The Name Giving of Athens

Cecrops, the first king of Attica, had named his city after him, Cecropia.
However, the gods of Olympus saw this lovely piece of land and wanted to
name it after them and become its patron. The most persistent rivals were
Poseidon, the god of the sea, and Athena, the goddess of wisdom. To solve
their dispute, Zeus decided that each of them would present a gift to the city
and the people of Cecropia would decide which gift was the best, and
therefore which god would be the patron of the city. One sunny day, Cecrops
and the residents of the city went up to a high hill to watch the gods
presenting their gifts. Poseidon was the first to present his gift. He struck a
rock with his trident and caused a spring of water to gush forth from the
ground. This signified that he was assuring the citizens with water and
therefore they wouldn’t face any time of drought. However, the people were
not exactly enchanted with his gift because the water from the spring tasted
salty, just like the waters of the sea over which Poseidon ruled. Next, it was
the turn of goddess Athena. She struck her spear on the ground and a lovely
olive tree jumped out of the earth. The citizens liked this gift better because it
would give them food, oil and firewood. This is how Athena became the
patroness of the beautiful city and this is how Athens got its name according
to Greek Mythology.