Athena Art & Iconography Gallery

Browse Athena in sculpture, vase painting and other art. Explore catalogue records, iconography, museum sources, image credits and rights information.

Explore Athena Art & Iconography Gallery

• Reading the Athena Parthenos

  Pausanias’s description helps identify the attributes of Athena’s monumental image without making later copies into the original.

• Athena and the Games

  An Attic black-figure prize vessel, attributed to the Euphiletos Painter, places Athena opposite a footrace.

• Victory Preserved in Clay

  A Classical prize amphora with its lid, attributed to a painter of the Kittos Group.

• Athena in Roman marble

  Marble head and torso of Athena, 1st–2nd century CE. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 24.97.15.

• Athena guiding Jason

  Terracotta column-krater (bowl for mixing wine and water), ca. 470–460 BCE. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 34.11.7.

• Votive relief of Athena

  Marble fragment of a votive relief with Athena, ca. 405–390 BCE. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1989.281.59.

• Athena and sacred officials

  Black-Figure White-Ground Lekythos (Oil Vessel): Athena between Cocks and Hieropoioi (Officials), 500–485 BCE. The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2022.42.

• Athena and owl tetradrachm

  Tetradrachm: Head of Athena (obverse); Owl (reverse), 449–440 BCE. The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1941.296.

• Athena defeats a Giant

  Red-Figure Lekythos (Oil Vessel): Athena Slaying Giant (body); Satyr between Maenads (shoulder), c. 490 BCE. The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.59.

• The birth of Athena

  Terracotta kylix (drinking cup), ca. 550 BCE. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 06.1097.

• Athena on a bronze mirror

  Box Mirror with Head of Athena, 330–270 BCE. The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1972.66.

• An archaistic head of Athena

  Marble head of Athena, ca. 27 BCE–68 CE. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 12.157.

• Athena Polias altar and peplos

  Terracotta neck-amphora of Panathenaic shape (jar), ca. 550–540 BCE. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 53.11.1.

• Athena holding her helmet

  Terracotta lekythos (oil flask), ca. 480 BCE. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 27.122.6.

• The birth of Erichthonios

  Red-Figure Squat Lekythos (Oil Vessel): Birth of Erichthonios, c. 420–410 BCE. The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982.142.

• The contest for Athens

  Contest between Athena and Poseidon, 1540–45. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 49.97.589.

• Minerva in swirling bronze drapery

  Bronze statuette of Minerva, 2nd century CE. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 19.192.51.

• Clodion and a terracotta Minerva

  Minerva, 1766. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975.312.6.

• Gold Minerva over lapis blue

  Mars, Minerva, Venus, and Cupid, early 1500s. The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2008.147.

• Gilded Minerva clock

  Minerva clock, ca. 1772, with later alterations. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1993.489.

• Renaissance bronze Minerva

  Minerva, second half 16th century. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 41.100.81.

• Athena Medici marble face

  Marble head of Athena: The so-called Athena Medici, ca. 138–92 CE. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2007.293.

• Cranach and the Judgment of Paris

  The Judgment of Paris, ca. 1528. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 28.221.

• Athena and Hera on a white-ground box

  Terracotta pyxis (box), ca. 465–460 BCE. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 07.286.36a, b.

• Athena’s libation for Hera and Zeus

  Terracotta stamnos (jar), ca. 490 BCE. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1988.40.

• Athena and the olive sprig

  Terracotta squat lekythos (oil flask), 5th century BCE. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 75.2.22.

• The Judgment of Paris (Wtewael)

  The Judgment of Paris, 1602. The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1984.14.

• Athena welcomes Theseus

  Terracotta kylix (drinking cup), ca. 480 BCE. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 53.11.4.

• Athena between Achilles and Ajax at their board game

  Terracotta hydria (water jar), ca. 510 BCE. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 56.171.29.

• Mellan’s Minerva among the instruments of learning

  Minerva, Date not supplied by the museum. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 41.57.25.

• Goltzius and the learned Minerva

  Seated Minerva unites spear, owl and gorgoneion with instruments of music and visual art; a strong single-image summary of learned Renaissance Athena.

