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My Favourite Planet > English > People > Nike |
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Nike
Ancient Greek mythology, religion and art
Nike (Νίκη) was the Greek goddess and personification of victory in war and sport. Her Roman equivalent was Victoria.
She is thought by some scholars to have been a daemon who only later came to be considered as a goddess, a belief which reached its height in the Hellenistic period and continued by the Roman worship of her as Victoria.
As with other deities, she was at some point appended to the complicated divine genealogies, of which there are several versions. According to Hesiod, her father was the Titan Pallas, and her mother the nymph Styx (daughter of Okeanos and Tethys). Her sister was Bia (Force), and her brothers Kratos (Strength, Supremacy) and Zelos (Zeal, Rivalry). [1]
Styx and her chilren sided with Zeus in the great battle against the Titans, and after lived with him on Mount Olympus. The battle, known as the Gigantomachy, was depicted several times by Greek artists, notably on the frieze around the Great Altar of Zeus (early 2nd century BC) on the Pergamon Acropolis.
It may be significant that there are no known myths in which Nike is a main protagonist; she always plays a supporting role, for example as the chariot driver for Zeus. She was closely associated with both Zeus and Athena, and statues were made of these major deities accompanied by a diminutive and subordinate Nike.
Famously, the Athenian sculptor Pheidias made a colossal chryselephantine (gold and ivory) statue of Athena Parthenos holding Nike in her right hand for the Parthenon, and another of Zeus holding Nike for the Temple of Zeus in Olympia. The latter was named by Philo of Byzantium as one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
In the Sanctuary of Athena Polias Nikephoros (Athena of the City, Bringer of Victory) in Pergamon stood the Library of Pergamon which housed a statue of Athena Parthenos (circa 200-150 BC), based on Pheidias' original in Athens. Although the arms of the statue are missing, it is thought that this figure also held a Nike in her hand.
It is not clear what part Nike took in human victories, although one poet wrote: "Nike ... in gold-rich Olympus, you stand beside Zeus and judge the outcome of prowess for immortals and mortals." [2]
Usually in Greek myth and literature, other gods are shown helping or hindering combatants in battles and competitions: Hephaistos and Athena aided Achilles at Troy, Athena helped Perseus against the Gorgon Medusa, and Pan caused chaos among the Persian invaders at Marathon (see Athens Acropolis gallery page 5). Nike is usually depicted flying to deliver victory, often carrying the victor's laurel wreath (see photo below), a palm or a trophy. Like Hermes, she appears to be merely the messenger of Zeus and other gods.
Like Hermes too, she seems to be constantly busy and on the move. In the balustrade relief panels of the Temple of Athena Nike on the Athens Acropolis, she is shown busily rushing around to serve Athena.
It is no wonder that at some point she was given wings to help her with her hectic work schedule. According to an ancient commentator on Aristophanes' comedy Birds, the sculptor Archermos of Chios (mid 6th century BC) was the first to represent Nike with wings (see photos below). She became one of the winged deities, along with Hermes, Eros, Iris and Nemesis; Hypnos, Thanatos, the Gorgon Medusa and the hero Perseus are also often shown with wings in ancient Greek and Roman art.
However, Pausanias reported that the cult statue (xoanon) in the Temple of Athena Nike had no wings and the goddess was known as Nike Apteros (Νίκη Ἄπτερος, Wingless Victory). His explanation for this is that the Athenians deprived her of wings so that she could never leave them. [3]
It is unclear whether the statue and temple were dedicated to Nike or Athena as Nike (i.e. Nike assimilated by the Athena cult, and Athena assuming her role as the bringer of victory). If the temple was originally dedicated to Nike alone, the statue may have been a very ancient cult image (or a copy of one) predating depictions of the goddess with wings.
The Byzantine encyclopaedia, the Suda, had the following to say about Nike and her wings:
"Athena Nike: Lykourgos in the speech On the priestess mentions her. That the xoanon of Nike, wingless, holding a pomegranate in her right hand and a helmet in her left, was worshipped by the Athenians Heliodoros the Periegete has shown in the first book of his On the Acropolis.
Alternatively she stands allegorically for the notion that even winning is completely dependent on thought; for thought contributes to victory, but being thoughtless and impetuous while fighting leads to defeat.
When she has wings she symbolizes that aspect of the mind that is sharp and, so to speak, swift-winged; but when she is depicted without wings she represents that aspect of it that is peaceful and quiet and civil, that by which the things of the earth flourish, a boon of which the pomegranate in her right hand is a representation. Just as the helmet in her left is a representation of battle. Thus she has the same capability as Athena." [4]
Nike was depicted on many coins, vase paintings and reliefs. Most of the statues, or parts of statues, of the goddess which have so far been found are thought to have either been set up on columns as part of victory monuments, or were aktroteria which decorated the corners of temple roofs.
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Marble head of the "Hertz head type" (see below) from a statue of Nike.
