PLATE IX
Athene Parthenos
This statue of Athene, the maiden protectress of Athens, is one of a number of copies of the famous chryselephantine image made by Pheidias for the Parthenon, and many of its peculiar features betray its metallic original. In her right hand the goddess holds erect a long lance and allows her left hand to rest on a shield standing on edge at her side. On her head is a helmet on the top of which sits a sphinx, and over her shoulders and breast hangs the aegis. Her face is strong, dignified, just, and unemotional—in short, suggests all those ideal traits of character which the noblest myths have attributed to her. From a marble of the age of Hadrian, in the Prado, Madrid (Brunn-Bruckmann, Denkmäler griechischer und römischer Sculptur, No. 511). See pp. 169 ff.
