Athena, the Complex Greek Goddess of Wisdom and War

1. Athena Αθηνα אתנה מצגת שנייה Tondo with Athena and aegis. Roman mosaic from Tusculum, the 3rd century CE framed with a modern mosaic from the 18th century, Vatican Museums

2. פאלאס אתנה הינה אחת מהאלות המעניינות ביותר במיתולוגיה היוונית. נדמה כי היא שילוב מוזר של אלפי תכונות שאינן מתאימות יחדיו. לעיתים ילדה סוררת, לעיתים לוחמת אכזרית ולעיתים רודפת חכמה וצדק. מצד אחד, היא אנושית מאד, מהצד השני, אלוהית עד כדי כך שבלתי אפשרי לראות בה צד אנושי. מחד היא מייצגת את הנשגב, תכונות אלוהיות שהאדם שואף להגיע אליהן כל חייו, ומאידך, יש בה גאווה שאינה יודעת די, והיא אכזרית בדיוק כשם שהיא מייצגת את הנערץ. Elihu Vedder , Mosaic of Minerva , 1897 Library of Congress, Jefferson Building, Washington, D.C

3. בקרבות היא כונתה אתנה פרומכוס Athena Promachos Leo von Klenze, Reconstruction of the Acropolis and Areus Pagus in Athens, 1846 Statuette of Athena Promachos This statuette is the most faithful reproduction of the statue erected by archon Hippocleides, in 566 BCE at the time of the Panathenaia festival. About 470 BCE We can distinguished two dresses under the himation pleaten to the knees, while behind we can see the long aegis that reveals the curve of the Goddess's back. It should be covered with a leaf of gold. The top of the Attic helmet is derived from the motif of the swan neck. The whole statue is sculpted for only a point of view. The opposition that exists among the severe face, that places this work about 470 BCE, and the schematism of the dress pleats has been explained due to a certain archaic taste understandable in an official work. Athens, National Archaeological Museum

4. Athena Promachos from Pisoni's villa at Herculaneum , 1st century Naples Archaeological Museum

5. Peter Paul Rubens Minerva slaying Discord, 1632-1634 Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen

6. Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 150 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "After Juno [Hera] saw that Epaphus, born of a concubine, ruled such a great kingdom, she saw to it that he should be killed while hunting, and encouraged the Titanes to drive Jove [Zeus] from the kingdom and restore it to Saturnus [Kronos]. When they tried to mount to heaven, Jove [Zeus] with the help of Minerva [Athena], Apollo, and Diana [Artemis], cast them headlong into Tartarus. On Atlas, who had been their leader, he put the vault of the sky; even now he is said to hold up the sky on his shoulders." Joachim Wtewael, The Battle Between the Gods and the Titans, 1600, Art Institute of Chicago

7. אתנה במלחמה עם הגיגנטים Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 35 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "There was an oracle among the gods that they themselves would not be able to destroy any of the Gigantes, but would finish them off only with the help of some mortal ally … With Athena’s help he [Zeus] called for Herakles to be his ally. Herakles first sent an arrow at Alkyoneus, who by falling to the earth recovered somewhat. Athena advised Herakles to drag him outside of Pallene, which he did, and Alkyoneus thereupon died. In the course of the battle . . . [During the battle of the gods and Gigantes:] As Enkelados was fleeing, Athena threw the island of Sikelia (Sicily) in his direction. She stripped off the skin of Pallas and used it to protect her own body during the battle." Athena battles a pair of serpent-footed Gigantes in the War of the Giants Marble Relief sculpture, C2nd BC Istanbul Archaeological Museum

8. The Gigantomachia Attic red-figure neck amphora, c. 410-400 BC Musée du Louvre, Paris

9. Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses 28 (trans. Celoria) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Typhon was the son of Ge (the Earth), a deity monstrous because of his strength, and of outlandish appearance. There grew out of him numerous heads and hands and wings, while from his thighs came huge coils of snakes. He emitted all kinds of roars and nothing could resist his might. Typhon felt an urge to usurp the rule of Zeus and not one of the gods could withstand him as he attacked. In panic they fled to Aigyptos (Egypt), all except Athena and Zeus, who alone were left. Typhon hunted after them, on their track. When they fled they had changed themselves in anticipation into animal forms." Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 4. 235 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic C1st A.D.) : "Typhoeus, boasting that already the kingdom of the sky and already the stars were won, felt aggrieved that Bacchus [Dionysos] in the van [of a chariot] and Pallas, foremost of the gods, and a maiden’s snakes [Athena’s aegis] confronted him." Detail of the winged, serpent-legged giant Typhoeus Chalcidian Black Figure, Hydria, 540 BC Antiken-sammlungen, Munich

