Some of the statues of Minerva represented her helmet with a sphinx in the
middle, supported on either side by griffins. In some medals, a chariot
drawn by four horses, appears at the top of her helmet.
But it was at the Panathenaea, instituted in her behalf, that she received
the greatest honour. On the evening of the first day, there was a race with
torches, in which men on foot, and afterwards on horseback, contended.
To celebrate these festivals, also, the maidens divided into troops, and
armed with sticks and stones, attacked each other with fury. Those who were
overcome in this combat, were devoted to infamy, while they who conquered,
and had received no wounds, were honoured with triumphant rejoicings.
These fetes, established in Lybia, were transferred to Athens, the city to
which Minerva had granted the olive tree, and which she had taken under her
protection.
She was adored at Troy by the title of Pallas, and her statue guarded the
city under the name of Palladium. Some authors maintain that this was made
with the bones of Pelops--while Apollodorus asserts, it was no more than a
piece of clock-work which moved of itself. To its possession, was attached
the safety of the city; and during the Trojan war, Ulysses and Diomedes
were commissioned to steal it away.