2nd century AD. Found 31 July 1970, during excavations by John McK. Camp II, in a well (Deposit P 21:2) in the east colonnade of the peristyle of a large late Roman complex
known as Roman House H, on the slope of the Areopagus, south of the Athens Agora. Pentelic marble. Height 41.7 cm.
Previously thought to be a copy of the "Nike of Paionios" statue by Paionios in
Olympia, around 425-420 BC, but is perhaps a copy of Nike from the Athena Parthenos statue by Pheidias, around 450-430 BC.
Agora Museum, Athens. Inv. No. S 2354.
Among other ancient objects found in the well was a marble head of Helios. |
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Marble head of a statue of Nike from the Villa of Dionysos, Dion, Macedonia, Greece.
Copy of a 5th century BC original.
Dion Archaeological Museum. |
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Marble relief of Nike adjusting her sandal, known as «Σανδαλίζομἐνη» Νίκη (the Sandalbinder), from the balustrade (south parapet) around the bastion of
the Temple of Athena Nike on the Athens Acropolis. Circa 410 BC.
Acropolis Museum, Athens. Inv. No. Acr. 973. |
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An Attic red-figure lekythos showing Nike approaching an altar.
1st half of the 5th century BC. Found in Corinth.
Corinth Archaeological Museum. Inv. No. CP-39-4. |
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An Archaic statue of winged Nike.
Found at the Temple of Artemis, Delos in 1877. The earliest known free-standing statue of a Nike, probably made by
Archermos of Chios, around 550 BC. Parian marble. Height 90 cm.
National Archaeological Museum, Athens. Inv. No. 21. |
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The Scholia (commentary) of Aristophanes' play Birds mentions Archermos, artist, father of Bupalos and Athenis (or Athenidos), said to have been the first to represent Victory with wings:
"Only more recently have Nike and Eros acquired wings. For some say that it was Archennos [sic] the father of Boupalos and Athenis, others that it was Aglaophon the Thasian painter who made Nike winged, as Karystios of Pergamon relates."
There are varying translations of the Scholia. "Archennos" is thought to have been an error or misreading by those who copied the manuscripts.
See: John Williams White, The scholia on the Aves of Aristophanes, 574, pages 120 and 368. Ginn and Company, Boston and London, 1914. At the Internet Archive.
An inscribed statue base signed by Archermos and Mikkiades (perhaps Archermos' father), found in two fragments in 1880-1881 near to the findspot of the Nike, was thought to belong to the statue (see photo below), leading archaeologists to believe they had discovered the first winged Nike by Archermos. However, the base was later thought to have supported a sphinx. The fragmentary inscription has been reconstructed and translated in a number of ways.
Μ̣ικκι̣ά̣[δης τόδ’ ἄγ]α̣λ̣μ̣α καλὸν μ̣’ [ἀνέθηκεν καὶ υἱὸς] Ἄ̣ρχερμ̣ος θ[υσ]ί̣η̣σιν ℎ(ε)κήβο[λον αὖθ’ ἱλάσασθαι] οἱ Χῖοι Μέλ̣α̣ν̣ος πατρώιον ἄσ[τυ λιπόντες]
Inscription ID 9 (also SEG 19:510 and SEG 33:633).
One attempted translation:
"Farshooter [Apollo, receive this] fine figure [... worked by] the skills of Archermos, from the Chian Mikkiades ... the paternal city of Melas"
John Boardman, Greek art, page 91. Thames and Hudson, London, 2012 (4th edition).
The statue may have stood on a column as a votive offering or as an akroterion (roof ornament). The wing tips, parts of the lower arms and right hand, the lower left leg and both feet are missing. The lack of the bottom of the sculpture makes it impossible to be certain of the type of base to which it was attached.
Nike's head and upper torso are frontal, while her lower body and legs are shown in profile. She is shown with arms and legs bent in what appears to be a running or kneeling position, typical in Archaic depictions of flying deities and other mythical figures, for example the Gorgon Medusa (see also photos below). The pose is often referred to as the "Knielauf" (literally knee-run) schema, a phrase coined by German archaeologists.
She wears a peplos and chiton, with her lower right leg exposed. On her head she wears a stephane (crown) with holes for attaching metal ornaments. The holes in her ear lobes probably held earrings. Her hair has elaborately carved curls around the forehead, and falls in tresses over her shoulders and breasts. She has the "Archaic smile" seen on kouros and koure statues of the 7th - early 5th century BC (see examples on Samos gallery pages 4 and 5). |
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The inscribed statue base from Delos associated with the statue of winged Nike above. According to the inscription, it was a base for a statue by Archemos of Chios.
Around 550 BC. Parian marble.
National Archaeological Museum, Athens. Inv. No. 21a. Inscription ID 9 (also SEG 19:510 and SEG 33:633). |
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A running/flying four-winged Nike carrying a victor's wreath. 550-500 BC.
Detail of an Attic black-figure amphora made in or near Athens for the Cypriot market. Found at Site E, tomb 78, Amathus (Ἀμαθοῦς), on the south coast of Cyprus. Amathus
was excavated November 1893 - March 1894 by A. H. Smith and John Myres, as part of the Turner Bequest Excavations on Cyprus (1893-1896). Height 24.7 cm, diameter (mouth) 10.2 cm.
