Cult Image - Classical Greece and Rome

Classical Greece and Rome

See also: Statue of Zeus at Olympia and Xoanon

The Parthenon contained a cult image of Athena, the Greek goddess of civilization and the noble side of war. This cult image was done by Phidias, the sculptor and head supervisor of building the Parthenon. This cult image was used for religious sacrifices at this Athenian temple.

In Greek and Roman mythology, a "palladium" was an image of great antiquity on which the safety of a city was said to depend, especially the wooden one that Odysseus and Diomedes stole from the citadel of Troy and which was later taken to Rome by Aeneas. (The Roman story was related in Virgil's Aeneid and other works.)

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Famous quotes containing the words classical, greece and/or rome:

    “Et in Arcadia ego.
    [I too am in Arcadia.]”
    —Anonymous, Anonymous.

    Tomb inscription, appearing in classical paintings by Guercino and Poussin, among others. The words probably mean that even the most ideal earthly lives are mortal. Arcadia, a mountainous region in the central Peloponnese, Greece, was the rustic abode of Pan, depicted in literature and art as a land of innocence and ease, and was the title of Sir Philip Sidney’s pastoral romance (1590)

    “Tell Greece that her spring has been taken out of her year.”
    —Herodotus (c. 484–424 B.C.)

    “Napoleon wanted to turn Paris into Rome under the Caesars, only with louder music and more marble. And it was done. His architects gave him the Arc de Triomphe and the Madeleine. His nephew Napoleon III wanted to turn Paris into Rome with Versailles piled on top, and it was done. His architects gave him the Paris Opera, an addition to the Louvre, and miles of new boulevards.”
    —Tom Wolfe (b. 1931)