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Secondary sourceSculpture200-250 AD

Varvakeion Athena

Phidias (original); unknown Roman copyist · 200-250 AD

A small Roman marble copy of the great gold-and-ivory statue of Athena that Phidias made for the Parthenon, Pericles' building project.

This Roman copy preserves the look of the Athena Parthenos, the cult statue at the heart of Pericles' Parthenon project.

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White marble statue of standing Athena in a glass case. She wears a tall helmet with a crest and figures, and a fringed aegis over a long robe. A small winged Nike stands on her outstretched left hand, a column is beside her, and a coiled serpent is by her shield.
Varvakeion Athena, Roman copy of the Athena Parthenos by Phidias, 3rd century AD. National Archaeological Museum of Athens.

About this source

What it is

This marble statue, found near the Varvakeion school in Athens and dated to around 200-250 AD, is considered the most faithful surviving copy of the huge chryselephantine (gold-and-ivory) statue of Athena Parthenos made by Phidias and his workshop for the Parthenon. It stands in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens and shows Athena in full armour with a helmet, shield, serpent and a small winged Nike figure in her hand.

Why it matters

The original statue stood at the heart of the Parthenon, the temple built as the centrepiece of Pericles' building programme, and it also held part of the city's financial reserves. This copy helps historians understand what the lost original looked like, and connects the sculptor Phidias with Pericles, who oversaw the building works.

Look closer

  • What details of armour and symbols does Athena wear, and what might they mean?
  • How does a small Roman copy help us understand a much larger, lost original?
  • Why might a religious statue also double as a treasury?

This sculpture is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Pericles on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Manuscript page in Greek handwriting with a decorative heading at top, showing the text of a speech in dense lines of script on aged parchment with marginal notes at left and right edges.Speech

Secondary source

Pericles' Funeral Oration

Thucydides · 431/430 BCE

Photograph of the Parthenon temple on the Athenian Acropolis, seen from the front-left under a deep blue sky. White marble Doric columns and a partly damaged pediment stand on a stepped base, with scattered marble blocks and ruins in the foreground.Artifact

Primary source

Parthenon

447-432 BCE

Marble bust of a bearded man wearing a tall Corinthian-style helmet with a raised crest and cheek guards. Curly hair and beard are carved in detail. The bust rests on a tan stone pedestal against a grey wall.Sculpture

Secondary source

Pericles with the Corinthian Helmet

Kresilas · Roman copy, from a Greek original near Pericles' lifetime

Facsimile page of Greek manuscript handwriting in minuscule script, nine lines of dark ink on white, headed 'Facsimile No. 57', with a transcription and caption 'Thucydides.—Tenth Century' below.Book

Primary source

History of the Peloponnesian War

Thucydides · 5th century BCE

Book

Secondary source

Life of Pericles

Plutarch

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