10. Bartholomäus Spranger Athena conquering Ignorance, 1593 Künsthistorische Museum, Wien

11. פעמים רבות מופיעה האלה במיתולוגיה בשדות קרב שונים, ואף היא משתתפת באחד מהאדירים שבהם- מלחמת טרויה, בה היא פוצעת את ארס (אל המלחמה מקבילו של מרס הרומי). Homer, Iliad 5. 27 ff : "Now as the high-hearted Trojans watched the two [Trojan] sons of Dares, one running away, and one cut down by the side of his chariot [by the Greeks], the anger in all of them was stirred. But grey-eyed Athene took violent Ares by the hand, and in words she spoke to him: ‘Ares, Ares, manslaughtering, blood-stained, stormer of strong walls, shall we not leave the Trojans and Akhaians to struggle after whatever way Zeus father grants glory to either while we two give ground together and avoid Zeus' anger?’ So she spoke, and led violent Ares out of the fighting and afterwards caused him to sit down by the sands of Skamandros while the Danaans [Greeks] bent the Trojans back." SUVÉE, Joseph-BenoitThe Combat of Mars and Minerva, 1771Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lille

12. DAVID, Jacques-LouisThe Combat of Mars and Minerva , 1771Musée du Louvre, Paris

13. VERONESE, PaoloMinerva Sending Away Mars from Peace and Prosperity, 1576-77Palazzo Ducale, Venice

14. אתנה קושרה עם האלה האגאית המקומית Aphaea Colourful Reconstruction of the archaic Eastern pediment of the Temple of Aphaia at Aegina describing the 1st Trojan war (not the one described by Homer) Colourful Reconstruction of the archaic Western pediment of the Temple of Aphaia at Aegina describing the 2ndTrojan war

15. Aphaea (Greek: Ἀφαία, Aphaía) was a Greek goddess who was worshipped almost exclusively at a single sanctuary on the island of Aegina in the Saronic Gulf. She originated as early as the 14th century BCE as a local deity associated with fertility and the agricultural cycle. Under Athenian hegemony, however, she came to be identified with the goddesses Athena and Artemis and with the nymph Britomartis as well, by the 2nd century CE, the time of Pausanias: On Aigina as one goes toward the mountain of Pan-Greek Zeus, the sanctuary of Aphaia comes up, for whom Pindar composed an ode at the behest of the Aeginetans. The Cretans say (the myths about her are native to Crete) that Euboulos was the son of Kharmanor, who purified Apollo of the killing of the Python, and they say that Britomartis was the daughter of Zeus and Kharme (the daughter of this Euboulos). She enjoyed races and hunts and was particularly dear to Artemis. While fleeing from Minos, who lusted after her, she cast herself into nets cast for a catch of fish. Artemis made her a goddess, and not only the Cretans but also the Aeginetans revere her. The Aeginetans say that Britomartis showed herself to them on their island. Her epithet among the Aeginetans is Aphaia, and it is Diktynna of the Nets on Crete. Description of Greece 2.30.3 The smiling Athena, from the Aphaia Temple in Aegina

16. בשונה מאָרֶס (אל המלחמה), חמום המוח שאינו מהימן בקרב (היה בצד המפסיד במלחמת טרויה), אתנה התרכזה באסטרטגיה וטקטיקות. אתנה עזרה ליוונים במלחמת כנגד טרויה (הייתה בצד המנצחים) , וליוותה את אודיסאוס הערמומי בדרכו חזרה לביתו, כשהיא משמשת בעצם פטרוניתו. פאלאס אתנה - האלה תכולת העין: "שנינו יודעים די תעלולים. בשל כך אתה הוא העליון שבאנשים בני התמותה, לסיפור ולעצה. אולם אני העליונה מבין האלים בני האלמוות בפקחות ובתעלולים." אתנה לאודיסאוס (יוליסס). Giuseppe Bottani Athena disguises Ulyssess as a beggar, 1775 Giuseppe Bottani Athena revealing Ithaca to Ulysses, 1775

17. Louis Jean-Francois Lagrenee Ulysses recognized by his nurse, 1725-1805

18. כאשר ברא פרומתיאוס את האדם הוא עשה זאת בהדרכתה ותחת השגחתה של אתנה אשר העניקה לאדם את החכמה. The creation of man by Prometheus , Guided by Athena . Marble relief, Italy, 3rd century CE. Musée du Louvre, Paris

