Athena Nike Temple. Parapet. West slab XI. Nike

A

A
EN
- GR
- DE
- IT
- FR
- ES
VISIT
TICKETS

Provision of image

Inventory number

Ακρ. 995

Artist

Agorakritos' workshop

Category

Architectural sculpture

Period

Classical Period

Date

Around 410 BC

Dimensions

Height: 0.52 m
Length: 0.34 m

Material

Marble from Penteli

Location

First Floor, West, Open case. Parapet of Athena Nike Temple

Description
Bibliography

Two joining slab fragments from the west side of the parapet that was constructed around the Temple of Athena Nike found in 1835 and 1891 respectively.

A winged Nike moves swiftly to the viewer’s right. She is draped in a transparent peplos held around her waist with a belt and over it a himation. From the latter preserved is only one fragment which is tangled up with her right wing and billows emphasising in this manner the intensity of her movement.

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.

Heller, B.K., Archäologisch-artistische Mittheilungen über die Ausgrabungen auf der Akropolis zu Athen 1835, 36 und 37, Nürnberg, 1852, σελ. 6-7
Kekulé von Stradonitz, R., Die Balustrade des Tempels der Athena Nike in Athen, Leipzig, 1869, σελ. 24, αρ. κατ. 12
Kekulé von Stradonitz, R., Die Reliefs an der Balustrade der Athena Nike, Stuttgart, 1881, σελ. 2-3, 6-7, 17, 19, 21, πίν. II.D, αρ. κατ. D
Petersen, E., «Βιβλιοκρισία του R. Kekulé, Die Reliefs an der Balustrade der Athena Nike,», Zeitschrift für die Österreichischen Gymnasien, 32, Wien, 1881, σελ. 262, 265
Casson, S., Brooke, D., Catalogue of the Acropolis Museum. Sculpture and Architectural Fragments, with a section upon the Terracottas, II, Cambridge, 1921, σελ. 147-148, εικ. 6, αρ. κατ. 6
Heberdey, R., «Die Komposition der Reliefs an der Balustrade der Athena Nike», Jahreshefte des Österreichischen Archäologischen Institutes in Wien 21-22, 1922-1924, σελ. 13-14, 53-54, 74, 76, 81, εικ. 9
Dinsmoor, W.B., «The Sculptured Parapet of Athena Nike», American Journal of Archaeology 30, 1926, σελ. 9, 16, 19, 28-30
Carpenter, R., The Sculptures of the Nike Temple Parapet, Cambridge Massachusetts, 1929, σελ. 38-39, 44-45, 75, πίν. XV, XVIII.2, αρ. κατ. 6
Carpenter, R., «The Sculptural Composotion of the Nike Parapet», American Journal of Archaeology 33, 1929, σελ. 468, 470, 476
Dinsmoor, W.B., «The Nike Parapet Once More», American Journal of Archaeology 34, 1930, σελ. 282, 286, 295
Picard, C., F. Boissonas, L’Acropole d’Athenes, l’enceinte, l’entree, le bastion d’Athena Nike, les Propylees, Paris, 1930, εικ. 45
Schlörb, Β., Timotheos, Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts: Ergänzungsheft 22, 1965, σελ. 41, εικ. 13
Linfert, A., «Vier klassische Akrotere», Archäologischer Anzeiger 1968, σελ. 432 υποσημ.9
Boulter, P.N., «The Frieze of the Erechtheion», Antike Plastik 10, 1970
Μπρούσκαρη, Μ., Μουσείον Ακροπόλεως. Περιγραφικός κατάλογος, Αθήνα, 1974, σελ. 172-173, εικ. 340, αρ. κατ. 995
Ridgway, B.S., Fifth Century Styles in Greek Sculpture, Princeton, 1981, σελ. 97-98, 111, εικ. 79
Μπρούσκαρη, Μ., Το θωράκιο του Ναού της Αθηνάς Νίκης, Αρχαιολογική Εφημερίς, Αθήνα, 1998, σελ. 177-179, εικ. 41-42, 77.3
Harrison, E.B., «Style Phases in Greek Sculpture from 450 to 370 BC», Πρακτικά του XII Διεθνούς Συνεδρίου Κλασικής Αρχαιολογίας, Αθήνα 4-10 Σεπτεμβρίου 1983, Γ, Αθήνα, 1988, σελ. 104
LIMC VI, Nike, σελ. 861, αρ. κατ. 118
Λεβέντη, Ι., Πόλη σε κρίση, Αθήνα, 2014, σελ. 100-106