All Topics  
Athena Parthenos

 
Athena Parthenos

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Athena Parthenos
 
 
  Topics Athena Parthenos Topic Home

Athena Parthenos (; literally, "Athena the Virgin") was the title of a massive chryselephantine
Chryselephantine

Chryselephantine is the technical term given to a type of cult statue that enjoyed high status in Ancient Greece.Chryselephantine statues were built around a wooden frame, with thin carved slabs of ivory attached, representing the flesh, and sheets of gold leaf representing the garments, armour, hair, and other details....
 sculpture
Sculpture

Sculpture is Three-dimensional space artwork created by shaping or combining hard and or plastic material, sound, and or text and or light, commonly Stone sculpture , metal, glass, or wood....
 of the Greek
Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....
 goddess
Goddess

A goddess is a female deity. Often deities are part of a polytheism system that includes several deities in a pantheon .Common associations of goddesses are the Earth goddess, the Mother Goddess, Love goddess, and the hearth goddess, reflecting historical gender roles....
 Athena
Athena

In Greek mythology, Athena is the shrewd companion of Hero and the goddess of Hero endeavour. She is the virgin patron of Athens, which built the Parthenon to worship her....
 by Phidias
Phidias

Phidias or Pheidias; ; circa 480 BC 430 BC), was a Hellenic civilization sculptor, painter and architect, who lived in the Classical Greece, in the 5th century BC, and is commonly regarded as one of the greatest of all Classical sculptors....
. It was named after an epithet for the goddess herself, and was housed in the Parthenon
Parthenon

The Parthenon is a Greek temple of the Greek gods Athena, built in the 5th century BC on the Acropolis of Athens. It is the most important surviving building of Classical Greece, generally considered to be the culmination of the development of the Doric order....
 in Athens
Athens

Athens , the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery; as one of the List of cities by time of continuous habitation, its recorded history spans around 3,400 years....
. A number of replicas and works inspired by it, both ancient and modern, have been made.

It was the most renowned cult image
Cult image

In the practice of religion, a cult image is a man-made object that is venerated for the deity, spirit or daemon that it embodies or represents....
 of Athens, considered one of the greatest achievements of the most acclaimed sculptor of ancient Greece.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Athena Parthenos'
Start a new discussion about 'Athena Parthenos'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Athena Parthenos (; literally, "Athena the Virgin") was the title of a massive chryselephantine
Chryselephantine

Chryselephantine is the technical term given to a type of cult statue that enjoyed high status in Ancient Greece.Chryselephantine statues were built around a wooden frame, with thin carved slabs of ivory attached, representing the flesh, and sheets of gold leaf representing the garments, armour, hair, and other details....
 sculpture
Sculpture

Sculpture is Three-dimensional space artwork created by shaping or combining hard and or plastic material, sound, and or text and or light, commonly Stone sculpture , metal, glass, or wood....
 of the Greek
Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....
 goddess
Goddess

A goddess is a female deity. Often deities are part of a polytheism system that includes several deities in a pantheon .Common associations of goddesses are the Earth goddess, the Mother Goddess, Love goddess, and the hearth goddess, reflecting historical gender roles....
 Athena
Athena

In Greek mythology, Athena is the shrewd companion of Hero and the goddess of Hero endeavour. She is the virgin patron of Athens, which built the Parthenon to worship her....
 by Phidias
Phidias

Phidias or Pheidias; ; circa 480 BC 430 BC), was a Hellenic civilization sculptor, painter and architect, who lived in the Classical Greece, in the 5th century BC, and is commonly regarded as one of the greatest of all Classical sculptors....
. It was named after an epithet for the goddess herself, and was housed in the Parthenon
Parthenon

The Parthenon is a Greek temple of the Greek gods Athena, built in the 5th century BC on the Acropolis of Athens. It is the most important surviving building of Classical Greece, generally considered to be the culmination of the development of the Doric order....
 in Athens
Athens

Athens , the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery; as one of the List of cities by time of continuous habitation, its recorded history spans around 3,400 years....
. A number of replicas and works inspired by it, both ancient and modern, have been made.

It was the most renowned cult image
Cult image

In the practice of religion, a cult image is a man-made object that is venerated for the deity, spirit or daemon that it embodies or represents....
 of Athens, considered one of the greatest achievements of the most acclaimed sculptor of ancient Greece. Phidias began his work around 447 BCE, Lachares removed the gold sheets in 296 BCE to pay his troops, and the bronze was probably gilded thereafter; it was damaged by a fire about 165 BCE but repaired. It continued to stand in the Parthenon in the fifth century CE, when it may have been lost in another fire. An account mentions it in Constantinople
Constantinople

Constantinople was the empire capital of the Roman Empire , the Byzantine Empire , the Latin Empire , and the Ottoman Empire . Strategically located between the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara at the point where Europe meets Asia, Byzantine Constantinople had been the capital of a Christendom empire, successor to ancient ancient Greece...
 in the tenth century, however.

