Wednesday 1 June 2016

Owen Rees - The disappearance of Athena from classical warrior-departure scenes

I'm pleased, now, to present the next abstract for Friday's conference - from Owen Rees, PhD student at Manchester Metropolitan University.

The presence of Athena in ancient Greek warrior-departure scenes is considered a standard adaptation of the archetypal 'departure scene'. Her presence in these scenes has influenced their interpretation by modern scholars some of whom regard them as expressions of polis ideology, with Athena naturally interpreted as the embodiment of the polis. However, this paper will explore the extent of her prolificacy, and its relative demise during the classical period. It will then discuss the growing representation of winged-women, and the automatic identification made by scholars with Nike, based upon her association with Athena. Finally, this paper shall dispute the automatic association with Nike, propose an alternative identification for the winged woman, and challenge the Athena sub-theme of departure scenes as being anomalous.

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