The Mark Of Athena

Annabeth is trying to cheer up Hazel when Frank rushes in, anxious to leave because the Romans are following them. Leo gets the ship up and, following Percy’s order, sets their course for Charleston, to find a map leading to the Mark of Athena or something “that might heal the rift between the Romans and Greeks” (153). Annabeth begins to put the pieces together but says they need to find the map to know more. They consider potential Charleston landmarks: the museum where the C.S.S. Hunley is kept and the Battery, a park near the harbor, apparently haunted by a Civil War-era southern belle who only talks to women.

Back in her room, Annabeth studies Parthenon models stashed on her laptop, inherited from legendary inventor Daedalus, and recalls her last meeting with her mother when they ran into each other at Grand Central Station. Athena did not recognize Annabeth and seemed lost and confused, lamenting the sack of her patron city, theft of her identity, and removal from her “beloved homeland” (160). When Annabeth identified herself as Athena’s daughter, the goddess pressed a coin into her hand and demanded that she avenge her mother against the Romans, who have disgraced her.