The Ancient Image of Athena Polias

Author(s): John H. Kroll

Source: Hesperia Supplements, Vol. 20, Studies in Athenian Architecture, Sculpture and
Topography. Presented to Homer A. Thompson (1982), pp. 65-76+203
Published by: The American School of Classical Studies at Athens
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 THE ANCIENTIMAGE OF ATHENA POLIAS
(PLATE11)

But the most holy object, that was so considered by all many years before the unification
of the demes, is the image of Athena which is on what is now called the Acropolis, but in
early days the Polis. A legend concerningit says that it fell from heaven.

T HUS PAUSANIAS1on the old olive-woodimageof AthenaPoliasin the Erech-

theion.This was the venerableimagewhichwas dressedin a newlywoven peplos
every four yearsin the culminatingrite of the GreaterPanathenaia,2 and which,as if a
protectivetalismanof the city, was taken aboardship with the Atheniansthemselves
duringthe temporaryevacuationof Atticain 480 B.C.3Yet for all its primacyin the state
religionof Athens, Pausaniassays nothingaboutthe image'sappearanceand thus has
left us to reconstructit from a numberof scatteredreferencesand possiblereflections
in the minorvisualarts.4
For more thana centurynow, therehas been notoriouslylittle scholarlyconsensus
as to whichof this evidenceis necessarilyrelevant,much less as to how it shouldbe
combined.Discussionhas polarizedaroundtwo opposingviews.Most earlierscholarship
arguedthat the imagehad the form of an armed,fightingAthena,like the convention-
al, standingPalladiontype of Athenaor like the stridingAthenaspicturedon Panathe-
naic amphoras.5 A. Furtwdngler, however,proposedthat the image was unarmedand
seated;'and in 1908this view was defendedby A. Frickenhaus,who calledattentionto
epigraphicalevidence that the image wore a diadem and held a gold phiale in one
1i.26.6:TO 8E ayLaYTaToVEv KOLJNL7TOXXOLV7TpOTEpOP VOIU(TEV ETETLV
J) ioVV7JX\ov aio% TJWv 87.uwv
'
eo-rV 'A07qva& aAya\A~a El V V aKpo0ToXEL, ToTE 8% 6voa~oA GroE ?r7.r 8EEs aUTO EXEL E7ELJ) EK
ToV oipavov . Translationof W. H. S. Jones, PausaniasI, Loeb ClassicalLibrary,Cambridge,Mass. and
London 1918, p. 137, with minor alterations.
The following specialabbreviationswill be used in this article:
Herington = C. J. Herington,AthenaParthenosand AthenaPolias, Manchester1955
Shear = T. L. Shear, Jr., Hesperia,Suppl. XVII, Kallias of Sphettosand the Revolt of Athens in 286
B.C., Princeton 1978
2Herington,pp. 17, 32-33, with references. On the frequencywith which the peplos was dedicated,
now see Shear, p. 36, note 89.
3Plutarch, Themistokles,10 (quoting Kleidemos), which refers to the loss of TO yOPolYELOl) a7To T7g
6EOvj TOv ayaX,\LaToc and the subsequentsearch for it in the baggagebeing gatheredat the Peiraieusduring
the evacuation.The gorgoneionwas of gold; see footnote 18 below.
4The literaryand most epigraphicalreferences are collected in 0. Jahn and A. Michaelis, Arx Athenar-
um, 3rd ed., Bonn 1901, pp. 68-69.
'E.g. 0. Jahn, De antiquissimisMinervaesimulacrisAtticis, Bonn 1866; L. R. Farnell, The Cults of the
GreekStates, Oxford 1896, I, pp. 334-337; J. G. Fraser, Pausanias'sDescriptionof Greece,London 1898, II,
p. 341; E. Petersen, Die Burgtempel derAthenaia,Berlin 1907, pp. 40-60.
6A. Furtwdngler,"Athene in der Kunst," in AusfihrlichesLexikongriechischenund ramischenMytholo-
gie, Leipzig 1884-1890, W. H. Roscher, ed., I, cols. 687-689.

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66 JOHNH. KROLL

hand.'Notingthatthe only fourArchaicportrayals of Athenaholdinga phialeshowher

in a seated posture(e.g., PI. 11:a), that two of these depicther with her helmet re-
moved, and that a copiousnumberof Archaicterracottasfrom the Acropolisportraya
seated,unarmedAthenacladin a peplos,8Frickenhausarguedthatall these representa-
tions were derivedfrom the ancientcult statue, whichthereforewas of a seatedgod-
dess, unhelmeted,andholdingout a phiale.But not all authoritieswereconvinced;and,
the decisive detail of the gold phiale notwithstanding,the identificationof the cult
statueas that of a fightingAthenaenjoyeda briefrevival9beforeit was finallylaid to
rest by C. J. Heringtonin the most criticaland influentialreview of the problemto
date.10AlthoughHeringtoncomes out on the side of Frickenhaus'Sitzbild,his endorse-
ment is farfrom unqualified;for, as he says, the Frickenhausreconstruction is hazard-
ously dependenton "argumentsfrom the minor arts of a periodwhen most of the
minor artists ... were more likely to reproducethe living, or immortal, goddess as their
contemporaries felt her thana statueonly a decadeor two old.""1
The truthof these wordsis broughthome when one examinesthe most elaborate
of Frickenhaus'four representationsof a seated Athena holdinga phiale (P1. 11:a).
Here the seatedgoddessfacesan altarand templewhile a priestesspreparesa sacrifice.
As in the other three representations, there is no statue base beneathAthena'sstool
nor any other detailof style or iconographyto suggestthat the Athenais a statue.On
the contrary,the circumstances thatshe is seatedat the altaroutsidethe templeand on
a portablestool ratherthana throneimplythat it is Athenain personwho has come to
partakeof the offerings;and, as any banqueterwould, she has sat down, removedher
helmet, and extendedher cup, the phiale,the normaldrinking-cup of the gods.12Once
it is recognizedthat a seatedAthenawith phialeis in effect a banquetingAthena, the
associationbetween postureand vessel is easily understoodwithout referenceto a
putativecult statue.As for the seated terracottaAthenasfrom the Acropolis,there is

