Silver statuette of Pallas Athena (Velletri type)

Despite its small scale, this figure exudes an impressive sense of dignity and grace. The modelling is vigorous and precise, with attractive detailing lavished upon the garment throughout. Athena stands with weight planted on her left leg, the right slightly bent to impart a slight dynamism to her posture. The goddess wears a finely pleated chiton, which is belted by a fillet tied beneath her breasts and extends slightly beyond her bare feet. The visible sleeve is gorgeously gathered and secured with five buttons down the left arm, while the thick drapery of her himation cascades over the right shoulder. 

As befits the goddess of tactical warfare, she wears a crestless Corinthian helmet pushed back over her brow. To the rear, a flap of leather helmet liner peeks out beneath the neck-guard and partially covers the long waves of her unplaited hair. Stray locks escape to frame her face at the front. The goddess’ aegis – a protective scaley hide and one of Athena’s most important attributes – is secured by two loops around the neck and contoured to her bosom, retaining a serpentine fringe at front and back, while the winged gorgoneion at its center glares frontally at the viewer, a reminder of the garment’s apotropaic capabilities. 
Athena’s oval head, turned slightly to the right, is reminiscent of Greek models of the late Classical period, with the lean elongated face marked by an austere expression, accentuated by slightly parted lips and large, heavy-lidded eyes. The raised right hand once grasped a vertical spear and the left forearm (now lost) as seen in the 1931 photograph by Ferdinando Lembo likely suggests that this hand rested on the edge of a large circular shield laid upon the ground.

Athena/Minerva
Athena was the Greek goddess of wisdom, warfare, commerce, handicrafts and the arts in general. She was later identified with the Roman goddess Minerva - who is believed to derive from the Etruscan goddess Menrva. 
Athena was considered the patron and protectrice of various Greek cities, most notably Athens; likewise Minerva was seen as the patron of Rome residing in the Temple of Hesta. Athena was born fully armed, springing from her father Zeus’ head, and as goddess of war she was nearly always depicted helmeted, bearing a spear, and wearing the aegis. Other important attributes include the owl, the olive, and snakes.

The Athena Velletri type
Discovered in 1897 within the ruins of a Roman villa near Velletri in central Italy, the “Athena of Velletri” (now residing in the Musée du Louvre) is among the most impressive large-scale sculptures to survive from Antiquity. Standing over three meters high, the marble statue is a 1st century A.D. Roman copy of a lost Greek masterpiece in bronze from ca. 430 B.C., known otherwise only through literary sources and typically associated either with the master sculptors Alkamenes or Kresilas. Attribution to Kresilas has so far met with the greatest approval, with this consensus largely due to marked similarities in facial features between the Velletri goddess and the bust of helmeted Pericles at the British Museum (traditionally attributed to Kresilas).
Together with the Athena Medici, the Athena Velletri type ist one of the most frequently copied colossal statues from Classical Greece. The large number of Roman copies dating to the Hadrianic-Antonine period indicates the subject’s immense popularity in the 2nd century A.D. (cf. Karanastassis, MDAI 102, 1987, 350-359).