• Barye and the martial Minerva

  A compact nineteenth-century bronze: seated, nude, helmeted Minerva holds a sword and raises one hand to her helmet. Useful for the persistence and transformation of the martial goddess.

• Minerva encouraging the state

  Minerva appears beside a fruiting tree and flaming altar, with civic heraldic shield. A vivid small-format example of the goddess reused for political legitimacy and public memory.

• Minerva and Arachne

  A clearly readable Arachne image: Minerva gestures toward the hanging spider and web, with textile work in the room. Suits weaving, divine authority, competition and metamorphosis.

• Rubens wisdom defeats ignorance

  The strongest vertical action plate: Minerva sweeps across the picture in lilac, gold and rose, driving her lance into a writhing personification. Helmet, aegis and spear stay readable even at book-page scale.

• Perseus armed by Minerva and Mercury

  A dazzling, densely worked Mannerist scene: elongated figures, huge plumes, billowing cloth and the shield turn the arming of Perseus into theatre. Especially strong where crisp monochrome printing is needed.

• Minerva in a storm-driven chariot

  A luminous white-robed Minerva stands above black horses and turbulent, sea-like brushwork. Its broad composition and airy palette offer an energetic alternative to static goddess portraits.

• Minerva visits a lush musical world

  A broad, beautiful wooded landscape opens into distant blue mountains. Minerva approaches a richly coloured assembly of musicians; Pegasus appears high on the rocky right. Excellent as a wide chapter-opening plate.

• Delacroix and Minerva in jewel tones

  A compact reclining Minerva in saturated teal, red and gold, with a shield and lyre. The oblong form makes a handsome chapter header or half-page colour plate.

• Minerva joins the Hydra fight

  A forceful near-square Renaissance drawing: the helmeted goddess drives into a tight tangle of heroes, weapons and serpent coils. White highlights give the figures sculptural depth on the blue-grey sheet.

• Minerva triumphs before Olympus

  A dramatic ceiling-design panorama with strong dark-blue and gold contrasts. The goddess appears at right among the assembled gods, beneath winged Victory; the shaped design adds an unusual graphic rhythm.

• Minerva and Peace among clouds

  A vertical Rococo cloud scene with windblown drapery, helmet and shield above an abundant, flower-filled figure of Peace. Its muted blue, gold and cream palette provides a gentler companion to Rubens’s violent allegory.

• Minerva as patron of the arts

  An elegant oval grisaille-like painting: helmet, Gorgon breastplate and spear combine with an overflowing cornucopia, books and artists’ tools. Particularly usable as a restrained opener in a mostly monochrome book.

• The monumental lidded prize vase

  An imposing, nearly meter-high prize vessel with its lid, delicate white Athena and elaborate helmet. The 66.5-megapixel original supports close detail work and offers a distinctly later visual counterpart to the guide’s Archaic prize amphora.

• Minerva at rest in luminous red and blue

  A monumental seated figure with richly coloured red, gold and green drapery against blue sky. The relaxed helmet and upward gaze make an unusually intimate counterpoint to combative Minervas. Excellent as a full-page plate about wisdom or later interpretations of the goddess.

• Queen Christina claims Minerva’s authority

  A commanding portrait in polished armour, white satin and a sweeping red mantle. Christina’s direct gaze makes this especially effective for the goddess’s later association with learned women and sovereign power.

• Minerva as Bellona a dramatic Mannerist nude

  A tall, helmeted figure turns away from the viewer, spear raised beside a field of battle. Cherubs, elaborate armour and an expressive shield create a theatrical, distinctly Mannerist counterpart to Rubens. The portrait format suits a full-page plate.

• Minerva time and the fragility of knowledge

  An unusual learned allegory: helmeted Minerva, an older figure holding an hourglass, a globe and a bubble-blowing child sit beneath portraits and a hanging violin. The image opens useful discussions of knowledge, time and the arts, beyond familiar war imagery.

• Minerva protects Prometheus

  A broad gold, blue and red frieze, with armed Minerva placing her hand on Prometheus at the far left. Especially effective as a landscape chapter opener linking creative intelligence with nineteenth-century reinventions of antiquity.

