Athena appears to have been worshipped as a powerful and beneficent deity in many places, but it was at Athens that the more intellectual aspects of her nature were brought into the greatest prominence. How she came to be so closely associated with Athens as to give her name to the city (previously known as “Cecropia”) is a question that is not easily answered. According to the Attic mythology it was the result of a contest between her and Poseidon for local supremacy. In support of his claim Poseidon is said to have struck with his trident the rocky summit of the Acropolis, the result being that a salt-water spring appeared, from which there emerged a horse (supposed to be sacred to Poseidon from its resemblance to a rushing wave); and this gift the lord of the ocean set before the assembled jury of the gods as a token of the benefits which he had to confer. Athena then caused an olive-tree to spring up as the symbol of her beneficence, which secured from Zeus _Polieus_ a judgment in her favour. Perhaps the story may have had its origin in the gradual retreat of the sea from the Attic plains; but there is evidently a reference in it to the comparative value of land and water interests, the former being represented by Athena, and the latter by Poseidon. In their early days the Athenians had no idea of the importance of the sea as the destined scene of their naval supremacy; and of all the products of their country the olive was no doubt the most indispensable to them. For its cultivation some knowledge was required, and perhaps also the nature of its oil, with which the lamps were fed, may have helped to make the olive an appropriate emblem of the brilliant goddess. The whole history of Athens, from the rude beginnings of her civilisation till the age of her imperial glory, may be seen reflected, after a symbolic fashion, in the gradual transition of her worship from the wooden image of Athena _Polias_, which was said to have fallen from heaven, to the magnificent statue of gold and ivory which Pheidias made for the Parthenon; and one of the most interesting studies in art is to be found in tracing the successive stages through which the majestic virgin-goddess was evolved.