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Why did Leo Varadkar tell Boris Johnson that Ireland could be the UK's 'Athena'?

We look at what the Taoiseach could have been implying when talking about the Greek goddess.

THE VISIT OF UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to Government Buildings was always going to be a big moment for the Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar.

For the last three years, Varadkar and other high-ranking Irish political figures like Minister Simon Coveney have had to walk gingerly along a slippery tightrope marked ‘Brexit’.

They’ve had to show that as leaders, they’re representing a strong, uncompromising Ireland. An Ireland that’s not going to forget the past, but won’t let it taint too much of the future. An Ireland that’s arm-in-arm with the European Union. An Ireland that doesn’t really want the UK to get its own way easily, and sure as hell doesn’t want it to toddle off into no-deal Brexitland, nonchalantly tossing a cigarette onto the gasoline-splattered island of Ireland on its way. 

But at the same time, there’s the matter of keeping the relationship between the UK and Ireland stable. Nothing can be pushed too far in this game of Brexit chess.

Which is why it was interesting to see Varadkar invoke the name of a Greek goddess in his speech when he appeared alongside Boris Johnson at Government Buildings today. Johnson is over on an official meeting with the Taoiseach, and the pair were addressing the curious press in an early morning public appearance. 

During his portion of the speech, Varadkar hammered home the tough times that await the UK in the run-up to 31 October: the difficulties a no-deal would create for Ireland and its neighbour, the need to get back to the negotiating table, the ill-fated withdrawal deal.

He told Johnson that if there is a deal – and he does think a deal is possible – there will be a lot to deal with: “…it’s going to be very tough, we’ll have to deal with issues like tariffs, fishing rights, product standards and State aid. And it will then have to be ratified by 31 parliaments.”

It would, Varadkar told Johnson, be “a Herculean task for you”:

But we do want to be your friend, and your ally, your Athena in doing so. And I think the manner in which you leave the European Union will determine if that’s possible.

pre-elections-in-athens-greece-12-jun-2019 A statue of Athena in Athens. Yiannis Alexopoulos Yiannis Alexopoulos

It’s not the usual thing to hear Varadkar namecheck Greek gods or goddesses in his speeches – he tends to favour more Irish-leaning references. But this was the kind of reference handpicked for a man like Boris Johnson, he an Etonian who excelled at Classics while in university (according to one of his biographers – though Johnson was annoyed at his failure to get a first in his final exams). Johnson went to Oxford to read Literae Humaniores, which is the study of Classics, ie the Greco-Roman world. 

So Johnson, then, must be very familiar with who both Hercules and Athena were: Hercules the Roman hero who was born mortal but became a god (in Greece, he was Heracles), Athena the warrior goddess who was also Odysseus’s divine counselor, a goddess often used as a symbol of democracy.

Both emerged as part of Greek mythology, the myths created and loved by the ancient Greeks, back from the 12th century BC to AD 600 – myths that gave them figures to believe in but also provided them with moral and spiritual lessons for how to live life. The lessons in these myths still provide us with food for thought and philosophical thinking today.

Johnson must know that Varadkar was no doubt offering the example of Athena by invoking how she used her wisdom and strength to support others. Hercules was given 12 tasks (or labours) to complete, and Athena helped him with three – one of which involved saving him from his own madness

Without Athena there to help, you could surmise ol’ Hercules wouldn’t have whizzed through his 12 labours very easily.

But Boris no doubt knows too that there was a reason Athena was considered a warrior goddess. She stepped in when heroes needed her help, and wasn’t afraid of taking serious measures. She turned Arachne into the first spider, and Medusa into a Gorgon with writhing snakes for hair. Athena was born wearing armour – always ready to go into battle and never afraid to strike out when she needed to.

So perhaps the unspoken message from the Taoiseach was: Ireland will be there to support you when needed, but don’t forget – the Irish people are not going to be trampled on. 

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    Mute Hugo McCann
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    Sep 9th 2019, 1:09 PM

    “So perhaps the unspoken message from the Taoiseach was: Ireland will be there to support you when needed, but don’t forget – the Irish people are not going to be trampled on.”

    Because the Irish Government do a stand up job of Trampling on the people all by themselves…..

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    Mute Will J. Browne
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    Sep 9th 2019, 8:04 PM

    @Hugo McCann: Most Oppressed People Ever!

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    Mute James Wallace
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    Sep 9th 2019, 8:15 PM

    @Will J. Browne: get a grip, man!

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    Mute Will J. Browne
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    Sep 9th 2019, 8:22 PM

    @James Wallace: We must be, judging by the comments section in the Journal.

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    Mute Dublinlife
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    Sep 9th 2019, 1:31 PM

    Or maybe he was talking out of his ring like he always does and it doesn’t mean a thing

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    Mute Eric Dignan
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    Sep 9th 2019, 5:55 PM

    @Dublinlife: this is such a typical journal.ie comment, I don’t mean that as a compliment.

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    Mute ThatLJD
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    Sep 9th 2019, 6:04 PM

    @Eric Dignan: touché

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    Mute DIAS_Quake
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    Sep 9th 2019, 3:12 PM

    Excellent symbolism, well done speech writers

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    Mute Gary Kearney
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    Sep 9th 2019, 3:40 PM

    Great scripting, he nailed Boris with his own symbolism. Leo came out looking a lot better than he normally does. Boris looked and sounded a mess.

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    Mute ThatLJD
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    Sep 9th 2019, 6:05 PM

    @Gary Kearney: you have seen Boris before?

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    Mute Mick Byrne
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    Sep 9th 2019, 1:02 PM

    So what you’re saying is that the EU is Medusa.

    Ok, that seems about right.

