InGreek andRoman mythology, thePalladium orPalladion (Greek Παλλάδιον (Palladion), LatinPalladium)[1] was acult image of great antiquity on which the safety ofTroy and laterRome was said to depend, the wooden statue (xoanon) ofPallas Athena thatOdysseus andDiomedes stole from thecitadel ofTroy and which was later taken to the future site ofRome byAeneas. The Roman story is related inVirgil'sAeneid and other works. Rome possessed an object regarded as the actual Palladium for several centuries; it was in the care of theVestal Virgins for nearly all this time.
Since around 1600, the wordpalladium has been used figuratively to mean anything believed to provide protection or safety,[2] and in particular in Christian contexts a sacredrelic oricon believed to have a protective role in military contexts for a whole city, people or nation. Such beliefs first become prominent in the Eastern church in the period after the reign of the Byzantine EmperorJustinian I, and later spread to the Western church. Palladia were carried in procession around the walls of besieged cities and sometimes carried into battle.[3]
The Trojan Palladium was said to be a wooden image ofPallas (whom theGreeksidentified withAthena and theRomans with Minerva) and to have fallen from heaven in answer to the prayer ofIlus, the founder ofTroy.
"The most ancient talismaniceffigies of Athena",Ruck andStaples report, "were magical found objects, faceless pillars of Earth in the old manner, before the Goddess wasanthropomorphized and given form through the intervention of human intellectual meddling."[4]
The arrival at Troy of the Palladium, fashioned by Athena[5] in remorse for the death of Pallas,[6] as part of the city'sfounding myth, was variously referred to by Greeks, from the seventh century BC onwards. The Palladium was linked to theSamothrace mysteries through the pre-Olympian figure ofElektra, mother ofDardanus, progenitor of the Trojan royal line, and ofIasion, founder of the Samothrace mysteries.[7] Whether Elektra had come to Athena's shrine of the Palladium as a pregnant suppliant and a god cast it into the territory of Ilium, because it had been profaned by the hands of a woman who was not a virgin,[8] or whether Elektra carried it herself[9] or whether it was given directly to Dardanus[10] vary in sources andscholia. In Ilion, KingIlus was blinded for touching the image to preserve it from a burning temple.[11]
During theTrojan War, the importance of the Palladium to Troy was said to have been revealed to the Greeks byHelenus, the prophetic son ofPriam. AfterParis' death, Helenus left the city but was captured by Odysseus. The Greeks somehow managed to persuade the warrior seer to reveal the weakness of Troy: the city would not fall while the Palladium remained within its walls. The perilous task of stealing this sacred statue again fell upon the shoulders of Odysseus andDiomedes. The two stole into thecitadel in Troy by asecret passage and carried it off, leaving the desecrated city open to the deceit of theTrojan Horse.
Odysseus, according to theepitome of theLittle Iliad (one of the books of theEpic Cycle) preserved inProclus'sChrestomathia, went by night to Troy disguised as a beggar. There he was recognized byHelen, who told him where to find the Palladium. After some stealthy killing, he won back to the ships. He and Diomedes then re-entered the city and stole the sacred statue. Diomedes is sometimes depicted as the one carrying the Palladium to the ships. There are several statues and many ancient drawings of him with the Palladium.
According to theNarratives of theAugustan period mythographerConon as summarised byPhotius,[12] while the two heroes were on their way to the ships, Odysseus plotted to kill Diomedes and claim the Palladium (or perhaps the credit for gaining it) for himself. He raised his sword to stab Diomedes in the back. Diomedes was alerted to the danger by glimpsing the gleam of the sword in the moonlight. He disarmed Odysseus, tied his hands, and drove him along in front, beating his back with the flat of his sword. From this action was said to have arisen the Greek proverbial expression "Diomedes' necessity", applied to those who act under compulsion.[13] Because Odysseus was essential for the destruction of Troy, Diomedes refrained from injuring him. Diomedes took the Palladium with him when he left Troy. According to some stories, he brought it to Italy; others say that it was stolen from him on the way.
According to various versions of this legend the Trojan Palladium found its way toAthens,Argos,Sparta (all inGreece) orRome inItaly. To this last city it was either brought by Aeneas, the exiled Trojan (Diomedes, in this version, having only succeeded in stealing an imitation of the statue) or surrendered by Diomedes himself.
An actual object regarded as the Palladium was undoubtedly kept in theTemple of Vesta in theRoman Forum for several centuries. It was regarded as one of thepignora imperii, sacred tokens or pledges of Roman rule(imperium).
Pliny the Elder[14] said thatLucius Caecilius Metellus had been blinded by fire when he rescued the Palladium from theTemple of Vesta in 241 BC, an episode alluded to inOvid[15] andValerius Maximus.[16] When the controversial emperorElagabalus (reigned 218–222 AD) transferred the most sacred relics of Roman religion from their respective shrines to theElagabalium, the Palladium was among them.[17]
InLate Antiquity, it was rumored that the Palladium was transferred from Rome toConstantinople byConstantine the Great and buried under theColumn of Constantine in his forum.[18] Such a move would have undermined the primacy of Rome, and was naturally seen as a move by Constantine to legitimize his reign and his new capital.
The goddess Athena was worshipped on theAcropolis of Athens under many names and cults, the most illustrious of which was of theAthena Poliás, "protectress of the city". The cult image of thePoliás was a wooden effigy, often referred to as the "xóanon diipetés" (the "carving that fell from heaven"), made of olive wood and housed in the east-facing wing of theErechtheum temple in the classical era. Considered not a man-made artefact but of divine provenance, it was the holiest image of the goddess and was accorded the highest respect. It was placed under a bronze likeness of a palm tree and a gold lamp burned in front of it.
The centerpiece of the grand feast of thePanathenaea was the replacement of this statue's woolenpeplos (a garment) with a newly woven one. It was also carried to the sea by the priestesses and ceremonially washed once a year, in the feast called thePlynteria ("washings"). Its presence was last mentioned by theChurch FatherTertullian who described it derisively as nothing but "a rough stake, a shapeless piece of wood".[19] Earlier descriptions of the statue have not survived.
Pallas Attica ... quae sine effigie rudi palo et informi ligno prostat
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