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CLASSICAL WORLD
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 CHAPTER TWELVE

ATHENA, ALTER EGO OF ZEUS

Jenifer Neils

Towards the end of Aeschylus' Eumenides, the goddess Athena, in

explaining her tie-breaking vote on behalf of Orestes, announces:

Kap-ra 3' dllt 'tOU Ｑｴ＼ｘＧｰｯｾ＠ (738).

Literally she says, "I am very much of the father". Alan Sommer-
stein's commentary on this somewhat ambiguous line suggests three
possible interpretations. The phrase can be translated: "I am wholly
my father's child", meaning she has no mother, as stated by Apollo
earlier in the play (663). Or it can be read "I am completely on my
father's side", that is in any dispute between a father's and a
mother's rights; hence her vote exonerating Orestes' matricide. Or
"I am a faithful follower of my father". According to this last inter-
pretation the reason for her vote is filial loyalty. 1 She knows the
mind of her father and votes accordingly. This reading seems best
suited to the issue at hand and reveals how Athena is very much an
instrument of Zeus' will, knowing as she does his innermost
thoughts. Father and daughter think as one, and she effects the wise
counsel of Zeus. 2
This paper examines the unique relationship of Athena and Zeus
in myth and literature, in religion and state cults, and in the art of
ancient Athens. In all three areas the city's tutelary goddess is delib-
erately associated with Zeus, and her potency on behalf of its citi-
zens derives from her intimate association with the king of the gods.
The city in turn benefits from her role as intermediary between the

1
A.H. Sommerstein (ed.), Aeschylus' Eumenides (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1989), 231.
2
For a slightly different reading of this passage as dealing with the boundaries be-
tween male and female which Athena, in her androgyny, transgresses, see S. Goldhill,
Language, Sexuality, Narrative: The Oresteia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1984), 258-259.
220 JENIFER NEILS ATHENA, ALTER EGO OF ZEUS 221

human and divine realms. It is often said that Athena is the great Homer also accentuates this close association of Zeus and
reconciler, between men and gods, male and female. Her birth Athena. Although the poet is silent about her peculiar birth, at Iliad
brings an end to the generational conflict among the gods and en- 5.880 Ares complains that Zeus lets Athena do as she pleases just
ables Zeus to become the permanent sovereign. Her complex per- because he gave birth to (£ydvao) her. 6 Throughout both epic
sona incorporates the roles of both male warrior and female poems Athena is clearly favoured by her father, and at one point (/l.
weaver. Her unique partnership with mortal heroes like Odysseus 8.360-372) she claims that her patronage of Heracles was com-
resolves the seemingly endless nostos of the hero. And in Attic manded by Zeus and carried out to please him. 7 In effect, Athena is
tragedy one major example of her mediation skills is the successful treated like a beloved son in epic literature. From birth she is armed
reconciliation between Orestes and the vengeful Furies at the end of with male weaponry - helmet, spear, shield. Like a king, she resides
the Eumenides. 3 in a palace, the strong-built house of Erechtheus, on a heavily forti-
fied citadel. She is adept at masculine skills: taming horses, bronze-
casting, tending the olive. She drives a chariot and fights by her fa-
Myth and literature ther's side in the battle against the giants. As Aeschylus states (Eum.
737), with the exception of marriage she is "wholly for the male".
To begin with her name, although many etymological issues are as She guides heroes from the land of the Sun to the Underworld, and
yet unresolved/ it has been argued that A8- represents the Hittite is even capable of bringing about their immortality. In the myth of
atta, meaning 'belonging to the father' .5 This derivation is then ob- Tydeus, wounded in the battle of the Seven Against Thebes, his pa-
viously associated with, or even the impetus for, the unusual birth of tron goddess Athena is able to obtain from Zeus a pharmakon, or
Athena, from the head Zeus, who had earlier swallowed his preg- elixir of immortality, for her favourite hero. 8 In prayers Athena is
nant consort Metis (' cunning intelligence'). In order to divert the usually invoked just after her father and just before Apollo (/l.
fulfilment of a prophecy that the child of their union would be 16.97), and it is interesting that all three of these deities are em-
stronger than the father, he deliberately destroyed the mother, re- powered to use the aegis, shaking it to produce fear, in the Iliad.9 As
sulting in a child "wholly of the father". In both Hesiod's Theogony Jane Harrison noted long ago, the three together represent an ex-
(924-926) and the Homeric Hymn to Athena she is born from the treme manifestation of patriarchy. 10
swollen head of Zeus, already arrayed in her battle gear. Her dra- In Athens in the Archaic period Athena is transformed into a
matic epiphany puts all Olympus, the earth, the sea, and the sun
into a state of chaos, not unlike the effects attributed to Zeus' thun-
derbolt when flung against his enemies, the Titans and Typhon 6
See K. Synodinou, "The Relationship Between Zeus and Athena in the lliatf',
(Theog. 695-705, 839-852). The appearance of Athena is as potent Dodone 15.2 ( 1986), 155-164. This close bond between Athena and Zeus is also evident
as the god's ultimate weapon, and the two together are invincible. from the fact that Athena wears his armour (fl. 5.736-742, 8.387) and sits beside him
on Olympus (f l. 24.100).
7 For Athena's assistance to Zeus in relation to H eracles, see T. Papadopou lou, this