7A. Frickenhaus, "Das Athenabild des alten Tempels in Athen," AthMitt33, 1908, pp. 17-32. Cf.
idem, TirynsI, Athens 1912, p. 110, note 1. For the epigraphicalevidence, see footnote 18 below.
8SeatedAthena with phiale:black-figuredkalpis, ABV, p. 393, no. 20 = P1. 11:a, reproducedfrom E.
Gerhard,AuserleseneVasenbilder, Berlin 1840-58, IV, pl. 242; red-figuredsherd by Myson from the Acrop-
olis, AR V2, p. 240, no. 42 = B. Graef and E. Langlotz, Die antikenVasenvonderAkropoliszu Athen, Berlin
1925-33, II, pl. 72; black-figuredlekythos, Athens N.M., no. P 1138 = Frickenhaus, op. cit., figs. 3, 4;
terracottarelief from the Acropolis, ibid., fig. 1 = D. Brooke in S. Casson, Catalogueof the Acropolis
Museum,Cambridge1921, II, pp. 419-420, nos. 1337, 1338. Seated terracottaAthenas: ibid., pp. 330-332,
355-369.
9E.g., M. Bieber, "Two Attic Black-figuredLekythoi in Buffalo," AJA 48, 1944, pp. 124-129; H. L.
Lorimer, Homerand the Monuments,London 1950, pp. 445-449; D. von Bothmer, "A PanathenaicAm-
phora," BMMA 12, 1953, pp. 52-56.
0Herington,pp. 22-26.
'Ibid., p. 24.
12H.Luschey, s. v., 4LaX7J, RE, Suppl. VII, 1950, col. 1030, noting that in the visual arts the gods are
never depicted drinkingfrom stemmed kylikes. Luschey suggests that the gods employed the phiale be-
cause of its sacramental,hence godly, character.

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 THEANCIENT
IMAGEOFATHENA
POLIAS 67

simplyno internalevidenceto decide their possiblerelevanceto the old Poliasstatue

one way or the other.13Since the case for a seated imageof the Poliasrests solely on
the convictionthat they and the representationsof seatedAthenawith phialeare rele-
vant, it is hardto feel muchenthusiasmfor it.
To judge from the literarytestimonia,one would expect, conversely,that the
imagewas in fact standing.Aristophanesrefersto AthenaPoliasand the makingof her
peplos at Birds, 827-828 and to Athena as fully armed and standing (iravoiroXtav
EOT7'K EXovO-a)two lines later;but as Heringtondemonstratesin detail,these lines are
best understoodas allusionsto the city goddessherselfand need not applyto a statue
(or statues) of her.14Two other relevantpassages,however,are not easily dismissed.
Athenagoras,Legatio,17.3, attributesthreecult statuesto the sculptorEndoios:the Ar-
temis in Ephesos,the old olive-woodimageof Athena,and the SeatedAthena.15Since
no locationfor the two Athenasis specified,they are surelyimageson the Athenian
Acropolis,wherePausanias(i.26.4)saw a seatedAthenaby Endoios.The juxtaposition
of the old olive-woodAthena with the seated one implies that the formerwas not
seated.The secondpassageis fromStrabo,xii.1.41,a discussionof whetherthe Trojan
statue of Athenaat Iliadvi.302-303 was a seated or standingfigure.Homerassuredly
thoughtof it as seated since the women of Ilion placea votive peplos"on its knees"
(Eft yoi'vao-tv). But some ancient commentatorsassumed that it was similarto or
identicalwith the famousTrojanPalladion,an uprightstatue of Athena, and that the
peplosmust thereforehave been placed"beside"the knees of the image.Straboargues
for the seatedinterpretation, in partbecause"manyancientwoodenstatuesof Athena

'3Their relevance is emphaticallydenied by Brooke, op. cit. (footnote 8 above), pp. 330-332, but is
accepted, althoughprovisionally,by R. A. Higgins, GreekTerracottas,London 1967, p. 72.
14Herington,pp. 24-26.
15To gv yap 4v 'E4ocx Tcar 'ApTE'WU80o Kat to trgs 'A6rjva& (.uaikov 8U 'Affqkav ta&O77 yap Wk ol
.VcTTLKWTEpOVovTrw yapt) To aT7J' eXaia' to vakatoa v Kat re v Ka6-jgirrjv 'Ev8o0o0 ElyacoaTo UaO7JT7J
AaLMkov. "Endoios, a disciple of Daedalus, made the statue of Artemis in Ephesus and the ancient olive
statue of Athene (or rather of Athela; for she is Athela, the unsuckled, as those ... the more mystical
sense ... ) and the Seated Athena." Text and translationof W. R. Schoedel, Athenagoras,Legatioand De
Resurrectione, Oxford 1972, pp. 34-36.
Following the edition of J. Geffcken (Zwei griechischeApologeten,Leipzig-Berlin1907), Herington (p.
24, note 1, and pp. 69-70) argues that the text is too defective at this point to be admitted as evidence.
But it is clear from Schoedel's more recent edition that the only textual problem lies within the parenthe-
sized digression (which itself is largelyclarifiedby paragraph20.2 of the Legatio).Herington (p. 70) further
objects that Athenagoras is "wildly inaccurate"in his attributionsof statues to name artists, although
Heringtonis able to point to only one such inaccuracy.I have not been able to consult G. Botti, "Atenago-
ra quale fonte per la storia dell'arte," Didaskaleion4, 1915, pp. 395-417; but Schoedel, who has, writes
(op. cit., p. xx), "that Athenagoras'informationon the history of art, though not profound, is ... general-
ly reliable."Certainlythere is nothing suspect about Athenagoras'attributionsto Endoios. On the author-
ity of Mucianus, Pliny (N.H. xvi.213-214) also names Endoios as the sculptor of the Ephesian Artemis.
And Pausanias(i.26.4) quotes from the inscriptionon the base of the seated Athena on the Acropolisthat
Endoios was the maker (cf. A. E. Raubitschek,Dedicationsfrom the AthenianAkropolis,Cambridge,Mass.
1949, pp. 491-492). In supportof Athenagoras'attributionof the Polias to Endoios, see below.