Nike, wearing a flat band (taenia) on her head, a short tunic and fawn skin (nebris), runs/flies to the right with outstretched arms, legs and four wings. The original report
on this amphora described the figure as a Boread, and a similar running figure on the other side as a Harpy. [5] Both figures are incised and painted in the black-figure
technique on a red ground, with added white and purple paint.
British Museum. GR 1894,11-1.161. Acquired in 1894. |
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Archaic bronze plaque from the Athenian Acropolis, with a relief of a winged Nike running or flying in the "Knielauf" position. Probably a decoration of a bronze vessel. Height 15 cm.
National Archaeological Museum, Athens. Inv. No. 6477.
One of a number of similar bronze Nikes found in Athens. Others, found at the Acropolis and now in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens, include Inv. Nos. 6476, 6478 and 6480. |
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Archaic marble statue of winged Nike from the akroterion of the Archaic temple of Apollo in Delphi. Marble, 515-505 BC. Height 113 cm. Found
during excavations around the temple and the Sacred Way in 1894 and 1895.
Nike is shown in the conventional running/flying position and has wings attached
to her lower left leg. It has been suggested that the figure may be by Antenor.
Delphi Archaeological Museum. Inv. No. 1872. |
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Fragmentary torso of a painted ceramic statue of winged Nike. An akroterion of a treasury in Olympia, around 500-490 BC.
Olympia Archaeological Museum. Inv. No. T 304 - T 254.
Currently exhibited in the Museum of the History of the Ancient Olympic Games, Olympia. No. 322. |
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Fragments of a painted terracotta akroterion depicting winged Nike, from the poros (limestone) temple of Athena Pronaia, Delphi, circa 500 BC.
Delphi Archaeological Museum, Greece. |
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Fragment of the painted terracotta head of the Nike akroterion above.
Delphi Archaeological Museum, Greece. |
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Stamped terracotta relief with a winged Nike carrying prizes for a chariot race.
From Akragas (Agrigento), Sicily, 6th - 5th century BC.
One of a number of rim fragments of locally made louteria (λουτήρια, large basins on pedestals for ritual washing), with stamped reliefs depicting racing four-horse
chariots alternating with Nikes. The scenes are separated by Doric columns. The louteria were also decorated with continuous friezes showing battles with Centaurs.
Agrigento Regional Archaeological Museum, Sicily. |
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Another fragment of a louterion (λουτήριον) from Akragas showing a running/flying winged Nike.
Agrigento Regional Archaeological Museum, Sicily. Inv. No. C. 315. |
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A similar fragment of a louterion from Selinous (today Selinunte), Sicily, about 520-500 BC.
British Museum. Inv. No. GR 1923.4-17.1. |
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Lycian limestone block with a relief of Nike. Winged Nike, holding a victory weath in her left hand, flies towards the left. Behind her a female figure holds a small round object (an offering of fruit?).
From Xanthus (Kinik), Lycia, Southern Turkey. Severe style, second quarter of the 5th century BC.
Istanbul Archaeological Museum. Inv. No. 5449 T. |
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Detail of an Attic red-figure oichonoe showing Nike at an altar.
Made in Athens around 490-480 BC. Attributed to the Eucharides Painter
by Sir John Beazley. Fragments found on 9 and 11 May 1939 in a well in the Ancient Agora of Athens.
Winged Nike, wearing a stephane (crown) and a himation over a long chiton, bends over a flaming altar. With her right hand she sprinkles incense on the altar from a box held in her left hand.
Agora Museum, Athens. Inv. No. P 15010.
See agora.ascsa.net/.... At the Agora Excavations website, American School of Classical Studies at Athens (ASCSA). |
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A fragmentary Attic red-figure chous (χοῦς, a squat, rounded form of oenochoe wine jug with a trefoil mouth) showing two winged Nikai standing either side of
a large tripod on a two-stepped base. Each figure wears a girdled peplos with a long overfold and bracelets on both arms. The Nike on the left holds a lyre in
her left hand. The wreath in the left hand of the Nike on the right and the fillets hanging from each side of the tripod are difficult to see as the paint has faded.
Made in Athens around 420-410 BC. Painted in the manner of the Meidias Painter according to Sir John Beazley. Found on 27 April 1954 in a well north of the
Nymphaeum in the Ancient Agora of Athens. Height 21.8 cm, diameter 17.9 cm.
Agora Museum, Athens. Inv. No. P 23896.
Currently exhibited in the Museum of the History of the Ancient Olympic Games, Olympia. No. 336.
See:
agora.ascsa.net/.... At the Agora Excavations website, American School of Classical Studies at Athens (ASCSA).
Beazley Archive Database, Vase No. 220593 |
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Detail of an Apulian red-figure, long-necked oinochoe (wine jug) depicting Hermes and Nike making sacrifices and offerings of first fruits at a burning altar.
Mid 4th century BC.
