A marble statue of Jupiter, the Roman equivalent of Zeus, standing, with the aegis
and a winged Gorgoneion draped over his left shoulder. To the right of the figure,
at the base of the tree trunk support, stands an eagle, a symbol of the supreme god.

Roman Imperial period, 2nd century AD. From Utica, Tunisia.
Height 175, width 60 cm, depth 40 cm.

In Greek mythology, the supreme Olympian god Zeus wore the aegis, the hide of the goat Amaltheia which had suckled him in his infancy, as armour, particularly during the Titanomachy (the war of the gods against the Titans). Homer referred to Zeus by the epithet "Aegis-Bearing" (Αἰγίοχος, Aigiochos; Latin, Jupiter Aegiochus). To this impenetrable goatskin was added the Gorgoneion, the severed head of the Gorgon Medusa, for its fearsome and deadly power. The Romans later borrowed many of the symbols of Zeus to depict their chief deity Jupiter, including the aegis and Gorgoneion, as well as other attributes such as the thunderbolt and eagle (see photo below).

In the The Iliad, Homer also mentioned that his divine children Apollo and Athena on occasions borrowed the aegis. From around the second half of the 6th century BC, during the late Archaic period, Athena was depicted wearing the aegis. The tassels (θύσανοι, thisanoi) along its fringe, which Homer wrote were made of gold, became deadly snakes like those sprouting from the Gorgon's head (see photos on Athens Acropolis gallery page 18 and Homer part 2). Although the aegis is sometimes shown being worn like a cloak or a shield over the left arm (the shield arm), from the Classical period Athena often wears it as a cuirass (breastplate), and the Gorgoneion also appears on her shield. For further information about Athena, the aegis and the Gorgoneion, see Pergamon gallery 2, page 13 and page 14.

As we have already seen (Medusa parts 1-5), the Gorgeion was used to decorate a wide variety of objects from around the beginning of the 7th century BC (see also Medusa part 7), and from at least the 6th century BC these included shields and armour.

A marble statue of Jupiter Aegiochus with the aegis
and winged Gorgoneion draped over his left shoulder.

Roman Imperial period, 4th - 5th century AD. A dedication to Zeus Optimus Maximus
was later inscribed on the semi-circular base by the senator Neratius Palmatus.
Found on the Piazza dei Quinuecento, on the corner with Via Cavour, Rome.

An Archaic bronze statuette of Athena, with a
crested helmet, shield and brandishing a spear.
One of the earliest depictions of the goddess
wearing the Gorgoneion.

From the Sanctuary of Athena Alea, in Alea
(Tegea), Arcadia, Greece. Around 550 BC.

The fragmentary, badly worn figure, wearing a long chiton (tunic), is missing its head, forearms and hands, but is recognizable as Athena from the Aegis (with holes for the attachment of bronze snakes around the edge) over her shoulders and the Gorgoneion on her breast. It is earliest extant identifiable statue of Athena from Athens, perhaps depicting the goddess as Athena Ergane (Ἐργάνη, the Worker), who originally held a distaff and spindle.

It has been suggested that it may be the statue of Athena seated mentioned by Pausanias (Description of Greece, Book 1, chapter 26, section 4) as being made by Endoios and dedicated by Kallias on the Athens Acropolis.

Athena springs "fully armed", with spear and shield, from the head of Zeus. Present to assist and cheer on with music are (left - right): Hermes, Apollo, Eileithyia (goddess of birth) and Ares. Beneath Zeus' throne is a winged figure, perhaps Nike.

Apollo plays his lyre and Zeus clutches his thunderbolt. Ares carries a shield decorated with a Gorgoneion, a symbol which was also to become associated with Athena, and which she is often shown wearing on her breast.

Source: lithograph made by A. Ray for Kaeppelin & Co. Published in Elite des monuments céramographiques: matériaux pour l'histoire des religions et des moeurs de l'antiquité by Charles Lenormant (1802-1859). Leleux, Paris, 1844-1861.

