Commentary Prepared by Dr. Julia Lenaghan, Ashmolean Museum

A 101 A
Battle of Greeks against Greeks (Temple of Athena Nike, West Frieze). London.

Marble (Pentelic)
Frieze
H: ca. 45 cm; W (max.): 106 cm

West frieze, block i (left half). From the Acropolis at Athens. The slab had been reused in a Turkish fortification wall and was taken away by Lord Elgin in 1802. It was later given to the British Museum in London.
United Kingdom, London, British Museum, 421
High Classical, ca. 430-420 BC

Preservation:
The entire surface is heavily worn and abraded, all figures have lost limbs. A fragment with the upper body of the figure furthest to the right joins break to break.

Description:
Depicted are a total of six nude figures divided into two groups. To the left is a pair of warriors, shown frontally and straining away from each other as they fight, round hoplite shields on their arms. The right man wears a cloak over his shoulders. In front of the left warrior is a third figure, sunken to the ground, his upper body supported by his right arm. Further to the right is another pair of fighters facing each other. They are armed with hoplite shields and helmets with long crests, and are separated by a figure lying on the ground between them.

Discussion:
The Temple of Athena Nike ("Athena the Bearer of Victory"), a small edifice with four Ionic columns on each front, was erected on the south-west bastion of the Athenian Acropolis in the 420’s BC. Its elegant architecture and rich sculptural decoration create the impression of an ornate shrine, set off against the backdrop of the Periclean buildings behind. The temple’s sculptures centre, appropriately, on the theme of victory, expressed through myth, allegory and history. The pediments showed a gigantomachy in the east and amazonomachy in the west, scenes familiar from the Parthenon; they were crowned by akroteria probably representing Nikes. A continuous sculptured frieze ran along the outside of the temple, showing an assembly of Olympian gods over the entrance in the east, and battle scenes on the other sides. The temple had been dismantled by the Turks for use in a fortification wall and was not reassembled until 1830, after the Greek War of Independence. Although the building could be reconstructed with a high degree of accuracy, the original sequence of several frieze blocks is uncertain and remains disputed. The west frieze of the temple shows a battle between various fighters in Greek dress and armour. Opinions are divided on whether a mythological event or a historic victory of the Athenians is depicted. Historic battles might involve contests that took place in the period between Marathon and the Peleponnesian War, while scenes from mythology could for example involve the Trojan War (seen as a mythological antecedent of the Persian Wars), that also featured on the north metopes of the Parthenon. Another suggestion is that the frieze shows the recovery of the bodies of the Seven Heroes who fell before Thebes, an event according to Herodotus proudly cited by the Athenians among their great victories. The battle depicted on the frieze is in full swing, the various figures are united in a powerful composition. The action is predominantly from left to right, involving pairs or small groups of nude fighters linked by dynamic poses and flowing drapery. The action takes place around a tropaion already erected in the centre of the battlefield. This section shows duels between two pairs of warriors fighting over wounded or dead companions.

Bibliography:
A.H. Smith, A Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum III (London 1904) vol. I, 242-245 Catalogue entry with basic information.
C. Blümel, "Der Fries des Tempels der Athena Nike in der attischen Kunst des fünften Jahrhunderts vor Christus" (JdI 65/66 1950) 242-245 Detailed description of the frieze.
T. Hölscher, Griechische Historienbilder des 5. und 4. Jahrhunderts v. Chr. [Beiträge zur Archäologie 6] (Würzburg 1973) 91-98 Argues that the friezes show historic battles in the wake of Marathon.
F. Felten, Griechische Tektonische Friese archaischer und klassischer Zeit (Waldsassen 1984) 118-131 pls. 33-39; 47 Interprets the south frieze as a battle against Persians, and the west and north friezes as a unified composition showing the Trojan War as mythological paradigm for the Persian Wars.
H. Knell, Mythos und Polis. Bildprogramme griechischer Bauskulptur (Darmstadt 1990) 140-149 Good summary and bibliography of recent research on the frieze.
E. B. Harrison, "The Glories of the Athenians: Observations on the Program of the Frieze of the Temple of Athena Nike", in: D. Buitron-Oliver (ed.), The Interpretation of Architectural Sculpture in Greece and Rome (Washington 1997) 109-125 Argues that the south frieze represents Marathon and that other heroic (mythical) exploits of the Athenians are depicted on the north and west friezes.