The Second Statuette of the Athenian Athene

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nIt would be nigh impossiblento draw up a definitive list of the ten top must-see sights of the AncientnWorld that one would have to see if time-travel were a reality but surelynamongst them would have to be Periclean Athens and the Acropolis, in particular,nin its full glory. We have little left, as the work of the centuries and thenhands of men have done their worst, and what remains is impressive enough tonflabbergast even to this day, so what it must have been like when it wasncomplete and newly built can only be the stuff of dreams.

L Alma-Tadema – Phidias Showing the Parthenon Frieze to his Friends

nMany people,ntransported back, would find it something of a shock, as we tend to imaginenGreek statuary to be polished, white marble when in fact they were highly, andnperhaps to our eyes garishly, painted. We have known this for a long time butnwe still picture them in their modern state, white as marmoreal snow, as we cannsee them in museums and galleries today, (we also imagine English churches tonbe bare stone, when they were brightly painted too).

The Ruins of the Acropolis

nMany Greek cities have annAcropolis but the Acropolis is that at Athens and on it was built thenParthenon, the temple built by the Athenians to their patron goddess, Athene.nInside it was a statue of Athene Parthenos – Αθηνα Παρθένος – Athenenthe Virgin, a massive forty-foot-tall sculpture made of wood, ivory andngold, (known technically as chryselephantine), by Phidias.

Athene Parthenos statuette

nThe second ofnmy charity shop statuettes bought in Clitheroe is a copy of the AthenenParthenos, as it has been reconstructed from Classical accounts of the original,nwhich has long been lost.

The Helmet and the Aegis

nShe wears her crested helmet, with a sphinx in thencentre flanked by a pair of pegasos; her hair is long and divided into twoncurled tresses.

Reverse of the Statuette

nHer sleeveless talaric chiton is cinched at the waist, hernweight is carried on her right leg with her left leg bent slightly at the kneenand she wears a breastplate – the Ægis -decorated with snakes and the face ofnMedusa.

Close up of the Shield

nHer left hand, with a serpent coiled around her wrist, rests on hernshield decorated with the head of the gorgon, the gorgoneion, andnfeatures the battle of the Greeks and the Amazons, similar to thenAmazonamachian Strangford shield in the British Museum.

The Strangford Shield

nBetween the shield andnAthene is the serpent Erichthonius, coiled and rearing its head.

Close up of Erichthonius

nThe right handnrests on a pillar with a Doric capital and supports a winged figure of Nike,n‘Victory’, who carries a palm frond (the original figure of Victory stood sixnfeet tall and was made of ivory).

Close up of Nike

nIt is a possibility that the column was notnpart of the original statue as envisioned by Phidias but was added as annecessary support at a later stage. The original statue was built around anwooden central core, with bronze plates shaped and covered by gold sheetsnweighing more than two thousand pounds, with the face, arms and hands coverednby carved ivory. She once held a lance, often now omitted in representations,nbut we cannot be sure of its true position. Pausanius, in a passage of unusualndetail for him, gave a description and we have smaller votive statues, engravedngems and coins based on Phidias’s major work that remain, so we can say that wenhave a good idea of how the Athene Parthenos would have looked.

The Varvakeion Statuette

nA Romannreplica, now in the Athens National Museum, known as the Varvakeion statuettenis the perhaps the nearest representation of the original that remains; it isncarved from Pentelic marble and stands about three feet six inches tall (aboutnone twelfth of the original). This piece was discovered in 1881 by workmenncarrying out routine maintenance works in a small street north of the ancientnnorthern boundary wall of the city (the Varvakeion, hence the name given to thenstatuette); it was face down in the brick apse of a private Roman house, andndates from the second, or possibly even third, century CE, placing it some fivenhundred years older than Phidias’s original.

nIt seems likely that the figurenwas a votive figure, maybe incorporated into the fabric of the house as anprotective offering, rather than a tourist souvenir, which would more likelynhave taken to form of decorated, painted plates. There are traces of gildingnand red and yellow paint on the statuette, indicating that the painting ofnstatues continued in Greece into the Roman period. The Varvakeion Athene causednquite a stir when it was first uncovered and was over-praised in the ensuingnenthusiasm that followed but it does give us some idea of what Phidias’snmasterpiece might have looked like.

Speculative recreation made prior to finding the Varvakeion statuette

nInterestingly, it is made from marble,nwhich was considered an inferior material in ancient Greece, suitable fornarchitectural statuary when the superior works were made from gold, silver,nivory and bronze. The Phidean work was a cult statue, which was worshippednwithin the Parthenon, in turn the temple to the goddess Athene Polias, thenGoddess of the State, of whom Athene Parthenos was an aspect, and whose name inncommon parlance was applied to the temple itself. As Parthenos, she had nonspecial cult of her own; she was worshipped as Polias, as Nike or as Hygieia,nwith rituals, temples and priestesses dedicated to these special aspects, butnnone of these applied to Parthenos. Likewise, we use the term ‘the Parthenon’nwhereas to the Greeks it was ό ύεως της Αθηνας της Πολιάδος – the Templenof Athene Polias – or simply ό ύεώς – the Temple.

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nIncidentally, I paid £2.50 for the statuette I wrotenabout yesterday and £3 for the Athene Parthenos shown today. If you like them,nyou can find them for sale on-line. Expect to pay just over £40 each.

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