The fragment was acquired in Athens by the British politician Percy Clinton Sydney Smythe, 6th Viscount Strangford (1780-1855), one of the antiquities he collected while British ambassador to Ottoman Turkey, 1820-1824. It was purchased by the British Museum in 1864 from Percy Smythe, the 8th Viscount Strangford.

During the Roman period many copies were made of the colossal chryselephantine (gold and ivory) statue of Athena Parthenos by Pheidias, which stood in the Parthenon on the Athenian Acropolis. The "Strangford Shield" is the only surviving part of one of these replicas (see two smaller replicas: the "Athena Lenormant" statuette and the "Varvakeion statuette" on Athens Acropolis gallery page 13). Traces of the original paint have survived. Only the front of this shield has a relief, the back is blank. Ancient authors indicate that the outside of the original shield showed an Amazonomachy (battle between Greeks and Amazons), and the inside a Gigantomachy (battle between gods and the Giants).

A reconstructed marble statue of Athena wearing
the aegis and Gorgoneion. It covers her right breast,
and is tied at the right shoulder and above the waist
on her left side.

Roman Imperial period. Late 1st century AD. Height
with restored head 209 cm, width 72 cm, depth 59 cm.

One of two almost identical Roman period, reconstructed
marble statues of Athena in the Albertinum, Dresden
(the other Inv. No. Hm 049) controversially identified
by the German archaeologist Adolf Furtwängler as copies
of the bronze "Athena Lemnia" statue by Pheidias
(450-440 BC) from the Athens Acropolis, mentioned by
Pausanias as "the best worth seeing of all the works
of Phidias" (Description of Greece, Book 1, chapter 28,
section 2) and Lucian (Imagines, 4 and 6).

High relief of Athena wearing the
aegis and Gorgoneion on her breast.

From the theatre of the Lower City,
Pergamon. Marble. Roman period.

Bronze statuette of the Etruscan goddess
Menvra, modelled on Greek figures of Pallas
Athena, or Palladion, with raised spear and
shield and wearing the aegis in the form
of a short poncho-like cape. The helmet,
similar in form to the Attic helmet on Greek
copies of the Athena Parthenos statue
by Pheidias, is shown with the cheek flaps
raised. Unusually, the goddess is barefoot,
lacking the usual sandals.

From Apiro, Italy. 4th century BC.
Height 24.3 cm.

Bronze statuette of Menvra wearing
the aegis and Gorgoneion. The head
of the Gorgon is as large as that of
the goddess. Her right rather than
left leg is bent. The handle in her
left hand and spigot on the forearm
indicate where a shield was
attached to the figure.

From central Italy. Circa 500 BC.

All around the head are protomes (heads) of snakes, and around the disc, on the eyebrow and top of the nose are holes for attaching the device to a shield. The eye sockets probably contained inlaid eyes. According the museum label the forehead is "decorated with incised anthemia and foliate ornaments", although only two rosettes, on the right ear lobe and immediately to the right of it, are visible.

The Gorgon wears a transverse crest with two long tails falling to either side of her torso (see a depiction of a helmet with a transverse crest below). She has a fringe of small snakes and inlaid eyes, and grasps two larger snakes which rise from her belt (see photo below). Her torso is scaly, and her wings, shown in front of her arms, appear to grow out her breast. Below the waist she has attributes of a monster (referred to by some archaeologists as a dragon), the tail and fins of a fish and the running front legs of a lion.

Helmet crests or plumes are often mentioned in ancient literature and shown in Greek art, particularly on pottery (see several photos in Homer part 2, including examples from as early as the 7th century BC), but there appears to be little archaeological evidence for their use on surviving Corinthian helmets. They are thought to have been made of long horse hairs, presumably from the mane or tail, gathered as a brush in a curved frame (like the ferrule of a paintbrush) of metal, wood or other materials, and affixed to the top of the helmet with nails, rivets, twine, pitch or some other adhesive.