3
For further discussion of Athena as a reconciler of male and female, mortal and volume.
immortal seeS. Murnahan, "The Plan of Athena", in The Distqff Side: Representing the 8
For details of the Tydeus episode, see T. Gantz, Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary
Female in Homer's Odyssey, ed. B. Cohen (New York and Oxford: Oxford University and Artistic Sources (Baltimore:J ohns H opkin s University Press, 1993), 51 7-518. See also
Press, 1995), 61-80. A. Shapiro, Personifications in Greek Art (Kilchberg/ Zurich: Akanthus, 1993), 34-36; J.
1
For a discussion of Athena's name as deriving from the city name, see W. Burkert, Neils, "Reflections of Immortality: The Myth of J ason on Etruscan Mirrors", in Murlo
Greek Religion: Archaic and Classical, tr. J. R affan (Cambridge, l\1A: H arvard University and the EtruscallS: Art and Society in Ancient Etruria, ed. R . D e Puma and J. P. Small
Press, 1985), 139- 140. For its relationship to atana potinija in Linear B, see W. Potscher, (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1994), 190-1 95.
Hera: Eine Strukturanalyse im Vergleich mit Athena (D armstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchge- 9
For references to the aegis in the iliad, see Gantz, Early Greek Myth, 84-85. See also
sellschaft, 1987), 160-168. See also A. Teffe teller, this volume, pp. 356f. N. Robertson, this volume.
' 0. Szemerenyi, "The Origins of the Greek Lexicon: Ex oriente lux'',]HS94 (1974), 10
J.E. Harrison, Themis: A Stucly qf the Social OrigillS qf Greek Religion (Cambridge:
154-155. Cambridge University Press, 1912), 500-502.
 222 JENIFER NEILS A THENA, ALTER EGO OF ZEUS 223

civic goddess, as exemplified by the famous and oft-quoted lines of H e [Zeus] has promised my hand the gift of the blazing thunderbolt
Solon from the beginning of the sixth century: to dash and overwhelm the Achaean ships (80-81 ).

This city of ours will never be destroyed by the planning

of Zeus, nor according to the wish of the immortal _g-ods; But rather she has direct access to the weapons of almighty Zeus,
such is she, who, great hearted, mightily fathered (6jjpql07ta'tp'T\), should she choose to use them. The modern equivalent is perhaps
protects us, being entrusted with the secret code for the unleashing of nuclear
Pallas Athena, whose hands are stretched out over our heads. 11 warheads.
The fact that Athena alone has knowledge of this all-powerful se-
And from the end of the century comes the drinking song com- cret implies that she has the sophrosyne to use it appropriately; unlike
posed after the fall of the tyrants: Hera for example, or Ares, she enjoys the trust of Zeus. As the
Pallas Tritogeneia, queen Athena daughter of Zeus and Metis she is endowed with that extra dose of
uphold this city and its citizens wisdom which enables her to restrain herself and not let loose de-
free from pain and strife struction on the world. At line 850, she says "Zeus gave me intelli-
and untimely death - you and your father (au 't£ Kai 7tU'tTJp) Y gence (c:ppove'iv) not to be despised". Having the greater wisdom,
she, at the end of the Eumenides, rather than Apollo, the god of en-
Thus prayers on behalf of the city call upon not only Athena, but lightenment and civilization, 14 succeeds in reconciling the vengeful
also her father. 13 It is precisely this pairing that guarantees the well- Furies. Her wisdom is deeper and more effective than the great in-
being and prosperity of Athens. telligence of Apollo, and so she wins the day for Orestes, and
In the fifth century, returning to Eumenides, Athena, in her at- Athens.
tempt to placate the Furies, says: Kayro 7tE7tat8a Zllvi (826). This Clearly this special prerogative enjoyed by Athena - access to the
line also can be variously translated as "I rely on Zeus" or "I have thunderbolts of Zeus, the very mention of which can stop the
Zeus behind me", or "I obey [i.e. am persuaded by] Zeus". The dreaded Furies - is a not-so-subtle bit of Athenian propaganda, for
proper interpretation depends on how one sees the goddess in this we know it from no other source. It was Athens' intention to grant
particular scene: as a dutiful daughter, a dependent fellow their patron goddess special rights and privileges, and even more
Olympian, or as an empowered equal. The next line, however, importantly a special intimacy with Zeus not enjoyed by the other
makes it clear that Athena enjoys a privileged relationship with this Olympians. They in effect created an all-powerful hierarchy, as CJ.
supreme Olympian which no other god can claim. She states: "I am Herington suggested years ago: Zeus - Athena - Athens. 15 At the
the only god who knows the keys to the room where his thunder- end of the Eumenides the chorus reiterates a familiar refrain in
bolts are locked" (827-828). She is not simply suggesting that she stating that the city's citizens enjoy proximity to the throne of Zeus,
can borrow this ultimate weapon from Zeus, as she claims in Eu- are beloved by the maiden he loves, and are sheltered under
ripides' Trojan f.tOmen: Athena's wings (998- 1002). The city, its patron, and her father
create an invincible triumvirate.

