Tomb of Athena

For other uses of this name in Battlestar Galactica, see Athena.

Tomb of Athena "Lobby" with ruined icons of the twelve tribes.

The Tomb of Athena is presumably the final resting place of Athena, Lord of Kobol after her grief-stricken plunge from the Gates of Hera. It is unclear who interred her, since her death apparently took place after the exodus of the thirteen tribes from Kobol.

The tomb is located in the northern hemisphere, a few days hike from the Galleon Meadow, near the Gates of Hera, to the west of the ruins of the City of the Gods (Home, Part II). According to the Sacred Scrolls, the tomb could only be opened with the Arrow of Apollo.

Entrance to the Tomb of Athena, as seen from outside.

The Arrow is not a key to the tomb's actual door, however. While the exterior door to the tomb can be opened by brute force, the Arrow is required for something else. The tomb contains twelve stone sarcophagi arranged in a circle, each with ancient statues representing one of the Twelve Tribes which went on to found the Twelve Colonies. Picon was represented by a fish; Caprica, a goat; Sagittaron, an archer, and so on.

"The scriptures say that when the thirteenth tribe landed on Earth, they looked up into the heavens and they saw their twelve brothers."

Kara Thrace places the Arrow in the bow of the Archer of Sagittaron. Immediately the Tomb's entrance closes, leaving those in the Tomb in darkness. After a few seconds, they find themselves in a grassy field at nighttime surrounded by twelve megalithic slabs similar to those of Stonehenge, either physically transported or immersed in a very sophisticated hologram. On each column is the ancient symbol of a colony as used on their respective old Colonial flags. Roslin notes that the symbols were used back when the ancient names of the Colonies were used: Aries and not Aerelon, Taurus and not Tauron, Gemini instead of Gemenon, etc.

Above the group, the night sky shows a representation of the same symbol in the form of its constellation as it would be seen on Earth. In fact, Thrace realizes that, according to the Scriptures, that they were all standing on a representation of Earth, seeing what their comrades on Earth would see. The map information, however, was incomplete without one more stellar reference point that Lee Adama finds in the Scorpius constellation: the Lagoon Nebula, an object visible on Earth and known as well to the Twelve Colonies. Lee Adama deduces that as they approached this point, the ship would be able to further define their position to Earth. Commander Adama notes that the nebula was "a long way away from here." (Home, Part II).

The group is not shown leaving the hologram or the Tomb. It can presumed that the group walked beyond the stones and the image faded to their actual location in the Tomb, then reopened the entrance - either by forcing it open once again or retrieving the Arrow - and exited.

Notes

The Lagoon Nebula in the constellation Scorpius.

• Adama notes that the Lagoon Nebula is known to the Colonials as "astro-body M8". This is identical to what we call the object on Earth according to the Messier catalogue, devised in 1774 by astronomer Charles Messier. The nebula, in reality, appears as a gray object in the sky with binoculars or telescope. It would not be as vivid or large in the sky by the naked eye as it was shown in the group's vision. The object is 5,200 light years from Earth, lies in the constellation of Sagittarius, not Scorpius, a mistake which has been admitted by the writers.

• The use of Earth nomenclature for the nebula by Adama could be a hint that the Colonials are really descendants of Earth, and that Kobol isn't the true birthplace of mankind as they believe.

• The producers have acknowledged that the twelve constellations of the Zodiac are never actually all visible at once in the night sky, but rather rotate around the north star throughout the night. The constellations were displayed as in the episode for dramatic purposes. In-universe, this indicates that the model was not intended as a scientifically accurate representation, but maybe just built for symbolic reasons.

• While far longer a story arc, the events in finding and using the resources within the Tomb of Athena, a Lord of Kobol, is similar to the story line of an Original Series episode that also searches for the location of Earth from a tomb on a Kobol that was more reminiscent of Egyptian history than the quasi-Celtic, quasi-Greek appearances seen in the Re-imagined Series episode.

Re-imagined Series definition: air-to-air ordnance provisioned for Raptors ^{(TRS: "Blood and Chrome")}

Original Series definition: a title of nobility (e.g. Lord Baltar)