Athena Parthenos

Athena Parthenos (Ancient Greek: Ἀθηνᾶ Παρθένος; literally, "Athena the Virgin") was the title of a massive chryselephantine sculpture of the Greek goddess Athena made by Phidias and housed in the Parthenon in Athens. Its epithet was an essential character of the goddess herself. A number of replicas and works inspired by it, both ancient and modern, have been made.

It was the most renowned cult image of Athens, considered one of the greatest achievements of the most acclaimed sculptor of ancient Greece. Phidias began his work around 447 BCE. Lachares removed the gold sheets in 296 BCE to pay his troops, and the bronze replacements for them were probably gilded thereafter; it was damaged by a fire about 165 BCE but repaired. It continued to stand in the Parthenon in the 5th century CE, when it was stolen by romans. An account mentions it in Constantinople in the 10th century, however.