Hermes wears a wreath, cloak and high sandals, with a petasos hanging from his neck, and holds his kerykeion in his left hand. He stands to the left of a small
altar, notably shown in perspective, pouring a liquid (wine?) from a jug onto the flames. Winged Nike, wearing a wreath and peplos, stands to the right of the altar
holding a bowl with offerings in her right hand, and a bunch of grapes in the left. A garlanded boukranion (ox skull) hangs above them.
Civic Archaeological Museum, Milan. Inv. No. A 1997.01.255. From the Lagioia Collection. |
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"The Varvakeion statuette" of Athena Parthenos holding Nike in her right hand.
Pentelic marble. 2nd - 3rd century AD, Roman period copy of the statue
by Pheidias, circa 447-439 BC, which stood in the Parthenon.
Found 18 December 1880 near the Varvakeion School, in the Athens suburb of Psychiko.
National Archaeological Museum, Athens. Inv. No. 129.
photo, left: © Konstanze Gundudis |
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Left: A full-size plaster reconstruction of the "Nike of Paionios" statue from the sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia. Made by Oskar Rühm in 1894.
Abguss-Sammlung (Cast Collection), Dresden.
Right: A reconstruction of the statue on top of the 8.81 metre high triangular pedestal of the victory monument. |
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The "Nike of Paionios" statue was made around 425-420 BC by Paionios of Mende, as part of a war victory monument for the people of Messene and Naupaktis in the Peloponnese, set up on the east side of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. Various fragments of the 1.98 metre high statue of Parian marble, now reassembled in the Olympia Archaeological Museum (photo, right), were discovered 1875-1880 by German archaeologists around the east side of the temple. The complete figure, with the now missing wing tips, is thought to have been around 3 metres tall. Parts of the 8.81 metre high triangular column on which the sculpture stood were found at the same time, along with the dedicatory inscription for the monument which includes Paionios' signature and states that he also won the competition to sculpt the akroteria (roof decorations) for the Temple of Zeus:
"The Messenians and Naupaktians dedicated this to Olympian Zeus as a tithe from their enemies. Paionios of Mende made it and was victorious in making the akroteria for the temple."
Olympia 5, No. 259.
The Nike was mentioned by Pausanias:
"The Dorian Messenians who at one time received Naupaktos from the Athenians dedicated at Olympia the image of Nike on a pillar. It is the work of Paionios of Mende, made from spoils taken from the enemy, I think from the war with the Akarnanians and the people of Oiniadai.
The Messenians themselves say that their dedication resulted from their exploit on the island of Sphakteria along with the Athenians, and that they did not inscribe the name of the enemy through fear of the Spartans, whereas they had no fear at all of the people of Oiniadai and Akarnania."
Pausanias, Description of Greece, Book 5, chapter 26.
The first attempt to reconstruct the original appearance of the statue was made in 1883 by the Berlin sculptor Richard Grüttner (1854-1919), whose reduced-size plaster model showed Nike holding a palm branch, one of her attributes (see below, here and here), in her right hand and her himation (cloak) blowing free in the wind.
In 1894 the archaeologist Georg Treu (1843-1921), who had worked on the excavations at Olympia and from 1882 was the director of the antiquities and cast collections in Dresden (see the note on the Niobe page), worked with the Dresden sculptor Oskar Rühm (1854-1934) to make the above full-size plaster reconstruction of the statue based on Grüttner's 1883 work. It shows the winged Nike without attributes, holding the sides of her billowing himation with both hands. Since the front of the head and the face of the original staue were not found, they used as a model the "Hertz head type" of Nike from the collection of Henriette Hertz in Rome (see below), which Treu believed was copied from the Paionios Nike. Rühm also made a 1:10 scale model of the entire monument.
In 1896 Ernst Curtius commissioned Grüttner to make a full-size model, which was similar to Rühm's, and which was exhibited in the Altes Museum, Berlin. He made yet another scaled-down version (scale 1:5) in 1918, a plaster model with a bronzed surface, showing Nike holding a tainia (victor's headband), based on a theory of Curtius and his own examination of the fragments. A plaster model of his 1883 reconstruction of the entire monument is in the Abguss-Sammlung Antiker Plastik, Freie Universität, Berlin. Abgussform 1802. Height 230 cm, height of statue 58 cm.
Until the Second World War, two versions of the reconstruction of the monument, as 1:10 scale models by Rühm and Grüttner, were exhibited either side of Rühm's 1894 reconstruction of the statue, as centre pieces of the Olympia Saal, a room dedicated to casts of sculptures from the German excavations, in the Abguss-Sammlung on the second floor of the Albertinum. The Dresden museums had already acquired a cast of the original statue in 1876, and a cast of the head in 1880. These objects are not currently on display.
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The surviving fragments of the "Nike of Paionios" statue, reassembled in the Olympia Archaeological Museum. Inv. No. 46-48. |
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See:
Gudrun Elsner, Kordelia Knoll (editors), Das Albertinum vor 100 Jahren - die Skulpturensammlung Georg Treus (The Albertinum 100 years ago - the sculpture collection of Georg Treu). Catalogue of the exhibition in the Albertinum, Dresden, 18 December 1994 - 12 March 1995. Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, 1994. Pages 15, 59, 60, and photos, catalogue Nos. 54-56 (pages 72-74).