19. The creation of the first man Prometheus, guided by Athena, is modeling the first man. Detail of a Roman sarcophagus , 4th century CE Museo Capitolino, Rome The creation of the first man Prometheus, guided by Athena, is modeling the first man. Detail of a Roman sarcophagus, 3-6 century CE Musée du Louvre, Paris

20. Christian Griepenkerl, Prometheus watches Athena endow his creation with reason, 1877, Augusteum (Oldenburg)

21. Painted in 1802 by Jean-Simon Berthélemy, painted again by Jean-Baptste Mauzaisse in 1826, Prometheus creating man in the presence of Athena, fresco, Louvre Museum

22. Louis de Silvestre The Creation of Man by Prometheus with the Aid of Minerva, 1702 Musée Fabre

23. Hesiod, Theogony 561 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or 7th B.C.) : "He [Zeus] made an evil thing for men as the price of fire; for the very famous Limping God [Hephaistos] formed of earth the likeness of a shy maiden [i.e. Pandora, the first woman,] as the son of Kronos [Zeus] willed. And the goddess bright-eyed Athene girded and clothed her with silvery raiment, and down from her head she spread with her hands a broidered veil, a wonder to see; and she, Pallas Athene, put about her head lovely garlands, flowers of new-grown herbs. Also she put upon her head a crown of gold which the very famous Limping God [Hephaistos] made himself and worked with his own hands as a favour to Zeus his father . . . But when he had made the beautiful evil to be the price for the blessing, he brought her out, delighting in the finery which the bright-eyed daughter [Athena] of a mighty father had given her, to the place where the other gods and men were. And wonder took hold of the deathless gods and mortal men when they saw that which was sheer guile, not to be withstood by men." Hephaestus created Pandora out of soil and water, beautiful as a goddess, and Athena clothed her in shining clothes and put necklaces on her. On the picture Pandora is named Anesidora. Both names are the ancient nicknames of the Earth giving rich gifts. The creation of Pandora. Red-figure kylix, interior. Attic. By the Tarquinia Painter Ca. 470—460 BCE. The British Museum, London

24. אתונה אתנה התחרתה עם פוסידון על תואר האל-פטרון של העיר אתונה. הם הסכימו שכל אחד יתן לאתונאים מתנה אחת והאתונאים יחליטו איזו מתנה הם מעדיפים. פוסידון הכה על האדמה בקלשונו, ומעין התפרץ מהבקע; המים היו מלוחים ולא שמישים במיוחד. לעומתו, אתנה נתנה לאתונאים את עץ הזית הראשון שלהם. האתונאים (או מלכם, קקרופס) קיבלו את עץ הזית, והפכו את אתנה לפטרוניתם, כיוון שהעץ נתן להם מזון, שמן ועץ לבניה. אתנה הייתה אלה פטרונית של ערים נוספות, המפורסמת שבהם היא ספרטה. Dispute de Minerve et de Neptune, 19e siècle, bronze, Ecouen, musée national de la Renaissance

25. Plato, Menexenus 237c (trans. Fowler) (Greek philosopher C4th B.C.) : "Our country [Athens] is deserving of praise, not only from us but from all men, on many grounds, but first and foremost because she is god-beloved. The strife of the gods who contended over her [i.e. Athena and Poseidon] and their judgement testify to the truth of our statement." Athena and Poseidon. Side A from a Faliscan red-figure volute-krater, 360 BC Musée du Louvre, Paris,

26. Domenico Beccafumi, The Contest between Minerva and Neptune, 1524-1525, Fresco ,Palazzo Casini Casuccini Siena

27. Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. 14. 1 (trans. Frazer) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Kekrops, a son of the soil, with a body compounded of man and serpent, was the first king of Attika . . . In his time, they say, the gods resolved to take possession of cities in which each of them should receive his own peculiar worship. So Poseidon was the first that came to Attika, and with a blow of his trident on the middle of the acropolis, he produced a sea which they now call Erekhtheis. After him came Athena, and, having called on Kekrops to witness her act of taking possession, she planted an olive tree, which is still shown in the Pandrosion. But when the two strove for possession of the country, Zeus parted them and appointed arbiters, not, as some have affirmed, Kekrops and Kranaus, nor yet Erysikhthon, but the twelve gods (dodekatheoi). And in accordance with their verdict the country was adjudged to Athena, because Kekrops bore witness that she had been the first to plant the olive. Athena, therefore, called the city Athens after herself, and Poseidon in hot anger flooded the Thriasian plain and laid Attika under the sea." Garofaldo Poseidon and Athena, 1512. Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden.

