Temple of Athena Nike

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Nike Temple seen from the northeast

The Temple of Athena Nike , also known as Niketempel or Temple of Nike Apteros , rises on a small bastion southwest of the Propylaea of the Athens Acropolis . He replaced one during the Persian occupation of the Acropolis in 480 BC. Destroyed previous building. 448 BC The order to rebuild the temple went to Kallikrates , one of the architects of the Parthenon . The construction work does not appear until the Peace of Nicias in 421 BC. To have been recorded. Around 410 BC The construction was completed.

Older use of the site

Plan of the Temple of Athena Nike; North left

A holy district consecrated to Athena Nike appears as early as the 2nd quarter of the 6th century BC. BC to have existed on this spur of the Acropolis which was enlarged to a bastion. An altar for burnt offerings, filled with - today lost - probably archaic terracottas, was found about 1.40 meters below the level of classical times. A small limestone altar carried a due to the character of writing in the 2nd half of the 6th century BC. Inscription to be dated BC: Altar of Athena Nike - Patrokles made it . After the Persian Wars, Athena Nike and her cult image were erected in a small naiskos made of Aeginian limestone, only 2.47 × 3.65 meters , the east side of which was completely open. 450/445 BC BC, probably after the peace agreement between Callias and the Persians in 449/448 BC. BC, a building contract was issued, which provided for work according to the drafts of the Kallikrates. According to the archaeological findings, however, it was not implemented, a construction freeze was imposed, the dating of which is open.

Building description

For the new building, which was finally implemented, the bastion was first extended in neat ashlar work. Since here already on the 437-431 BC. When the Propylaea built in the 4th century BC was taken into account, the building can only have been designed in connection with their planning. Probably not until the time of the Nicias Peace, from 421 BC. BC, the design of Kallikrates from the year 448 BC. Implemented.

The small temple, built entirely of Pentelic marble , was 5.44 meters wide, 8.27 meters long and 6.90 meters high. It rose on a three-tier base, the Krepis . Its floor plan corresponds to that of a tetrastyle amphiprostyl , that is, four columns each stood in front of the cella on the front and back. On Pronaos and opisthodomos was abandoned - probably for reasons of space. The temple was of Ionic order . Its columns rose on Attic bases without plinths . A narrow bulge, followed by a raised throat, on which lay a horizontally fluted bulge, formed the profile sequence of the bases, which also recurs at the foot of the cella. The column shafts were monolithic . Ionic volute capitals , which are heavy in relation to the columns, crown the columns, the corner volutes of the corner columns were turned outwards. The column height was 4.06 meters, its lower diameter 0.52 meters. The clear distance between the columns, the intercolumn , was only 1.03 meters. On the pillars was the architrave , which also stretched along the cella walls. It was divided into three fascia, the classical Attic solution.

Battle between Greeks and barbarians, block of the south frieze from the Athena Nike temple

The frieze that followed was covered with figural reliefs. The east side showed an assembly of gods around Athena standing in the middle, Zeus enthroned and Poseidon sitting on a rock to her sides. The other frieze sides showed battles between Greeks and barbarians, probably Persians, as well as internal Greek battles on the west side, probably between Athenians and the Boeotians and Thessalians supported by Persians . Traces of attachment on the top of the geison indicate that the gables were originally decorated with figures. Remnants of it are not preserved. The smooth geison with its slightly curved hanging plate followed directly on the frieze, which here replaced the tooth cut common in the Asian Minor Ionic order . The concluding sima was painted with colorful flower bands.

Sandals belting Nike; Part of the Nike balustrade

The front wall of the 4.14 × 3.78 meter cella was formed only by two free-standing pillars , which were connected to the side walls by balustrades or grids. In the 3rd century BC BC Antigonus II had Gonata's pictures, which glorified his victory over the Galatians , hang on the walls of the temple.

The cult statue was made of wood ( Xoanon ) and showed Athena with a pomegranate in her right hand and a helmet in her left. The statue was wingless and this is how Pausanias describes it succinctly: To the right of the gate is a temple of wingless Nike . This name has been preserved in parlance to this day - Niketempel. Even Pausanias no longer knew that Nike was one of the aspects of Athenas. The goddess Nike was popularly called apteros ("wingless Nike") and the story was spread that since she was wingless, she could not fly away from the Athenians.

There was an altar in front of the temple, remains of which have been preserved. 335/334 BC A heifer, chosen from the most beautiful , was sacrificed to the deity here .

In ancient times, the temple was surrounded by a balustrade about 1.05 meters high and decorated with reliefs on the south, west and north sides. The reliefs of the rich style show Niken and Athena. You are one of the best representatives of the arts of this time.

Post antiquity to modern times

The first anastilosis, photo from 1900

The Niketempel stood until 1687. Franconian redesigns of the area affected the altar of Athena Nike, but not the temple itself. In the 16th century, the temple was converted into a powder magazine under the Ottomans . Large quantities of powder were stored under the cella floor that had been torn out earlier Bury crepe. When Jacob Spon and George Wheler described and drew the temple in 1675, they also mentioned the powder it contained. In 1687 the Ottomans laid down the temple in order to use its stones to strengthen the defenses of the Acropolis against the Venetians . The material was installed between the Pinakothek and the Bastion. Parts of the Nike balustrade were also used in this section of the bulwark.

