Statue of Athena (Minerva) 2nd century AD

This statue was discovered during excavation conducted at Perge in 1982, and it was carved from a fine grained white marble. Athena wears a himation over a chiton. There is an aegis (shield) on her chest. Her hair is parted into two and is curly. She wears a plumed helmet on her head and sandals on her feet. As can be understood from the surviving broken pieces, she held a shield in her left hand and a lance in her right hand. Athena appears in this statue dressed as a warrior. This is a Roman period copy of a 4th century BC original.

Athena was a war goddess. She was the daughter of Zeus and Metis. Zeus swallowed alive his pregnant wife since he was afraid of his unborn child, who might become more powerful than himself. Sometime later he had a headache and when Hephaistos hit Zeus's head with an axe to ease the headache, an armed young girl emerged from Zeus's cracked head, thus was Athena was born from Zeus's head. Homer describes her as "grey-eyed". We meet Athena as a war goddess in the Iliad. However she is on the side of the Achaians who invaded Troy. Her role is different in the Odyssey. The destiny of Odysseus and his whole family is in her hands and she pitied Odysseus and helped him.

Athena, who was the patron goddess of the yarn spinners and embroiderers, became furious with the challenge of Arakhne, who was talented in the art of weaving and embroidery and the Goddess turned the young girl into a spider. Athena is depicted with a shield, helmet and spear and is generally shown wearing on her chest an aegis (a shield) made of goat's leather. Zeus made this shield from the skin of the goat Amaltheia which had suckled him when he was growing up hidden in an inn on Crete. Zeus gave this shield, that he had used in his battle against the Titans, to Athena. The goddess attached to this shield the head of the Gorgon whose hair was formed from snakes and who was killed by Perseus. The owl and the olive branch were her symbols.

Athena was the protector goddess of cities and she represented wisdom, science and war. Athena was the founder and the protecting goddess of Athens. In the competition held under the arbitration of the gods of Olympos to determine who had the right of sovereignty over Athens, the sea god Poseidon hit his staff on the ground and created a salty lake on top of the acropolis (according to some legends this was a horse), whereas Athena created an olive tree. The gods found the olive tree more useful, and so they appointed Athena the goddess of the region and of the city. The festival of the Panathenaia, which was held by the Athenians to honor the goddess, occupied an important position in the Hellenistic world in regard to religion, culture and the arts.