Yawar asked Madeline Miller:

Hi, I gulped down Circe in a day and will be reading Song of Achilles soon. Thank you for writing these tellings, I always enjoy looking for the hidden meaning in them. Do you feel that you have a story to tell about Athena, too? For all her schemes and shortcomings, she is still an intriguing character, a warrior and counselor in a world of men.

Madeline Miller Dear Yawar,

Thank you so much for reading, for the generous words, and for the question about Athena! She has always been a fascinating figure--a woman, as you say, in a world of men. She can be noble and decisive, raging, spiteful, wise, merciful, even playful. I always liked her appearance in book V of the Iliad, where she tells Diomedes not to accidentally stab any gods in his battle-spree--unless he sees Aphrodite, then he should go for it. (The follow up to this is that he does actually wound Aphrodite on the wrist, who then goes crying up to Olympus, where Athena and Hera wait to make fun of her.) For someone so wise and rational, she certainly goes in for a lot of vengeance! But I think there could be a great story there: perhaps she feels that her position rests on people's respect for her power, and if she allows anyone to get away with any insult to it, she will lose everything. I don't have any plans to write about her, but there are so many rich myths to draw upon, and I hope that others will!

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