Athena Promachos

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Athena Promachos ("Athena who fights in the front line") was a colossal bronze statue of Athena which stood between the Propylaea and the Parthenon on the acropolis of Athens. Athena was the goddess of wisdom and warriors and the protectress of Athens. She was sculpted by the great Pheidias, who also sculpted the huge gold and ivory cult image of Athena Parthenos in the Parthenon and the Lemnian Athena on the Acropolis as well as the statue of Zeus at Olympia.

The Athena Promachos was one of Pheidias' earliest recorded works: it was placed in about 456. It was made with the spoils of the Battle of Marathon, won several years earlier. Parts of the marble base remain; according to the preserved inscription, it measured about 30 feet (9 m) high.[1] It showed Athena standing with her shield resting upright against her leg, and a spear in her right hand. The statue was so big it was possible to see the tip of the spear and her helmet crest at sea off Cape Sounion.

Athena Promachos stood[2] overlooking her city for about 1000 years until the late fifth century AD (450-525 AD) when she was transported to Constantinople (capital of the Eastern Roman Empire), as a trophy in the "Oval Forum", the last bastion and safe haven for many surviving Greek bronze sculpture, under the protection of the Imperial court.

The Athena Promachos was finally destroyed in 1203 by a superstitious Christian mob who thought she was beckoning the crusaders who had besieged the city (Jenkins 1947). Unfortunately, no Roman copies exist of this particular statue, apart from Roman coins, which portray poor quality images.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Dinsmoor, William Bell. 1921. "Attic building accounts. IV. The statue of Athena Promachos.", American Journal of Archaeology 25/2, pp 118-129.
  2. ^ References casually referring to her as "sitting" confuse her with the Athena in the cella of the Parthenon.

[edit] References

  • John Boardman and David Finn, The Parthenon and its Sculpture
  • J. J. Pollitt, 2nd ed., 1990. The Art of Ancient Greece: Sources and Documents (Cambridge University Press)
  • Jenifer Neils, ed., The Parthenon: From Antiquity to the Present
  • The Temple of Athena Nike at the Acropolis: Bibliography of the temple and the Athena Promachos
  • R.J.H.Jenkins, 1947. "The Bronze Athena at Byzantium", Journal of Hellenic Studies 67 pp 31-33.
  • Roy George, "Athena Promachos (Pheidias)": interpreting documentation of a Roman coin. Reconstructions of urbanistic context.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../a/t/h/Athena_Promachos_0110.html"