The symbolism of the statue of the Goddess Athina Parthenos in the temple of Parthenon on the Acropolis of Athens Ornamental features of the statue It is necessary now to clarify that in all the creations of the ancient Greek art, whether representing carved statues, parts of the temples, various kinds of pottery, votives to the gods, which we name ornaments, were not simple decorative items. They always had a profound symbolical meaning, many times reaching the realm of the archetypes. The mythology of the Gods had many levels of approach, according to the capacity of the narrator and that of the audience following the sacred story. This is why we generally think to-day, that mythology is either irrational, or fit only to entertain children. Nothing could be less misleading. Only some stories from the Greek Mythology are suitable for the young. For the most part Mythology has to be transposed to another level. The levels of approach according to Saloustios, a philosopher of the 4rth century A.C. and teacher of the Emperor Ioulianos, are five: Theogony, Theology, Cosmogony, Psychology and Intermixed levels. The level through which we will approach the statue of Athina is the Psychological level, this being the nearest to the present state of our understanding. Starting from the sandals of the statue, we will climb to the helmet describing step by step the symbolical meaning of the ornaments. On the sole of the sandals, which had the man’s height, there was carved a battle of the Centaurs. By the left side, between the leg and the shield of Athina, Erihthonios, her sacred serpent was standing. The shield had a representation of Amazons in battle and in the middle of the shield there was the head of the Medusa, snakes and vipers forming her hair. The knot of her belt ended with two serpents ready to attack each other. On her right hand the goddess was holding the statue of Victory. On her chest the head of Meduse is framed by a number of vipers. In the center of her helmet a Sphinx is between two winged horses, two Pegasus. If there was no symbolism in the chosen material, then the beauty of the statue would have been lifeless, since ornaments are only a pleasure to the eye, but no food for the spirit. Under the Goddesses’feet, Centaurs represent the wild instincts of men in their primitive expression. The Goddess is standing on their heads, showing the low level of their understanding and incapacity of controlling instincts and feelings. The Centaur is a monster, not a real creature. His body is divided from the waist upwards, hands and head of a man and from the waist downwards feet and body of a horse. This is a being, who has two natures, which cannot be controlled, since the part of the man cannot dismount from the horse, without mutilating both parts of this being, the man and the horse. The Centaur will never be freed from his extreme sexual behavior and uncontrollable feelings. The Centaur, half man, half horse, is a tragic reality, because the horse is the symbol of freedom, sexuality and intuition. Man should take care of all three attributes, not to destroy any, but bring the balance between intellect and animal force, between logic and feelings. The next symbolism is the sacred serpent of the Goddess. Erihthonios is the child of Hephaistos. When the latter tried to violate Athina, she fled away and his semen fell on the ground. The mother Gaia, the Earth received the semen and proceeded to its gestation. When the time came and the child was born, it was returned to Athina, who placed him in a chest. She confided it to the three daughters of King Kekrops, Agravlos, Ersi and Pandrosos, with the recommendation not to open the sacred chest. Ersi and Agravlos, curious concerning the contents of the chest, opened it and saw the infant surrounded by a snake. Such was the terror of the two of them, that on their flight they fell from the Acropolis and were killed. The third, Pandrosos was spared, since she was not present and did not see the horrible sight. The symbolism of the sacred serpent is opposed to that of the horse. The horse is impetuous, unpredictable, irrational, impulsive, sentimental and instinctive. The serpent is deliberate, grounded on the earth, slow and cold-blooded. The opposition between the two creatures, a reptile and a four legged animal, is striking due to the fact they form the dual antagonistic pair of the mind. Irrationality and freedom against logic and cold-blooded energies. From there on the statue repeats the dual form of symbolism through the horse and the serpent. On the shield the Amazons ride on horse- back. The Amazons are the female counter part of the Centaurs, almost always being depicted on horse back either hunting or fighting against mens’ tribes or the Gorgons, another female Amazon wild tribe. The Amazons are not the pair of Centaurs. The Centaurs are mating with Nymphs, whilst the Amazons fall in love with the heroes. The Amazon has the capacity to dismount and go away from her horse, which means that she is not the slave of her instincts, since woman and horse can be separated without being mutilated. Nevertheless, also the woman’s nature is prone to the weakness of mutilating her female nature, since she doesn’t accept the man’s protection from father, brother, husband or lover. Thus, she is losing the finer expression of her femininity and no longer enjoys the subtle expression of her female individuality. In the center of the shield, the head of the Medusa, surrounded by serpents is repeating the motive of the reptile. Whoever saw the head of the monster was turned into stone. The story of Medusa has a most symbolical appearance in all the ancient Greek world. Its methodical approach allows us to understand the depth of the psychological problems, which spread from the abuse of the inflated ego. This leads to the inflexible/ stone attitude of the egoistic serpents, which the person, whose head is surrounded by them, cannot see. Yet the others are fully aware of his or hers treacherous and fraudulous personality. If ever the Medusa person can see her true face, then she turns into stone from fear and disgust. The two ends of the belt of the Goddess are two serpents facing each other. The symbol placed in the middle of the body divides the personality in two halves, showing the ever-lasting battle between reason and instinct. The right hand holding the statue of Vistory is the emblem of the victorious settlement between the two opposites, any two opposites, which have to find the issue of the fair judgement and true understanding of ideas and situations, values belonging to the Goddess of Wisdom. The repetition of the head of Medusa on the chest of the Goddess, surrounded by vipers, has a very special message to deliver to anybody approaching Wisdom with unethical demands. Seeing the head with the vipers ready to confront him, the intriguer becomes petrified, due to his vileness. Wisdom now is protected by the serpents, which are being framed by vipers, ready to fight and devour the insolent intruder in the temple of wisdom. Last on the helmet, the Sphinx between the two winged horses gives to the observer the final message of the Goddess. The Greek Sphinx has the head of a woman, the front body of a bird, which is continued by the two wings and has its tail ended by the head of a snake. The uppermost part of any symbol shows its predominant character. In this instance we have both symbols, the Sphinx/serpent and the horse, sublimated, since both are ready to fly, in order to reach the higher realms of heavens through their wings. The message Athena is sending through her statue to the human race, men and women, throughout the centuries is two fold, being expressed by the two opposites, the crawling serpent, which rises to the heavens and the flying horse/ Pegasus, child of Medusa and Poseidon, the master of the Waters. Centaurs and Amazons, men and women respectively, must first confront and secondly understand instincts and feelings, through the winged horse, and, the logic guiding our reason, through the Sphinx’s serpent. Athena honors both the horse, which represents the vital, generative force of nature and the serpent, the wisdom of the earth, parallel to the celestial wisdom of the Gods…. The twin winged horses / Pegasus of Athina’s helmet are the mortal messengers, which means that they are the Centaurs and the Amazons sublimated, striving to unite their Mother Gaia, the Earth with their Father, the Celestial Vault. A l t a n I P. F. 15.5.2005