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    Mute Clancy
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    Sep 9th 2019, 2:23 PM

    @Mick Byrne: no, the EU is the Hydra. If you cut off a bureaucrat two grow back.

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    Mute Peter De Courcy
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    Sep 9th 2019, 3:47 PM

    Johnson smiled as Varadkar made the comment, although it is unclear whether it was because the British prime minister was pleased to see Varadkar aping the Johnson style of frequently quoting the classics, or whether he had really taken in the implications of what the Irish prime minister had just said.
    In Greek mythology, the goddess Athena did assist Hercules as an ally during the performance of his 12 labours. She provided, for example, bronze krotala – noise-makers similar to castanets – to help him scare off the flock of Stymphalian birds. And in some versions of the tale she was also of service to him by returning to their rightful place the golden apples of the gods that Hercules had been asked to obtain.
    But it is perhaps her most dramatic intervention in the life of Hercules that Varadkar was obliquely referring to.
    Hercules was obliged to perform the 12 labours as an act of penitence after he had descended into madness and murdered his wife, Megara, and his children. At the moment he was about to go on and kill the man who had fostered him, Amphitryon, Athena intervened. Seeing that he had gone mad, she struck Hercules down and knocked him out to prevent him causing more bloodshed and doing more damage than he had already done.
    Source: The Guardian

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    Mute Jeanne Banks
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    Sep 10th 2019, 1:03 AM

    @Peter De Courcy: I think Boris would prefer to see himself as Hercules

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    Mute Nuala Mc Namara
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    Sep 9th 2019, 5:46 PM

    I must say whoever wrote Taoiseach’s welcoming statement must be congratulated,it encompasses everything the Irish Government needed to say& emphasize to UK Prime Minister Johnson!

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    Mute Leo Lalor
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    Sep 9th 2019, 1:35 PM

    Varadkar is trying to appear intelligent …

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    Mute R
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    Sep 9th 2019, 2:23 PM

    @Leo Lalor: Cos only thicks have degrees in medicine from Trinity?

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    Mute lee Jones
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    Sep 9th 2019, 2:38 PM

    @Leo Lalor: he is a qualified doctor so what’s your point?

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    Mute Andy McGranaghan
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    Sep 9th 2019, 1:19 PM

    I would have used Hermes God of boundaries!

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    Mute J. Reid
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    Sep 9th 2019, 2:33 PM

    It is reassuring that the leader of our nearest neighbour, Boris Johnson, is a classicist, because one cannot be truly educated until one has been immersed in classical studies. It will usually make one a better and wiser leader. We live in promising times.

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    Mute Muireann
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    Sep 9th 2019, 3:13 PM

    @J. Reid: I cannot make out from this whether you’re serious or being ironic. If Johnson is an example of how being immersed in classical studies make one a better and wiser leader, I’d hate to have seen the state of him beforehand.

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    Mute Damien Mac Aodha
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    Sep 9th 2019, 3:25 PM

    @J. Reid: perhaps interesting times would be more apt.

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    Mute jamesdecay
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    Sep 9th 2019, 1:06 PM

    Hercules was a better namecheck, given that he was tasked with clearing thirty years of horse shit form the stables. Quite the apt reference.

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    Mute Socky Varadkar
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    Sep 9th 2019, 5:35 PM

    Thank you Journal, finally my brilliance is shining through!

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    Mute John Sullivan
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    Sep 9th 2019, 10:48 PM

    Ahhh. Most fitting that BoJo the clown should have a degree in fairy tales, myths and fantasies from Oxfords dreamy spires with a little help from his Bullingdon friends replete with Stg 5000 evening coats. Just the kind of education required by a peddler of delusion to the bloke down the pub with a posh voice.

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    Mute Fergal Hughes
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    Sep 9th 2019, 5:48 PM

    I hate comments

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    Mute Cian Lehane
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    Sep 9th 2019, 8:24 PM

    I was gonna ignore it but I can’t help it. What source do you have that claims Athena was the one that kept hercules from killing himself? Edith Hamilton is considered the premier authority on Greek mythology and mentions Athena nowhere in the tale of the skating of Hercules family. A character that is mentioned is Theseus. Theseus comes to Hercules as he sits covered in blood and caresses Hercules hands. This gesture tells Hercules that they now share in his guilt. This stops him from killing himself. I think the confusion with this and the article you reference on this story is that Theseus is the hero of Athena and Athena it’s goddess. I think this is what has caused the mix-up in this tale as there is no mention of Athena in this part of the story of Hercules.

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    Mute Cian Lehane
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    Sep 9th 2019, 8:25 PM

    @Cian Lehane: *slaying. Stupid autocorrect.

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    Mute Cian Lehane
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    Sep 9th 2019, 8:26 PM

    @Cian Lehane: also I meant to say Theseus is the hero of Athens and Athena it’s goddess. Autocorrect is breaking my heart.

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    Mute Artugal
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    Sep 9th 2019, 6:02 PM

    Because if your gonna make it up as you go you might as well use fictional characters to represent your meaningless, albeit pretty (in a soundbitey kinda way), statements.

    We are no closer to anything. Far from something to romanticise.

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    Mute Cian Lehane
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    Sep 9th 2019, 8:44 PM

    Actually ignore me. I misread the article. It’s his later labour’s you’re referencing not the murder of his family. My mistake.

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    Mute Lionheart1
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    Sep 9th 2019, 9:21 PM

    @Cian Lehane: Not to worry we’ve all been there and it was impressive.

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    Mute Jeanne Banks
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    Sep 10th 2019, 1:00 AM

    Boris called Cameron a Girly swot. Then Varadkar tells Boris he can be a Greek goddess…

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