Hans Rudolf Pomtow (1859-1925), Die Paionios-Nike in Delphi, in Jahrbuch des Kaiserlich Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Band 37, pages 55-112. Walter de Gruyter & Co., Berlin und Leipzig, 1922. At the Internet Archive.
Pomtow's illustrated article is primarily concerned with a tall triangular column in Delphi, similar to that of the "Nike of Paionios", inscribed with proxeny decrees of the Messenians and Naupaktians and believed to have been the base of a similar Nike statue.
See also information about other statues on tall columns in Athens and
Delphi in The Pedestal of Agrippa, Athens Acropolis gallery, page 8.
Image sources
Above left: Ernst Curtius, Friedrich Adler, Georg Treu, Olympia: die Ergebnisse der von dem Deutschen Reich veranstalteten Ausgrabung, Textband 3: Die Bildwerke in Stein und Thon, Abbildung 210. A. Asher & Co., Berlin, 1897. At Heidelberg University Digital Library.
Above right: Ernst Curtius, Friedrich Adler, Georg Treu, Olympia: die Ergebnisse der von dem Deutschen Reich veranstalteten Ausgrabung, Tafelband 3: Die Bildwerke in Stein und Thon, Tafel XLVIII. A. Asher & Co., Berlin, 1894. At Heidelberg University Digital Library.
Right: Richard Hamann, Olympische Kunst: Auswahl nach Aufnahmen des kunstgeschichtlichen Seminars mit einer Einleitung, Tafel 57. Verlag des Kunstgeschichtlichen Seminars der Universität, Marburg, 1923. At the Internet Archive. |
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Plaster cast of a marble head of Nike of the "Hertz head type". Front and left side views.
The original, 2nd century AD. The nose and lower lip have been restored, and the lower neck and bust are also modern additions. Height 33 cm.
Museo nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia, Rome. Inv. No. PV 3256. From the collection of Henriette Hertz, Rome.
Image source: W. Amelung, Weiblicher Kopf, Tafel VII (see below). |
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The "Hertz head type" (German, Hertzscher Kopf) is named after this example, formerly in the collection of the German-born philanthropist, author and art collector Henriette Hertz (1847-1913), in the Palazzo Zuccari, Rome. Purchased on the Roman art market, it was bequeathed by "Fräulein Hertz" to the city of Rome, and is now in the Palazzo Venezia.
The other examples of the type are the head in the Agora Museum, Athens (see photo above), and an unrestored herm bust in the Chiaramonti Museum, Vatican Museums. Inv. No. 1589. The heads of this type were previously thought to be copies of the "Nike of Paionios"statue (see above) made by Paionios of Mende in Olympia around 425-420 BC, but according to a more recent theory may be copies of the Nike figure from the Athena Parthenos by Pheidias, around 450-430 BC.
The front of the head and face of the "Nike of Paionios" statue are missing (see photo, right), but details, such as the hair and the fillet (headband), of the Hertz type heads were compared with it and considered close enough to associate them with Paionios. The idea was proposed by the archaeologist Walther Amelung, who was the first to publish information about the head in the Hertz collection in 1894, and the theory was expanded upon a few years later by Georg Treu, who took part in excavations at Olympia.
See: Walther Amelung (1865-1927), Weiblicher Kopf, in Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Römische Abteilung, Band 9, pages 162-169, Tafel VII. Verlag von Loescher & Co., Rome, 1894. At DigiZeitschriften.
Georg Treu, Nike des Paionios, in Ernst Curtius, Friedrich Adler, Georg Treu, Olympia: die Ergebnisse der von dem Deutschen Reich veranstalteten Ausgrabung, Textband 3: Die Bildwerke in Stein und Thon, pages 182-193, Tafeln XLVI-XLVIII, Abbildungen 210-224. A. Asher & Co., Berlin, 1897. At Heidelberg University Digital Library.
This theory was questioned by some scholars, including Tonio Hölscher (Die Nike der Messenier und Naupaktier in Olympia, in Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts 89, 1974, pages 70-111, particularly page 74). In the early 1980s Evelyn Byrd Harrison (1920-2012), working at the Athenian Agora for the American School of Classical Studies at Athens (ASCSA), claimed that the heads were copies of the Nike from the Athena Parthenos statue by Pheidias, on the basis of style. Since the appearance of this statue is known only from Roman period copies such as the "Varvakeion statuette" (see above), on which the head of Nike is missing, and the "Lenormant Athena" statuette, on which the Nike figure is missing altogether, the attribution to Pheidias remains just as conjectural as the Paionios connection.
See: Evelyn B. Harrison, Two Pheidian heads: Nike and Amazon, in Donna Kurtz and Brian A. Sparkes (editors), The eye of Greece: Studies in the art of Athens, pages 53-63, plates 14-16. Cambridge University Press, 1982. |
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The left side of the surviving fragment of the head of the "Nike of Paionios" statue. Found 3rd November 1879.
