This week, at several of the sites we visited we saw Athena, often decked out in armor, wielding her shield and spear, or wearing her aegis, which may be the most recognizable element of Athena’s panoply (complete suit of armor). All of these items are a part of Athena’s iconography, which changes over time, and not all elements are necessary in order to distinguish the goddess.
I was particularly curious about the aegis because I found it visually interesting, and I found it more easily recognizable than many of the characteristics used to distinguish other gods, especially female goddesses. The differing uses of the aegis also struck me, as an item that provides protection but can also be used as a weapon, as depicted in the gigantomachy scene on one of the pediments of the Old Athena Temple at the Acropolis Museum– Athena seems to be threatening a fallen giant with one of the serpents on the edge of her aegis.
Descriptions of the aegis itself vary depending on the source; in the Iliad, for example, Homer describes the aegis as having “a hundred tassels of solid gold, each worth a hundred oxen” (Book 2). The statue of Athena that we saw at the Acropolis museum, however, wears an aegis that has snakes along its border rather than tassels. Another feature of the aegis that is sometimes depicted is the gorgon’s head, either placed on the breastplate or – less frequently – used as a clasp on the shoulder. This head is said to come from Medusa, who Perseus killed and beheaded with Athena’s help. In ancient Greek mythology, snakes are associated with the earth as well as chthonic, or relating to the underworld, so the serpents on Athena’s aegis may symbolize Athena’s strength as a warrior who defeats enemies, returning them to the earth or sending them to the underworld in death.
The aegis is also associated with Zeus, and in some accounts is shared with him as well, which reinforces the connection between Athena and Zeus that originates with her birth from his head– part of the body associated with strategy and wisdom.
Information drawn from CLAS 111 Myth & Reception as well as “Athena: The creation of an iconography, and its representation on Attic Red-figure vases in the sixth and fifth centuries B.C.E”