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68 JOHN H. KROLL

are seen to be seated, such as those in Phokaia,Massilia,Rome, Chios, and several

otherplaces."16 The ancientxoanonof Athenain Athens is conspicuouslyabsentfrom
this list; and, althoughHeringtoncountersthat the list "seems to be haphazardand
does not claimto be complete,"17 the list is undeniablya learnedone and may be less
haphazard thanwe canjudge.The Poliasimageon the Acropoliswas very well known
in antiquityand was includedin both Plutarch'sand Philostratos'accountsof the most
ancientcult statuesin Greece (see below). Had it been seated, and had Strabomen-
tionedit, it wouldhave stoodfirstin his list andwouldhave strengthenedhis argument
immeasurably. Thathe does not mentionit is less likelyto be becauseof any ignorance
or carelessnesson Strabo'spartthan because,as we have seen from Athenagoras,it
probablywas standing.
Anotherproblemregardingthe appearanceof the Poliasconcernsthe locationof
the image'sgold owl. Ourknowledgeof the owl, like thatof the phiale,comesfromthe
inventoriesof the statue'spreciousornamentsthat were recordedby the Treasurersof
Athenain severaltraditioinscriptionsof the late 370's and early360's. In the sections
of these inscriptionsthat cataloguethe valuablesin the apXaqo' VEC0;, i.e., the Erech-
theion, the statue's ornamentsare listed in unvaryingorder as "a diademthat the
goddesswears,the earringsthat the goddesswears,a bandthat the goddesswearson
her neck, five necklaces,a gold owl, a gold aegis, a gold gorgoneion,and a gold phiale
that she holds in her hand."18As throughoutthese traditiocatalogues,each objectis
detailedonly as muchas it had to be for identification. Thus the diadem,earrings,and
neck bandat the beginningof the list are principallyidentifiedby their attachmentto
the image (and hence distinguishedfrom miscellaneousvotives in the temple) rather
thanby theirmetal,which,to judge fromancientjewelryin generaland in view of the
importanceof the image,was almostcertainlygold. The owl, aegis, and gorgoneion,on
the otherhand,weremoreconciselyand meaningfullydescribedas goldensince this far
into the list of ornamentstherecouldbe no questionthat they (andthe five necklaces)
belongedon the image.Finally,the phialeis said both to be of gold and held in the
goddess' hand specificallyto distinguishit from several, predominantly silver phialai
thatweredepositedin the cellaof the Erechtheionas votive offerings.19
It is clear that the ornamentsare systematicallycataloguedfrom the headband
downwardsand that the owl, whichis recordedbetweenthe necklacesand the aegis,
must have been perchedsomewhereaboutshoulderlevel. Frickenhaussuggestedthat
the owl stoodon a pedestalnext to the imageor on the backof the throneon whichhis
v6roxxa 8E Tw apXauov rTjq 'AOqva&, (oavWv Kacd7JuEva 8ELKVVTaL, Kava1TEp Ev (IwKaUa, Maooakia,
PWA/L, XtC , aX 'aL; ITEL'o0LV.
7Herington,p. 24, note 1.
18IG 112, 1424, lines 11-16; 1425, lines 307-312; 1426, lines 4-8; 1428, lines 142-146; 1429, lines
42-47; and (printedin IG 112,part2, fasc. II) 1424a, lines 362-366, in which alone the text is preservedin
full: 0-TEAav7J, ,^v ,^ OEO' EXEL ITacTpa, a ,^ OEO' EXEL O'X6OLf3O, oS EXEL E T
TL TpaX'XwtL Op/OL TEVTE'

oy~avf yxpvO, airyLs ypvOT,eOp7OVELOP OJXTVV- fLaX7J tJVO, ,^J El T7JLXELPLEXEL.

191nthe cella there were four of these silver phialaiand one made of gilded wood: IG 112,1424a, lines
354, 355, 356, 359, and 371.

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 THEANCIENT
IMAGEOFATHENA
POLIAS 69

Sitzbildsat.20Heringtonadds that the owl may equallyhave been affixedon the god-
dess' shoulder.21But these conjecturesmust now be rejectedin favorof a fourthpossi-
bility,whichhas some concrete,if indirect,documentarysupport,namely,that the owl
was held in the goddess'otherhand.
In 1979T. L. Shear,Jr. publisheda recentlyexcavatedAttic inscriptionof 270/69
that honorsa certainKalliasof Sphettosfor his manyservicesto Athens.22From lines
55-70 of the decreewe learnthat Kalliaswas sent to the courtof PtolemyII in 279/8
and there persuadedthe king to donatea gift of ropes for escortingthe peplosat the
GreaterPanathenaiain the followingyear. Somewhatsurprisingly,the text (line 65)
refersto the festivalas the "Panathenaiafor AthenaArchegetis"(Ta Hava0rvaux TEL
'ApXYYE'Td[8)rather than as the Panathenaiafor Athena Polias, as one would ordinari-
ly expect, inasmuchas this was the pre-eminentfestivalof AthenaPolias.As noted in
Shear'scommentary,the implicationis that the epithetArchegetismust be a title of
AthenaPolias.23'ApXiy'Ts, "FirstLeader"or "Founder",has alwaysbeen knownas
one of Athena'smanyepithetsat Athens, but never is it attestedwith any distinctive
civic or religiousassociationsthat might indicatewhetheror how Athena Archegetis
shouldbe distinguishedfrom the city goddessin general.24 Thus beforethe publication
of the new decreeAthenaArchegetiswas barelymore than a name. We can now see
why:she and AthenaPoliaswereapparently one andthe same.
Now accordingto the scholionon Aristophanes,Birds,516, there existed a statue
of AthenaArchegetisand an owl was held in its hand:TI)' 8E 'ApXr'YETL80'A0rjva3To'
ayaXApaykavKa EtxEVEv r XELPLThis notice, however, has never seemed a particular-
ly meaningfulgloss on the Aristophanicphraseit is supposedto illuminate,whichsays
merelythat "the daughterof Zeus has an owl."25One assumesthat the statueof Athe-
na Archegetiscited by the scholiastwas an Athenianstatue;but even so, Athensmust
have been full of representations
of Athenawithan owl, and one mustwonderwhy the
scholiastsingledout this particular
statue,whichis otherwiseunmentionedin the sourc-
es. The answeris obvious,of course,if the statueis none other than the old imageof
AthenaPoliason the Acropolis,the most ancient,the most authoritative,and probably
the best knownimageof Athenainvolvingan owl. Furthermore,its owl, beingof gold
and positionedat shoulderheight, was especiallyprominent.Since the epithetsPolias
and Archegetisseem to have been interchangeable, and since there is every reasonto

