The story of Pandora has reminded me of the Genesis story of Eve and the apple. I don’t know how this fits with this Athena.
Pandora was told she would become like the God, just like the serpent told Eve the same. And when she opened the box, the ills of the world were loosed, just like Adam and Eve were evicted from the Garden of Life to toil the rest of their days, with suffering and death. And the hope at the end, that was the promise of Messiah.
It has been awhile, but when I was homeschooling my young daughter and we read these stories, I was amazed at how they did echo the Bible. Distorted, but with clear echoes.
It had left me with the impression that man after the flood did know the truth, and there were stories to remember it by, in many cultures, with many distortions.
- Figure 8. Athena Parthenos, full-size reproduction in the Nashville Parthenon by Alan LeQuire - "There is even a more obvious demonstration of Athena’s identity as the reborn serpent’s Eve. Meeting the ancient Greeks at eye level as they entered the Parthenon was the statue base of the great idol-image of Athena. In the centre of it, surrounded by the gods giving her gifts, stood a sculpted Pandora—the woman who, according to Greek myth, was responsible for letting evil out into the world. Could not a schoolchild grasp that Athena’s gold and ivory grandeur above Pandora was literally based on this obvious picture of Eve?" - Read more - http://www.solvinglight.com/features/athenaandeve06.htm