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Athena, or Athene, is the patron goddess of Athens. In Homer she is generally called Athene, in tragedy Athenaia. The (abbreviated) form Athena became common in the fourth century BC. She was worshipped in the Parthenon, her great temple on the Acropolis, and throughout Greece, the islands, and the colonies. Whether Athens is named after the goddess or the goddess after Athens is an ancient argument but the latter is generally considered more probable. Her name is perhaps to be found on a Linear B tablet from Cnossus, and she is probably a prehellenic deity. She is sometimes known as Pallas Athene for reasons which remain obscure; Pallas was sometimes understood to mean 'maiden', sometimes 'brandisher' (of weapons). Equally obscure is the meaning of her name Tritogeneia, 'Trito-born', for which a number of explanations was given in antiquity. In classical times she was pre-eminently the city goddess of Greece, and had temples not only on the Acropolis at Athens but also on the citadels of Argos, Sparta, and Larisa (in Thessaly). In Homer, despite the fact that she is the enemy of Troy, she is still the goddess of the Trojan citadel. She was par excellence a war-goddess, and is most frequently represented in art as armed, but in addition she was the patroness of all urban arts and crafts, especially spinning and weaving, and so ultimately the personification of wisdom. She is also the inventor of the musical instrument the aulos (a flute). The principal myth concerning her relates to her birth. She was the daughter of Zeus and Metis. Zeus swallowed Metis for fear she should give birth to a son stronger than himself In due time the god Hephaestus (or Prometheus, it was sometimes said) opened Zeus' head with an axe and Athena emerged fully armed and uttering her war-cry. She is regularly regarded as virgin; Zeus gave Hephaestus leave to marry her, and from his unsucccssful attempt sprang the Athenian king Erichthonius. She also strove with Poseidon for possession of Attica, a contest in which she emerged victorious by producing the olive tree. She is generally represented as a goddess of severe beauty, in armour, with helmet, aegis, spear, and shield (sometimes bearing the Gorgon's head); she often has an owl sitting on her shoulder, especially in fifth-century Athens, in reference to her stock epithet glaukopis which appears to mean 'owl-faced' but could also be interpreted as bright-eyed .