11
Solon, fr. 4.1-4 in Diehl, Anth. !,yr. Graec.
12
Ath. l5 .694ciT.; Page, PMG nos. 4841I 11
On Apollo's role in Eumenides, see A. Bier!, ''Apollo in Greek Tragedy: Orestes and
13
An indication that the Athena-Zeus relationship is a construct of the Athenians the God of Initiation", in Apollo: Origins and Influences, ed. J. Solomon (Tucson and
appears in H erodotus 7 . 141.3, when the Delphic Oracle states that Athena has not London: University of Arizona Press, 1994), 81-96.
quite the influence with Zeus that the Athenians suppose. However, when the Persians 15
CJ. Herington, ''Athena in Athenian Literature and Cult", in Parthenos and
reached the sanctuary of Athena Pronaia at Delphi, thunderbolts and rock from Par- Parthenon. Greece and Rome Suppl. to vol. X, ed. G.T.W Hooker (Oxford: Clarendon
nassus came crashing down on them (8.37). Press, 1963), 63.
224 JENIFER NEILS ATHENA, ALTER EGO OF ZEUS 225

Religion and cult Pausanias also mentions painted portraits of military heroes, indi-
cating that the cult was associated with success in war as well as pro-
This closeness and like-mindedness of Athena a nd Zeus are also tection during navigation. In the Agora the bouleuterion had a
made manifest by a number of common cult epithets and instances shrine to Zeus Boulaios and Athena Boulaia, and according to an
of joint worship, especially in the state cults of Athens. One of the inscription Athena and Zeus were invoked at meetings of the
oldest shrines outside the Acropolis was that of the Palladium in Boule. 22 Finally, they shared in the cult of the individual phratries,
southeast Athens, discussed by Noel Robertson in this volume; here the hereditary associations of every Athenian male citizen. Inscrip-
there were images of both Zeus and Athena. 16 Not surprisingly, tions show that Zeus Phratrios was regularly paired with Athena
many of their shared epithets have civic or political overtones. As Phratria, as on an altar found in the Athenian Agora, which may in-
tutelary divinities of the city, they were invoked on the Acropolis as dicate a ce ntral state cult for the two deities in addition to the local
Zeus Polieus and Athena Polias. 17 Zeus was, in fact, the only male ones. 23
deity to have his own shrine on the Acropolis; located at the summit In the realm of agriculture Zeus and Athena also have a common
of the outcrop, it lies just to the east of the Temple of Athena Po- interest and cult. Zeus is primarily a rain god, and Athena is cred-
lias. 18 The Dipolieia, the festival of Zeus celebrated here, began ited with the gift of the olive tree to Attica. 24 As such she and Zeus
early in Athenian history, just as the Panathenaea, the primary fes- were both given an epithet relating to tree cultivation, namely to the
tival of Athena Polias. Its main rite, the bouphonia, is even said in one Moriai, or sacred olive trees. These trees, so important to the Attic
source to be Athena's festival. 19 Another important state cult, the economy, were under the protection of Athena Moria and Zeus
Diisoteria, took place annually at the harbour of the Piraeus and Morios. 25 The strong association of these deities with the olive is not
honoured Athena Soteira and Zeus Soter, as gods who provided surprising given that olive crowns were awarded to victors at the
good outcomes and safe voyages. 20 Pausanias (1.1.3) describes the Olympic games, while vessels filled with olive oil were the prizes at
Diisoterion as having bronze statues of Zeus holding a Nike and the Panathenaic festival in honour of Athena. The cult statue of the
Athena with a spear, while Pliny (NH 34. 74) states that the "marvel- Athena Polias herself, "the holiest thing of all" (Paus. 1.26.6), was
lous Athena at the port of Athens" was made by Cephisodotus. 21 said to have been made of olive wood. 26
In addition to the olive, Athena and Zeus share other cult sym-
16
bols. The snake, so closely associated with the Athenian myth of au-
On this shrine, see J.G. Frazer, Pausanias's Description qf Greece, vol. II (reprint New
York: Biblio and Tannen, 1965), 370; J. Travlos, Pictorial Dictionary qf Ancient Athens tochthony, is a symbol of Zeus M eilichios and appears often in con-
(New York: Praeger, 197 1), 4 12-4 13. I thank Noel Robertson for these references.
17
They are similarly known as Athena Archegetis and Zeus Archegetes, or founder
deities of the city. Since Athena Archegetis is probably interchangeable with Athena Statuary (Ithaca and London: Cornell Un iversity Press, 1996) 135-1 36. For another
Polias, this epithet is not considered here. See J. Kroll , "The Ancient Image of the viewpoint, see 0. Palagia, "Reflections on the Piraeus Bronzes", in Greek Offerings: Es-
Athena Polias", in Studies in Athenian Architecture, Sculpture, and Topography. Hesp. Suppl. sqys on Greek Art in Honour qf John Boardman, ed. 0. Palagia (Oxford: Oxbow Books,
XX (Princeton: American School of C lassical Studies, 1982), 69. 1997), 177-1 95.
18
On this shrine of Zeus Polieus and the ceremony conducted within it, see most 22 The Bouleuterion shrine is mentioned by Antiphon (6.45). The prayer of the