20Frickenhaus,op. cit. (footnote 7 above), p. 24.

2'Herington,p. 23, note 3.
22Shear,footnote 1 above.
23Shear,p. 36, note 88.
24SeePlutarch,Alcibiades,2; Aristophanes,Lysistrata,644; scholion on Aristophanes, Birds, 516 (see
below); IG II2, 674 (= TheAthenianAgora XV, Princeton 1974, no. 78), line 16 (the prytaneisof 273/2
sacrificeto Athena, Archegetisof the City, at the festival of the Chalkeia);and in the following dedicatory
texts: IG II2, 3175, 3176, 3199, and 3474. Cf. Shear, p. 36, note 88.
25Birds,514-516: ... 6 ZEus yap o vvv f3aGLXEVIWV
v
aLETOV sor
T71' o
KEaaX- etsEOTT7jKEV
OpVLV so~K( EXWV EITL
IX
(X@ W*V, ^n ean CAv
j3actLXEV';
' 8' av9 OvyarT'qpykaaiX'. .. .

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70 JOHNH. KROLL

believe,therefore,thatthe scholiast'sstatueof AthenaArchegetisand the old imageof

Athena Polias were identical,we may concludethat the image, which was probably
standing,held a gold phialein one handandthe gold owl in the other.
I have dwelton this literaryand epigraphical evidencebecauseI believe it enables
us to recognizea representation of the Poliasimageon the reversesof some Athenian
bronzecoins of the last thirdor last quarterof the 3rd centuryB.C. The coins were
mintedin two varieties,the firstwiththe headof Zeus on the obverse(P1.11:1-4), the
secondand morecommonvarietywith a headof Artemison the obverse,so identified
by a quiverat her shoulder(P1. 11:6-12).26 That the standingAthena on the coins'
reversesis explicitlydepictedin the form of a statueis clearboth from the rigidityof
the goddess'pose and from the conspicuousdisplayof the objectsheld in her hands:a
phialein her outstretchedrighthandand an owl in her left hand,whose upturnedpalm
is held up at shoulderlevel so that the owl itself is abouteven with the image'shead.
The imagewearsa Corinthianhelmet and is dressedin a peplos,whichblousesout in
an overfoldjust below the waistbut otherwisehangsstraightdownwithouta breakat
the knees. This last detail, togetherwith the formal,elevatedpostureof the bent left
arm supportingthe owl, indicatesthat the image antedatesthe Classicalera of Greek
statuary,when balanced,relaxedposes (includingan obligatorybent leg for standing
figures)hadbecomethe norm.Yet despitethe archaicfeaturesof the statue'scomposi-
26Plate11:1-4, 6, 10-12 are reproducedfrom J. N. Svoronos, Les monnaiesdAthenes, Munich 1923-
26, pl. 25:1-6, 8, 10; P1. 11:5 and 8 from F. S. Kleiner, "The EarliestAthenian New Style Bronze Coins,"
Hesperia44, 1975, pl. 75, nos. 344 (cf. p. 324) and 89 (cf. p. 306); P1. 11:7 (same reverse die as the cor-
roded P1. 11:6) from F. W. Imhoof-Blumerand P. Gardner, NumismaticCommentary to Pausanias,London
1885-1887, pl. AA.ii (cf. pp. 134-135); and P1. 11:9 from B. V. Head, BritishMuseumCatalogueof Greek
Coins:Attica,Megaris,Aegina, London 1888, pl. 15:3 (cf. p. 84).
The approximatedate of the coins is deduced from their position (1) following coins of the type
Svoronos, op. cit., pl. 24:10-17 (reverse of owl with amphora), all of which were overstruckon coins of
Antigonos Gonatas, presumablyafter his death in 240; but (2) precedingcoins of the type Svoronos, op.
cit., pl. 81:1-16 (reverse of Zeus holding thunderbolt), which Kleiner, op. cit., p. 328, has firmly dated to
the very end of the 3rd century.The coins therefore were probablyminted during the period after Athens
was freed from Macedoniancontrol in 229. If so, their iconographyis most plausiblyunderstoodas sym-
bolic of Athens' newly won political autonomy, the reverse statue of the city goddess being particularly
evocative in this respect, and the obverse heads of Zeus and Artemis possibly representingZeus Eleuthe-
rios and Artemis Soteira (cf. the heads of these two divinities and the accompanyinginscriptionsnaming
them on coins of Syracuseduring the democracyof 344-317 restored by Timoleon: B. V. Head, On the
Chronological Sequenceof the Coins of Syracuse,London 1874 [reprintedfrom NC, 18741, pp. 24-33, pl.
6:1, nos. 15, 16, pl. 7:8, no. 10). Prophetically(though tenuously, in view of the evidence then available,
cf. Imhoof-Blumerand Gardner, op. cit., p. 134, and Head, BM Catalogue:Attica, p. 84), the statue on the
coins' reverses was identified as the Athena Archegetis of the scholion on Birds, 516 by E. Beule, in his
pioneeringLes monnaiesd'Athenes,Paris 1858, p. 387.
It should be emphasizedthat the statue on these coins is the first statue of Athena or of any other
deity to appearas an Atheniancoin type; and it is furthermorethe only statue in the numismaticiconogra-
phy of Athens that can even be suspected of representingthe Polias image. There are three reverse types
of an Athena holding a phiale on Athenian coins of the 2nd and 3rd centuries after Christ (Svoronos, op.
cit., pls. 86:40-42, 87:11-14, and 87:33-37) but none of these have an owl and (like all the Athenas on
Athenian coinage of the Roman period) are rendered in the fully developed Classicalstyle of the time of
the Parthenonand later.

