Nike Loosening Her Sandals (5th century B.C.) The Acropolis Museum, Athens. The small temple of Wingless Victory was erected on the southeast corner of The Acropolis in Athens following the Athenians' defeat of the Persians. The Athenians' named the temple Wingless Victory hoping that Nike, their goddess of victory, would never fly away. Relief carvings on a balustrade surrounding the temple depicted many images of the goddess. Perhaps the most beautiful and certainly the most popular of those reliefs is that of Nike loosening her sandals in preparation for stepping barefoot upon the altar to place her offering of victory. The relief, thought to have been done by Kallimachos, pupil of Phidias, is admired for the lightness which hovers over graceful garment folds that clearly reveals the body beneath. The sculptural fragment represents the Greek carving at its best. This item is made to order.