recently J.M. Hurwit, The Athenian Acropolis (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Boule to Olympian Zeus and Athena Polias among others is fiyll.' 181.
1999), 40, 190-1 91. 23 S.D. Lambert, The Phratries qf Attica (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press,
19
Scholiast on Ar. Nub. 985 . See E. Simon, Festivals qf Attica: An Archaeological Com- 1993), 208-2 11. The Agora altar, see ibid., 357-358, T 24.
mentary (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1983), 8- 12. 24 For Zeus as an agricultural deity, see M.K. Langdon, A Sanctuary qf ,Zeus on Nlount
20
SeeR. Garland, The Piraeus (Ithaca, N.Y: Cornell University Press, 1987), 137- Hymettos, Hesp. Suppl. XVI (Princeton: American School of Classical Studies, 1976),
138; R . Parker, Athenian Religion: A History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), 79-87.
240. 25 R . Luyster, "Symbolic Elements in the Cult of Athena", History qf Religions 5
21
On the sanctuary of Zeus Soter and Athena Soteira, see Frazer, Pausanias's De- (1965), 149. See also R.D. Cromey, "History and Images: The Penelope Painter's
scription, 22-24. Some scholars identifY the over life-size bronze Athena discovered be- Akropolis (Louvre G372 and 480/79 BC) ", ]HS Ill (1991 ), 172 .
neath a street in the Piraeus in 1959 (Piraeus Museum 4646) as the Athena Soteira of 26 For Athena's association with the olive, see T. Ceccarini (ed.), Athena, l'ulivo, l'aratro.

Cephisodotus. See C. Mattusch, Classical Bronzes: The Art and Crrift qf Greek and Roman Ecologia dell'intelligenza practica e dell'abilitiltecnica (Velletri: Editrice Vela, 1997).
 226 JENIFER NEILS ATHENA, ALTER EGO OF ZEUS 227

