Athena Mourning

A votive relief about 24 in. [60 cm.] high depicting a contemplative Athena. Leaning on a spear, her head tilts down slightly as she looks at a stele of some sort — possibly a boundary marker of a temple or a gravestone. On her head she wears a tilted back Corinthian Helmet.

Her arms are bare and she wears a "peplos" or a "chiton" (a loose outer garment fastened at the shoulders and belted below the bust and/or the waist). Note also her bare feet and how she is standing on her right foot while her left foot does not appear to support much weight.

This relief dates to about 460 B.C. — about the time when her temple, the Parthenon, was being built.