Source: W. Amelung, Weiblicher Kopf, Fig. 1. |
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A fragmentary marble akroterion statue of winged Nike flying to the right, from the Ancient Agora of Athens. Attributed to Kallimachos.
Circa 400 BC. Pentelic marble. Height with plinth 129 cm.
Discovered at the site of the Stoa of Zeus Eleutherios [6] in the Athens Agora on 21 March 1933 by archaeologists of the American School of Classical Studies in Athens (ASCSA).
Part of the head, arms and legs are missing. Fragments of the drapery were also found. The back side is less finished than the front.
Agora Museum, Athens. Inv. No. S 312. |
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Bronze head of a statue of winged Nike from the Ancient Agora, Athens.
420-415 BC. Probably one of the series of "Golden Nikai" made in the time of Perikles.
Agora Museum, Athens. Inv. No. B 30. |
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Detail of an Attic red-figure column-krater showing Nike awarding a prize of a headband to a young athlete.
Made in Athens around 450-400 BC.
Winged Nike, approaching from the right, carries the headband in both hands. The victorious athlete, wearing a himation (cloak) and holding two javelins, faces her.
They are flanked by two bearded men with sticks, perhaps paidotribai (trainers).
Civic Archaeological Museum, Milan. Inv. No. A 2000.04.16. From the Vitali Collection. |
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A dedicatory relief from the Athens Acropolis of a winged Nike crowning Herakles or a victorious athlete, and with her left hand on Athena's shoulder. 420-410 BC.
Acropolis Museum, Athens. Inv. No. Acr. 1329.
See also a 2nd century AD clay disc depicting Nike crowning Hermes. |
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Two examples of silver dekadrachms from Syracuse (Συράκουσαι, Syrakousai; Italian, Siracusa), Sicily, minted around 400-370 BC by the tyrant Dionysios I of Syracuse
(Διονύσιος ὁ Πρεσβύτερος, Dionysios the Elder, circa 432-367 BC, ruled 405-367 BC).
Civic Archaeological Museum, Milan.
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On the right, the obverse side shows the head of the nymph Arethousa (Ἀρέθουσα, the Waterer), the symbol of Syracuse, wearing a pendant earring and necklace, and surrounded by four swimming dolphins. On the left, the reverse side depicts winged Nike flying to bring a victor's wreath to a man driving a racing chariot drawn by four horses (a quadriga; Greek, τέθριππον, tethrippon). In the lower register (exergue) armour trophies, greaves, a cuirass, and an Attic helmet, stand on a ship's prow (some scholars have seen the long form behind the armour as a spear).
The chariot scene may depict games held during the Syracusan Assinaria festival commemorating their victory over the Athenian expeditionary force at the river Assinaros (Ἀσσίναρος) in 413 BC [7]. It has also been suggested that armour, perhaps captured from the Athenians, was offered as prizes (labelled αθλα, athla, on some of the coins). According to another theory, the coins may be connected with Dionysios’ victory over the Carthaginians in 405 BC.
This type of high denomination coin is thought to have been minted to pay mercenaries, and to have been in circulation for a short time, after which most were melted down. Some of the coins were signed by the die engravers Kimon (Κίμων), who is thought to be the creator of the type, and Euainetos (Ευαινετος). They are considered to have produced the most beautiful Greek coins and to have influenced coin designers around the Greek world. The coin on the right above is signed EY-AINE, the signature of Euainetos, below Arethousa's head. Like other surviving dekadrachms of this type signed by him, the heads side is badly centred, with much of the top-left of the design missing.
Many sources describe the obverse (front or recto, right) side of these coins as the reverse (back or verso, avers, left), and vice versa. Usually the obverse of a coin is the "heads" side which often bears the identifying symbol of the authority that strikes the currency, and the name of the issuing state and/or ruler. Many of the coins of this type include the inscription ΣΥΡΑΚΟΣΙΩΝ (Syrakosion), sometimes abbreviated, on the side showing the head of the city's symbol Arethousa. However, it has been argued that the earliest Syracusan coins had designs (including chariots) on one side only, which was therefore de facto the obverse (some show a small head, thought to depict Arethousa, in an incuse square on the other side). The Nike, charioteer and armour may well be seen as the essential symbols of the city authority, even though inscriptions rarely appeared on this side. It has also been claimed that the heads side only became the obverse around 317 BC, during the rule of the Syracusan King Agathocles (Ἀγαθοκλῆς, tyrant of Syracuse 317-289 BC, and king of Sicily 304-289 BC).
Left: weight 41.05 gram; diameter 35 mm; 8. Brera, No. 5637.
Right: weight 42.04 gram; diameter 36 mm; 7. Brera, No. 5638. [8]
Read more about these coins in Big Money at The Cheshire Cat Blog. |
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Winged Nike on a silver tetradrachm coin of Seleucus I, minted at Susa, Persia, after 300 BC. Nike places a victory wreath on a panoply set up on a tree as a military trophy.
