Athena

CC 303 Intro to Classical Mythology - Fall 2009
Department of Classics, University of Texas at Austin, Prof. Lawrence Kim

Names to Remember

Athena / Minerva / Pallas, Metis
Parthenon, Acropolis, Athens, Nike, Aegis
Arachne, Marsyas, Niobe, Leto / Latona

Lecture Outline

1. Athena's Birth
   1. Prophecy; Zeus swallows Metis (Intelligence)
   2. Athena springs fully grown and armed from Zeus' Head
   3. No Mother; Bond with Father
   4. Goddess of Wisdom
2. Athena and her Characteristics
   1. City: Athens
      1. Contest with Poseidon (Spring vs. Olive Tree)
      2. Mother of Erechtheus, early king of Athens
      3. Temples
      • Parthenon (=House of the Virgin)
      • Cult Statue: Holds the Nike (Victory)
      • Athena Nike
        
      4. Both temples on the Acropolis, the citadel of Athens
   2. Appearance
   • Gray-eyed, severe masculine beauty
   • Armed: Helmet, Spear, Shield
   • The Aegis: goatskin or breastplate with Medusa's head
   3. Characteristics
   • Asexual, Eternal Virgin
   • Warrior
   • Protector of Heroes: Perseus, Argonauts, Odysseus
   • Defender of Cities
   • Goddess of Culture and Civilization 
   • Wisdom, Technical and Craft Skills
   • Her Bird: The Owl
   • Carpentry, Weaving, Pottery
   • Civic Law, Justice, and Order
3. Challenging the Gods: Divine Vengeance Myths
   1. Athena's Weaving Contest with Arachne
   2. Leto/Latona and the Lycian Peasants
   3. Apollo and Marsyas
   4. Apollo, Artemis, and Niobe

Images

Athena

1. *Pallas Athena. Gustav Klimt, 1898. Historisches Museum der Stadt Wien, Vienna.
2. The Birth of Athena fom Zeus' Head. Detail of Athenian black-figure kylix, c. 550-540 BC. British Museum Catalog of Vases B 424.
3. A reconstruction of the chryselephantine statue Athena Parthenos by Pheidias. Nashville.
4. Bronze statue of Athena from the Piraeus, c. 340-330 BC.
5. Athena. Roman copy in marble of an original cult image in bronze of c. 430-420 BC. Attributed by many to Kresilas. Glyptothek, Munich.
6. Athena striding to left with spear and shield between columns topped with cocks. Panathenaic amphora of the Kuban Group, c. 400 BC. British Museum, London.
7. Marble sculpture of the goddess Athena from the Farnese collection. Roman copy of a Classical Greek original by Pyrrhos of the school of Pheidias (5th c. BC). Museo Nazionale, Naples.
8. Marble statue of Ferdinand IV as Minerva. Antonio Canova, 1821. Museo Nazionale, Naples.
9. Athenian Tetradrachm
10. Mourning Athena, or Pensive Athena. Severe style relief sculpture, from the Acropolis in Athens, c. 460 BCE. Acropolis Museum, Athens.

Arachne

1. Arachne (Las Hilanderas). Diego Velázquez, c. 1644-8. Museo del Prado, Madrid.

Niobe

1. Death of the Children of Niobe. Athenian vase, c. 450 BC. Musée du Louvre, Paris.
2. The family of Niobe pierced by arrows from Apollo and Diana. G. Piazza, 1822.
3. Niobe. Plaster cast of marble statue in Uffizi Gallery, Florence. Ashmolean Museum Cast Gallery C195, Oxford.
4. Niobe being turned to stone. Detail from South Italian red-figure clay vase, c. mid-4th century BC. Nicholson Museum of Antiquities, Sydney.

Marsyas

1. The Flaying of Marsyas. Titian, 1575-6. State Museum, Kromeriz, Czech Republic.
2. Apollo and Marsyas. José de Ribera, 1637. Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels.
3. The Flaying of Marsyas. Johann Liss, c. 1627.  Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice.
4. Marsyas Flayed by the Order of Apollo, Carle Van Loo, 1735. École nationale superieure des beaux-arts, Paris.