Editing Athena Parthenos (section)

==History==
Ivory, a fragile material and subject to desiccation, was maintained with oiled water that was left available in a basin at the foot of the statue. The oil layer left a protective film preventing evaporation and giving shine to the ivory.<ref>Anne Queyrel, Athènes, la cité archaïque et classique du viiie siècle à la fin du ve siècle, Picard, 2003, p. 251</ref>

The luxury of the statue contrasted with its interior filled, like all chryselephantine statues, with "levers, corners, nails that cross the machine from side to side, ankles, pitch, clay and other things as shocking to the eye, not to mention an infinity of flies or shrews", as [[Lucian]] describes in Dream or the Rooster, XXIV.18.{{sfn|Lapatin|2005|p=274}}

According to sources in 438 BCE (from the consecration of the statue) or in 432 BCE (just before the outbreak of the [[Peloponnesian War]]), Phidias was accused of diverting part of the precious metals used to make the statue of ''Athena Parthenos'', which was also sacrilege in itself since gold belonged to the goddess. Arrested, he would have escaped, which was interpreted as an admission of guilt. He reportedly fled to [[Olympia, Greece|Olympia]] where he made the Chryselephantine statue of Zeus and where he died. For historians, an accusation against Phidias would then have been a way for Pericles' political opponents to attack the [[archon]].<ref>Holtzmann 2003, p. 144.</ref>{{sfn|Lapatin|2005|p=274}} Later, between 300 and 295 BCE, the tyrant [[Lachares]] allegedly had the gold plates removed to pay his troops. However, the veracity of this gesture is difficult to establish. If Lachares had taken gold permanently, he committed sacrilege. If his gesture was a simple "borrowing" from Athena, the rule was to repay with interest, difficult if the only way to obtain funds was to strip the goddess.{{sfn|Holtzmann|2003|p=111}}{{sfn|Lapatin|2005|p=274}}

The Parthenon was ravaged by a fire at an indeterminate date in late antiquity, causing serious damage. The roof collapsed. The Doric columns of the naos were replaced by columns from the Hellenistic [[stoa]]s of the Roman [[agora]].<ref>Ousterhout 2005, p. 298-299.</ref> The statue was damaged but restored. It may have been transported to [[Constantinople]] with the Chryselephantine statue of [[Statue of Zeus at Olympia|Zeus of Olympia]] where it could still have been in the 10th century CE.{{sfn|Holtzmann|2003|p=111}}{{sfn|Boardman|1985|p=110}} Another hypothesis is based on the presence of traces of a second base. The statue of ''Athena Parthenos'' could then have been replaced, at an indeterminate point in time.<ref>Ousterhout 2005, p. 298.</ref> Until the [[Edict of Thessalonica|edict of Theodosius]] in 380, the Parthenon retained its pagan religious role. It then seems to have experienced a more or less long period of abandonment. Somewhere between the fifth and the seventh century, the building was transformed into a church. Sources do not mention the statue at that time; it is therefore not possible to know if it had been destroyed or transported to Constantinople.<ref>Ousterhout 2005, p. 298-305.</ref>

<gallery class="center" widths="150px" heights="150px">
Athena Parthenos Altemps Inv8622.jpg|alt=statue féminine en marbre|Roman copy (first century BC). A.D., restoration in the seventeenth century), signed Antiochos.Roman National Museum (Palais Altemps), Inv. 8622.
NAMA 128 Athena Lenormant 1.JPG|alt=statue féminine en marbre|Athena Lenormant, marble copy of the Pentelica (probably last century). Pandora's birth is reproduced on the basis. (National Archaeological Museum of Athens 128).
Jasper intaglio Massimo 108684.jpg|alt=Intaille rouge avec tête de femme casquée|Engraved by Aspasios (first century). Profile of the ''Athena Parthenos''. Roman National Museum (Inv. 108684)
Athena Parthenos Louvre Ma91.jpg|alt=statue féminine en marbre; les bras manquent|Minerva with necklace, Roman marble copy of Paros (th or 2nd century). Louvre Museum (Ma91).
Minerva by Simart - Magasin pittoresque - Google Books.jpg|alt=Gravure ancienne d'une statue féminine|Simart's Minerva, 1855. The Picturesque Store, vol. 24 (1856).
Scale_model_of_Parthenon_Athena,_Royal_Ontario_Museum_(6222386828).jpg|alt=a small Athena Parthenos statue|Small model of the Athena Parthenos, with a column of the Corinthian order supporting Athena's arm holding Nike. Restitution suggested by Neda Liepen. [[Royal Ontario Museum]].</gallery>
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