Arruolare le icone : Materiali per una tavola warburghiana

The image of the goddess Athena at the gates of Thebes, armed as a protector of the city, gradually conforms to the gestures and attributes of the Madonna in the Byzantine age. Some of these images and icons are transformed into battle weapons. If Athena is known and depicted as a goddess in armor, the representations of Mary from the Byzantine era use the power of the image especially in the context of war. Ferocious and desecrating iconographies increase the criminality that acts under the protection of the divinity. To bring attention back to the real gravity of the war being fought today, Pope Francis addressed the warlords directly.