I am compiling a list of uses of the birth of Athena - here's the latest I've found, in a book on Solon where the author is seeking to emphasise that to understand Solon's reforms one needs to understand the situation in Athens that gave rise to them. As the author, Ron Owens, sees it, Solon's laws did not come suddenly from nowhere; Athena did:
"The broader social and moral context within which the political crisis at Athens, and Solon's political reforms in response to that crisis, occurred was not one which, like the goddess Athena, sprang fully grown from the head of Zeus."
"The broader social and moral context within which the political crisis at Athens, and Solon's political reforms in response to that crisis, occurred was not one which, like the goddess Athena, sprang fully grown from the head of Zeus."
Owens, R. (2010). Solon of Athens: Poet, Philosopher, Soldier, Statesman. Sussex Academic Press - emphasis added
