Athena Nike Temple. Parapet. East slab I. Nike

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Provision of image

Inventory number

Ακρ. 977

Artist

The "A Master"

Category

Architectural sculpture

Period

Classical Period

Date

Around 410 BC

Dimensions

Height: 1.055 m
Length: 0.72 m

Material

Marble from Penteli

Location

First Floor, West

Description
Bibliography

Fragment from the left half of a slab that comes from the parapet built around the Temple of Athena Nike. The slab most likely comes from the parapet’s northeast corner. It was found overturned, as it was after it had fallen off from its original place, in 1880 during excavations conducted at the goddess’ sanctuary.

A Nike, perhaps barefoot, walks up a staircase in haste. She is clad in a chiton with long sleeves and over it a fine himation. She stretches out her right hand and as a drill shows, she would have held an object, possibly an incense burner (thymiaterion). The stairs stand for the actual sanctuary staircase creating the impression that the Nike mentally escorted each visitor upon their entering the shrine’s premises.

The parapet enclosed the three sides of the bastion, on which the temple was built. It consisted of slabs approximately one meter in height whose outer surfaces were decorated with relief scenes visible by those ascending the Acropolis. The holes preserved on the upper surface of these slabs indicate that there was originally a metal railing, which further raised the height of the parapet.

The theme depicted on the parapet is a celebration of the military victories of the Athenians against their enemies, either Persians or other Greeks. The narrative is not continuous; instead it is composed of separate, individual scenes which – with slight variations – recur on each side of the parapet: winged Nikai lead bulls to sacrifice or hold weapons and adorn victory trophies with Greek or Persian armour. Among them sits goddess Athena, resting after victorious battles. The carving of the temple's sculptures was carried out by many different artists under the supervision of Agorakritos. These sculpted figures are highly representative of the end of the 5th cent. BC style called by archaeologists the "Rich Style".

In 1687 the temple and the parapet of Athena Nike were dismantled by the Ottomans and the material was used for the reinforcement of a gun emplacement and the fortification of the west side of the Acropolis against the attacks by the Venetians under the command of the general Francesco Morosini. Between 1835 and 1836 the gun emplacement was demolished and the Temple of Athena Nike was restored for the first time under the supervision of Ludwig Ross, the administrator of antiquities at the time. A second reconstruction was carried out in 1940, while a third was completed in 2010.

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