The sculptures are too mutilated to be arranged in one composition. It is evident, however, that the frieze consisted of figures of Victories, variously engaged. Some lead bulls to sacrifice, while others are erecting or decking trophies in the presence of Athenè.
There is some uncertainty as to the date of the frieze. It cannot be older than the temple, and therefore not earlier than 432 b.c. Kekulé (Balustrade, p. 22), and Wolters (p. 289) hold that the frieze was produced immediately after that date. But a more admissible view is that which puts the balustrade at the very close of the fifth century. If the different fragments of the balustrade are examined, they seem to reveal a combination of various schools and methods. No. 426, severely draped in chiton and diploïdion, seems to have the somewhat stiff dignity best seen in sculptures of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, but occasionally suggested by the Parthenon sculptures. The figures of Athenè (Kekulé, Balustrade, pl. ii.), have the spirit of the Parthenon frieze. In No. 427 and No. 428, the artist dwells on and emphasises the nude form, displaying it through transparent drapery in a manner that may well be supposed to have been that of the transition from Pheidias to Praxiteles. Finally, in the figure leading the bull (No. 429), there is a florid wealth of drapery, which, among early works, only finds a partial analogy in the frieze of Phigaleia, and which appears more akin to the Nikè of Samothrace than to Attic work of the fifth century. This want of uniformity in style suggests a time of transition in which the traditions of the school of Pheidias were still to some extent operative, while newer tendencies were beginning to make themselves felt. Perhaps also they indicate that the work was spread over a space of several years, such as might be expected in the troubled close of the fifth century b.c.
Height of Balustrade, 3 feet 2 inches. Ross, p. 17, pl. 13 (cf. ante, p. 241); Michaelis, Arch. Zeit., 1862, p. 249. All the materials are collected by Kekulé, Die Reliefs an der Balustrade der Athena Nike (1881), which superseded Kekulé, Die Balustr. d. Tempels d. Athena Nike (1869). See also Overbeck, Gr. Plast., 3rd ed., I., p. 369; Murray, II., p. 186; Wolters, Nos. 761-804. Stereoscopic, Nos. 158-160.
426. Victory standing, half turned to the left. She holds a greave in her left hand, with which she was probably decking a trophy. She wears a leather helmet.
Kekulé, Balustrade, pl. 5, fig. R; Overbeck, Gr. Plast., 3rd ed., I., fig. 82.
427. Winged Victory turned to the left stoops forward, raising her right foot in order to adjust or unfasten her sandal. A somewhat similar incident is seen on the Parthenon frieze, (west side, No. 29). There, however, the figure has his foot resting on a rock, while here the Victory balances herself on the left foot with the right leg high in the air, in a position of effort such as does not occur on the frieze of the Parthenon.
Ross, pl. 13, figs. B, Bb; Kekulé, Balustrade, pl. 4, fig. O; Overbeck, Gr. Plast., 3rd ed., I., fig. 82; Murray, II., pl. 16, fig. 4; Brunn, Denkmaeler, No. 35. The meaning of the subject is not known. In the ritual inscription of Andania the initiated are ordered to have bare feet, and possibly the Victory is supposed to be removing her sandals before entering a shrine. Dittenberger, Syll., 388, 15, cf. ibidem, 357, 25.
428 Winged Victory standing turned to the left, the right arm advanced. The right hand and all the left arm being broken away, the motive of this figure has not been ascertained, but probably the Victory was decking a trophy.
Kekulé, Balustrade, pl. 4, fig. M; Arch. Zeit., 1862, pl. 162; Overbeck, Gr. Plast., 3rd ed., I., fig. 82; Brunn, Denkmaeler, No. 35.
429. Two winged Victories about to sacrifice a bull, which one of them is holding back as it springs forward. The other Victory leads the way, moving to the right.