Inventory number
Ακρ. 985
Artist
Agorakritos' workshop
Category
Architectural sculpture
Period
Classical Period
Date
Around 410 BC
Dimensions
Height: 0.65 m
Length: 0.38 m
Material
Marble from Penteli
Location
First Floor, West, Open case. Parapet of Athena Nike Temple
Two joining fragments from one of the slabs that made up the parapet of the Temple of Athena Nike. They were found in 1867/8 and possibly 1880 on the Acropolis.
Preserved is part of a Nike that sacrifices a bull. Turning to the viewer’s right, the Nike must have pressed sturdily with her left leg the kneeling animal’s back. With her left hand she must have held and raised the bull’s head in order to give it the final blow with the knife she would have had in her right hand. She wears a peplos and over it a himation. The belt of the peplos was adorned with metal ornaments adjusted into the still visible drills.
The relatively shallow and soulless rendering of the garment folds which lack the quality of the rest of the parapet figures has been suggested to be the result of a restoration of the relief’s surface some time during the Roman times after it had been damaged.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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