Christopher Lillington-Martin - Symbolism of Athena, and her metamorphoses, by means of the olive, in Homer’s Odyssey and Procopius’ Wars

I'm pleased, now, to present the next abstract, from Christopher Lillington-Martin, a scholar with several academic identities, at: University of Reading, Oxford Centre for Late Antiquity, and Summer Fields, Oxford!

Symbolism of Athena, and her metamorphoses, by means of the olive, in Homer’s Odyssey and Procopius’ Wars

Athena is present in many scenes of the Odyssey and is often portrayed as transforming characters. I shall consider some of her symbolised presences, and her metamorphosis of certain characters and argue for Homer signalling her symbolic presence by introducing forms of the olive tree (olive-wood tools, olive products and places to sleep and olive-wood tableware). These forms of presence are different from Athena’s other presences. Her presence is normally unknown to characters but I shall show that they tend to act decisively when the olive is referred to in the poem. Cases of the olive symbolising Athena will be presented, involving Odysseus, Polyphemus, Calypso, Telemachus, Nausicaa, Eumaeus and Penelope, whilst contextualising and citing metamorphosis and the presence of both Athena and the olive within the Odyssey. I shall then examine Procopius’ treatment of Homer in the Wars. Procopius’ views on paganism and Christianity are still debated and those of his readership will have been diverse. I shall argue that Procopius offers symbolism to portray the goddess Athena as present in one significant scene by referring to a unique olive tree at the siege of Naples in 536, during the wars between Justinian's armies, led by Belisarius, and the Goths, reigned over by Theodahad.

 

 

Sandya Sistac - ‘Her do thou smite’ (Il. 5.132): a preliminary study of the relationships between Athena and Aphrodite in Homeric epic

And now for the next abstract - Sandya Sistac, PhD student at Université Toulouse-2-Jean Jaures.

‘Her do thou smite’ (Il. 5.132): a preliminary study of the relationships between Athena and Aphrodite in Homeric epic”

Following in the steps of Jean-Pierre Vernant, Marcel Detienne and, more recently, the studies of Gabriella Pironti on Aphrodite, a major part of my PhD (started some months ago) will focus on identifying and analysing Athena’s interactions with other Homeric divine beings. This “divine network” will hopefully bring forward clues regarding the place held by Athena’s divine puissance in the poems, which in turn may call forth an assessment of the Homeric network’s potential specificities compared to Hesiod’s for instance. From these observations, I intend to achieve an accurate characterization of Athena’s puissance as the Greeks understood it at the time of composition of the poems and as they still received it when the Iliad and the Odyssey were eventually written down. Obviously, we must never forget that this study’s frame of reference is a carefully crafted, literary one, hence the particular attention that must be given to the codes of epic literature and to the intrinsic logic of the poems at all times.

My paper will deal with the relationship between Athena and Aphrodite on which, as observed by Gabriella Pironti in her book (Entre ciel et guerre. Figures d’Aphrodite en Grèce ancienne, Kernos Supplément, 18, Liège, 2007), Diomedes’ aristeia in the fifth Book of the Iliad made a lasting impression. What can we learn of Athena from her part in these particular feats? As the openly conflictual relationship that she entertains with Aphrodite goes patently beyond a sibling quarrel, what does it tell us about the puissances in attendance? And how do they fit into the Homeric narrative and cosmic network?

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.

Alessandra Abbattista and Fabio Lo Piparo - The two folds of Athena’s garment: military and maternal aegis in Euripides’ Ion

I'm pleased, now, to present the next abstract for the conference on 3 June - this time from two scholars: Alessandra Abbattista of the University of Roehampton, London and Fabio Lo Piparo of Ca’ Foscari University of Venice

The two folds of Athena’s garment: military and maternal aegis in Euripides’ Ion

 

