Athena Parthenos in Liverpool

Abstract

A terracotta figurine depicting Athena Parthenos, which is in the collections of the University of Liverpool and previously dated to the Roman period, is argued to have been made in the 19th century. The premise is based on the object’s close stylistic similarities to 19th-century terracotta figurines in collections in Manchester and Geneva, leading to the conclusion that all three were made from the same mould, and accordingly are of the same date. The note also considers possible reasons for the manufacture of this series of terracotta figurines depicting Athena Parthenos.

8 Greek art: recent developments and current trends

“…Two other publications consider relevant material that bridges that somewhat tricky Hellenistic–Roman divide (Papantoniou, Michaelides, Dikomitou-Eliadou 2019; Galbois and Autin 2023). New potential for the reception of monumental Greek sculpture coupled with the modesty of terracotta figurines is unlocked in the discussion of a model of the Athena Parthenos in Liverpool, redated from the Roman period to the 19th century (Muskett 2019).…”