of twisting each detail of a divine legend into conformity with aspects of certain natural and elemental forces, or they rely on etymological conjecture. For example, Welcker maintains that Athene is "a feminine personification of the upper air, daughter of Zeus, the dweller in æther." Her name Tritogenia is derived from an ancient word for water, which, like fire, has its source in æther. Welcker presses the title of the goddess, "Glaucopis," the "grey-green-eyed," into the service. The heaven in Attica oft ebenfalls wunderhar grün ist. Moreover, there was a temple at Methone of Athene of the Winds (Anemotis), which would be a better argument had there not been also temples of Athene of the Pathway, Athene of the Ivy, Athene of the Crag, Athene of the Market-place, Athene of the Trumpet, and so forth. Moreover, the olive tree is one of the sacred plants of Athene. Now why should this be? Clearly, thinks Welcker, because olive-oil gives light from a lamp, and light also comes from æther. Athene also gives Telemachus a fair wind in the Odyssey, and though any Lapland witch could do as much, this goes down to her account as a goddess of the air.