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Museum of Classical Archaeology Databases

Athena Parthenos, Head

This battered sculpture is a Roman copy derived from the cult statue of Athena by Pheidias, which stood in the Parthenon.

The cult statue was so celebrated in its day that copies of it appeared in many forms: in miniature replicas, on coins and in imitations all around the ancient Greek and Roman world. This head must have been from a copy approximately life-size. Remnants of her helmet are visible, as are the griffins that the ancient writer Pausanias tells us decorated the top of it

Number: 
166
Material: 
Marble
Location of Original: 

Copenhagen, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek 1791

Size: 
0.34m
References: 

Lippold: Griechische Plastik, 146 (n.6)
Poulsen: Katalog over Antike Skulpturen Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, 91
Arndt & Amelung: Photografische Einzelaufnamen Antiker Skulpturen, 3845-7
Hill: Art Bulletin, vol.18 no.2 (June 1936), 161

Date: 
Roman. Original: c.440 BCE
Provenance: 

Said to have been found at Amelia in Umbria, central Italy. Later acquired by Copenhagen from Munich around 1900

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