junction with Athena, most notably as part of the chryselephantine Athenian art Athena is often her father's sole divine companion in
Athena Parthenos in the Parthenon Y A late fifth-century boundary the gigantomachy, and she springs from his head and leads H eracles
stone found in Attica bears an inscription referring to a sanctuary of into his presence just as she did earlier in Archaic art, although
Zeus Meilichios and Athena/ 8 and a lost relief depicting Athena much more rarely and not after 460 BC in vase-painting. Zeus,
and a snake has been associated with this cult site. 29 Likewise, this somewhat unexpectedly, takes part in events wholly hers, such as the
Parthenos statue and its counterpart in the Temple of Zeus at birth of Erichthonius, in fact usurping the rightful place of the bio-
Olympia are 'Nikephoros', i.e. both bear a statue of Nike in their logical father Hephaestus. And for the first time we find scenes of
right hands. As the deities most closely connected with the goddess Athena alone with her father, displacing Iris, Nike, and H ebe, as his
of victory, Zeus and Athena can bring victory to mortals, both in favoured libation-pourer.
war and contest. 30 And, as has been noted above, both deities are Let us look at these points of contact in greater detail. The pri-
closely associated with the aegis. 31 mary narrative depictions in which Athena and Zeus are intimately
associated are: her birth, the gigantomachy, and the introduction of
Heracles to Olympus. All of these scenes first appear in the Attic
Art repertoire in the second quarter of the sixth century BC. It is surely
not a coincidence that at exactly this time the major Athenian fes-
The discussion of symbols brings us to the realm of art. If Solon tival in honour of Athena, the Panathenaea, was reorganized. 34 The
and Aeschylus inflated the position of Athena (and Athens) vis a vis Greater Panathenaea, held every four years from 566 on, involved
her father, did artists do the same? A quick perusal of Karim presenting a new peplos to the cult statue of the goddess; woven
Arafat's book, Classical Zeus, demonstrates that Athena accompanies into it was a scene of the gods fighting the giants, which may well
her father in most of the major scenes involving the king of the gods have inspired the long frieze-like gigantomachies found on Attic
in fifth-century Attic vase-painting. 32 As might be expected from a black-figure kraters and dinoi, many of which were dedicated on
virginal goddess, she is not depicted in Zeus' erotic pursuits and the Acropolis. Likewise, the Panathenaea may have inspired interest
episodes such as the hieros gamos involving Hera. 33 But in Classical in the birth and introduction scenes, which both take place in
Olympus and so also involve an assembly of Olympians. These nar-
27
The snake, usually reconstructed as coiled within the shield under the left hand of ratives necessarily highlighted Athena's leading role among the
the Athena Parthenos, may in fact have been used originally as a support beneath the gods.
right Nike-bearing hand of the goddess. For the newly discovered Parthenos token To begin at the beginning, Athena's birth from the head of Zeus
which supports this reconstruction, see J.M. Camp, "Excavations in the Athenian
Agora 1994 and 1995", Hesp. 65 (1996), 241-242, pl. 70. was particularly popular in sixth-century Attic vase-painting, al-
28
IG P 1084. See S. Reinach, "Le Sanctuaire d 'Athena et de Zeus Meilichios a though it is found as early as the seventh-century on a relief am-
Athenes", B CH 16 (1892), 411-417. phora from Tenos and as late as the east pediment of the
29
P. Wolters, "D eux Bas-Reliefs attiques disparus", B CH 18 (1894), 483-490.
30
On Athena Nikephoros, see the chapter by A. Faita in this volume.
Parthenon. 35 This myth, like the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, is a
" Many of these elements are brought togethe r for the protection of the infant Ion disaster-averting narrative; in both, the overthrow of the Olympians
in Euripides' play of the same name and served as tokens for his eventual recognition:
a blanket woven to represent the aegis of Athena, a golden pendant in the shape of away from Zeus (Arafat, Zeus, 8 1, no. 3.107 , pl. 27), as if a victim of an erotic pursuit,
two serpents, and a wreath of leaves from Athena's sacred olive tree (Eur. Ion 141 7- should surely be read as the god sending his daughter on an errand, for which he of-
1436). The association of these tokens with Athena suggests that one of her domains fers a libation for an auspicious outcome (see Arafat, Zeus, 102, no. 4.58).
was the protection of the male children of the royal house. This point is argued by 34
On this festival, see ]. Neils (ed.), Goddess and Polis: The Panathenaic Festival in Ancient
E.M. H ooker, "The Goddess of the Golden Image", in H ooker (ed.), Parthenos and Athens (H anover, NH: H ood Museum of Art/ Princeton: Princeton U niversity Press,
Parthenon, 17-22.
32 1992).
K .W. Arafat, Classical Zeus: A Study in Art and Literature (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 35 For representations of the birth of Athena, see F. Brommer, "Die Geburt der
1990).
33 Athena" , ]ahrbuch des Romisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums Mainz 8 ( 196 1), 66-83, pls.
The one pec uliar instance (Leipzig T 638) in which Athena seems to be running 20-37; LIMC2 (1984), 985-990 s.v. Athena 334-378 (H . Cassimatis).
 228 JENIFER NEILS ATHENA, ALTER EGO OF ZEUS 229

