Nike of Callimachus
| Material | Marble |
|---|---|
| Height | 468 centimetres (184 in) |
| Writing | Greek |
| Created | Archaic Athens, 490 BC |
| Discovered | Acropolis of Athens |
| Present location | Acropolis Museum, Athens |
The Nike of Callimachus (Greek: Nίκη του Καλλιμάχου) also known as The Dedication of Callimachus, is a statue that the Athenians created in honor of the Callimachus.
Callimachus was the Athenian polemarch at the Battle of Marathon at 490 BC. He had the last vote and voted in favour of a battle, when the 10 strategoi were split evenly on the matter.
He was killed at the battle and the Athenians erected the statue for him.
The statue was erected in a prominent spot near the northwest corner of the Parthenon (not the Parthenon that we can see today, but the previous temple which was destroyed by the Persians) on the Acropolis of Athens. The statue was severely damaged by the Persians a decade later (480 BC) when they conquered Athens. They burned and destroyed the city and its monuments, including the Nike of Callimachus (Perserschutt).
The statue depicts Nike (Victory), in the form of a draped woman with wings running right, on top of an inscribed Ionic column. Its height is 4.68 meters and was made of Parian or Pentelic marble. Some parts of the statue such as the head, the hands and more were never recovered after the damage.
The neck of the Nike has nine holes for metal jewelry, which has been lost. She probably held a caduceus in her hand.
The text of the inscription on the monument was carved in two lines. The monument is a rare example of a preserved dedicatory epigram, with its statue and base, from the late archaic period.
Only 35% of the original text is visible due to the destruction. The text on the column is below (the brackets indicate text which is missing because of the destruction and has been restored by Catharine Keesling):
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