73-86

The Athena of the providence painter

• Τζάχου-Αλεξανδρή,  Όλγα

Lekythos no. A 8856 in the III Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, Athens, was found ina well-shaft during the excavation of a building plot at Ermou Street 93. It is of a secondary type and has a preserved height of 0.155 m. It depicts Athena wearing a peplos in the Promachos type, wearing the aegis, the Attic helmet and carrying a spear. An Ionic column rises in front of her and her shield leans against a rock behind her. The lekythos is attributed by the author to the Providence Painter. It is compared with the Athena on the kylix inv. no. Akr. 352 in the National Archaeological Museum, dating from the Painter’s Early Period, and with the Athena on the lekythos no. 6252 in the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam, from his Late Period. After comparison with other works by the painter, the Athens lekythos is dated to the artist’s Late Period I, about 460 BC.The figure of the goddess Athena does not occur in the vase-painter’s work with the same frequency as that of other deities. Nevertheless, she is depicted in at least fifteen works by him. She is invariably standing, in the type of the Promachos, in a notable variety of poses and renderings, and is often involved in compositions in large-scale works, with other gods. In the majority of the painter’s works, the goddess wears chiton and himation, and in one instance, the chiton without the himation. The peplos is, generally speaking, not used by the painter before the end of the Middle Period. The only known example in which the artist painted Athena wearing a peplos is that on lekythos no. 6252 in the Allard Pierson Museum, to which the lekythos from Ermou Street is now added.The representation on the present lekythos is one of those that transmit a political message. The rocky elevation in the ground on which the goddess’s shield rests, suggests the sacred rock of the Acropolis, on which she had resided ever since prehistoric times. The goddess’s spear, with the point downwards, is a reference to the end of war. The Ionic column, on the base of which the goddess rests her spear, symbolises the Athenian conquest of territories in Ionia with the aid of her spear: ‘spear-captured (doryalota or dorykteta) territories’. This symbol also gives prominence to the Ionian character of the city of Athens after the Athenian victories at Mykale and Sestos in 179-178 BC, and later after the double victory of Kimon on land and sea at the river Eurymedon in 468 BC. The artist is here emphasising the new tendency in Athenian policy.

• History and Archaeology

• Αρχαιολογία
• Decorative arts
• Archaeology and art

Για τις διευκολύνσεις που μου παρασχέθηκαν στη διάρκεια της μελέτης μου στη Γ Εφορεία Προϊστορικών και Κλασικών Αρχαιοτήτων ευχαριστώ θερμά την προϊστάμενη της Εφορείας Λιάνα Παρλαμά και την αρχαιολόγο Φιλία Πασαδάκη. Για τις φωτογραφίες των έργων του Εθνικού Αρχαιολογικού Μουσείου επιθυμώ να εκφράσω τις ευχαριστίες μου στη διευθύντρια της Συλλογής Αγγείων του Μουσείου Μπέττυ Στασινοπούλου-Κακαρούγκα και στην προϊστάμενη του φωτογραφικού αρχείου Ελένη Μωράτη. Για τις φωτογραφίες του Μουσείου Allard Pierson ευχαριστώ την καθηγήτρι Ελευθερία Παπουτσάκη-Σερμπέτη., Περιέχει εικόνες, Το άρθρο περιέχεται στο τεύχος: Μέρος Α'-Μελέτες