Athena - Vienna, Austria
Posted by: 
Metro2
N 48° 12.385 E 016° 22.030
33U E 601575 N 5340146
Athena is the Greek goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, law and justice, just warfare, mathematics, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, and skill.
Waymark Code: WMM6CX
Location: Wien, Austria
Date Posted: 07/29/2014
Views: 10
The Austrian National Library building has a set of three friezes...and this sculpture of Athena is the central one.
Wikipedia's page for the Hofburg Palace (
visit link) informs us:
"The exterior decoration with Attika figures was executed by Lorenzo Mattielli in 1726. He placed a statue of Pallas Athene riding on a quadriga above the main entrance. On the left portion of the roof, he situated Atlas, supporting the celestial globe, flanked by Astronomy and Astrology, and on the opposite side, Gaia with the terrestrial globe, flanked by allegories of Geometry and Geography."
See a close up of the frieze at (
visit link)
As for the goddess Athena, Wikipedia (
visit link) adds:
"In Greek religion and mythology, Athena or Athene ... also referred to as Pallas Athena/Athene ..., is the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, law and justice, just warfare, mathematics, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, and skill. Minerva is the Roman goddess identified with Athena.
Athena is portrayed as a shrewd companion of heroes and is the patron goddess of heroic endeavour. She is the virgin patroness of Athens. The Athenians founded the Parthenon on the Acropolis of her namesake city, Athens (Athena Parthenos), in her honour.
Veneration of Athena was so persistent that archaic myths about her were recast to adapt to cultural changes. In her role as a protector of the city (polis), many people throughout the Greek world worshiped Athena as Athena Polias ..."Athena of the city"). The city of Athens and the goddess Athena essentially bear the same name (Athena the Goddess, Athenai the city) while it is not known which of the two words is derived from the other."