The diminutive temple of Athena Nike, the winged goddess of Victory, stands southwest of the Propylaea, on a rebuilt Mycenaean fortification. The name of the architect was Callicrates and it was erected somewhere around 420 BC It is a wonderful example of a amphiprostyle temple with Ionic porticos of four columns on the front and rear porches, and only measures 5.64 by 8.34 m, or 18.5 by 27 ft. It is the only wholly Ionic building on the Acropolis, and remained intact until 1686, when the Turks dismantled the building to use the blocks in fortifications. It was reassembled hastily in 1836 and then more carefully re-erected by Balanos and A. K Orlandos in 1935-40.

Lay-out of the building.

The worship of Athena Nike on the Acropolis was very ancient. To the south of the Propylaia, on the right as one ascends the sacred rock, there existed an ancient bastion, where an altar was set up in 566 BC, the year in which the Great Panathenaic festival was instituted, and a small poros temple was built in the period of the Persian Wars (490-480 BC). In 448 BC the Athenians decided to erect a new temple to their goddess of victory, designed by Kallikrates. The size of the temple was imposed by the confined space, but the architect succeeded in creating a small temple in which architectural grace did not entail the sacrifice of grandeur, and elegance was achieved without the loss of tectonic stability.

It is a small amphiprostyle Ionic temple which rises gracefully on the edge of the rock, where the Athenians worshipped the goddess of victory expressing their hopes for a new triumph in the war of those years when they were fighting desperately for victory on land and sea against the Spartans and their allies. The representations on the frieze of the temple of Athena Nike recalled the historical battle of Plataiai where the Greeks decisevely defeated the Persians,and of a meeting between the gods Athena, Zeus and Poseidon. A later build balustrade with small female figures in shine-through peplos covers the Pyrgos, the bastion on which the temple was build.

When the temple was completed in the turmoil of the Peloponnesian War, the Athenians added a protective parapet, which was composed of marble slabs. It was but an expression of the Athenians' determination and hope for final victory. Those of the slabs that have survived are now in the Acropolis Museum. Another sign that the Athenians were determined to win the exhausting war with Sparta is the statue in the cella of the temple. It shows the Athena as Nike Apterus, the goddess of victory without wings. Most likely the Athenians had taken away the wings of the goddess of victory in the hope that she would stay in Athens after the first successes against Sparta.

More pictures of the temple of Athena Nike can be found below:

• The winged goddess Nike: JPG, 7Kb
• The current state: JPG, 37Kb
• A reconstruction: JPG, 33Kb
• The frieze: JPG, 23Kb
• The frieze: JPG, 22Kb
• The frieze: JPG, 23Kb
• The backside: JPG, 34Kb