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In 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....
 and Roman mythology
Roman mythology

Roman mythology, or more appropriately, Latin mythology, refers to the mythology beliefs of the Italic people inhabiting the region of Latium and its main city, Rome....
, a palladium or palladion was an 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 great antiquity on which the safety of a city was said to depend. "Palladium" especially signified the wooden statue of Pallas Athena that Odysseus
Odysseus

Odysseus or Ulysses , in Greek mythology , was a legendary Greeks king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's Epic poetry, the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in the Epic Cycle....
 and Diomedes
Diomedes

Diomedes or Diomed is a hero in Greek mythology, mostly known for his participation in the Trojan War. He was born to Tydeus and Deipyle and later became King of Argos, succeeding his grandfather, Adrastus....
 stole from the citadel
Citadel

A citadel is a Fortification for protecting a town, sometimes incorporating a castle. The term derives from the same Latin language root as the word "city", civis, meaning citizen....
 of Troy
Troy

Troy is a legendary city and center of the Trojan War, as described in the Epic Cycle, and especially in the Iliad, one of the two epic poems attributed to Homer....
 and which was later taken to the future site of Rome
Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
 by Aeneas
Aeneas

This article is about the Roman hero. For other uses, see Aeneas .In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas was a Troy hero, the son of prince Anchises and the goddess Venus_....
. The Roman story is related in Virgil
Virgil

Publius Vergilius Maro was a classical Roman poet, best known for three major works?the Bucolics , the Georgics and the Aeneid?although several Appendix Vergiliana are also attributed to him....
's Aeneid
Aeneid

The Aeneid is a Latin Epic poetry written by Virgil in the late 1st century BC that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy who traveled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Rome....
 and other works.

Trojan Palladium was said to be a wooden image of Pallas
Pallas (son of Crius)

Pallas is a Titan , associated with war, killed by Athena in fight with gods. Most sources indicate that he was the son of Crius and Eurybia, the brother of Astraeus and Perses , and the husband of Styx ....
 (whom the Greeks
Ancient Greece

The term Ancient Greece refers to the period of History of Greece lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman Republic conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth ....
 identified with 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....
 and the Romans
Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
 with Minerva) and to have fallen from heaven in answer to the prayer of Ilus
Ilus

Ilus is the name of several mythological persons associated directly or indirectly with Troy....
, the founder of Troy
Troy

Troy is a legendary city and center of the Trojan War, as described in the Epic Cycle, and especially in the Iliad, one of the two epic poems attributed to Homer....
.

"The most ancient talismanic effigies
Effigy

An effigy is a representation of a person, especially in the form of sculpture.The term is usually associated with full-length figures of a deceased person depicted in stone or wood on church monuments....
 of Athena," Ruck and Staples report, "...were magical found objects, faceless pillars of Earth in the old manner, before the Goddess was anthropomorphized
Anthropomorphism

Anthropomorphism is the attribution of uniquely human characteristics to non-human creatures and beings, natural and supernatural phenomena, material states and objects or abstract concepts....
 and given form through the intervention of human intellectual meddling."

arrival of the Palladium, fashioned by Athena in remorse for the death of Pallas, at Troy, as part of the city's founding myth
Founding myth

A national myth is an inspiring narrative or anecdote about a nation's past. Such myths often serve as an important national symbol and affirm a set of national values....
, was variously referred to by Greeks, from the seventh century BCE onwards.






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In 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....
 and Roman mythology
Roman mythology

Roman mythology, or more appropriately, Latin mythology, refers to the mythology beliefs of the Italic people inhabiting the region of Latium and its main city, Rome....
, a palladium or palladion was an 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 great antiquity on which the safety of a city was said to depend. "Palladium" especially signified the wooden statue of Pallas Athena that Odysseus
Odysseus

Odysseus or Ulysses , in Greek mythology , was a legendary Greeks king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's Epic poetry, the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in the Epic Cycle....
 and Diomedes
Diomedes

Diomedes or Diomed is a hero in Greek mythology, mostly known for his participation in the Trojan War. He was born to Tydeus and Deipyle and later became King of Argos, succeeding his grandfather, Adrastus....
 stole from the citadel
Citadel

