thumb|right|300px|Reconstruction of the temple
'''Nike''' means "Victory" in Greek, and '''Athena''' was worshiped in this form, as goddess of victory, on the city state in the Peloponnese.

The Temple sits within the sanctuary of Athena Nike, atop a bastion on the south flank of the great stair to the Nikai celebrating victory and sacrificing to their patroness, Athena.

==Temple architecture and sculpture==<!-- This section is linked from Kallikrates -->
thumb|left|150px|Floor plan
                 
The Temple of Athena Nike is a ''Ionic structure with a Persians in 480&nbsp;B.C. The total height from the pentelic marble, it was built in stages as war-starved funding allowed.

A cult statue of Athena Nike stood inside the small 5&nbsp;m x 5&nbsp;m Pausanias describes the statue as made of wood, holding a helmet in her left hand, and a pomegranate (symbol of fertility) in the right. Nike was originally the "winged victory" goddess (''see'' the winged Nike of Samothrace) The Athena Nike statue's absence of wings led Athenians in later centuries to call it Nike ''Apteros'' (wing-less victory), and the story arose that the statue was deprived of wings so that it could never leave the city.

The friezes of the building's entablature were decorated on all sides with relief sculpture in the idealized classical style of the 5th century B.C. The north frieze depicted a battle between Greeks entailing cavalry. The south freize showed the decisive victory over the Persians at the battle of Plataea. The east frieze showed an assembly of the gods Athena, Zeus and Poseidon, rendering Athenian religious beliefs and reverence for the gods bound up in the social and political climate of 5th Century Athens. 

Some time after the temple was completed, around 410&nbsp;B.C a parapet was added around it to prevent people from falling from the steep bastion. The outside of the parapet was adorned by exquisitely carved relief sculptures showing Nike in a variety of activities, the best-known Olympian
.

{{Infobox Patrimoine mondial
| Nom = Monuments de<br />l'acropole d'Athènes
| Image = Image:AthinaiPropylaen.jpg
| Legende= Le temple d'Athéna Nikè, sur son promontoire, à droite des Propylées
| Tailleimage=280
| Pays = 
| Type = Culturel
| Critères = i, ii, iii, iv, vi
| ID = 404
| Région = Europe/Amérique du Nord
| Année = 1987
| Session = 
}}

Le '''temple d'Athéna Niké''' fut érigé au  sur l'Acropole, à Athènes, en l'honneur de la déesse de la victoire, "Athéna la Victorieuse" ('''Nikè''' signifie littéralement "la victoire" en Grec ancien).

Son cité-état Grècque du Péloponnèse.

Le temple se situe au sein du sanctuaire d'Athéna Nikè, en haut d'un bastion sur le flanc sud du grand escalier de l'Acropole d'Athènes. Contrairement a l'Acropole meme (un sanctuaire entouré de murailles, ou l'on penetre par le Niké Athéna.

La Victoire étant représentée sous les traits d'une femme ailée, les Grecs, qui faisaient parfois montre d'un sens pratique à toute épreuve, avaient eu, dit-on, l'idée simple et logique de couper les ailes de la statue d'Athéna Nikè placée dans ce temple, afin d'éviter qu'elle ne s'envole chez les ennemis, d'où le nom parfois donné au monument : temple de la Victoire aptère, c'est-à-dire sans ailes.