In Praise of Athena. A coin of Macedonia

Antigonos II Gonatas, 277/6-239 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 30 mm, 17.08 g, 10 h), Amphipolis, circa 274/1-260/55 BC. Horned head of Pan to left, within the center of a Macedonian shield. Rev. BAΣIΛEΩΣ ANTIΓONOΥ Athena Alkidemos striding left; to left, Macedonian helmet with transverse crest; to right, monogram of EYPM.

While reviewing some of the coins in my collection I noticed something that I had missed previously on this coin. On the reverse Athena Alkidemos 'defender of the people' (a divine epithet, attested only by the Roman historian Livy (42.51) for the goddess worshipped at Pella) is holding a thunderbolt, which is an attribute of Zeus. In many other full portrait images of Athena she is holding a spear. Consider the coins of the Thessalian League, Lysimachos or of Ptolemy, which would have been roughly contemporary.

There is no doubt that having the ability to hurl thunderbolts at your enemies is a powerful capability and would enhance the idea of strength that is being conveyed in the image, but how does Athena gain access to the thunderbolts of Zeus? We can perhaps see the answer in another object associated with Zeus - the aegis. The aegis is one of the most complex items in the ancient Greek world to pin down - it literally means 'goatskin' - but was associated with divine terror, awe, and authority, and was portrayed either as a shield (as in the Lysimachus tetradrachm above) or as a chlamys (as in the other two coins above). The Homeric hymn to Athena attributes the aegis to Zeus "Athena sprang quickly from the immortal head and stood before Zeus who holds the aegis, shaking a sharp spear". In the Iliad, Homer writes :

"Meanwhile Athene, daughter of aegis-bearing Zeus, shed her soft richly embroidered robe the work of her own two hands, at her Father’s threshold, dressed herself in the tunic of Zeus the Cloud-Driver, and donned her armour ready for sad war. She threw the dreadful tasselled aegis about her shoulders, crowned at every point with terror, violence and strife within, adorned with the monstrous image of the Gorgon’s head, grim and awful emblem of aegis-bearing Zeus" [Illiad V.703-766, translation A.S Kline}.

Athena is therefore taking to herself some of the attributes of her father Zeus, as symbolised in this instance by the aegis. However, in the literary sources the use of thunderbolts remains the exclusive preserve of Zeus. There is no tradition even in the later sources for this particular attribute to be associated with Athena, though Hesiod does say that Athena assisted Hephaistos in making the thunderbolts [Theogony 924–926].

The engraver here is deliberately moving away from the normal attributes of Athena to emphasise the powerful protection offered by Athena, and by association Antigonos, whose name ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΝΤΙΓΟΝOΥ flanks her portrait. Just to compete the imagery the fringed aegis as a chlamys is draped above a Macedonian helmet representing the army of Antigonos - Athena, with the power of Zeus himself, fights together with the army of Antigonos.