The type most usually depicted is known as a longitudinal crest (see photos below), running from front to back along the top of the helmet, with a long tail falling at the rear. Depictions of Greek transverse crests, running from side to side (why not lateral or latitudinal?), are rare, usually worn by gods or heroes in mythological contexts. According to one modern theory, they were originally worn only by high-ranking Spartan officers, but their use became more popular in the rest of the Greek world around the mid 5th century BC. It is known that later some Roman helmets had transverse crests, but the extent of their use by Greek soldiers remains a matter of debate.

The Monteleone Chariot was discovered in 1902 in an underground Etruscan tomb by Isidoro Vannozzi, a landowner at Monteleone di Spoleto, in the province of Perugia, southeast Umbria, Italy. He also found bronze, iron and ceramic grave goods in the tomb, and the artefacts were sold on to various dealers and collectors. The chariot ended up on the art market in Paris, where it was purchased in 1903 from O. Vitalini by General Luigi Palma di Cesnola, the first director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Etruscan parade chariot has three panels made of bronze inlaid with ivory. The front panel is much larger than those on either side; all three are decorated with reliefs thought to depict episodes from the life of Achilles.

The front panel (photo above) shows the veiled Thetis, on the left, facing a bearded Achilles, with both figures in profile. They hold a Corinthian helmet with a crest supported by a ram's head, and a large shield decorated with a Gorgoneion above a lion's head. Below the shield is the body of a deer on its back, and above the head of each figure a flying bird of prey descends vertically, head down.

The panel on the left side of the chariot (see image below) depicts a duel between two warriors, perhaps Achilles and the Trojan Memnon, both standing in profile over the body of a fallen warrior. Both warriors wear crested Corinthian helmets and greaves, with a spear raised in one arm and holding a shield in the other. The figure on the left has a round shield, while the shield of the figure on the right is similar to that given to Achilles on the front panel, although here the lion's head is above that of the Gorgon.

The right-hand panel depicts the the apotheosis of Achilles, with the hero ascending in a chariot drawn by winged horses. Other reliefs, over the wheels, are thought to depict Achilles as a youth with his mentor, the centaur Cheiron (see Homer part 2), and Achilles as a lion killing his enemies depicted as a stag and a bull.

See: metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/247020

Made during the reign of Ptolemy I Soter (Πτολεμαῖος Α' Σωτήρ, Ptolemy I Savior, ruled 323-285 BC) or his son and successor Ptolemy II Philadelphus (Πτολεμαῖος Β' Φιλάδελφος, Ptolemy II Sibling-Lover, ruled 285-246 BC), later known as Ptolemy the Great.

Purchased in 1902 from an art dealer in Cairo. Discovered together with life-size Ptolemaic models of helmets and a cheek-piece, probably from the workshop of an armourer, working in either leather or bronze. The name Ptolemaios is inscribed in the band around the Gorgoneion, written retrograde (right to left), in this case anti-clockwise:

ΠΤΟΛΕΜΑΙΟΥ (PTOLEMAIOU, of Ptolemaios)

Surrounding the Gorgoneion and inscription are seven peltai (from the Greek πέλτη, shield), each consisting of three parallel, crescent-shaped lines and an eight-pointed star with a dotted centre. On the other side of the shield is a central six-pointed sunburst or starburst device. This is not visible, since the object is displayed at the back of a crowded glass cabinet, behind an unrelated marble statuette of an unknown Ptolemaic king as pharaoh. [2] A similar shield design can be seen on Macedonian "shield coins" of around the same period, for example a silver tetradrachm of Antigonus II Gonatas (circa 319-239 BC) with the head of Pan in the centre (see the Pan page).

A similar round Macedonian shield (without a Gorgoneion) is shown on a marble relief of a battle scene on the Aemilius Paullus Monument at Delphi (around 168 BC).

Catalogue No. 252, pages 187-189, plate 88, a-b. In the museum catalogue it is noted that both types of decoration on this shield model also appear on painted shields on the north and south walls of the Macedonian Tomb of Lyson and Kallikles at Lefkadia (circa 200 BC).

A bronze guard for a right upper arm, with a
repoussé (hammered) and incised Gorgoneion
with inlaid bone eyes on the shoulder.

