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Nikai leading an ox to sacrifice

Relief slab from the balustrade of the Ionic Temple of Athena Nike. Around three of the temple’s sides, offering protection from a vertical drop, was a parapet decorated with reliefs.

The sculptural decoration was on the outside of the parapet. This means that it was not possible to get a close view of the reliefs, and also the sculptures would be one of the first things a visitor to the Acropolis would see.

Here two winged Nikai restrain a small sacrificial bull

Number: 
208
Material: 
Marble
Location of Original: 

Athens, Acropolis Museum 973

Size: 
0.96 x 1.24m
Accession: 

Purchased in 1884 from Brucciani of London

References: 

Lippold: Griechische Plastik, 193; pl. 69.4
Walston: Catalogue of Casts in the Museum of Classical Archaeology (1889), 67, no.306
Rhys Carpenter: Sculpture of the Nike Parapet, 67-
Casson: Catalogue of the Acropolis Museum Athens II, 155, no.11, fig.11
Hurwit: The Athenian Acropolis (1999), 213

Date: 
415-410 BCE
Provenance: 

From in front of the Temple of Athena Nike on the Acropolis, Athens

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