Mourning Athena

Today it is displayed at the Acropolis Museum in Athens, with inventory no.

The goddess, Athena, marked by her helmet of the Corinthian type, wears a peplos, clasped at the shoulders and cinched at the waist.

Her left hand grasps a spear on which she leans, and her head is inclined.

The meaning of her bowed head has been a matter of debate since the relief's excavation from the Acropolis of Athens in 1888.

As the conventional name suggests, many have taken the posture to indicate sadness or pensiveness, and thus to interpret the rectangular object on the viewer's right as a stele, a stone slab that serves as a grave marker.