by a child prophesied to be greater than the father is prevented. with the earliest Attic depictions of Athena's birth. For ce nturies on
Thetis is married off to Peleus instead of Zeus and produces a these prize oil containers, Athena stands her ground, spear in her
heroic son, Achilles, while Metis, pregnant with Athena, as we have raised right hand, fla nked by two Doric columns surmounted by
seen above, is swallowed by Zeus. Both myths embody a guarantee cocks. 41 E. Simon has suggested that the cock columns are a refer-
of the stability of the universe, or as Karl Schefold has stated: ence to Zeus, specifically Zeus Polieus who, as we have seen, was
"Something permanent and unshakeable had been won from the worshipped together with Athena Polias on the Acropolis. 42 The
never-ending transformations of life" .36 A large red-figure cup of c. 'Promachos' pose is common to sculptural representations of both
500 BC , attributed to the Poseidon Painter, actually recognizes the Zeus and Athena, occurring in individual statuettes (Pl. 17a,b), that
link between these two myths since it depicts Peleus and Thetis on perhaps reflect lost life-size prototypes. 43 Both stride forward , with
the side opposite the birth of Athena. 37 Athena's birth myth with its the right arm raised and bent, holding a characteristic weapon, the
emphasis on mind (metis) over nature, and the masculine or paternal spear for Athena and the thunderbolt for Zeus. This all-alert pose,
over the feminine and maternal serves to characterize the goddess signifying readiness for battle, well characterizes these gods' protec-
from her inception. tive powers.
In the many Athenian black-figure vases portraying this story The pose is also prevalent in scenes of the gigantomachy. Vase-
Athena and Zeus are most often shown as one, visually acting as a painters (and presumably also designers of the Panathenaic peplos)
single figure surrounded by birth-goddesses and Olympians. To- took the Solonian construct of Athena to heart in representing
gether they form the central and tallest element in the composition, Athena and Zeus not only closely paired but also in similar poses.44
and so dominate narratively as well as visually. The frontal throne Athena and Zeus fight side by side, and, just like the bronze stat-
depicted on a black-figure vase in Richmond 38 and on the red-figure uettes, their poses often echo each other, with Zeus wielding his
name vase of the Birth of Athena Painter in London 39 emphasizes thunderbolt, and Athena her spear. Their giant opponents are
this centrality even more emphatically. Athena's triumph is visually nearly always shown in a helpless state, fallen and/ or wounded.
embodied in her tempestuous movement in contrast to the calm of While Nike, along with a snake, is the attendant of Zeus on one of
the other assembled deities. These witnesses serve to highlight the the earliest depictions of this myth on a fragmentary column-krater
importance and impact of the event, even if they do not react in by Lydos, 4 ; in a Classical representation , east metope IV of the
quite the manner described in the Homeric Hymn to Athena: "great Parthenon, she has been transferred to Athena. 46 On a vase from
Olympus quaked dreadfully under the might of the grey-eyed god-
dess, as the earth round about resounded awesomely, and the sea
moved and heaved with purple waves .... and Zeus the counsellor
41
See Neils, Goddess and Polis, 29-34.
42 E. Simon, in RESuppl. 15 (1978), 141 5, s.v. Zeus.
exulted". 40 Athena is always fully armed with helmet, shield and 13 Just as Solon created an Athenian Athena, so artists of the period created an Attic

spear and is in a battle-ready or 'Promachos' pose. typology for the goddess which eventually supplanted other types. On the other types,
This fighting pose is more fully realized on the Panathenaic see B. Cohen, "The Early Greek Palladian: Two Bronze Statuettes in America",
Journal qf the Walters Art Gallery 55156 ( 1997 I 1998), 11-25. For images of Athena in the
Prize-amphorae, first produced in 5 70-560 BC , contemporaneous Promachos pose, see H.G. Niemeyer, Promachos. Untersuchungen ;:.ur Darstellung der be-
waffizeten Athena in archaischer Zeit (Waldsassen: Stiftland, 1966); H .A. Shapiro, Art and
Cult under the 'Ijrants at Athens (Mainz: P. von Zabern, 1989), 28-29; and B.S. Ridgway,
36
K. Schefold, Gods and Heroes in Late Archaic Greek Art, tr. A. Griffiths (Cambridge: "Images of Athena on the Acropolis", in Neils, Goddess and Polis, 12 7-1 3 1. For Zeus
Cambridge University Press, 1992), 9. Keraun ios, see L/MC8 (1997), 3 19-325, s.v. Zeus 27-33,62-71 (M. Tiverios).
37
London, British Museum E 15. Attributed to the Poseidon Painter: ARJ!l 136. 1. " References to the gigantomachy in Attic literature also often pair Zeus and
38
Richmond, Virginia Museum of Art 1960.23. See Neils, Goddess and Polis, 145, Athena: cf. Eur. Ion 209fT. and 1528f., Hec. 466fT., /T 22lfT.
cat. no. I. " Athens, Acropolis Museum 631. ABV I 08.6. See Schefold, Gods and Heroes, pl.
39
London, British Museum E 410. AR J!l494.1. See Arafat, Zeus, 35-36, 187, no. 2.6 4lb.
16 See J. Boardman , Creek Sculpture: The Classical Period (London: Thames and
'" Homeric Hymn 28.9fT. Tr. by A.N. Athanassakis, The Homeric Hymns (Baltimore:
Johns Hopkins University Press, 1976), 66. Hudson, 1985), fig. 89, metope 4.
230 J ENIFER NEILS ATHENA, ALTER EGO OF ZEUS 231

