> [!NOTE]+ Meta > Author:: Patrick Webb > Reference:: https://garlandmag.com/article/maker-mythology/ > Date:: 2022 > Tags:: #Egypt > WeftLinks:: [[Spiritual value of craft]] > Claim:: [[Claim - Craft sustains a connection to ancestors and traditional lands]] > [!SUMMARY] Summary The Western myths of creation featured many important gods who were associated with the crafts. The universe itself was seen to be a product of craftsmanship, such as the Egyptian god Ptah who was known as creator of the earth and whom "Egypt" is named after. > Athena was likewise known by the title “Ergane”, meaning “worker” thereby highlighting her role as mistress and patron of architecture, the arts and crafts. She was particularly skilled in weaving, an echo of the Moirai who weave the very cosmos. Likewise she held great expertise in carpentry, instructing a number of men in shipbuilding and famously in the building of the wooden horse that led to Greek victory in the Trojan war. Athena was quite generous with her skills and had the reputation of being the most personal of the gods with mankind, always seeking their enculturation and betterment. Though a virgin goddess, she was the one to endow life to the first man and woman and thus has been rightly construed as a mother figure who perhaps elides the sharp distinction between god and man. Naturally, she was the patron goddess of ancient Athens and the Parthenon dedicated to her was the centrepiece and crowning jewel of the acropolis temple complex.