• Minerva in a Restoration allegory

  Rich blue and crimson fabrics and a theatrical procession give a striking colour plate. Minerva is one element in an ensemble combining historical royalty with classical personifications.

• Poynter and a red paper Minerva

  A poised full-length figure with a long spear and an outstretched arm, warmly set off by the red-brown paper. Its comparatively uncluttered silhouette makes an elegant opener or generous half-page plate.

• David studies a statue of Minerva

  A spare, pale drawing of a helmeted standing goddess with drapery, staff and round object. Useful beside an ancient sculptural plate to show how neoclassical artists studied antiquity.

• Muller and an armored Minerva

  An unusually commanding narrow-format Minerva, with extravagant helmet plumes, decorated armour and a Medusa shield. A particularly strong monochrome full-page plate or tall chapter-opening image.

• A seated Minerva with owl and gorgoneion

  A dramatic diagonal composition: the seated goddess looks upward as drapery streams across the sky, with an owl and Medusa shield at her feet. A strong, compact black-and-white alternative to the standing Muller.

• Mercury and Minerva in pen and ink

  Two gods sit close together in an animated, rapid pen study. Minerva’s helmet and round shield contrast with Mercury’s winged equipment, making a useful informal counterpart to grand allegorical paintings.

• Abildgaard and heroic figures

  An economical, linear scene on muted brown paper, with the armed goddess conversing with two male figures. Suits a quieter interpretive plate on Athena’s dealings with heroes.

• Vittoria and an armored Minerva

  An elegant dark bronze with raised spear, intricate armor and a sharply turned helmeted head. It offers a strong full-height Renaissance reception image.

• Cupid reconciled with Minerva

  Brilliant greens, blue sky and warm drapery fill a circular maiolica scene. Cupid offers a leafy branch to Minerva, supplying a colorful ceramic alternative to easel paintings.

• Mars and Minerva

  Minerva stands beside a seated Mars among pale clouds, her raised gesture contrasting with his red drapery and burnished armor. A handsome color illustration of wisdom in dialogue with warfare.

• Maleriets genius, eller Minerva instruerer putti i malekunsten [The Genius of Painting, or Minerva Instructing Putti in Painting]

  A richly worked sepia drawing of helmeted Minerva teaching small winged artists, surrounded by portrait medallions. Strong for wisdom, instruction, and the protection of art.

• Minerva beordrer misundelse til at fylde Agraulos’ hjerte med jalousi [Minerva Orders Envy to Fill Aglauros’s Heart with Jealousy]

  Minerva confronts the gaunt figure of Envy in a craggy landscape. Crisp armor and strong diagonals make a compelling horizontal mythological print.

• Allegori med et ryttermonument, Minerva og Neptun [Allegory with an Equestrian Monument, Minerva and Neptune]

  Warm reddish washes bring movement to an equestrian monument above Minerva and Neptune. A lively tall drawing for the goddess’s later political and monumental roles.

• Minerva, Mars og Venus [Minerva, Mars and Venus], after Tintoretto

  An intimate brown-and-white drawing after Tintoretto’s Venetian allegory, with Minerva between Mars and Venus. A useful study of the tension between wisdom, war, and love.

• Minerva, beskytter af ædelstensgraveringer [Minerva, Protector of Gem Engraving]

  An elegant oval, gem-like scene on a spacious cream sheet links Athena/Minerva directly to engraved gems. Particularly apt beside the book’s rings and intaglios.

• The Judgment of Paris

  A spacious blue-and-gold pastoral landscape places the divine contest at lower left. A strong wide color plate for the Trojan story, with Minerva seated beside her helmet and spear.

• Minerva on a Chariot

  A vigorous miniature relief: Minerva’s helmet and Medusa shield rise above galloping horses and sharply drawn chariot wheels. Warm bronze against black offers a compact, dramatic contrast to marble sculpture.

• Minerva and Vulcan

  A round relief sets upright, armed Minerva against seated Vulcan with his hammer and anvil. The dark patina and highlighted outlines create an intimate metalwork image for later interpretations of the gods of skilled making.

• Minerva, from the Funerary Monument of Leonard Mathias van der Noot (1676–1753) and Helena Catharina de Jonghe (d. 1745)

  A pensive, helmeted Minerva leans her head on one hand above a shield, with richly folded drapery and an array of weapons at her feet. This contemplative marble figure is a memorable contrast to the goddess in combat and shows her adaptation to military commemoration.

