PALLADIUM A small wooden figure of Pallas-Athene, which was supposed to have fallen from heaven to land on the citadel of Troy, and was carried thereafter to Greece, and then to Rome. The possession of the Palladium was supposed to ensure the safety and prosperity of the city that held it, and for this reason there was outcry and horror when Diomedes and Odysseus stole the figure from the city of Troy, and indeed shortly afterwards the city fell to the Greek forces.