Athena - Goddess of Wisdom - Athenaeum, Cambridge, MA - Epic Beings and Creatures on Waymarking.com

Cars passing by on Land Boulevard/First Street might catch a glint from this golden statue of the goddess Athena. If you walk along the same road, especially coming from the Cambridge Galleria, you will easily see this stately, watchful figure on top of a brick building.

This figure is on top of a building aptly named "The Athenaeum." Today, it has been made into spaces for industrial and commercial properties. It was originally built in 1895 for Athenaeum Press, which was a major publisher at the time. The company likely does not exist, today, as I found no modern references to it on the Internet. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. It is not clear, yet, when the statue was erected, but it could have been as early as 1895.

Athena is a major goddess in Greek mythology and figures prominently in Homer's works such as "The Iliad." She is the goddess of wisdom, and a goddess of war - taking sides on those who are defending their homeland. In Greece, the Parthenon in Athens was in her honor.

Sources:

Encyclopedia for Athena:

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Boston Business Journal Article about the Building (for sale in 2007):

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Wikipedia Entry about the building:

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Time Period: Ancient Approximate Date of Epic Period: 800 BCE Epic Type: Mythical Exhibit Type: Figure, Statue, 3D Art

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Date Logged Log   04/25/2012 petendot visited it