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
Athens, Acropolis Museum 973
Purchased in 1884 from Brucciani of London
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
From in front of the Temple of Athena Nike on the Acropolis, Athens
