A methodological enquiry: the Great Bronze Athena by Pheidias

Abstract

The ‘Great Bronze Athena’, or the Athena Promachos by Pheidias, was a famous statue on the Akropolis of Athens, according to the literary sources. Numerous attempts have been made in the 19th and 20th centuries to reconstruct the image of the statue based on various sources: coins, gems, lamps, Byzantine miniatures, and sculpture. However, some of these attempts have revealed a number of inconsistencies in treatment and interpretation of the various sources. This article, therefore, endeavours to separate the valid from the invalid through a careful assessment of all the available evidence relating to the Athena Promachos as the Pheidian statue rather than the iconographic type.

Geophysical prospection of a bronze foundry on the southern slope of the acropolis at athens, Greece

“…By excavating the newly discovered pit we hope to find parts of the clay and loam casting moulds, which would give us more clues of the visual nature of the great Athena statue. This would be very valuable because in the fourth century AD the statue was taken to Constantinople and around AD 1200 it was destroyed without an image ever made of it (Lundgreen, 1997).…”

Vitellius and the Shield of Minerva

“…61 Images of the Athena Promachos, which perhaps measured 7-10 m, on later coins suggest the presence of a large circular shield resting against the goddess' legs. 62 If Pliny is right that the Athena Parthenos was 26 cubits (or nearly 12 m) in height, then her shield may have had a diameter of 5 m. 63 Invoking her status as goddess of defensive warfare, Vitellius applies to Minerva-Athena the widely attested epithet πολιοῦχοςcitydefender. 64 The emperor may have conceived of himself similarly, as the victor in a civil war that saw him defeat Otho and restore the imperial throne to stability.…”