Athena with the cruciate ligament aegis

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As Athena with a crossed aegis one is ancient statue of the Greek goddess Athena referred to around the year 150th And is now part of the Berlin Collection of Antiquities (inventory number AvP VII 22).

Athena with the cruciate ligament aegis, general view

The Athena with the cruciate ligament aegis was found in 1880 during the excavations of Carl Humann in the area of the Athena shrine in Pergamon near the woman from Pergamon in the area of ​​the rooms of the Athena shrine adjoining the north stoa . This is where the art collection ( museion ) of the Pergamene rulers is believed . When the statue, which is 1.87 meters high today, was found, there were still remains of paint from the painting. The aegis was light blue in places, other parts of the aegis shimmered blue. The snakes showed red traces, and there were also traces of paint on the hem. Today the colors are hardly noticeable, only the painted wavy band on the soles is clearly visible. Large parts of the statue have been preserved without major defects, only the right arm is missing and some of the folds of the robe are steamed up. The left arm is composed of several fragments. The head was not found until several months after the body and is far more corroded than the rest of the statue. He had worked as an operational head. Today it has been lost as a looted art in Russia and has been replaced by a plaster cast.

Athena wears a belted Doric peplos that leaves her arms free and falls in a double flap down to her hips. This creates elegant, flowing folds, especially on the open right side. The unusual, crossed shape of the aegis gives the statue its name. It is made up of two narrow strips running under the arms that cross both in front of the chest, where the breasts are enclosed, and on the back. Probably the stripes are supposed to imitate fur. On the underside of the strips, the aegis forms small arches from which small snakes, each with a head and a snake end, grow. They are partly worked in free relief, twist, knot or intertwine. The hair runs in gentle waves. It's brushed back from the face and tied into a knot at the back of the head. On the chest, at the intersection of the Aegis stripes, there is a disastrous Gorgoneion that looks like a brooch. From the attachment of the missing right arm you can see that it must have been bent. Since the head is also tilted slightly to the right and down, it was assumed that the goddess was holding a Nike in her hand, other researchers suspect a lance or something else. In the left hand there was possibly a lance, perhaps also a helmet, which some archaeologists vehemently deny.

The statue is based on classic models from the time around 430/20 BC. Chr. But missing around 150 BC. Hellenistic work originating in BC its self-centered harmony and calm. The posture of the head and the right arm in connection with the far set back right leg convey a jerky movement. The left free leg is bent, the knee stretched far forward. This tense restlessness can also be seen in clothing. In composition and execution, it combines the classic model with the innovations of Hellenism. Details in the guiding of the drapery require knowledge of the large frieze on the Pergamon Altar. Thus, a connection to the statue of Athena, which Myron had created on Samos and whose copy some archaeologists wanted to see in this statue, can hardly be established. Other archaeologists suspect that the Athena with the cruciate ligament aegis was commissioned by the Pergamene royal court, in which they wanted to combine classical art, represented by the head, with Hellenistic forms, represented by the garment, in a classical way.

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