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 THEANCIENTIMAGEOF ATHENAPOLIAS 71

tion, the peplos,as shown on the earlierand more dependablyrenderedreverses(P1.

with a roundedflounceof the overfoldand some
11:1-8) hangsmost naturalistically,
relativelydeep and irregularhorizontaland diagonalfolds below it.27 Such naturalistic
dresswouldof coursebe quiteincongruouson a typicalArchaicstatuemadeentirelyof
stone, bronze,or any otherhardmaterial;but it is preciselywhatwe wouldexpectfor
the old Poliasimagethatwas drapedin an actualpeplosof cloth.
The only detail that might argue against identifyingthe statue on the coins with the
Poliasimage is the helmet, for in the inscribedinventoriesof the image'sornaments
the goddess'headdressis listed as a UTE4C{ VT). If, however,the helmet were a normal
helmetof bronze,as one wouldassumefrom the conventionalmaterialsof the image's
woolen peplos and gold jewelry, it would hardlyhave been inventoriedamong the
ornamentsof preciousmetal.Moreover,the wearingof a diademby no meanspreclud-
ed the wearingof a helmet. The stephaneneed not have been a large,showytiara;as
D. B. Thompsonwrites, "The word appearsto be used of almostany ornamentthat
binds the head, such as a fillet or diadem."28 And we see from Plate 1 :a and other
of Athenawith her helmettemporarily
representations removed29 that she often worea
decorativehairbandbeneath her helmet. In all other respects-phiale, owl 'held at
shoulderheight, naturalappearanceof the peplos,and the archaic,standingpose-the
statuedepictedon the coins agreesso exactlywith the Poliasimageas it can be recon-
structed from non-visual sources that it would seem almost perverse not to accept the
identificationand to regardthe helmet as the one new element of the image that the
coins have to contribute.On the coins, the helmet is tiltedfar backat abouta ninety-
degreeangle on the goddess'head, allowingher face to be fully exposed.The diadem
conceivablywouldhave been visibleunderthe helmetat the forehead,above the ears,
or in both places.30

27Theinternalchronology of the coins can be reconstructedthrough the progressivesimplificationof

the reverse-dieengravingand the evidence of some probableoverstrikes.On the earliest specimens, with a
head of Zeus on the obverse and a dotted borderaroundthe circumferenceof the reverse (P1. 11:1-5), the
statue's draperyis renderedmost naturalistically;and P1. 11:1 even shows a slight bend in the right arm of
the image. The realisticdraperyis continued into the next phase of the coinage (P1. 11:6-8), with Artemis
head on the obverse and dotted border on the reverse. But in the final Artemis-headphase (P1. 11:9-12),
the dotted border is omitted from reverses and the peplos tends to be renderedrathermore schematically,
the overfold being indicatedas two pointed "tails".That such archaistic-lookingtails are the result of hasty
die cutting and must not be regardedas faithful reflections of the peplos as it was actually seen on the
image is especiallyclear from the cursive, linearrenderingof the entire statue on P1. 11:12. Most of, if not
all, the coins from the third phase of the coinage appearto have been overstruckon earlierspecimens with
the Zeus-headobverse.
28D.B. Thompson, "The Golden Nikai Reconsidered,"Hesperia13, 1944, p. 193.
29E.g.,the Pheidian "Athena Lemnia" (G. M. A. Richter, Sculptureand Sculptorsof the Greeks,4th
rev. ed., New Haven 1970, figs. 654-658) and two vase paintingsconveniently illustratedin J. Boardman,
AthenianRed Figure Vases, the ArchaicPeriod, London 1975, pls. 160 (amphora by the Berlin Painter,
AR V2, p. 202, no. 77) and 185 (amphoraby the TyszkiewiczPainter, ARV2, p. 1643, no. 33bis).
30Cf.the amphoraby the Andokides Painter showing Achilles and Ajax gaming (Boardman,op. cit.,
pl. 2:1; AR V2, p. 4, no. 7). The helmets of both heroes are tilted fairlyfar back on their heads so that their
headbandsare exposed over their ears.

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72 JOHNH. KROLL

The representationson the coins show that the phiale, the owl, and the arms,
whichwere specificallypositionedto supportthese gold objects,were not addedpiece-
meal but were all elementsof a singleartisticwhole, as partsof whichthe helmet, the
gold aegis, and the gold gorgoneionwere, in all likelihood,also created.The episodein
Plutarch31that mentionsthe (temporary?)loss of the gorgoneionduringthe abandon-
ment of AtticabeforeSalamisprovidesa terminusante quem of 480 B.C. for the manu-
factureof this gold-ornamented ensemble.A terminus postquemof approximately 550 is
indicatedby the generallyLate Archaicaspectof the image (note especiallythe slight,
relaxedbend in the rightarmthat extendsthe phiale,shownon whatseems to be the
earliestand most reliablecoin reverse,P1.11:1)and by the formof the helmet,which,
becauseof the way it is worn, can only have been of the fully developedCorinthian
type. This varietyof Corinthianhelmet, characterized by extendedcheek pieces and a
cut-awayneckguardat the back,whichtogetherallowedthe helmet to be restedhori-
zontallyon the top of the head, did not evolve until aroundthe middle of the 6th
century.32Since the resultingdatingof ca. 550-480 correspondswith the careerof
Endoios,whose workinglife A. E. Raubitschekhas fixed between ca. 540 and 500,33
the coin representationslend no small credenceto Athenagoras'associationof the
statuewiththatmastersculptor.
Accordingto no fewerthanfive ancientauthorities,however,the imageof Athena
Poliaswas vastlyolder than this. As quotedat the beginningof this paper,Pausanias
informsthat it was veneratedlong beforethe synoikismos of Atticaand that it was said
to have fallenfrom the sky. Othersvariouslyattributedits originto Kekrops,the first
kingof Athens (Eusebios,Praeparatio Evangelica, x.9.15); to Kekrops'offspring,Erech-
thonios (Apollodoros,iii.14.6);or to the aboriginalinhabitantsof Attica,the autochtho-
noi (Plutarch, De daedalisPlataeensibus).MMoreover, Plutarch (ibid.) thought it re-
markablethat the Atheniansstill preservedthe imageto his day;and he lists it among
the oldest cult statues of Greece, along with the originalwood image of Apollo on
Delos that was given by Erysichthon(anotherson of Kekrops),the originalwooden
Hera of Samos, Danaos' wooden image of Athena at Lindos, and the originalpear-