28. Pausanias, Description of Greece 1. 24. 5 : "As you enter the temple [of Athena on the Akropolis at Athens] that they name the Parthenon, all the sculptures you see on what is called . . . the rear pediment represent the contest for the land between Athena and Poseidon." AntonioLombardo, The Contest between Minerva and Neptune, c. 1508 The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

29. Pausanias, Description of Greece 1. 27. 1 : "[Near the temple of Athena Polias on the Akropolis of Athens:] About the olive tree they have nothing to say except that it was testimony the goddess produced when she contended for their land. Legend also says that when the Persians fired Athens the olive was burnt down, but on the very day it was burnt it grew again to the height of two cubits." Noël HALLÉDispute de Minerve et Neptune pour donner un nom à la ville d'Athènes1748 ,

30. Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 164 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "When there was a contest between Neptunus [Poseidon] and Minerva [Athena] as to who should be the first to found a town in the Attic land, they took Jove [Zeus] as judge. Minerva [Athena] won because she first planted the olive in that land, said to be there to this day. But Neptunus [Poseidon], in anger, wanted to have the sea flood that land. Mercurius [Hermes], at Jove's [Zeus'] command, forbade his doing that. And so Minerva [Athena] in her own name founded Athens, a town said to be the first established in the world." Merry-Joseph Blondel The dispute between Minerva and Neptune.

31. Ovid, Metamorphoses 6. 70 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "The rock of Mavors [Ares] in Cecrops' citadel is Pallas' [Athena's] picture [in her weaving contest with Arakhne] and that old dispute about he name of Athens. Twelve great gods, Jove [Zeus] in their midst, sit there on lofty thrones, grave and august, each pictured with his own familiar features: Jove [Zeus] in regal grace, the Sea-God [Poseidon] standing, striking the rough rock with his tall trident, and the wounded rock gushing sea-brine, his proof to clinch his claim. Herself she gives a shield, she gives a spear sharp-tipped, she gives a helmet for her head; the aegis guards her breast, and from the earth struck by her spear, she shows an olive tree, springing pale-green with berries on the boughs; the gods admire; and Victoria [Nike] ends the work." Rene Antoine Houasse, Dispute between Minerva and Neptune over the naming of the City of Athens, 1689-1706

32. כמגינת העיר אתונה ואקרופוליס, היא נשאה את הכינוי אתנה פוליאס Athena Polias (של העיר). Auguste Rodin, Pallas with the Parthenon, 1896 Palais des Beaux-arts, Lille

33. Ippolito Caffi, The Partenon, c.1863, Galleria internazionale d'arte moderna , Venezia

34. KLENZE, Leo von The Acropolis at Athens, 1846 Neue Pinakothek, Munich

35. כפי שהיא גדולה במלחמה, כן היא גדולה בשלום. אתנה היא היחידה מכל האלים שעמדה כמגינת הארץ מפני פולשים אשר תקפו אותה מבחוץ (בניגוד לשאר אלי הקרב שנלחמו במלחמות שמחוץ לגבול או במלחמות בין יושבי הארץ). So-called “Mattei Athena”- “ The Peaceful Athena” Marble, Roman copy from the 1st century BC/AD after a Greek original of the 4th century BC, attributed to Cephisodotos or Euphranor. Related to the bronze Piraeus Athena. Musée du Louvre, Paris

36. מקורות: עריכה:אסף פלר http://www.theoi.com//AthenaCult http://www.artcyclopedia.com/Athena http://www.mlahanas.de//AthenaGallery http://www.maicar.com/Athena http://www.goddess-athena.org http://www.artcyclopedia.com./Minerva http://commons.wikimedia.org//Athena Syracuse. Pyrrhos. 278-276 BC. Æ Litra (24mm, 10.44 g, 4h). Head of Herakles left, wearing lion skin; [cornucopia behind] Athena Promachos right; wreath to left.

37. שלום לך, אני מזמין אותך לבקר באתר המצגות שליולהנות ממצגות נוספותלהתראות, אסף פלרhttp://assaffeller.com Athena PromacosOenochoe fragment, c.410 BC Museum of the Agora of Athens