A Voyage with the Gods: ATHENA
Η γέννηση της Αθηνάς, Λούβρο
What is it about classical mythology that still haunts us? Why is it that we can recount the battles of Ancient Greece when prompted, even though we may not really believe in either ancient deities, nor mythological heroes – or even heroic deeds – any more? How come names such as Zeus, Poseidon, Apollo, Hades, Atlas and Aphrodite are still very much in our vernacular, and, even if we only really come across these characters in a museum or from a story book, we are still able to recognise their attributes, and still wonder at their endeavours?
It is as if all the stories we once heard are a part of us and, even if we weren’t paying much attention at the time, we can probably still recognise the Acropolis in Athens where the Gods once walked, and are probably able to visualise their ancient temples; even thought we have not actually been anywhere near Greece all our lives!
This Virtual Exhibition questions whether these heroic tales are still as vital as they were for the Ancient Greeks, and challenges you to take a few minutes to consider whether – in fact – we still need our heroes today.
The removal of the Sculptures from the Pediments of the Parthenon by Elgin, 1801. Watercolour by Sir William Gell (1774-1836), renowned for his studies of Greek topography, who was an eyewitness to the spoliation of the Parthenon marbles. 0.20×0.31 m. (ΓΕ 23431)
Collection of Paintings, Drawings and Prints
Benaki Museum, Greece
Twelve Olympic Divinities decorated with signs of the zodiac.
This is not something we usually ask ourselves as we tap away on our smart phones, and zap from one TV channel to the next. There are always more important things to do, and probably many more pressing things to think about as we try to get through the day. Much of our time is spent just trying to keep up with all the emails that tumble into our inboxes, and any form of escapism; watching a soap-opera, flicking through YouTube vignettes, or grabbing a good novel is just about all we have the energy for after a long day at school or in the office.
A Voyage with the Gods invites you to take this opportunity to take a brief pause from all the other distractions of your daily life – a pause that is probably shorter than a feature film or book but definitely longer than a tweet. We are asking you to think about the role that heroes plays in our lives today, because – we argue – we still need our heroes, and suggest that they still do have the capacity relay something relevant to us from an era long ago.
Antiquités grecques, étrusques et romaines, vers 550-540 av J.C, (C) RMN / Hervé Lewandowski, Paris, musée du Louvre
We hope that once you have taken this virtual voyage, the next time you come across an Athenian God on a visit to your local museum, or when one of them pops out of a storybook in a thrilling tale of heroism and glory you will also take the time to consider, why it is that we still need these stories, and what it is that they nourish in today’s hyper-mediated world?
An experiment
Many websites deal very impressively with ancient mythology, and many virtual exhibitions describe the plethora of the gods and their heroic tales. We prefer to choose one of the Gods, and through her, we aim to identify what it is that she represents that is important in our lives today. We have selected the Goddess Athena; a complex heroine who has not only one quest – a prerequisite for being a mythological hero – but a series of intertwining tales that are spun from the fascinating revelation of her spectacular birth to her numerous iterations as the Greek Athena and Roman Minerva.
Nearly all the resources for this website have been retrieved from Europeana, Europe’s Library, Museum and Archive and all of the images are linked to their page in Europeana. We invite you to visit Europeana for yourself, where you too might be able to disccover your own her or heroine.
A Voyage with the Gods describes Athena’s numerous challenges and deeds; from the classical Greek era, to Roman fables, through post-classical culture, to modernity. Perhaps most interesting of all are the iconic representations of Athena that still appear today; where her qualities of wisdom, strength, strategic warfare and civilization are called upon to imbue all these qualities for all of us as we go about our contemporary life.
We welcome you to a Voyage with the Gods.
Dr. Susan Hazan
A Voyage with the Gods, Exhibition Curator
The Voyage with the Gods was launched in 2011, and makes content available free of charge, to educators, scholars, and the public, drawing on the resources from Europeana, Europe’s Digital Library, Archive and Museum. This virtual exhibition is dedicated to the partners, content providers, institutions and individual museum professionals who contributed their time, expertise and efforts to the Athena Network.
ATHENA is a European project (2008-2011) which brought together relevant stakeholders and content owners from museums and other cultural institutions all over Europe, and evaluated and integrated specific tools, based on a common agreed set of standards and guidelines to create harmonised access to their content.
Copyright questions about partner contents should be directed to the content provider. When publishing or otherwise distributing materials found in this virtual exhibition, the user has the obligation to determine and satisfy domestic and international copyright law or other use restrictions.
See Resource Page for the (C) holders of works used in the Athena Quiz
You can find out more information about copyright law in the World Intellectual Property Organization’s member states at http://www.wipo.int/about-ip/en.
Rossella Caffo, ATHENA Project coordinator
Ministero per i beni e le attività culturali, Istituto centrale per il catalogo unico delle biblioteche, Italy
ATHENA Work packages Leaders
WP2 – Awareness and dissemination: enlarging the network and promoting the service
· Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz (SPK), Germany
· Stowarzyszenie Miedzynarodowe Centrum Zarzadzania Informacja (ICIMSS), Poland
WP3 – Identifying standards and developing recommendations
· Royal Museums of Arts and History (RMAH), Belgium
· Collections Trust, United Kingdom
WP4 – Integration of existing data structure into the EDL
· Michael-Culture (Aisbl), International Association under Belgian Law
WP5 – Coordination of contents
· Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali (MiBAC), Italy
· Institute of Communication and Computer Systems-National Technical University of Athens, ICCS-NTUA, Greece
WP6 – Analysis of IPR issues and definition of possible solutions
· Packed, Belgium
· Panepistemion Patron – University of Patras (UP), Greece
WP7 – Development of plug-ins to be integrated within the European Digital Library
· Institute of Communication and Computer Systems-National Technical University of Athens), ICCS-NTUA, Greece
· Ministrstvo za Kulturo Republike Slovenije (MKRS), Slovenia
ATHENA Technical coordinator
· Maria Teresa Natale
Ministero per i beni e le attività culturali, Istituto centrale per il catalogo unico delle biblioteche, Italy
ATHENA Webmaster
· Andrea Tempera (Ministero per i beni e le attività culturali, Istituto centrale per il catalogo unico delle biblioteche, Italy)
ATHENA Trivia Game, developer
. Avi Rosenberg
Info and contact: info@athenaeurope.org
The spectacular birth of Athena
Athena and Poseidon’s contest for Athens
Erikhthonios: Athena’s adopted son
Why Athena turns Arakhne into a spider
Athena and Minerva in today’s world
http://151.12.58.141/virtualexhibition/
Θεά Αθηνά. Ρωμαϊκό έργο του 1ου αιώνα μ.Χ., Μουσείο του Λούβρου
Παιδείας Εγκώμιον 
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