31Seefootnote 3 above.
32E.Kukahn, Der griechischeHelm, Marburg1936, pp. 45-47, pl. 4:1, 2; A. M. Snodgrass, Armsand
Armourof the Greeks,Ithaca1967, pp. 93-94.
33Raubitschek,op. cit. (footnote 15 above), p. 495.
34Frag.158 in F. H. Sandbach,Plutarch'sMoraliaXV, Loeb ClassicalLibrary,Cambridge,Mass. and
London 1969, pp. 293-297: 'H 8E TWcP4oavwv 7TrotqoLt apXatov EOLKEVElat LT Kat wakaLov, E"y Okwov
AP P EL' A7^jX0o^
7rp^7pWTOl v7ro' 'Epvo-'X6oioo 'A7ri6XXwat
7rEO6E E'7rtT^7(0E 8E
OEWputv ayakaa, OvxL1wol'
7^ Hao~tc~o' V7TOraW av'ToxO660cw P pvkE'', o ,utxpk i'i^ 'A6'qva^ot 8bOvWaTov01. 'Hpac U Ka'
Ea/Uot L tvWov ELX0 s'8o, cs 4firn KaAWuo',
OVIT(c) EKEXAP401 E"plyOl EV(OO1/, aA' E7TL TEO/AZW
8brwaco V
yxvo&i'a Aooq 'rfa oa Pt'L.
tJ8E yacp tipv0oPTO OEOV' TOTE Kat yap 'AOr7v1
P ALP&p AavaS XtTLrVEr)KEJ' 08o'.
XE'yETat8E HdL'pas o 7rpwTo'; 'Apyokl8o r'HpacLEpOIvEtcra4LEiO ... EK TrW ITEp'l Titpvv~a &'opcP olYxvxr
TE~WO EVKEapop, 'Hpac acyaXAt /o(x*oat.

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 THEANCIENTIMAGEOF ATHENAPOLIAS 73

wood image of Argive Hera. Finally, Philostratos(Vita ApolloniiiII.14) cites the Polias in
his list of the most ancient images of the gods, which includes the same xoanon of
Delian Apollo, the image of Dionysos in the Marshes, and the Apollo of Amyklai.
Nothing is known about the appearanceof the wooden Apollo on Delos or about the
image of Dionysos in the Marshes, venerated at the site of the oldest festival of Diony-
sos in Athens, accordingto Thucydides, ii.15.4. But the fragment of Kallimachosquoted
by Plutarch (footnote 34 above) informs that the oldest cult statues of Hera on Samos
and of Athena at Lindos were, respectively, an aniconic plank (Jooa o-aptc) and a plain
image (AXrTwAo,0.35 And Pausanias describes the pear-wood Argive Hera as a small
seated statue (II.17.5-6)36and the AmyklaianApollo as an ancient and unskilful image
about 40 feet high, having the form of a bronze pillar with feet, a helmeted head, and
arms holding a spear and a bow (iii.9.2).37 Clearly, in the company of such comparanda
as these, there must have been something conspicuously primitive about the Polias
image as well.
How is this abundant and reasonably consistent testimony about the prehistoric
origin of the Polias to be reconciled with the Archaic statue depicted on the coins?
Since we are not entitled to assume that the Erechtheion housed two images of the
goddess,38both the prehistoricand the Archaic aspects of the Polias must have been
combined in the same image. We have already accounted for its visible externals-the
peplos that was renewed every four years and the helmet, the arms, and the gold orna-
ments and attributesthat are to be associated with Endoios. This leaves only one com-
ponent that could antedate the 6th century:its body or core, which was hidden beneath
the peplos and which may very well have gone back to the time of the Bronze Age
kings of Athens, if not much earlier still. If the nucleus of the image was indeed as
ancient as the sources insist, we may readily envisage it as a primitive, aniconic or
quasi-iconicfetish of olive wood.
Some rathermore concrete evidence to this effect is possibly to be found in Tertul-
lian, who, in a defense of the Christians'alleged worshipof the cross, asks, "How much
difference is there between the shaft of the cross and Pallas of Athens (Pallas Attica) or

35The unworked cravis of Samian Hera is mentioned also by Clement, Protrepticusiv.46.3. Cf. E.
Buschor, "Heraionvon Samos," AthMitt55, 1930, pp. 4-5. On the originalAthena Lindia, S. Casson, The
Techniqueof Early GreekSculpture,Oxford 1933, pp. 62-65; Lorimer, op. cit. (footnote 9 above), pp.
443-444.
36Cf.Lorimer, op. cit., p. 444, with references.
37TheApollo is illustratedon Spartancoins of the 3rd century after Christ: S. Grunauer-vonHoer-
schelmann, Die Minzprdgungder Lakedaimonier,Berlin 1978, p. 99, pl. 32:12, 13. Cf. L. Lacroix, Les repro-
ductionsdes statuessur les monnaiesgrecques,Liege 1949, pp. 54-58, pl. 1:15, 16; Casson, op. cit. (footnote
35 above), pp. 56-57. The coins indicate that the columnar body was wooden and only sheathed with
bronze.
38Ahypotheticalcase for two "ancient"images is hardlyworth considering.E.g., since the coins show
the Panathenaicpeplos on Endoios' image, the sacrosanct,prehistoricimage, were it separate,would-in-
credibly-have been left undraped.The fact is that neither Pausanias,whose account of the contents of the
cella of the Erechtheion is unusually thorough, nor any of the other literary or epigraphicaltestimonia
collected by Jahn and Michaelis, loc. cit. (footnote 4 above) allow for more than one image.

