The motherless goddess Athene is more like a man than a woman; or, as J. Harrison suggested, she is rather a sexless thing, neither man nor woman. She appears as an equal to Zeus, and shares several qualities with him, including intelligence. The most telling, and curious, correlation is their sharing of the aegis. The phrase 'aegis-bearing' (αἰγιόχος) is one of Zeus' most common epithets, and the aegis itself is made by Hephaestus for Zeus in the Iliad (15.309-10). However, in the Chrysippus fragment, Metis makes the aegis for Athene. Also, in the fragment of the Meropis, the aegis is made by Athene herself from the skin of the Giant Asteros whom she killed in the Gigantomachy. In the Iliad, Athene wears the aegis to encourage the Achaeans (2.450-2 and 5.738-42) and to fight with Ares (21. 400-414); she also casts it over Achilles' shoulder (18.203-4). Two of these passages, 5.738-42 and 21.400-414, in particular merit our attention for their connection with Zeus. In these two passages, Ares' challenge is quite easily beaten off by Athene, who is backed up by Zeus' aegis. By giving birth to Athene, Zeus acquires a counterpart who fights on his side and as his deputy, defeating his son, Ares, who might prove a challenger to his power. It is a marker of Athene's functional affinity to Zeus that, as Zeus becomes more remote from human beings, she eventually replaces him as the chief guardian of the state and people. Athene is the symbolic representation of the rule of Zeus; she is the symbol of a new kind of state, or of the cultural renewal of Zeus' world. The concept of a strong alliance between Zeus and Athena fits perfectly both with Panhellenic ideals and Greek societal and moral norms, thus ensuring the continued popularity and success of Homer and Hesiod. The sharing of the aegis between Zeus and Athene could be interpreted in this context.