groves, to potters, to painters, and to women who weave, all of whom look to Athena
as their patron. Ultimately, with the Parthenon, the celebration of her triumph
becomes a metaphor for the triumph of the city itself with its military, economic,
and political implications.
Athenian Representations of Religious Practice
A fragment of an amphora of Panathenaic shape from about 500 BC found on the
Acropolis, where it was surely a dedication, allows us to shift our focus from the ways
the Greeks used the images to what images can tell us about Greek religious practices
(Van Straten 1995: fig. 18). Though the shape is Panathenaic, the imagery on it is
unique, and it clearly was not a prize amphora. Two men followed by a third move to
the right with a goat on a leash. Other fragments show that they were part of a larger
procession of men. The lead man has a large amphora on his shoulder, also of
Panathenaic shape. A sacrifice is in the offing; the goat could have no other purpose.
The scene has been interpreted as a victor at the Panathenaic games ‘on his way to the
Acropolis to sacrifice a goat as a thank-offering, and to dedicate part of his prize as a
tithe to the goddess’ (Van Straten 1995:25). This is a reminder that individuals, as
well as cities, could make thank-offerings to gods in hope of continued benevolence.
In fact, the Acropolis would have been covered with thousands of offerings of every
conceivable type. An inscription on the base of the bronze figurine of Athena
Promachos from the Acropolis mentioned earlier, which would have stood on a
small column, tells us that it was dedicated to Athena by Meleso as a tithe. Another
fragment of a pot from the Acropolis, this one a red-figure krater, was clearly a
dedication from a potter (Figure 26.7). On it, in an upper band, are artisans at
work on vases in a pottery workshop, while below youths lead a sheep or a ram to
the right. Again, a sacrifice is in the offing. Each object was dedicated to a deity for a
specific purpose with the hope of a reasonable return. We must remember that Greek
religion was not about love or warm feelings for a deity; rather, it was about a
relationship between unequals where a mortal hopes for some sort of reciprocity
for his or her offerings to the immensely more powerful god.
Sacrifice was the central act of Greek religion, but unlike a vase or a statue dedicated
to a deity, a sacrifice was an ephemeral gift; once it was over there was no evidence
that it had happened. The more than 150 Attic black-figure and red-figure vases that
have depictions on them that relate to sacrifices are a rich source of information about
the ritual that accompanied this central rite. But why is sacrifice a subject on these
vases? Many fragments with sacrificial scenes on them have been found on the
Acropolis, and it is possible that they were dedicated there as permanent reminders
for forgetful gods of past sacrifices (Van Straten 1995:53). For others, particularly
those found in Etruscan tombs, the motive is less clear.
The actual killing of the animal at the altar is seldom if ever shown on Greek vases
(cf. Chapter 8). Rather, depictions of sacrifice focus on the procession and activities
before the killing or the rituals after the fact. Most of the scenes are generalized so
that it is only occasionally possible to know to which deity a sacrifice is being offered.
A scene on a krater from about 430 BC found in a tomb in Greek Agrigento in Sicily
in 1962, where it may have served as an ossuary, is of particular interest here because
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