Spina by the Niobid Painter, Zeus' thunderbolt actually comes to When Athena is shown serving H eracles from an oinochoe she is
the aid of Athena, while Zeus fights with a spearY Thus, Nike and perhaps offering him the elixir of immortality obtained from Zeus
the thunderbolt (Victory and destruction) come to be associated (the sam e that she obtained but did not use for Tydeus).52 This
with Athena as well as with her mighty fath er. short-hand scene demonstrates that the immortal child of Zeus
The third element in this winning team is, of course, Heracles, tends the mortal son and eventually rewards him with immortality,
without whom the giants could not be conquered. H eracles, the son a reward the Athenians also sought from their patron goddess, as
of Zeus, is the protege of Athena in Attic sculpture and vase- evidenced by the lines of Solon quoted above.
painting, and it would appear that on the Archaic Acropolis there Let us turn now to the most developed expression of the iconog-
was a programmatic and perhaps politically motivated approach to raphy of Zeus and Athena, the sculpture of the Parthenon. They
his glorification in temple sculpture. Heracles, Athena, and Zeus to- are represented three times on the east facade of the temple:
gether appear in the small pediment of c. 560 BC showing the fighting the giants in the east metopes, starring in the birth of
hero's apotheosis. 48 In black-figure vase-painting, too, there are Athena in the east pediment, and attending the Panathenaic festival
some 150 extant images of Heracles entering Olympus, most com- in the east frieze. We have already mentioned east metope IV in
monly by chariot, but also on foot as on the pediment. While in which Athena is accompanied by Nike. Although these relief sculp-
early vase-painting, as on a Siana cup in the British Museum, 49 the tures are in very poor condition, Zeus is probably given a central
scene is peopled with as many Olympians as will fit, in the fifth cen- position (metope VIII). The presence of Helios in the northernmost
tury the narrative is concentrated on the three primary participants. metope indicates that dawn is approaching and so the fight is at an
In either case the motive is clear: only Athena has the power to end with the Olympians victorious. Likewise in the east pediment,
bring a mortal into the presence of the enthroned Zeus. 5° Athena is not emerging from the head of Zeus, but is now calmly
Although Boardman has demonstrated a Peisistratid agenda in standing at his side. 53 Although the reverberations from her birth
chariot scenes of apotheosis, one might also see it in more general are still being felt by the gods at the corners of the pediment, the ac-
or universal terms. 51 Heracles, like the Athenians, thrived under the tion again has been satisfactorily concluded.
patronage of Athena. She supported him in all of his earthly en- The east frieze is more problematic because the two groups of
deavours and served as the conduit for his immortality by conveying Olympian deities are separated from each other and because they
him to Olympus. Rather like another famous Virgin she acted as in- seem to have their backs to the main event, the peplos ceremony.
tercessor between the human and the divine realms. In these pop- Zeus is directly to the left and Athena to the right of this central
ular images Heracles can be seen as a kind of Athenian Everyman scene, so they are given prominence within the assembly of gods,
whose good life on earth is rewarded with an entree into heaven. but they seem to be awkwardly separated. It is clear that the de-
signer of the frieze was wrestling in this instance with a particular
17
Ferrara, Museo archeologico di Spina 2891. ARf!l 602.24. See Arafat, :(eus, 186, spatial problem; what the viewer is presented with is the artist's so-
no. 1.69, pl. Sa. lution and what needs to be determined is the original configuration
48
SeeJ Boardman, Greek Sculpture: The Archaic Period (London: Thames and Hudson,
1978), fig. 194. that the designer was attempting to convey. If we imagine the twelve
49
London , British Museum B 379. ABV60.20. seated gods as acknowledging the procession (as Aphrodite clearly
50
C. Leduc, "Athena et H erakU:s: une parente botanique?" in If' Renconlre Hera-
cleenne: Heracles, Les Femmes et le Firninin, ed. C. J ourdain-Annequin and C. Bonnet
(Brussels: Institut Historique Beige de Rome, 1996), 259-266, argues for a close botan- 52See examples in LIMC2 (1984), 974-975 s.v. Athena (P. Demargne).
ical connection between Athena, H eracles and Zeus based on their respective associ- 53 For the various reconstructions see 0. Palagia, The Pediments qf the Parthenon
ations with the kotinos, or wild olive. (Leiden: EJ. Brill, 1993), and ead., "First Among Equals: Athena in the East Pedi-
51
J Boardman, "H erakles, Peisistratos and Sons", RA (1972), 57-72. On such ment of the Parthenon", in The Interpretation qf Architectural Sculpture in Greece and Rome.
chariot scenes, see now R.H . Sinos, "Divine Selection: Epiphany and Politics in Ar- Studies in the History of Art 49, ed. D. Buitron-Oliver (Washington: National Gallery,
chaic Greece", in Cultural Poetics in Archaic Greece: Cult, Performance, Politics, ed. C. 1997), 29-49. Palagia's most recent reconstruction puts Athena to the viewer's left of
D ougherty and L Kurke (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), 73-91. a central standing Zeus.
232 JENIFER NEILS

