Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Arts in New York has a collection of millions of art works from around the world. In this fabulous museum, there are more than 5300 historic pieces from 900 B.C. to early 4th century A.D. The historic pieces of art include monuments, sculptures, paintings and historical items, etc from Greek Hellenistic period to Roman Empire and Golden Age of Augustus (Djibnet, 2007). In the Metropolitan Museum of New York, one can explore through the vast expanse of history and find several pieces dating back to antiquity. One of these time-old memorabilia is the Marble Head of Athena. It is the figure of the head of Greek goddess Athena and date backs to late third and early 2nd century B.C. The Marble Head of Athena has a height of nine inches about 48.3 cm and is an example of ancient Greek and Roman art.

The colossus head is of a female of almost twice the life-size of probable statues of Athena. The marble head seems to be representing Greek goddess Athena because of the characteristic helmet that Athena goddess used to wear. The helmet enjoyed the status of her unique symbol and portrayed her as patron of wisdome, handicraft, and disciplined aspects of war (Sacks, Murray and Bunson, 1997). The Corinthian-shaped helmet that Athena wore, consists of bronze, not of marble, and became the part in separation on this figure. However, on this figure, the top part of the helmet is not complete. One can find small holes at the back and top of the marble head. It is an assumption that these holes were for the utilization of holding the helmet securely and fixing it at one place through metal pins.
On examining the sculpture, one can see that the hairs are pulled back from either side of the face.

This was the ancient style of tying the hair and is again associated with style of the Greek goddess Athena. The pulled back hair is tied into a chignon behind. There are small holes for putting the metal earrings on the ears of the sculpture. The lower edge of the neck is in complete form, with no damages whatsoever. The surface of the sculpture is also very smooth. This shows that the Greek technique of making sculptures has been used. The sculpture is classic in character and proportionate in design and shape. The lower edge of the neck from where it would have been attached to the body is equally very smooth. The material used is marble the ancient Greek technique for marble carvings has been used, as the surface is smooth and very well proportioned without any signs of damage.
The sculpture has parted lips and eyes wide-open, depicting alertness and readiness. The head is turning towards the right sharply and gives an impression of the figure striding forward. This is indicative of the complete statue, portraying an abrupt movement. The theme of the sculpture is derived from here as the figure striding forward represents votive impression of the Greek goddess Athena. According to findings, the Greek goddess Athena was not just a patron of wisdom and art but also a warrior and a guardian. She typically appeared in complete armor in different statues, wearing helmet and spears. This Marble Head of Athena shows and communicates her role as a guardian of Athens and not just a religious statue in the temple. These diverse attributes make the goddess unique and distinctive in many ways.

If we look at it from chronological point of view, the marble figure through its expression appears to be in dynamic action. The passionate expression that the sculpture has points its origin to high Hellenistic baroque (Pollitt, 1986).The style of this head mark is said to belong to the baroque style that previously prevailed in the Mediterranean region. This historic perspective also lends the goddess a new shade of character. The figurehead belongs to the Hellenistic period that was known for the rich variety of art with diverse subject matters. Making sculptures of the well-known personalities and the Greek gods was famous styles of art in that particular era. The Greek gods were represented in different forms, having different symbols (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2010).
From 480 to 340 B.C, the neo Attics evolved. It is an observation that sculptures in Athens made close imitations of Classical models. The head of Athena is said to be a work of Perganmmmene neoclassicism. The beautiful heads are said to be the masterpieces of neoclassicism and the marble head of Athena is said to be one. This can be said because of the characteristic features like narrow and longer faces, typical of the periods history. The helmet design, the hair, the sharp edges of the face, all gives a feeling of fifth century prototype. The figurehead has features of both the neoclassic time as well as the Hellenistic baroque, which implicates that it belongs to a period intervening the second and third century B.C (Pollitt, 1986).