Classification
Dimensions
150 x 74 x 71 cm
Date
early 20th century
Period
Material
Artist
Iconography
Inventory
Ag.347
ID
Hyp-5973
References
The statue is severely damaged, but we may still be certain that it depicts the goddess Pallas Athena. The cuirass (aigis) covering her shoulders is adorned in the centre of the chest with a disc: this is the gorgoneion, the characteristic weapon of the goddess, which turns everyone into stone. The holes encircling the rim of the aigis were originally meant to hold bronze snake-heads. The piece may be identical with a statue carved by an Athenian sculptor named Endoios, which the mid-second century AD Greek scholar, Pausanias, saw on the Acropolis. This is the earliest known statue of the goddess from her favourite city, Athens.