Description

The ancient historian Pausanias
Pausanias (geographer)

Pausanias was a Roman Greece traveller and geographer of the 2nd century AD, who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius....
 gave a description of the statue:
...The statue itself is made of ivory silver and gold. On the middle of her helmet is placed a likeness of the Sphinx
Sphinx

A sphinx is a zoomorphic mythological figure which is depicted as a recumbent lion with a human head. It has its origins in sculpted figures of Old Kingdom Ancient Egypt, to which the ancient Greeks applied their own name for a female monster, the "strangler", an archaic figure of Greek mythology....
 ... and on either side of the helmet are griffin
Griffin

The griffin is a fantasy creature with the body of a lion and the head and often wings of an eagle. As the lion was traditionally considered the king of the beasts and the eagle the king of the birds, the griffin was thought to be an especially powerful and majestic creature....
s in relief. ... The statue of Athena is upright, with a tunic reaching to the feet, and on her breast the head of Medusa
Medusa

In Greek mythology, Medusa was a gorgon, a chthonic female monster; gazing upon her would turn onlookers to stone. She was beheaded by the hero Perseus, who thereafter used her head as a weapon until giving it to the goddess Athena to place on her Aegis....
 is worked in ivory. She holds a statue of Victory
Nike (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Nike , was a goddess who personified triumph throughout the ages of the ancient Greek culture. The Roman equivalent was Victoria ....
 about four cubit
Cubit

File:Cubit rule Egyptian NK from Liverpool museum.jpgA cubit is the first recorded unit of length and was one of many different standards of measurement used through history....
s high, and in the other hand a spear; at her feet lies a shield and near the spear is a serpent. This serpent would be Erichthonius
Erichthonius of Athens

King Erichthonius was a mythological early ruler of ancient Athens, Greece. He was, according to some Greek mythology, autochthonous and raised by the goddess Athena....
. On the pedestal is the birth of Pandora
Pandora

[Image:Pandora.jpg|right|thumb|300px|"The Creation of "[A]NESIDORA" on a white-ground kylix by the Tarquinia Painter, ca 460 BC In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first woman....
 in relief.


The general type of the Athena Parthenos, although not its character and quality, can be assessed from its image on coins and its reproductions as miniature sculptures, as votive objects, and in representations on engraved gems.

Athena's head is inclined slightly forward. She stands with her left hand resting on an upright shield. Her left knee is slightly bent, her weight slightly shifted to her right leg. Her chiton
Chiton (costume)

A chiton was a form of clothing worn by men and women in Ancient Greece, from the Archaic_period_in_Greece to the Hellenistic period . There are two forms of chiton, the Dorians chiton and the later Ionians chiton....
 is cinched at the waist by a pair of serpents
Serpent (symbolism)

Serpent is a word of Latin origin that is commonly used in a specifically mythology or religion context, signifying a snake that is to be regarded not as a mundane natural phenomenon nor as an object of scientific zoology, but as the bearer of some symbolic value....
, whose tails entwine at the back. Locks of hair trail onto the goddess's breastplate. The Nike
Nike (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Nike , was a goddess who personified triumph throughout the ages of the ancient Greek culture. The Roman equivalent was Victoria ....
 on her outstretched right hand is winged; whether there was a support under it in Phidias' original has been much discussed; evidence in surviving versions is contradictory. The exact position of a spear, often omitted, is also not fully determined, whether held in the crook of Athena's right arm or supported by one of the snakes in the aegis
Aegis

"Aegis" is a large collar or cape worn in ancient times to display the protection provided by a high religious authority or, it is the holder of a protective shield signifying the same, such as a bag-like garment that contained a shield....
, as N. Leipen restores it, following the "Aspasios" gem.

The sculpture was assembled on a wooden core, covered with shaped bronze plates covered in turn with removable gold plates, save for the ivory surfaces of the goddess's face and arms; the gold weighed 44 talents, the equivalent of about ; the Athena Parthenos embodied a sizeable part of the treasury of Athens.

Ancient copies

The Varvakeion votive figure (illustration, above right) is one of the two versions of Athena Parthenos considered most faithful to the original; the other is the uncompleted Lenormant Athena, also in the National Museum, Athens.
  • The Varvakeion Athena, a Roman copy in marble of the second century, is housed in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens
    National Archaeological Museum of Athens

    The National Archaeological Museum of Athens in Athens houses some of the most important artifacts from a variety of archaeological locations around Greece from prehistory to late antiquity....
    . One of the two versions of Athena Parthenos considered most faithful to the original.
  • Lenormant Athena, uncompleted, of the second to third century, also in the National Museum, Athens. One of the two versions of Athena Parthenos considered most faithful to the original.
  • Another copy is housed in the Louvre
    Louvre