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74 JOHNH. KROLL

the Ceres [sc. Isis] of Pharos (CeresPharia), each of which is displayedas a rude stake
and unshapedpiece of wood without effigy?"39That Tertullian'sPallas Attica should be
understood as the Athena Polias on the Acropolis is probable enough.40By carefully
pairingthe Attic Athena and the AlexandrianIsis, Tertullian has not chosen any two
aniconic paganimages at random but comparesthe abstractform of the cross to images
of the chief deities of the most prominent intellectualcenters of the pagan world. Apart
from Pheidias' chryselephantineAthena Parthenos, the Polias is the only image of the
goddess that could be meaningfullyreferred to as the Pallas of Attica, and it is, more-
over, the only known wooden image of Athena in Attica that can even be suspected of
having an essentially aniconic character.Granted that Tertullianmay never have visited
Athens and known the image at first hand, the casualness of his reference and the fact
that he is addressing pagans about their own objects of veneration suggest that he is
alluding to what was common knowledge at the time.4' Yet for all that, Tertulliandoes
not name the Polias, and his credibilityhere can be checked only insofar as we have
independentgroundsfor thinkingthat the unadornedPolias may have been more or less
as primitiveas his Pallas Attica. Consequently, while Tertullian'sstatement deserves at
the very least to be taken seriously as possible complementaryevidence for the under-
lying natureof the statue, one can insist on neither its reliabilitynor its relevance.
This is particularlyto be regretted when we turn to consider the image's face. The
coins indicateonly that it had a face and that the face was to some degree naturalistic.If
the olive-wood core was therefore genuinely aniconic, the face would have had to have
been a late addition, ascribable,like the arms and gold ornament, to Endoios. As illus-
trated in a number of 5th-centuryAttic vase paintings, aniconic column or tree-trunk
fetishes of Dionysos were regularlyanthropomorphizedby the additionof a mask and by
cloakingthe wood column or log with a garment.42And from Hyperides, pro Euxenippo,

39Apologia,16.3.8: Et tamenquantodistinguitur a crucisstipitePallas Attica, et Ceres Pharia, quae sine

effigierudipalo et informilignoprostant?Cf. Tertullian,Ad NationesI.12.3: Quantodistingqitur a crucisstipite
PallasAtticaet CeresPharia,quaesine formarudipalo et solo staticulohigniinformisrepraesentatur?
All the standardcommentariesnote that Tertullian'sCeres Phariais Isis Pharia,for whom see P. M.
Fraser, PtolemaicAlexandria,Oxford 1972, I, p. 20; II, p. 54, note 125. All representationsof Isis Pharia
portrayher in fully anthropomorphic,Hellenisticform (P. Bruneau,"Isis Pelagia'aDelos," BCH 85, 1961,
pp. 435-446, and BCH 87, 1963, pp. 301-308). Tertullianis the only source that mentions a primitiveimage.
40A. Schneider (Le premierlivre Ad Nationes de Tertullien,Neuchatel 1968, p. 250) suggests alterna-
tively that the Pallasmay allude to the Palladionimage housed near the Athenian lawcourtcalled Egii naX-
ka8L'W (L. Ziehen, s. v., "Palladion,"RE XVIII, 1949, cols. 176-179). But if this image could be designated
as a Palladion, it almost certainlywould have been anthropomorphic,unlike Tertullian's Pallas. On the
form of PalladionAthenas, see G. Lippold, s.v., "Palladionin der Kunst," RE XVIII, 1949, cols. 189-201;
J.-M. Moret, L'Ilioupersis dans la ceramiqueitaliote,Geneva 1975, pp. 87-97, with plates.
41T.D. Barnes (Tertullian,A Historicaland LiteraryStudy, Oxford 1971, pp. 107-108, 194-210, 213)
emphasizes that Tertullian was a respectablylearned man, well educated and versed in classical pagan
literature,and that his Apologywas directed specificallyto a cultured audience. Although evidence is lack-
ing, Tertullianmay have traveledwidely throughthe Greek East (ibid., p. 198).
42Thematerial is collected and discussed in A. Frickenhaus, Lendenvasen,Winckelmannsprogramm
LXXII, Berlin 1912. Cf. W. Wrede, "Der Maskengott,"AthMitt53, 1928, pp. 81-92, figs. 1-3. Summary
by A. Pickard-Cambridge,TheDramaticFestivalsof Athens,2nd ed., Oxford 1968, pp. 30-34, figs. 17-22.

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 IMAGEOFATHENA
THEANCIENT POLIAS 75

