Are you visiting the Acropolis in Athens and enraptured by the slender Ionic columns of the temple of Athena Nike?
In this article I will describe the architecture of this monument and its precious friezes and bas-reliefs. We will find out how it is made and what its main function was.
Are you ready? Let’s get started!
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Table of content
The history of the Temple of Athena Nike
The temple of Athena Nike stands on the southwest spur of the acropolis, near the Propylaea.
Archaeological excavations have shown that the area was considered sacred as early as the Bronze Age. In fact, archaeologists discovered an offering pit here.
In Archaic times the first temple was built, destroyed in 480 B.C. during the wars against the Persians and later rebuilt.
The present conformation is due to the design of the architect Callicrates; the area was reserved for the ancient cult of Athena Nike, or”Athena Victorious,” strongly defended by the more conservative currents in the city, who had this small Ionic temple erected between 424 and 420 B.C. as an expression of Athens’ power, which aimed to defeat Sparta. It is the first temple in the Acropolis built entirely in the Ionic style, which is more slender than the Doric style because its proportions were inspired by the grace of the female body, which is why it was often used in the construction of temples dedicated to goddesses. The greater slenderness is partly conferred by the introduction of the plinth, absent in the Doric, and by the capital, which you will easily recognize because of the typical volutes.
Under Turkish rule the small temple was dismantled. The stones were reused in 1687 to build a rampart for defensive purposes; the latter remained on the site of the ancient temple until Greek independence, when in 1831 it was decided to rebuild the temple.
Famous are the events that in the early 1800s involved Lord Elgin, who was responsible for the removal of four slabs of the temple frieze and preserved today in the British Museum in London. The remaining originals are kept at Acropolis Museum.
Action was still taken on the small temple twice (1930 and 1998), it was in fact “dismantled” to allow the restoration of the stone ashlars and the integration of other pieces found in subsequent excavations.
In the first decade of the 2000s, the monument was restored due to structural problems caused by previous interventions. The work included the reintegration of the stone parts and the removal of the bas-reliefs, which were moved inside the Acropolis Museum for conservation needs.
Architecture of the Temple of Athena
The temple of Athena Nike is a small, extremely refined, amphiprostyle, tetrastyle building of Ionic order with a wonderful frieze.
It was probably designed by Callicrates, the architect supported by the more conservative currents in Athens.
The small building is made of Pentelic marbleand stands on a rampart.
The cella is only 4.14 m wide by 3.78 m long, opens onto the façade and has four Ionic columns, replicated at the back; the temple is therefore called amphiprostyle.
Inside the cella was placed a wooden statue of Athena Victorious, without the typical wings, this to symbolize that Victory would never leave the city of Athens. According to the writer Pausanias, the statue held a helmet in her left hand and a pomegranate, the symbol of fertility, in the other.
Above the lintel ran a continuous frieze , carved and painted on all four sides, which enriched the decorative effect of the monument.
The frieze depicted the struggle between Greeks and Persians and Amazons before the gods, while the pediments probably represented anAmazonomachy and a Gigantomachy.
For preservation reasons, the reliefs of the small temple have been moved inside the Acropolis Museum, and those present are copies.
Around the small temple, which stood on the sheer walls, a “safety” balustrade was built, whose marvelous relief decoration, depicts Athena Nike and a group of Nikai, the personifications of Victory, engaged in various activities, bearing animals for sacrifice, setting up trophies, reattaching a sandal, etc.
The creation of this sculptural apparatus ( now preserved at the Acropolis Museum) occurred at a nefarious historical moment for Athens, which was about to be defeated in the Peloponnesian War.
In the monotonous repetition of Nikai’s statues on the balustrade, art historians have identified a creative crisis, such as a retrogression on the side of attention to naturalistic rendering of the human body and clothing, in favor of different effects, pictorial in character, which has prompted some critics to approach them as the artistic current of proto-Hellenism.
You will notice that the decorative richness of the complex, contrasts with the severity of the nearby Propylaea, this documents theIonian imprint of Athenian art in this period, a manifestation of the more conservative ruling faction in opposition to the Periclean designs. Finally, another peculiarity of the temple is that the Ionic columns are less slender than in classical Ionic buildings, this is probably due to its proximity to the Propylaea: being a very small temple, it would have disfigured in front of the monumental entrance to the Acropolis, it was therefore decided to make an exception and i toughen the proportions of the order.
Frequently asked questions
The temple of Athena Nike is a monument that stands in the southwest area of the Acropolis of Athens in Greece.
Athena Nike, means “victorious Athena.” In fact, the goddess Athena was often depicted as a warrior goddess, or as a victorious goddess in war. Nike, also called winged victory, was thus in Attic culture an attribute of Athena.
It is a small building, in total measuring about 8 x 5.5 meters, with a cell 4.14 m wide by 3.78 m long.
The building is constructed of Pentelic marble, a particular type of white marble typical of Greece. The quarry where it was quarried was located north – east of Athens, on Mount Pentelicus from which it takes its name.
The small temple was reserved for the worship of Athena Nike, or “Athena Victorious,” which was strongly defended by the more conservative currents in the city, who had this monument erected as an expression of Athens’ power, which aimed to defeat Sparta.
Conclusions
Here we have come to the end of this article on the temple of Athena Nike, in which I told you about its history and architecture. We found out what its function was, what it was used for, and what it looks like. If you have any doubts or questions, don’t hesitate to write to me!
Tickets for Acropolis of Athens
Buy online. Choose the time of your choice. Visit the Acropolis of Athens, the Ancient Agora, the Roman Agora, Hadrian’s Library and other archaeological sites.
You can cancel for free up to the day before your visit.