Altes Museum, Berlin. |
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A marble votive relief dedicated to Athena. Winged Nike flies down to place a laurel wreath on a charioteer driving a four-horse chariot (quadriga;
Greek, τέθριππον, tethrippon), perhaps a victor in the Panathenaic Games.
Made in Athens around 425 BC. From Athens.
A fragment of the left side of the relief in the British School at Athens shows the lower half of a standing figure of Athena, depicted at a much larger scale than the charioteer.
British Museum. Inv. No. GR 1816.6-10.197 (Sculpture 814). Elgin Collection. |
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Relief showing Nike driving a four-horse chariot.
Detail of a fragment of an Athenian decree for Arybbas, king of the Molossoi of Epirus. From the Athenian Acropolis. 343/342 BC.
The decree granted hospitality and privileges to Arybbas, son of Alketas, after he was
dethroned by Philip II of Macedonia and fled to Athens. The relief and laurel wreaths on the
marble stele are reminders of Arybbas' equestrian victories at the Olympian and Pythian games.
Acropolis Museum, Athens. Inv. No. EM 1 3291 (From the Athens Epigraphical Museum). |
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Fresco showing Nike driving a four-horse chariot.
Northern slab from Tomb 84 (350-340 BC), Andriuolo, Paestum (ancient Poseidonia), Italy.
National Archaeological Museum of Paestum. |
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Fresco showing winged Nike driving a two-horse chariot on a race-course.
Northern slab from Tomb 86 (330-320 BC), Andriuolo, Paestum.
National Archaeological Museum of Paestum. |
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Winged Nike driving a chariot drawn by two white stallions on the inner roundel of an Apulian red-figure phiale (libation bowl) with white and yellow
over-painting. On the left, a flying bird carries a victor's headband in its talons.
325-300 BC.
The lively drawing and dynamic composition are heightened by the use of strongly contrasting tones and colours. The figures break out of the inner frame of waves.
Civic Archaeological Museum, Milan. Inv. No. A 2000.01.05. |
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A plaster copy of the "Winged Victory of Samothrace" in Samothraki Archaeological Museum.
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The statue of the Winged Victory of Samothrace (Νίκη της Σαμοθράκης, Niki tis Samothrakis) depicted Nike standing or landing on the prow of a warship (see photo below). It is thought to have been made by Pythokritos of Rhodes, circa 220-185 BC, as part of a monument to commemorate a victory in a naval battle, and stood above the cavea (audience seating area) of the theatre in the Sanctuary of the Great Gods.
The original statue, now in the Louvre, Paris (Inv. No. MA 2369), was made of Parian marble, and the ship's prow and the base (not included with the copy on Samothraki) are of gray marble from Lartos, Rhodes (lithos lartios). There is also a copy in Istanbul Archaeological Museum (see below).
This type of statue showing winged Nike landing majestically, with the drapery of her himation (cloak) and peplos (belted by a knotted cord just below the breasts) which cling to the body and legs due to wind and swift movement, can be traced back to the Classical "Nike of Paionios" statue (see above), made in Olympia by Paionios of Mende around 425-420 BC. See also the "Chiaramonti Niobid". |
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A copy of the "Winged Victory of Samothrace" statue in Istanbul Archaeological Museum.
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The Istanbul copy, looking grubby and in much need of restoration, stands with other unlabelled and forgotten sculptures and copies in a dark corridor of a side building leading to the toilets. It is smaller than the original, but unlike the copy in Samothraki it stands on the ship's prow now to be seen in the Louvre.
I have not yet found a reference to this copy, and can only assume it was a compensatory gift from the French. It may be understandable that its restoration is not a top priority for Istanbul's enormous museum, but it is yet another case of a neglected artefact for which other museum directors would give their right arm.
Several other replicas of the statue have been made for museums, galleries, universities and other buildings and spaces around the world, including one outside Caesar's Palace casino in Las Vegas, where perhaps Fortuna (Tyche) may have been more appropriate. "Everyone's a winner" or "Luck be a lady tonight"? |
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Winged Nike of Samothrace in Istanbul, March 2010. |
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A reconstruction of the Nike of Samothraki by Benndorf and Zumbusch.
Photo by Frankenstein. Source: Emanuel Loewy, Die griechische Plastik , Volume 2, Tafeln
(plates), Abbildung 209c. Klinkhardt und Biermann, Leipzig, 1911. At the Internet Archive. |
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A winged Nike blowing a trumpet on the prow of a warship.
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A gold stater minted by Demetrios Poliorketes to commemorate his naval victory over Ptolemy. Salamis, Cyprus, circa 300-295 BC.
Bode Museum, Berlin.
The similarity of the images of Nike on such coins to the statue of the Winged Victory of Samothrace have led scholars to search for a connection between them. |
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Tetradrachm of Demetrios Poliorketes. Salamis, Cyprus, circa 300-295 BC. A winged Nike blowing a trumpet on the prow of a warship.
Altes Museum, Berlin. |
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Winged Nike Akroterion from the Hieron, in the the Sanctuary of the Great Gods, Samothraki.
