Perry, Walter Copland: Greek and Roman sculpture: a popular introduction to the history of Greek and Roman sculpture (London, 1882)

332

SCULPTURES OF THE TEMPLE OF NIKE.

leading the sacrificial cow in the Vatican ;1 two reliefs in Florence, one
of Nike adorning a trophy, and another of Nike raising some object with
her foot, an action which throws her into somewhat the same attitude
as the Sandal-looser (fig. 143), though a much less graceful one ; and
a vase-painting at Munich. Prof. Kekule has also published 2 the
curious paintings on a vase belofiging to M. PhUimon at Athens, in
which a Nike is assisted in her task of leading the obstreperous sacri-
ficial cow by two youths, one of whom holds its head and another its
tail.3

Hitherto, as we saw above, only two figures of Athene, and two
sacrificial cows, have been discovered. Kekule thinks that only one
action is represented in the entire Balustrade. He was therefore sur-
prised at first to find more than one victim, for we read that one cow
was selected from the hecatomb of Athene Polias as a sacrifice for
Athena Nike (Apteros). Finding more than one, however, he thinks
that a whole train of victims may have been represented. Petersen,4
on the other hand, who maintains that the temple was built some
thirty years later than Cimon's victory on the Eurymedon, evades
the difficulty by assuming that each side of the Balustrade contained
a complete and independent action. He hazards the conjecture that
the Battles of Plataeae and Mycale were represented on the W. side,
the Battle of Salamis on the S., and the Battle of Marathon on
the N. In this case each scene would naturally contain one figure of
Athene, and the one sacrificial Cow. The Trophy also—perhaps in
different stages of completion ; and the Sacrifice—cither in prepara-
tion, or actual performance—would be represented on all three sides.

As far as we know all the Nikai of the Balustrade were draped.
We have, however, on a gem in the British Museum, from the golden
period of Attic art, a most exquisite figure of Nike almost entirely
nude (fig. 147), and there are other representations of Victories both
nude and clothed in the same collection and in foreign museums.

1 In the cabinet of the Hermaphrodite.
Vid. Visconti, v. Taf. 9.
* Op. at. p. 5.

1 For other representations of Nike vid.

Stacked berg, Griib. d. Ihllcn. Taf. xvi. 1 ;
Heydeman, Giicch. Vascnbilder. xi. 2;
Scheme, gritch. Reliefs, Taf. xxxi. 12G.
" Op. at.