Goddess for a Day

Goddess for a Day is a short story by Harry Turtledove, published in Chicks in Chainmail, edited by Esther Friesner, Baen 1995; and ''Counting Up, Counting Down, Del Rey, 2002.

The story is based on an event reported by Herodotus. Peisistratos, an exiled tyrant of Athens re-takes the city through an act of trickery. He claims that the goddess Athena has approved of his rule, and to prove it, enters the city with a young woman named Phye, disguised as Athena.

Phye regrets her decision. The armor is uncomfortable and she finds Peisistratos distasteful. Nonetheless, she plays out the ruse to the end. She's put up at a shrine to Athena and Poseidon. Here, her day takes an unusal turn when she meets a satyr.