2020 IB Extended Essays

17

Athena holds a statue of Nike, the goddess of victory which is done to contribute to the

overarching theme of victorious Greeks. All depictions of myths on the Athena Parthenos

show the Greeks as victorious. The shield beneath Athena’s left hand consists of two

illustrations on the inside and outside of the shield. The inside of the shield contains a

Gigantomachy, the battle of Gods and Giants for supremacy of the cosmos. This is a

common narrative where the Gods emerge victorious. The outside of the shield depicts

Amazonomachy design of Amazons contesting against Greek heroes ( Battle of Theseus ),

where the Amazons are representative of ‘foreign cultures. Similarly, the base of Athena’s

shoes are lined with the depiction of the battle between Centaurs and Lapiths, also a battle

where the Greeks emerge victorious. The base of the sculpture contains a relief in gold of

scenes from the birth of Pandora. Each scene is a metaphor for Greek civilisation over

barbarians, and their triumph over the Persians.

The statue sports Medusa’s head on her shield and breastplate, in relation to the curse

Athena placed upon her. The golden snake seen beneath her shield is said to be the

guardian of the Acropolis and also representative of one of Athena’s sacred animals of

knowledge and wisdom. The sculpture sent a clear message of power and wealth of

Athens and demonstrates the extent in which the city is able to produce such an

extravagant tribute to the Goddess of ivory and gold. Additionally, the Parthenon was

created as a gift to Athena for gratitude towards the Greeks success on the battlefield.

The relationship forged between a real-life accomplishment and mythical

accomplishments show how closely the two are linked and the connection of mundane

occurrences with the spiritual.