The Athena of Varvakeion is a smaller Roman marble copy of the chryselephantine Athena Parthenos by Pheidias in the Parthenon on the Acropolis in Athens. This 1.05-m tall statuette is considered the truest likeness of the original that was twelve times larger. Athena wears the Attic peplos, her aegis adorned with the head of the Gorgoneion Medusa, and on her head the Attic helmet. Her left hand rests on a shield with Erichtonios, coiled as a sacred snake. The Nike in the right hand of the original was larger than this complete Athena.
Classical sculptures collection of the National Archaeological Museum in Athens