Lemnian Athena
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The Lemnian Athena, also known as Athena Lemnia, was a classical Greek statue of the goddess Athena.
According to Pausanias (1.28.2), the original bronze was created by Phidias circa 450-440 BCE, for Athenians living on Lemnos to dedicate on the Acropolis in Athens.
It is unclear whether any copies remain in existence. In 1891 Adolf Furtwängler reconstructed two virtually identical, Roman marble statues which he claimed as copies of the original, and identified two Roman marble copies of the head alone. These full statues were recreated by joining a poorly-preserved marble head (Dresden) and plaster cast of a similar head (Bologna) to a pair of identical bodies in Dresden. Both reconstructions and attributions have been disputed; see below. These statues are:
- Two full reconstructions (A and B) in the Staatliche Museum, Albertinum, Dresden, with bodies purchased 1728 from the Chigi collection, Rome.
The reconstructed full statues are pastiches of two Roman marbles, one for the head and the other for the body. Athena wears an unusual, cross-slung aegis decorated with Gorgon head. She is bare-headed, without shield, holding her helmet out in her right hand, and with her left grasping her spear near the top.
Furtwängler's identification of the original Lemnia with the Dresden statues and Palagi head was based upon study of gem-engravings; and by interpretation of passages from Pausanias, Lucian, and Himerios:
- Pausanias 1.28.2:
- [On the Acropolis] there are also two other dedications, a statue of Pericles, son of Xanthippos, and the most worth seeing of the works of Phidias, the statue of Athena called the Lemnian after those who dedicated it.
- Lucian, Imagines 4 and 6:
- (4) Lykinos: "Of all the works of Phidias, which one do you praise most highly?"
- Polystratos: "Which if not the Lemnia, on which he thought fit to inscribe his name? Or the Amazon leaning on her spear?
- ...
- (6) From the Knidia the sculptor [of Panthea] will take only the head, ... allowing the hair, forehead, and that lovely brow-line to remain just as Praxiteles made them, and the liquid yet clear and winsome gaze of the eyes shall stay as Praxiteles conceived it. But he will take the curve of the cheeks and the fore part of the face from Alkamenes' [Aphrodite] in the Gardens, plus her hands, graceful wrists, and supple, tapering fingers. But the facial contour, its softness, and her well-proportioned nose will be supplied by the Lemnian Athena of Phidias, who will also furnish the meeting of the lips and the neck, taken from the Amazon."
- Himerios, Oratio 68.4 (Colonna):
- Phidias did not always make images of Zeus, nor did he always cast Athena armed into bronze, but turned his art to the other gods and adorned the Maiden's cheeks with a rosy blush, so that in place of her helmet this should cover the goddess's beauty.
His logic has been disputed. Hartswick has shown that the Palagi head cannot have come from Dresden statue B, that the gems could be post-antique, and that the sources are vague. Some of Hartwick's own conclusions have been disputed in turn, i.e., that the head of Dresden A is alien and the entire Palagi type is Hadrianic. So while the type remains intact and looks Phidian, Furtwängler's further hypotheses concerning its identity and date (451-448) remain unproven.
[edit] References
- www.goddess-athena.org
- Kim J. Hartswick,"The Athena Lemnia Reconsidered", American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 87, No. 3 (Jul., 1983), pp. 335-346.
- Olga Palagia, "In Defense of Furtwangler's Athena Lemnia", American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 91, No. 1 (Jan., 1987), pp. 81-84.
- Judith M. Barringer, Jeffrey M. Hurwit, J. J. Pollitt, Periklean Athens And Its Legacy: Problems and Perspectives, University of Texas Press, 2005. ISBN 0292706227.
- Alexander S. Murray, A History of Greek Sculpture, 1880, Kessinger Publishing (2004), ISBN 1417912278.
- Edward Robinson, Catalogue of Casts, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Houghton, Mifflin, 1896, pages 86-89.
