Palladium

Palladium, among the ancient Greeks and Romans, an image of Pallas, who was generally identified with Athena (q.v.), upon the careful keeping of which in a sanctuary the public welfare was believed to depend. The Palladium of Troy was especially famous, and was the gift of Zeus to the founder of Ilium. It has been supposed it may have been originally a meteorite (see METEORS). Ulysses and Diomedes stole the Palladium, and so helped to secure victory for the Greeks; and both Athens and Argos boasted to have afterwards secured the possession of the charm.