A citadel is a Fortification for protecting a town, sometimes incorporating a castle. The term derives from the same Latin language root as the word "city", civis, meaning citizen....
 of Troy
Troy

Troy is a legendary city and center of the Trojan War, as described in the Epic Cycle, and especially in the Iliad, one of the two epic poems attributed to Homer....
 and which was later taken to the future site of Rome
Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
 by Aeneas
Aeneas

This article is about the Roman hero. For other uses, see Aeneas .In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas was a Troy hero, the son of prince Anchises and the goddess Venus_....
. The Roman story is related in Virgil
Virgil

Publius Vergilius Maro was a classical Roman poet, best known for three major works?the Bucolics , the Georgics and the Aeneid?although several Appendix Vergiliana are also attributed to him....
's Aeneid
Aeneid

The Aeneid is a Latin Epic poetry written by Virgil in the late 1st century BC that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy who traveled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Rome....
 and other works.

The Trojan Palladium


Origins

The Trojan Palladium was said to be a wooden image of Pallas
Pallas (son of Crius)

Pallas is a Titan , associated with war, killed by Athena in fight with gods. Most sources indicate that he was the son of Crius and Eurybia, the brother of Astraeus and Perses , and the husband of Styx ....
 (whom the Greeks
Ancient Greece

The term Ancient Greece refers to the period of History of Greece lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman Republic conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth ....
 identified with 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....
 and the Romans
Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
 with Minerva) and to have fallen from heaven in answer to the prayer of Ilus
Ilus

Ilus is the name of several mythological persons associated directly or indirectly with Troy....
, the founder of Troy
Troy

Troy is a legendary city and center of the Trojan War, as described in the Epic Cycle, and especially in the Iliad, one of the two epic poems attributed to Homer....
.

"The most ancient talismanic effigies
Effigy

An effigy is a representation of a person, especially in the form of sculpture.The term is usually associated with full-length figures of a deceased person depicted in stone or wood on church monuments....
 of Athena," Ruck and Staples report, "...were magical found objects, faceless pillars of Earth in the old manner, before the Goddess was anthropomorphized
Anthropomorphism

Anthropomorphism is the attribution of uniquely human characteristics to non-human creatures and beings, natural and supernatural phenomena, material states and objects or abstract concepts....
 and given form through the intervention of human intellectual meddling."

Arrival at Troy

The arrival of the Palladium, fashioned by Athena in remorse for the death of Pallas, at Troy, as part of the city's founding myth
Founding myth

A national myth is an inspiring narrative or anecdote about a nation's past. Such myths often serve as an important national symbol and affirm a set of national values....
, was variously referred to by Greeks, from the seventh century BCE onwards. The Palladium was linked to the Samothrace mysteries
Samothrace temple complex

The Samothrace Temple Complex, known as the Sanctuary of the Great Gods , Greek language Hieron ton Megalon Theon , is one of the principal Pan-Hellenic religious sanctuaries, located on the island of Samothrace within the larger Thrace....
 through the pre-Olympian figure of an Elektra, mother of Dardanus, progenitor of the Trojan royal line, and of Iasion
Iasion

In Greek mythology, Iasion or Iasus was usually the son of Electra and Zeus and brother of Dardanus. Iasion founded the mystic rites on the island of Samothrace....
, founder of the Samothrace mysteries. Whether Electra had come to Athena's shrine of the Palladium as a pregnant suppliant and a god cast it into the territory of Ilium, because it had been profaned by the hands of a woman who was not a virgin, or whether Elektra carried it herself or whether it was given directly to Dardanus vary in sources and scholia
Scholium

Scholia , are grammar, critical, or explanatory comments, either original or extracted from pre-existing commentaries, which are inserted on the margin of the manuscript of an ancient author, as gloss....
. In Ilion, King Ilus
Ilus

Ilus is the name of several mythological persons associated directly or indirectly with Troy....
 was blinded for touching the image to preserve it from a burning temple.