    The Louvre Museum , located in Paris, is a historic monument, and a national museum of France. It is a central landmark, located on the Rive Droite of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement of Paris ....
    .
  • Another copy is in the Museo Nazionale Romano in Rome
  • The statue's shield alone (Strangford Collection
    Percy Smythe, 6th Viscount Strangford

    Percy Clinton Sydney Smythe, 6th Viscount Strangford, Order of the Bath, Royal Guelphic Order was an Ireland diplomat.He was at Harrow School and graduated from Trinity College, Dublin in 1800, entered the diplomatic service, and in the following year succeeded to the title of Viscount Strangford in the Peerage of Ireland....
    , British Museum
    British Museum

    The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture situated in London. Its collections, which number more than 7 million Object , are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its beginning to the present....
    , illustration, right)


Replica at Nashville


A modern replica by Alan LeQuire
Alan LeQuire

Alan LeQuire is an United States Sculpture of the late 20th and early 21st century. A native of Nashville, Tennessee, Tennessee, much of his work is displayed in public areas of his hometown....
 stands in the reproduction of the Parthenon
Parthenon (Nashville)

The Parthenon in Nashville, Tennessee is a full-scale replica of the original Parthenon in Athens. It was built in 1897 as part of the Tennessee Centennial and International Exposition....
 in Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville is the Capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County, Tennessee. It is the second most populous city in the state after Memphis, Tennessee....
, Tennessee
Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States United States. In 1796, it became the sixteenth state to join the United States....
. Alan LeQuire, a Nashville native, was awarded the commission to produce the Parthenon's cult statue. His work was modeled on descriptions given of the original. The modern version took eight years to complete, and was unveiled to the public on May 20 1990.

The modern version of Athena Parthenos is significant because of its scale and its attention to recreating Phidias' work. The statue adds an additional dimension of realism to the replicated Parthenon, whose interior east room (the naos) was merely a large empty hall prior to the statue's unveiling. The reproduced Athena Parthenos gives visitors the impression that they truly are inside an ancient place of worship.

Athena Parthenos is made of a composite of gypsum
Gypsum

Gypsum is a very soft mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula calciumsulfuroxygen4?2water....
 cement and ground fiberglass
Fiberglass

Fiberglass, , is material made from extremely fine fibers of glass. It is used as a reinforcing agent for many polymer products; the resulting composite material, properly known as fiber-reinforced polymer or glass-reinforced plastic , is called "fiberglass" in popular usage....
. The head of Athena was assembled over an aluminum armature
Armature

Armature may refer to:* Armature , the kinematic chains used in computer animation to simulate the motions of virtual characters* Armature , one of the two principal electrical components of an electromechanical machine...
, and the lower part was made in steel
Steel

Steel is an alloy consisting mostly of iron, with a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.14% by weight , depending on grade. Carbon is the most cost-effective alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten....
. The four ten-inch H beams rest on a concrete structure that extends through the Parthenon floor and basement down to bedrock
Bedrock

File:Rockhead1.jpg.JPGIn stratigraphy, bedrock is the native consolidated Rock underlying the surface of a terrestrial planet, usually the Earth....
, to support the incredible weight of the statue. LeQuire made each of the 180 cast gypsum panels used to create the statue light enough to be lifted by one person and attached to the steel armature.

Gilding and paint

Athenaalanpainting
Painstaking research was performed by LeQuire and the Parthenon staff to ensure the accuracy of the statue's resemblance to the Phidias work. It stood in Nashville’s Parthenon as a plain, white statue for twelve years. In 2002, Parthenon volunteers gild
Gilding

Gilding is the technique of applying a thin layer of gold to a surface. Gilding is performed through a mechanical process, known as leafing, or using one of many chemical processes....
ed Athena under the supervision of master gilder Lou Reed. The gilding project took less than four months and makes the modern statue appear that much more like the Phidias' Athena Parthenos would have appeared during its time.

The gold plates on the Athena statue in ancient times weighed approximately and were one-sixteenth to one-eighth of an inch (1.6 to 3.2 mm) thick. The 23.75-karat gold leaf on Nashville's Athena Parthenos weighs a total of and is one-third the thickness of tissue paper. The modern extravagance of gilding such a large statue pales in comparison to the lavish spending of the Greeks. In fact, one theory of the original's demise is that Athena Parthenos was decimated and looted to remove the gilding.

In addition to gilding, the project included painting the details of the statue's face, wardrobe, and shield. LeQuire himself applied the paint.

Facts and figures

  • Nashville's Athena stands 41 ft 10 in tall, making her the largest piece of indoor sculpture in the Western World.
  • The statue of Nike in Athena's right hand stands 6 ft 4 in tall.
  • There are eleven snakes represented on Athena's breastplate, bracelets, and belt.


Further reading

  • Leipen, N. Athena Parthenos (Toronto) 1971.


External links