CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D.

Athena is frequently depicted with her aegis, the protective cloak, here worn diagonally across the goddess' chest. Homer characterizes the aegis as so powerful that when shaken it could "scatter hosts and terrify mankind" (The Iliad, Book XV). While occasionally described as constructed from goat skin, several depictions of Athena show her scaly garment adored with a gorgoneion and lined with snakes along its fringe, as seen in this example, indicating that the cloak was fashioned from the skin of Medusa. The addition of this element suggests that the aegis was presented to Athena as a votive offering from Perseus after he slayed the Gorgon with her guidance.

With the right shoulder positioned slightly higher than the left, this Athena can be identified a variation of the Athena Parthenos, Phidias' colossal statue from the 5th century B.C. that stood on the Athenian Acropolis. In her now-missing raised right hand the goddess would have likely brandished a spear while the left arm was lowered to hold a shield. For a similar example also depicting the goddess with a diagonally-draped aegis above a belted tunic, see the figure in the Acropolis Museum, Athens, fig. 51 in P. Karanastassis, "Untersuchungen zur kaiserzeitlichen Plastik in Griechenland, 2. Kopien, Varianten und Umbildungen nach Athena-Typen des 5. Jhs. v. Chr.," Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Athenische Abteilung, vol. 102. For the distinctive belt above the overfold of her tunic with symmetrical voluted ties, see figs. 401 and 405 in M. Bieber, Ancient Copies: Contributions to the History of Greek and Roman Art.