Theft


During the Trojan War
Trojan War

In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans after Paris of Troy stole Helen from her husband Menelaus, the king of Sparta....
, the importance of the Palladium to Troy was said to have been revealed to the Greeks by Helenus
Helenus

Helenus was a Trojan soldier and prophet in the Trojan War.In Greek mythology, Helenus was the son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy, and the twin brother of the prophetess Cassandra....
, the prophetic son of Priam
Priam

In Greek mythology, Priam was the king of Troy during the Trojan War and youngest son of Laomedon. Modern scholars derive his name from the Luwian compound Priimuua, which means "exceptionally courageous"....
. Since Troy could not be captured while it safeguarded this image, the Greeks Diomedes
Diomedes

Diomedes or Diomed is a hero in Greek mythology, mostly known for his participation in the Trojan War. He was born to Tydeus and Deipyle and later became King of Argos, succeeding his grandfather, Adrastus....
 and Odysseus
Odysseus

Odysseus or Ulysses , in Greek mythology , was a legendary Greeks king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's Epic poetry, the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in the Epic Cycle....
 made their way to the citadel
Citadel

A citadel is a Fortification for protecting a town, sometimes incorporating a castle. The term derives from the same Latin language root as the word "city", civis, meaning citizen....
 in Troy by a secret passage
Secret passage

A secret passage is a hidden route that is used to travel stealthily. Such passageways may be inside a building leading to a secret room, or be a way of entering somewhere without being seen....
 and carried it off. In this way the Greeks were then able to enter Troy and lay it waste using the deceit of the Trojan Horse
Trojan Horse

The "Trojan Horse" refers to the stratagem that allowed the Greeks to finally enter the city of Troy during the Trojan War. In the best-known version of this Bronze Age story, after a fruitless 10-year siege of Troy, the Greeks built a huge figure of a horse, in which a select force of men hid....
.

After Paris' death, Helenus left the city but was captured by Odysseus. The Greeks somehow managed to persuade the warrior seer to reveal the weakness of Troy. The Greeks learned from Helenus, that Troy would not fall, while the Palladium, image or statue of Athena, remained within Troy's walls. The difficult task of stealing this sacred statue again fell upon the shoulders of Odysseus and Diomedes.

Odysseus, some say, went by night to Troy, and leaving Diomedes waiting, disguised himself and entered the city as a beggar. There he was recognized by Helen
Helen

In Greek mythology, Helen , better known as Helen of Sparta later Helen of Troy, was the daughter of Zeus and Leda , wife of King Menelaus of Sparta and sister of Castor and Pollux, Castor and Pollux and Clytemnestra....
, who told him where the Palladium was. Diomedes then climbed the wall of Troy and entered the city. Together, the two friends killed several guards and one or more priests of Athena's temple and stole the Palladium "with their bloodstained hands". Diomedes is generally regarded as the person who physically removed the Palladium and carried it away to the ships. There are several statues and many ancient drawings of him with the Palladium.

According to the 'Epic-Cycle' stories (Little Iliad
Little Iliad

The Little Iliad is a lost Epic poetry of ancient Greek literature. It was one of the Epic Cycle, that is, the "Trojan" cycle, which told the entire history of the Trojan War in epic verse....
), on the way to the ships, Odysseus plotted to kill Diomedes and claim the Palladium (or perhaps the credit for gaining it) for himself. He raised his sword to stab Diomedes in the back. Diomedes was alerted to the danger by glimpsing the gleam of the sword in the moonlight. He disarmed Odysseus, tied his hands, and drove him along in front, beating his back with the flat of his sword. From this action was said to have arisen the Greek proverbial expression "Diomedes' necessity", applied to those who act under compulsion. (The incident was commemorated in 1842 by the French sculptor Pierre-Jules Cavelier
Pierre-Jules Cavelier

Pierre-Jules Cavelier was a French academic sculptor.Son of a silversmith and furniture maker, student of the sculptors Pierre Jean David and the painter Paul Delaroche, Cavelier won the Prix de Rome in 1842 with a plaster statue of Diomedes Entering the Palladium....
 (1814-94) in a muscle-bound plaster statue; it depicts Diomedes alone, his noble face peering apprehensively over his right shoulder, as he cradles the Palladium). Because Odysseus was essential for the destruction of Troy, Diomedes refrained from punishing him.

Diomedes took the Palladium with him when he left Troy. According to some stories, he brought it to Italy. Some say that it was stolen from him on the way.