Made in Magna Graecia (southern Italy)
around 550-500 BC. Found during excavations
on the north embankment of the stadium
in Olympia, Peloponnese, Greece.

Olympia Archaeological Museum. Inv. No. B 4880.

A bronze vambrace, armour for a right
arm, with a Gorgoneion on the shoulder.

Around 550 BC. From Olympia, Greece.
A votive offering, probably war booty.

Bronze pilos helmet decorated with a Gorgoneion attachment.

Beaten cast bronze. 4th century BC. Provenance unknown.

The Gorgoneion is one of four attachments which originally decorated the sides of the helmet.

A pilos (πῖλος, felt; Latin, pileus, pilleus or pilleum) was a conical cap, made of felt or leather, often shown worn by men in ancient Greek and Roman art, particularly in depictions of the Dioskouroi, Hephaistos and Odysseus. It is thought that the pilos helmet was developed from the hat in Sparta in the 5th century BC. During the same century the helmet became popular among infantry soldiers in other Greek city states. An Attic funerary stele of around 410 BC shows two Athenian soldiers wearing pilos helmets (see Thucydides). A marble funerary relief from Pella, Macedonia, dated 430-420 BC, depicts a soldier wearing a pilos (see Pella gallery page 18).

A not-so-hideous Gorgoneion on the aeigis of a marble statue, perhaps depicting
a Roman emperor, now headless and unidentifiable. The work is a replica of a
Hellenistic statue of Alexander the Great, known as the "Alexander Aigiochos",
which was probably from Alexandria, Egypt.

From Thessaloniki. Roman Imperial period, 117-138 AD.

Marble bust from a statue of Emperor Claudius (reigned
41-54 AD) wearing a cuirass with the Gorgoneion.

From Nikomedia (Izmit, Turkey). 1st century AD.

Detail of a marble statue of Emperor Hadrian (reigned
117-138 AD) wearing a cuirass with the Gorgoneion.

From the agora of Thasos, Greece. 130 AD.

The original architectural context of this clipeus is unclear, and the guide to the Thebes museum merely states that it "had perhaps been boxed into a wall". The reverse side of the clipeus depicts a snake, a symbol of Asklepios (see photo on the Asklepios page), probably a reference to the Asklepieion at Thespiai. The fact that it was sculpted on both sides suggests that it was designed for a free-standing monument, perhaps a propylon (gateway).

Hadrian visited Thespiai during his stay in Boeotia in 125 AD. While there he is said to gone hunting, and an inscribed epigram records that he dedicated a boar he had killed to Eros at the god's sanctuary in the city (inscription IG VII 1828). It has recently been suggested that the dedication was intended for his deceased favourite Antinous in the guise of Eros.

Detail of a marble statue of Emperor Marcus Aurelius (joint
emperor 161-180 AD) wearing a cuirass with the Gorgoneion.

From Italy. The head and body of the much restored sculpture are from
separate statues. The body, 50-80 AD, was found near Tivoli. The head,
of the second type of portrait of Marcus Aurelius, is dated to 150 AD.

A sandstone statue of Minerva (Athena) wearing a plumed helmet
and holding with her left hand a shield decorated with a Gorgoneon.

A copy made in 1900 of a statue from 1683, it stood at the portal between
the larger and smaller courtyards of the royal palace of the kings of Saxony
in Dresden. It is one of a number of damaged and burnt statues that
survived the massive Allied bombing raid on Dresden on 13th February 1945.

1. Campana plaques

2. Statuette of a Ptolemaic king as pharaoh in Amsterdam

Marble statuette of a Ptolemaic king as Egyptian pharaoh. From Egypt, findspot unknown.
Height 73 cm, width 21.5 cm, depth 18.5 cm.
Hellenistic Gallery, Allard Pierson Museum, University of Amsterdam. Inv. No. APM 07780.
Acquired in 1921 from the collection of Friedrich Wilhelm von Bissing (1873-1956) by the Museum Scheurleer, The Hague, from which it was obtained by the Allard Pierson Museum in 1934.

3. The bust of Marcus Aurelius in the Louvre

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