does) and as witnessing the peplos ceremony as surely they must,

then a seating plan needs to be devised that takes into account these CHAPTER THIRTEEN
two events. An arrangement that acknowledges both of these foci is
a semicircle, as suggested in 1892 by A. H. Smith. 54 With this spatial SEXY ATHENA:
arrangement the peplos ceremony can be read as taking place in the THE DRESS AND EROTIC REPRESENTATION
centre and the procession as arriving in two streams at the two ends OF A VIRGIN WAR-GODDESS
of the arc of seated gods (Pl. 18a). This seating plan takes into ac-
count both the two files of processors and the ceremony. 55 Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones
This configuration has the additional advantage of bringing what
is separated visually together: namely Athena and Zeus. We can
now see that they are sitting, as they should be, side by side. 56 Just as This chapter is about dress and the power and language of clothes,
they are together in the pediment above, so they are together here and specifically the clothing of the goddess Athena. It is not con-
on the frieze, and again the mission has been accomplished: the pe- cerned with Greek art per se, but instead it concentrates on fabric,
plos has been presented and is now being folded for storage. The garments, and what art historians insist on calling 'drapery', and on
three narratives we have been examining that bring Zeus and how fabric and dress reveals and conceals the body. It is concerned
Athena together - her birth, the gigantomachy, and a procession - with the semiotics of dress.
are brilliantly combined here on the east facade of the Parthenon. To choose the clothes we wear is to define ourselves, because we
The strongly politicized message of Athena's intimacy with Zeus all reveal and conceal aspects of our personalities by what we select
that begins with Solon here finds its finest artistic manifestation: for any given occasion. After all, in the words of Oscar Wilde, "It is
Athena, Zeus, and all the gods look kindly on Athens and assure its only shallow people who do not judge from appearances. The true
invincibility. 57 mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible". 1
As such, psychologists have worked towards decoding the hidden
54
A.H. Smith, A Catalogue qf Sculpture in the Department qf Greek and Roman Antiquities, language of clothes for many decades, although arguably the
British Museum I (London: British Museum, 1892), 15 7. See also A.H. Smith, The Sculp- greatest advances were made in 1930 by the psychiatrist John C.
tures qf the Parthenon (London: British Museum, 191 0), 51.
" A more detailed discussion of this arrangement, with further arguments, can be
Fltigel, who, in his ground-breaking study, The Psychology rif Clothes,
found inj. Neils, "Reconfiguring the Gods on the Parthenon Frieze", Art Bulletin 81 proposed that clothing has several fundamental motives that can be
(1999), 6-20. traced back to the earliest human societies: those of protection,
56
In many instances in Athenian vase painting Athena sits beside her father, as she modesty, and eroticization, although he also stated that clothing can
does also in the Iliad (24.1 00).
57
The title of this paper was inspired by L. Preller who called Athena Zeus' alter act as a symbolic signal of a person's rank and occupation, of lo-
ego. I wish to thank Susan Deacy and Alexandra Villing for inviting me to the well or- cality and nationality, as a display of wealth, and as an extension of
ganized and intellectually stimulating Athena conference at Lincoln College and for the bodily sel£ Dress also helps characterize the state of a group, its
providing many helpful references in the final writing of this paper. I also warmly
thank my colleague in the Classics Department at Case Western Reserve University, unity and harmony or its dysfunction and opposition; it is a true
Angeliki Tzanetou, for discussion of Aeschylus' Eumenides, and Noel Robertson for 'mirror of history'. 2
providing additional references. It will be an interesting experiment to take this opportunity to ex-
amine the dress of Athena and its development in fifth-century
Athens in the light of Fltigel's dress theories. What is particularly

1
Oscar Wilde, The Picture qf Dorian Grey, 1891.
2
J.C. Fliigel, The Psychology qf Clothes (London: Hogarth Press, 1930, 4'h edn.
1966).