Temple+of+Athena+nike

= =

The Temple of Athena Nike by Chris Tuke and Shaun Stokes

The temple of Athena Nike was the first fully Ionic temple on the Athenian Acropolis. It is positioned south west corner of the Acropolis to the right of the entrance (propylaea). The Temple was designed by the architect Callikrates, in 449 BC, and it is a tetrastyle (four column) building which is made out of white Pentelic marble. This building was built on top of the remains of an earlier sixth century temple to Athena, which had been destroyed by the Persians, in 480 B.C, during the first Persian war. A cult statue of Athena stands inside the small 5 m x 5 m naos (inner chamber).



**__ History __ ** There is archaeological evidence dating back to the Bronze Age that suggests this spot was highly important to the worship of Nike, or victory deities. When the Persians sacked Athens and destroyed the Acropolis in 480 B.C., the temple to Athena Nike was also left in ruins. Plans got underway to rebuild this important shrine in 449 B.C, by the Athenian government. But, the construction was delayed for an unknown reason, and it was not completed until around 420 B.C.  It endured the same trials as the other buildings on the Acropolis, having been subjected to Ottoman occupation and Turkish siege by the Venetians in 1687, when the Turks dismantled the temple and used the stones to build a wall around the Acropolis. The temple was reconstructed in1834, after Greece gained its independence form The Ottoman Turks. In 1998, it was disassembled so that the unstable concrete floor could be replaced, and its frieze was removed and placed in the Acropolis Museum, to protect it from the harsh environmental elements of Athens. **__ Inner Statue __ ** Inside there was a wooden statue of Athena Nike, which had a helmet in her left hand and a pomegranate in the right hand. Nike, the winged goddess of victory was depicted without wings in this temple of Athena. So, Athena Nike was also known as Nike Pateros, which means wingless victory. **__ Architecture __ **  The Temple of has colonnaded portico (a porch with a sequence of columns running along it) at the front and back of the building. The height of the naos was 23 feet, when the temple was still fully intact and the ratio of height to diameter of the columns is 7:1. The friezes of the building's entablature were decorated on all sides wi th relief  sculpture in the idealized classical style of the 5th century B.C. The north frieze showed a battle between two Greek nations. The south frieze showed the decisive victory over the Persians at the battle of Plataea, and the east frieze showed an assembly of the gods Athena, Zeus and Poseidon,  **__ Current status __** After three separate restorations, the temple still stands on the Acropolis, along with the Erechtheum and the Parthenon. The main structure is mostly intact, apart from the roof and most of the pediment. Parts of the sculpted frieze are exhibited in the Acropolis Museum, and copies of these are fixed in their place on the temple.