Gonzales, Patricia Mae M.

PHLO 111-1

The Temple of Athena Nike

The Temple of Athena Nike is an example of the Ionic order. This temple is part of the Acropolis in the
city of Athens.

Early in its history it was a place of worship for deities associated with wars, perhaps Bronze Age “Nike”
gods or goddesses, which with time fused with the cult of Athena Nike of later centuries. Excavations
have revealed that on this location an open pit existed that Bronze Age Greeks used to pour libations
and to deposit primitive figurines of the deities worshiped

- The temple of Athena Nike is a temple in the Ionic order, with four monolithic columns at the
east and west fronts. As the epithet Nike (victory) implies, here Athena was worshipped as the
Goddess who stands by the Athenians in time of war
- The Ionic column is said to represent the shape of a women with its delicacy and feminine
slenderness
- The ionic order evolved and its name from Ionia in modern day Turkey