Figure 54 The Temple of Athena Nike (right) seen from the northwest; length (north to south) 8.2 m, width
(east to west) 5.4 m, ca. 424–418 BC.
Source: iStockphoto / Copyright: Brigida Soriano.
This temple, like all the fifth-century buildings on the acropolis, is the product of a remarkable sense of
confidence and self-assurance: The Athenians had survived the Persian invasion and were now in
possession of an empire of their own, whose revenues enabled them to advertise and celebrate their
authority by constructing these buildings. The empire and the revenues came to an end during the lifetime
of those who worked on the restoration of the acropolis, but the buildings themselves survived not, as
Thucydides predicted, to deceive posterity about Athens’ military power, but as a monument to the
Athenians’ cultural achievements, which have turned out to be more impressive and more influential than
any of their accomplishments on the battlefield.
The influence exercised by the fifth-century buildings on the Athenian acropolis can be seen not only in
the extensive artistic heritage that looks back upon these buildings and their decorations as defining
moments in Western art and architecture, but also in the image that they convey of ancient Greek religion,
an image that is distorted because it is incomplete. The acropolis is so familiar and so visible, seemingly
frozen in time, that it is difficult to avoid the impression that it is the embodiment of ancient Greek
religion. In fact, it is not even the embodiment of ancient Athenian religion, much less of fifth-century
Athenian religion. Religious practices in ancient Greece differed from polis to polis and, even within a
single polis, were subject to continual change and evolution. Unlike many religious traditions that we are
familiar with today, which are often directed by a central authority and depend upon a written sacred text,
Greek religion was multifarious and flexible. The standard Olympian gods were universally