The name of Athens, derives from goddess Athena, its patron goddess. The word originates from an earlier, Pre-Greek language. The etiological myth explaining how Athens acquired this name through the legendary contest between Poseidon and Athena was described by Herodotus, Apollodorus, Ovid, Plutarch, Pausanias and more. It even became the theme of the sculpture on the West pediment of the Parthenon. Both Athena and Poseidon requested to be patrons of the city and to give their name to it, so they competed with one another for the honour, offering the city one gift each. Poseidon produced a spring by striking the ground with his trident, symbolizing naval power. Athena created the olive tree, symbolizing peace and prosperity. The Athenians, under their ruler Cecrops, accepted the olive tree and named the city after Athena. The sacred olive-tree of goddess Athena seems to have survived for many centuries. It was located by the temple of Pandrosus, next to the Parthenon. During the Persian Wars, the olive tree was burnt together with the other sacred precinct, but according to Herodotus a shoot sprung from the stump. So the tree grew up again and survived until the time of Pausanias, i.e. to the 2nd century AD, as he reported in his "Description of Greece, Attica".
In Plato's dialogue Cratylus, he gives the etymology of the goddess Athena's name based on the view of the ancient Athenians:
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