Proconnesian marble, 120-100 BC.
Samothraki Archaeological Museum, Paleopolis, Samothraki.
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This was the third Nike statue found at the Sanctuary of the Great Gods (the first was the "Winged Victory of Samothrace", see above). It was discovered by American archaeologists of New York University in 1949, carefully buried 9 metres north of the southwestern corner of the Hieron.
The winged figure wears a chiton, with a himation draped over the lower body, and a sandal on her left foot. Her right arm was raised, and in her left hand she may have held a phiale (libation bowl).
The statue has often been described as being made of Parian marble. However, recent analysis has proved that the marble came from the island of Proconnesos (today Marmara, Turkey). It is thought that the statue was damaged in the first century BC and replaced by the Nike statue now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.
Photo taken at the exhibition "Samothrace, the island of the mysteries of the Great Gods", Acropolis Museum, Athens, 20 June 2015 - 10 January 2016. |
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A marble high relief of a winged Nike standing next to a trophy, perhaps a dedication.
From Thespiai, Boeotia, central Greece. Roman period.
Courtyard of Thebes Archaeological Museum. |
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Marble head of a statue of Victoria from Ostia.
Julio-Claudian era, 1st century AD.
Ostia Archaeological Museum. Inv. No. 1234. |
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Statue of winged Nike from an akroterion (roof decoration) in the Pergamon Asclepieion.
Roman period, 2nd century AD.
Bergama Archaeological Museum, Turkey. |
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Winged Nike among plant forms on a marble akroterion from the Pergamon Asclepieion.
Roman period.
Bergama Archaeological Museum, Turkey. |
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Winged Nike among plant forms on a marble akroterion from the Temple of Trajan, Pergamon. 115-130 AD.
Pergamon Museum, Berlin. |
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Terracotta statuette of winged Nike flying.
From Myrina, near Pergamon. 200-150 BC.
Antikensammlung, State Museums Berlin (SMB). Inv. No. TC 8192. Purchased in Myrina by the collector Alfred J. Lawson in 1888. |
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Terracotta statuette of Nike holding a rhyton (drinking horn). From Myrina. 220-200BC.
Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden. |
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Two identical terracotta Nikes (or Nikai) found on the South Slope of the Acropolis. Originally they had wings are depicted flying or landing, possibly on the building
on which they may have served as akroteria (roof ornaments).
Roman period, 1st - 3rd century AD.
Acropolis Museum, Athens. Inv. Nos. Acr. 6476 and Acr. 6476a. |
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Small altar with a relief of a winged Nike carrying a wreath and a palm branch. Provenance unknown. 2nd century AD.
Thasos Archaeological Museum. |

Basalt statue of Nike from Der'a, Hauran, southern Syria. Roman period, late 2nd century AD.
Istanbul Archaeological Museum. Inv. No. 2408 T. Cat. Mendel 1399. |
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A marble relief of winged Nike from the "Herakles Gate" on Kuretes Street, Ephesus.
Ephesus archaeological site, Turkey.
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Roman Imperial period, 1st - 2nd century AD. It decorated one of the spandrels of the arch over the "Herakles Gate", and is thought to have been matched by a mirror image Nike relief on the opposite spandrel. The gate was built in the 4th century AD with materials from another monument. In her left hand Nike holds out a laurel wreath to crown a victor in war or sport, and in her right hand she carries a palm branch. |
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A running/flying winged goddess in the "Knielauf" position, as a bronze attachment for a vessel.
Made in southern Italy, Perhaps in Taranto, around 570 BC.
British Museum. GR 1867.5-8.767 (Bronze 495). Blacas Collection. |
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A running/flying winged goddess as a bronze attachment for a vessel.
Made in southern Italy, Perhaps in Taranto, around 500 BC.
British Museum. GR 1824.4-97.21 (Bronze 491). Bequeathed by R. Payne Knight. |
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Winged Nike and Eros above the handle tang of a bronze mirror.
Made in southern Italy, perhaps at Locri, around 480 BC.
British Museum. GR 1923.5-14.1. |
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Silver phiale (φιάλη, libation bowl) with relief decoration, showing five four-horse chariots driven by Nikai, carrying Athena, Herakles, Ares, Hermes and Dionysos. The scene represents
the apotheosis of Herakles: the hero is taken to Olympus to join the ranks of the gods.
Made in southern Italy, around 300 BC. From a hoard of Greek silver phialae, dated to the 3rd century BC, found in the late 19th century in Èze, southern
France. Acquired in 1891 from the dealers Rollin & Feuardent. Diameter 20.6 cm, weight 393.6 gm.
British Museum. GR 1891.6-27.3 (Silver 8). |
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Gold pendant in the form of a winged Nike holding a phiale (libation bowl) and and a wine jug.
Greek section, Civic Archaeological Museum, Milan. |
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Nike on a coin of Menander (Μένανδρος), the Greek ruler of Afghanistan-Pakistan 155-130 BC.
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Inv. No. HCR4605. |
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