After the liberation of Greece , the components were salvaged from the bulwark and the temple was rebuilt in 1836. It is probably the first ever anastilosis of a building. In the early 20th century, the state of research on the temple was far more advanced and many new finds had meanwhile been recovered, so that the Greek Antiquities Service decided to relocate the building and rebuild it. This work was directed by Nikolaos Balanos .

Once again the temple was completely reconstructed from 1998 in order to use more contemporary means and methods and to be able to integrate further parts that were identified as belonging to the temple. This third anastilosis was released to the public in September 2010. In contrast to the older restorations, part of the gable was also reconstructed from new marble on the east side with some recovered and identified older components.

Structural reception

Like other buildings in the Athens Acropolis, the Niketempel also served as a model for classical buildings. One of them is the mausoleum for Heinrich Schliemann in the first Athens cemetery, another is the May tomb in Radebeul for Karl May .

literature

  • Maria S. Brouscaris: The monuments of the Acropolis . Athens 1978, pp. 47-52.
  • Evelyn B. Harrison: The Glory of the Athenians: Observations on the Program of the Frieze of the Temple of Athena Nike . In: Diana Buitron – Oliver (Ed.): The Interpretation of Architectural Sculpture in Greece and Rome . 1997, pp. 109-125.
  • Wolfram Hoepfner : Propylaea and Nike Temple . In: W. Hoepfner (Ed.): Cult and cult buildings on the Acropolis. International symposium from July 7th to 9th, 1995 in Berlin . Berlin 1997, pp. 160-177.
  • Jeffrey M. Hurwit: The Athenian Acropolis . 1999, pp. 209-215.
  • Ira S. Mark: The Sanctuary of Athena Nike in Athens. Architectural Stages and Chronology . Hesperia Supplementum Vol. 26, 1993.
  • Ludwig Ross , Eduard Schaubert , Christian Hansen: The Acropolis of Athens after the latest excavations. First division: the temple of Nike Apteros. Schenk & Gerstäcker, Berlin 1839 ( digitized from Heidelberg University Library ).

Web links

Commons : Temple of Athena Nike  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Inscriptiones Graecae I² 24-25; Inscriptiones Graecae I³ 35 . 36 .
  2. ^ Antony E. Raubitschek : Dedications from the Athenian Acropolis. A Catalog of the Inscriptions of the Sixth and Fifth Century BC 1939, No. 329.
  3. ↑ For the prehistory of the temple see Ira S. Mark: The Sanctuary of Athena Nike in Athens. Architectural Stages and Chronology . Hesperia Supplementum Vol. 26, 1993, pp. 12-68.
  4. ^ Wolfram Hoepfner : Propylaea and Nike Temple . In: W. Hoepfner (Ed.): Cult and cult buildings on the Acropolis. International symposium from July 7th to 9th, 1995 in Berlin . Berlin 1997, pp. 160-177.
  5. ↑ For the extremely complex discussion of the inscriptions and construction phases, see Ira S. Mark: The Sanctuary of Athena Nike in Athens. Architectural Stages and Chronology . Hesperia Supplementum Vol. 26, 1993, pp. 115-121.
  6. ^ Evelyn B. Harrison: The Glory of the Athenians: Observations on the Program of the Frieze of the Temple of Athena Nike . In: Diana Buitron – Oliver (Ed.): The Interpretation of Architectural Sculpture in Greece and Rome . 1997, pp. 109-125.
  7. ↑ On the complicated problem of the cult image, especially its dating, see: Ira S. Mark: The Sanctuary of Athena Nike in Athens. Architectural Stages and Chronology . Hesperia Supplementum Vol. 26, 1993, pp. 93-98.
  8. ↑ Heliodor of Athens handed down to Harpocration , Lexicon (Wilhelm Dindorf: Harpocrationis Lexicon in decem oratores Atticos ex recensione Guilelmi Dindorfii. Oxford 1853; Felix Jacoby : The Fragments of the Greek Historians . 1923, 373 F2, the text repeated in Suda , keyword Νίκη Ἀθηᾶ , Adler number: nu 384 , Suda-Online ).
  9. ↑ Pausanias 1,22,4.
  10. ↑ Pausanias 3:15, 7.
  11. ^ Inscriptiones Graecae II² 334 .
  12. ↑ Tonio Hölscher : Ritual and visual language. For the interpretation of the reliefs on the parapet around the sanctuary of Athena Nike in Athens . In: Communications from the German Archaeological Institute Athens Department . Vol. 112, 1997, pp. 143-166, plate 18 f.
  13. ↑ For the post-ancient history of the temple see Ira S. Mark: The Sanctuary of Athena Nike in Athens. Architectural Stages and Chronology . Hesperia Supplementum Vol. 26, 1993, pp. 7-11.

Coordinates: 37 ° 58 '17.41 "  N , 23 ° 43' 29.8"  E