Minerva presents herself in the type of 'Athena Parthenos'. She is leaning on the lance with her raised right hand, next to her is the shield. On her outstretched left hand she holds a small Nike. - The epithet Parthenos for Athena first means 'virgin' or 'the virgin'. The most famous statue of Zeus' daughter, to which the gem image can also be traced, is certainly the colossal cult image made of gold and ivory by Phidias, which stood in the Parthenon on the Athenian Acropolis.
This type of Athena was handed down in many copies in the course of antiquity; Roman art also preserved the Athena Parthenos in numerous scaled-down Roman copies. - The ring is post-antique.
(AVS)
Former collection Uvo Hölscher, Hannover
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