162 THE MYTHS OF CREATION: THE GODS
Athena Parthenos. Reconstruction by N. Leipen of the original by Pheidias, 447-438 B.C.;
about one-tenth full size. The original cult-statue stood some thirty-eight feet tall, its gold
and ivory gleaming in the half-light as the worshiper entered the cella with its double
row of columns and reflecting pool. Pheidias focused on the majesty of the city's god-
dess, and the reliefs on her shield, sandals, and statue-base all are symbols of the victory
of order over disorder in the human and divine spheres. The atmosphere of civic grandeur
is far from the intimate emotion of the Mourning Athena on p. 168. (Courtesy of the Royal
Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada.)PALLAS ATHENA TRITOGENEIA
Athena's title, Tritogeneia, is obscure. It seems to refer to a region sometimes as-
sociated with her birth, the river or lake Triton, or Tritonis, in Boeotia or in Libya.
Some scholars see in this link the possibility that Athena was, at least in her ori-
gins, at one time a goddess of waters or of the sea. We are told that soon after her