The paper aims to investigate the gendered meaning of the aegis of Athena in and around Euripides’ Ion. With particular attention to the passages related to the aegis, the analysis will focus on the contradictory treatment of this garment, between danger and protection, in the text. The Euripidean version of the origin of the aegis from the Gorgon, the monster that was killed by Athena during the Battle of the Giants, portrays the figure of the goddess as promachos, the androgynous mistress of war. This aspect is embodied by Creusa in her failed attempt to kill her son with the poisonous blood scattered from the Gorgon’s body, beheaded and deprived of its skin. Furthermore, the snaky border and the gorgoneion in Ion’s swaddling cloth woven by Creusa suggest an accurate reproduction of its model, the real aegis. The use of the woven aegis in the exposition of Ion merges the motifs of the birth and the delivery of Erichthonius to the daughters of Cecrops by his foster mother Athena, a moment carefully replicated and ritualised by Creusa. This adds nurturing and child-caring features to the aegis and therefore to the two figures who bear it. Just as Athena, the tragic heroine appears both male/promachos and female/kourotrophos. References from Homer to lexicographers, as well as iconographic depictions on Attic vases, will demonstrate the gender conflation beyond the aegis in the Euripidean tragedy.

 

 

 

 

 

Amanda Potter - Goddess of Wisdom, Warfare and Knitting: Athena in the Popular Imagination

And now for the next of our abstracts for Friday's conference - from Dr Amanda Potter of the Open University, UK.

Goddess of Wisdom, Warfare and Knitting: Athena in the Popular Imagination

My doctoral research on classical myth on television included an audience study focussed on the character of Athena in Xena: Warrior Princess episode ‘Amphipolis Under Siege’ (5.14).  My research was not only into viewers’ reactions to the character of Athena in the episode, where Athena is on the opposing side to the hero, Xena, but also on their knowledge of the goddess Athena before they watched the episode.  Viewers were ask to summarise all that they knew about the goddess, and where they obtained their information.  This allowed me to build up a picture of what fans of Xena and other members of the general public think about the goddess, when compared with the knowledge held by classicists, who also took part in my study.  What I found was that respondents are engaging with the goddess in different ways, including the pagan who prays to the goddess, and the viewers who think of Athena as a goddess who stands for women.  In this paper, drawing on both my doctoral research, and a shorter audience study conducted at the Petrie Museum in 2013, I will share my findings on what Athena can mean to us today.

Manon Champier - Athena in official images in the French 19th century

With the Athena event now just a few days away, I'm pleased to present the next abstract - from Manon Champier, doctoral student at Université Toulouse-2-Jean Jaures

Athena in official images in the French 19^th century

During the 19^th century, France went through many political changing. Monarchies, republics or empires succeeded each other, at the whim of revolutions, coups and wars. New governments needed to find some legitimacy and abundantly used images and symbols to affirm their power and identity, in reaction to or in agreement with what was done before. Antiquity was a prestigious reference and a model for art. Among the numerous Greek figures, Athena was very popular with both artists and public discourse. Why this goddess in particular? Why and how is she used in a period far from Antiquity, when polytheist cults do not exist anymore? What does her reinterpretation by the 19^th century artists say about their vision of Antiquity? We will try to go through these questions by analyzing the reception of the goddess in the different fields such as war, science and fine arts. We will compare how monarchies, empires or republics decided to use the goddess and enlighten differences or permanent features.

Bartłomiej Bednarek - Bringing stools to Athena?

Now for the next of the abstracts for the Athena event on 3 June - from Bartłomiej Bednarek of Jagiellonian University, Krakow
 
Bringing stools to Athena?

A handful of passages from old comedy, along with scholia and lexica, mention a category of ritual acolytes called diphrophoroi. As the etymology suggests, the word must have referred to someone whose role involved (but was not necessarily was limited to) carrying stools (diphroi). Some nineteenth century scholars associated diphrophoroi with some of the figures represented on the east side of the Parthenon frieze, on which, among others, two girls with stools on their heads are approaching a bearded man. Since the publication of Ziehen's Panathenaea entry to RE, however, this identification has been rejected by most scholars on the basis, as I would like to argue, of some false assumptions. In most of the modern works in which the subject matter is addressed (e.g. in commentaries on the Aristophanic comedies), diphrophoroi are said to have been metic girls who accompanied the kanephoroi during the Panathenaea in order to serve them, not the goddess. Most scholars, therefore, claim that their ritual role was marginal and social status was low. Thus they maintain that the girls shown on the frieze must not be identified as diphrophoroi. In my paper I would like to address this problem, trying to explain why there seems to have been a very good reason for bringing stools to Athena. Seeing that the phenomenon lies at the intersection between the religion and public manifestations of ethnic and gender identity, I would like to touch upon also these matters, while arguing that there is no reason to believe that the status of diphrophoroi was necessarily lower than that of kanephoroi.