24-25, we learn of a magnificentface or mask that the Atheniansin the 320's pre-
pared-alongwith "otherappropriate partsand muchexpensiveornament"-forembel-
lishingthe apparently primitiveimageof Dione at Dodona.43 Thus,the additionof a fine
of
maskto the olive-woodimage the Polias would have been fullyin keepingwithestab-
lishedpractice.On the otherhand,if we disregardTertullian'sreferenceto a featureless
PallasAttica,it becomesequallypossiblethat the face of the Poliaswas carveddirectly
out of the ancientolive-woodshaft.Thistoo couldhave been the workof Endoios.Or it
couldhave been a featureof the prehistoricimage:in his surveyof pre-ArchaicGreek
cult statues,S. Cassonconcludesthat "it is possibleto establishthe workinghypothesis
that pre-HellenicCretanand some of the earliestHellenicfiguresof deities sharedthe
peculiarityof havingplain or almost columnarbodies but realisticor, at least, partly
detailedheads."44But howeverthis may be, withouta close-upview of the Polias,the
questionof whenandhow she receivedher facemustobviouslybe left open.
All the essentialsourcesneverthelesscan be reconciledand with the help of the
coins may enable us to understandPausanias'puzzlingsilence about the statue'sap-
pearance.Withthe possibleexceptionof the face, all the externalelementsof the Polias
would have been regardedby the ancientsas ornamentation,distinctfrom the image
per se. ThroughoutHyperides'discussionof the Athenians'embellishment(EntKOcr-
LELOv)of the Dione statueat Dodona (footnote43 above), the A8osor 'yaXtAtaof the
goddessis consistentlydistinguishedfromits richand artisticKOcrUpOS.The same distinc-
tion is explicitlyappliedto the statue of Athena Polias in Plutarch'saccountof the
Athenianfestivalof the Plynteriaas the time when the Praxiergidai removedthe KOY-
Wu from the vwoqand veiled the latter from view.45For a serious antiquarianlike
Pausanias,it was of course the ancient and true E'8oq,not its Kocrpsos, thatwas of conse-
quence. Yet withoutlifting up the peplos there was nothingto be seen of the true
image,exceptperhapsthe face.One must addto this thateven thoughEndoios'embel-
lishmentsmust have been exquisitelycrafted,his remodelingof the Poliaswas lacking
in the kind of artisticor iconographicnovelty that would have attractedPausanias'
interest.The goddesswas given only her usualattributes-owl,helmet, aegis, and gor-
goneion-and the portrayalof her holdingout a phialewas, to judgefromotherArchaic
cult statueswith phialai,46
a rathercommonand undistinguished conception.Given the

43WVZ yap 6 ZEw 6 A8can'os 7rpoaTE' Ev aj tai To ayaX Tc AUw0 ErLKO`OaLa Kat
VEL1 W- OLOJ TE Ka'XXLO-TO Kat Ta9XXa7raJ'Ta Ta aKoXov~a, Kai KOO-A0u7roXVwv
7rpOOdT7rO7 TE 7roL7)OaA~Eu'oL
KaEITOXvTEX7)1 co iTapacTKEvao-avTE' ... EITEKoOTA~'qOaTE
To ebo' T Aviwr~ &gwc Kat VwIJ avhc Kat
Irq^- OEOV.
44Casson,op. cit. (footnote 35 above), p. 58.
45Alcibiades,34.1: 8p(Lt 8E%Ta opywa HlpaeEpyytbat0apy'qXu^0vo' E`Kn OOLIi'TOI''awopp)Ta, TO V TE
KO-A/O V KaOEXO'VTE#Kat TO E80o' KaTaKaXlAIjaVTEc. If my interpretationof the image is correct, the passage
implies that all Endoios' additions, including the arms and possibly a face, were so constructed as to be
removable. On the Plynteriafurther:L. Deubner, AttischeFeste, Berlin 1932, pp. 17-22; Herington, pp.
29-30; D. M. Lewis, "Notes on Attic Inscriptions,"BSA 49, 1954, pp. 17-21.
46E.g.,the Piraeus bronze Apollo, whose phiale is not preserved (G. M. A. Richter, Kouroi, 2nd ed.,
London 1960, p. 136, figs. 478-480, no. l59bis); the Apollo Smintheus of AlexandriaTroas (Lacroix, op.

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76 JOHNH. KROLL

thoroughgoingconventionalityof the statue's externalform, it was only naturalthat

Pausaniaspassedover it and chose to commentinsteadon the image's unique and
profoundhistoricalsignificanceas the religiousfocusof Athenssince time immemorial.

Addendum
Line drawingsof severalcoins of the type discussedabove publishedby Beule, op.
cit. (footnote26 above), p. 387, and by A. B. Cook, Zeus, III, i, Cambridge1940, p.
827, figs. 636, 637, show the reversestatue with the goddess'feet exposedand with
one leg in advanceof the other in the "walking-standing" pose commonto manyAr-
chaickorai.Since submittingmy paper I have seen a few unpublished coins that con-
firmthese detailsof Beule'sand Cook'sdrawingsand clarifythat the feet are depicted,
althoughas ratherformlessdots, belowthe peploson my Plate 11:11.Since the peplos
clearlyflounceson the groundand hides ope or both feet on other specimens(P1.
11:5-7, 9), I conclude(1) that the feet of the imagewere sometimesexposedbut at
othertimes covered,just as one wouldexpectof a statuethatwas repeatedlyundressed
and dressedin a long woolengarment;and (2) that the feet and the legs to whichthey
wereattachedmust be addedto the list of Endoios'embellishmentsfor the image.

JOHNH. KROLL
THE UNIVERSITYOF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
Department of Classics
Austin, TX 78712

cit. [footnote 37 above], pp. 76-86, pl. 4:2-14); the Artemis statue depicted on Athenian coins of the 2nd
century B.C. (M. Thompson, The New Style Silver Coinageof Athens, New York 1961, pls. 75, 76, nos.
709a-714c; Lacroix, op. cit., p. 205); the statue of Aphroditedepicted by the Meidias Painter in his scene
of the rape of the daughtersof Leukippos (AR V2, p. 1313, no. 5); and the completed image of Samian
Hera, which held a phiale in each hand (Lacroix, op. cit., pp. 206-216, pl. 17:6-10; Buschor, op. cit. [foot-
note 35 above], fig. 2). In the Classicalperiod, cult statues holding phialai seem to have become even
more common; see B. Eckstein-Wolf,"Zur Darstellungspendener G6tter," A'IdI5, 1952, pp. 64-65, and
Lacroix, op. cit., pls. 24:1, 26:1, and 28:7.

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 PLATE 11

Berlin
a. Black-figuredkalpis (E. Gerhard,AuserleseneVasenbilder,
1940-58, IV, pl. 242)

b * ~~j X~ ' .

2 3 4 5 6

..tj 9ACt.

7 8 9 10 11 12

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JOHNS. KROLL: THE
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