Ἀθηνᾶ
L'iconografia classica di Atena prevede che sia ritratta
in piedi mentre indossa
l'armatura e l'elmo, tenuto alto sulla fronte; porta con sé una
lancia e uno
scudo sul quale è fissata la testa della
Gorgone Medusa. Proprio in questa posizione è stata scolpita da
Fidia nella sua famosa statua
crisoelefantina[17], alta 11 metri – ora perduta – l'
Athena Parthenos che si trovava nel
Partenone. Spesso, poggiata sulla sua spalla, si trova la
civetta, simbolo di saggezza.
A prescindere dagli attributi tipici, a partire dal V secolo a.C. sembra esserci stata una sostanziale uniformità di vedute tra gli artisti su quale dovesse essere l'aspetto della dea. Un naso importante con un alto ponte che sembra essere la naturale continuazione della fronte, occhi profondi, labbra piene, una bocca stretta e appena più larga del naso, il collo allungato ne tratteggiano
una bellezza serena ma un po' distaccata.
Classically, Athena is portrayed wearing a full- length
chiton, and sometimes in armor, with her helmet raised high on the forehead to reveal the image of
Nike. Her shield bears at its centre the aegis with the head of the gorgon (gorgoneion) in the center and snakes around the edge. It is in this standing posture that she was depicted in
Phidias's famous lost
gold and ivory statue of her,
36 m tall (*)!!!, the
Athena Parthenos in the
Parthenon. Athena also often is depicted with an
owl sitting on one of her shoulders.
[50]
The
Mourning Athena is a relief sculpture that dates around 460 BC and portrays a weary Athena resting on a staff. In earlier, archaic portraits of Athena in
Black-figure pottery, the goddess retains some of her Minoan-Mycenaean character, such as great bird wings although this is not true of archaic sculpture such as those of
Aphaean Athena, where Athena has subsumed an earlier, invisibly numinous—
Aphaea—goddess with Cretan connections in her
mythos.
Apart from her attributes, there seems to be a relative consensus in late sculpture from the Classical period, the 5th century onward, as to what Athena looked like. Most noticeable in the face is perhaps the full round strong, chin with a high nose that has a high bridge as a natural extension of the forehead. The eyes typically are somewhat deeply set. The unsmiling lips are usually full, but the mouth is depicted fairly narrow, usually just slightly wider than the nose. The neck is somewhat long. The net result is a serene, serious, somewhat aloof, and very classical beauty.
(*)!!! it's an error in the english text was tall only 11 m (probably 36 feet not meters)