Athena Parthenos
Museum Quality Cameo depicting Athena Parthenos, after a sculpture of Phidias. The original statue was lost but there are several Roman copies located in Italian, Franch and Greek Museums. Athena is here portrayed with her sumptous helmet with a greek sphynx in the middle and winged horses on the side, On her breast there is the head of Medusa that Perseus gave her after he killed the Gorgon. The frame is wonderful and made of 18 k gold. This is an incredible work of art, very detailed cameo, carved by an artist and signed by him "Dolcini". Rarest cameo and subject very desirable collectors' piece. A bit of history:
In
the Greek mythology Athena, daughter of Zeus, was
the goddess of Wisdom, of the Weaving, of the Arts,
and, presumably, of the noblest sides of the War,
while the violence and the cruelty were part of the
dominion of Ares.The sacred symbols were the owl and
the olive. She is almost always represented with a
helmet or a shield and with the Aegis (a short armour
with fringes) with in the center the head of Medusa given by Perseus to Athena in sign of thanks for the
help had when he faced the Medusa. Athena never had an
husband or lover and for this she was known like
Athena Parthenos (the Virgin Athena), from which the
name of the most famous temple dedicated to her, the
Parthenon on Athen's Acropolis.
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