• Athena group with Alkyoneus, Ge and Nike

  Athena seizes the winged giant Alkyoneus by the hair while a serpent attacks him. His mother Ge rises below and Nike approaches from the right. The large, sharply lit relief offers a dramatic sculptural comparison with ancient vase paintings of Athena fighting giants.

• Cameo with Minerva

  A white helmeted profile stands out against blue jasperware, surrounded by a red-and-gold-colored oval frame topped with a bow. This small Wedgwood object offers a clean, accessible example of Athena/Minerva adapted into late-eighteenth-century decorative art.

• Minerva and Achilles

  Athena, helmeted behind Achilles, takes his hair to restrain his drawn-sword confrontation with Agamemnon. Flaxman’s spare outline treatment makes the goddess’s role as a check on heroic anger unusually clear.

• Neptune and Minerva Discussing the Foundation of Athens

  Minerva sits at right beside an olive tree, armed with helmet, spear and shield; Neptune appears at left with trident and horses. A divine assembly and winged figures animate this elaborate later imagining of Athens’s foundation.

• Herakles med Mars, Minerva og Amor, der viser den stenede vej til de udødeliges tempel

  A muscular Hercules stands beside armoured Minerva and Mars while winged Cupid points toward a temple reached by a steep rocky path. The print turns the goddess’s heroic guidance into a richly detailed early-modern allegory of virtue and immortality.

• Retfærdigheden samt Mercur og Minerva besejrer de onde magter, mens en gruppe gudinder ser til fra skyerne

  An energetic allegory shows Justice, Mercury and Minerva overpowering the forces of evil as female divinities look on from clouds. SMK explicitly names Minerva in the official title. Her long spear and forceful posture make this an unusually direct image of the goddess in action.

• Kekrops døtre åbner kurven, der er betroet dem af Minerva

  Three richly draped daughters of Cecrops gather beneath a broad tree as one opens Minerva’s forbidden basket, revealing the infant Erichthonios. A conspicuous crow watches from the branches. This finely worked Ovidian scene supplies a compelling narrative counterpart to ancient images of Athena and the birth of Erichthonios.

• Hedvig Eleonora (1636–1715), princess of Holstein-Gottorp, queen of Sweden, married to Karl X Gustav of Sweden

  A central, helmeted Minerva holds a crown above the richly dressed Hedvig Eleonora. Silvery drapery, a gilded Medusa shield, blue fabric and glowing clouds make a sumptuous colour plate. The portrait turns the goddess into an emblem of royal virtue shortly before the future Swedish queen’s marriage.

• Allegory of Minerva as the Head of the Muses

  A helmeted Minerva rises at the centre of a lively gathering, her shield and spear setting her apart from the surrounding figures. Warm ink, broad washes and lightly drawn cloud-borne figures offer a delicate, full-page counterpart to more monumental images of the goddess as patron of the arts.

• Minerva

  A slim, standing Minerva fills a small rectangular bronze relief. Her spear, helmet and face-bearing shield remain readable, while bright rubbed ridges stand out against the dark patina. A useful inset for comparing how the goddess’s attributes move into intimate Renaissance objects.

• The Erechtheion in 1890

  A dramatic view of the Caryatid porch, with warm washes and a small human figure for scale. Strong for Athena Polias, sacred architecture and the afterlife of the Acropolis.

• The temple of Athena Nike in 1890

  A tall, sepia-toned depiction of the Ionic temple of Athena Nike. Useful for victory, civic protection and sanctuary memory.

• Athena’s temple at Paestum in warm sunlight

  Sun-warmed Doric columns and a surviving pediment rise from grass and fallen blocks under clear blue sky. A beautifully legible sanctuary image and a useful expansion beyond Athens. The painter studied the building at Paestum in June 1838.

• A lived-in view through Athena’s Acropolis temple

  Three nineteenth-century figures stand among immense columns, with ancient fragments, a later tower and distant mountains beyond. It combines a vivid sense of human scale with the layered history of Athena’s sacred landscape.