Arrival at Rome

According to various versions of this legend the Trojan Palladium found its way to 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....
, or Argos
Argos

Argos is a city in Greece in the Peloponnese near Nafplion, which was its historic harbour, named for Nauplius ....
, or Sparta
Sparta

Sparta was a city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the Eurotas River in the southern part of the Peloponnese. From circa 650 BC it rose to become the dominant military power in the region and as such was recognized as the overall leader of the combined Greek forces during the Greco-Persian Wars....
 (all in Greece
Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkans. It has borders with Albania, Bulgaria and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to the north, and Turkey to the east....
), or Rome
Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
 in Italy
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
. To this last city it was either brought by Aeneas the exiled Trojan (Diomedes, in this version, having only succeeded in stealing an imitation of the statue) or surrendered by Diomedes himself. It was kept there in the temple of Vesta
Vesta (mythology)

Vesta was the virgin goddess of the hearth, home, and family in Roman mythology. Although she is often mistaken as analogous to Hestia in Greek mythology, she had a large, albeit mysterious, role in Roman religion long before she appeared in Greece....
 in the Roman Forum
Roman Forum

The Roman Forum , sometimes known by its original Latin name, is located between the Palatine hill and the Capitoline hill of the city of Rome. It is the central area around which the Ancient Rome developed....
.

In Late Antiquity
Late Antiquity

Late Antiquity is a periodization used by historians to describe the transitional centuries from Classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, in both mainland Europe and the Mediterranean world: generally from the end of the Roman Empire's Crisis of the Third Century to the Islamic conquests and the re-organization of the Byzantine Empire under...
, it was rumored that the Palladium was transferred from Rome to 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...
 by Constantine and buried under the Column of Constantine
Column of Constantine

The Column of Constantine is a monumental column constructed on the orders of the Roman Empire emperor Constantine the Great in 330 AD. It commemorates the declaration of Byzantium as the new capital city of the Roman Empire....
 in his forum. Such a move would have undermined the primacy of Rome, and was naturally seen as a move by Constantine to legitimize his reign.

Palladium-equivalents in other cultures

  • Ancile
    Ancile

    The Ancile, in ancient Rome, is the legendary buckler shield of the god Mars , said to have fallen from heaven, upon Numa Pompilius. At the same time, a voice was heard which declared that Rome should be mistress of the world while the shield was preserved....
    , a Roman palladium
  • The Emerald Buddha
    Emerald Buddha

    The Emerald Buddha is the Palladium of the Kingdom of Thailand, a figurine of the sitting Gautama Buddha, made of green jade , clothed in gold, and about 45 cm tall....
    , a palladium of the Kingdom of Thailand. Every Thai city and town has a kwan meuang or ming meuang (usually, but not necessarily, an image of Buddha
    Gautama Buddha

    Siddhartha Gautama was a Spirituality teacher in the northern region of the Indian subcontinent who founded Buddhism. He is generally seen by Buddhists as the Supreme Buddhahood of our age....
    ).
  • Asherah Pole
    Asherah pole

    An Asherah pole is a sacred tree or pole that stood near Canaanite religious locations to honor the Ugaritic mother-goddess Asherah.It was also a symbol of worship of the Hebrew Goddess Asherah, the consort of Yahweh, during the time when the Hebrews followed the typical pattern of Levantine worship, focused on an Earth Mother and her snake...
    , a sacred tree or pole that stood near Canaanite religious locations to honor the Ugaritic mother-goddess Asherah.


See also

  • Xoanon
    Xoanon

    A xoanon was an Archaic period in Greece wooden cult image of Ancient Greece. Classical Greeks associated such cult objects, whether aniconic or effigy, with the legendary Daedalus....
  • Pallas (son of Crius)
    Pallas (son of Crius)

    Pallas is a Titan , associated with war, killed by Athena in fight with gods. Most sources indicate that he was the son of Crius and Eurybia, the brother of Astraeus and Perses , and the husband of Styx ....
  • 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....
  • Aeneid
    Aeneid

    The Aeneid is a Latin Epic poetry written by Virgil in the late 1st century BC that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy who traveled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Rome....


Citations


Other sources

  • The Oxford Dictionary of Classical Myth and Religion. s.v. "Palladium"


External links