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.

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. [6] Both figures are incised and painted in the black-figure
technique on a red ground, with added white and purple paint.

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.

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.

Fragments of a painted terracotta akroterion depicting winged Nike, from
the poros (limestone) temple of Athena Pronaia, Delphi, circa 500 BC.

Fragment of the painted terracotta head of the Nike akroterion above.

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.

Another fragment of a louterion (λουτήριον) from Akragas showing a running/flying winged Nike.

A similar fragment of a louterion from Selinous (today Selinunte), Sicily, about 520-500 BC.

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.

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.

A fragmentary Attic red-figure chous (χοῦς, a squat, rounded form of oinochoe
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).

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.

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.

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 [7] 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.

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.

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 [8]. 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 modern 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. [9]

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).

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.

A gold stater minted by Demetrios Poliorketes to commemorate his naval victory over Ptolemy. Salamis, Cyprus, circa 300-295 BC.

Bode Museum, Berlin.

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.

A relief of a Winged Nike as an attachment below the vertical handle
of a silver hydria (ὑδρία, three-handled water-carrying vessel).

4th century BC. From Amphipolis, Macedonia. Reconstructed from fragments.

Statue of winged Nike from
an akroterion (roof decoration)
in the Pergamon Asclepieion.

Roman period, 2nd century AD.

Winged Nike among plant forms on a marble akroterion
from the Temple of Trajan, Pergamon. 115-130 AD.

Terracotta statuette of winged Nike flying.

From Myrina, near Pergamon. 200-150 BC.

Terracotta statuette of Nike holding
a rhyton (drinking horn).

From Myrina. 220-200 BC.

Small altar with a relief of a winged Nike carrying a wreath
and a palm branch. Provenance unknown. 2nd century AD.

Basalt statue of Nike from Der'a,
Hauran, southern Syria. Roman
period, late 2nd century AD.

One of seventeen similar extant reliefs and fragments, known as "Kitharoidos Reliefs" (German, Kitharödenreliefs), of which there are three types.

Findspot unknown. Confiscated by Napoleon with five other Kitharoidos Reliefs from the Villa Albani, Rome, and taken to the Louvre in 1800. During the process of restitution of looted works, it was exchanged for another confiscated relief (Paris, Louvre, Inv. MA 661) and moved to the Berliner Schloss (Royal Palace) in 1813 or 1815. It was first exhibited in the Altes Museum in 1830/1831.

On the right, winged Nike, standing next to a round altar, pours a libation from an oinochoe (wine jug) into a phiale (libation bowl) held out by Apollo with his right hand. In his left hand he holds a kithara (a large concert lyre). He is followed by his twin sister Artemis, who holds on to a hem of his garment with her right hand, and with her left hand carries a long torch. A bow hangs behind her shoulder. In the rear (left) the twins' mother Leto carries a sceptre with her left hand.

On the extreme right, behind Nike, a small statue of a nude male (perhaps Apollo), stepping forward and holding out a phiale with his right hand, stands on top of a pillar. On the far left, another taller pillar originally also supported a figure, now missing. In the background, behind a high wall, can be seen the top of a Corinthian temple, with three akroteria, two of which are apparently winged Nikai. In the centre of the pediment is a relief of a Gorgoneion (head of the Gorgon Medusa), held by two flanking winged creatures with long coiled tails. To the right of the temple is an old gnarled tree.

The winged goddess is shown naked apart from a fillet (headband), sandals and a himation (cloak), draped over her left shoulder and covering her left side and leg. She kneels over the sitting bull, and holding its snout she pulls its head into an upright position so that she can cut its throat with the dagger she holds in her raised right hand. To the left is an altar on which stands a lamp. One of a number of similar terracotta reliefs showing this scene. Another is in the British Museum (Inv. No. 1805,0703.307), and two are in the Altes Museum, Berlin (Inv. Nos. TC 558 and TC 8217.68). TC 558 appears identical to this relief.

For further information about Campana reliefs, see the note in Medusa part 6.

Victoria standing on a celestial globe, a plaster cast of the "Victoria of Calvatone",
a gilded bronze Roman statue, made around 161-165 AD. Height (including globe) 170 cm.

The original statue went missing in 1945, and was rediscovered
in 2016 in a storeroom of the Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg.

Altes Museum, Berlin. Until 1945 Inv. No. Sk 5.
Original from Calvatone, Italy. Acquired in 1841.
Currently Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg. Inv. No. ЗСсэ-574.

The head of the original statue was found by chance in February 1836 by farm workers on the estate of Luigi Alovisi, near Calvatone (ancient Bedriacum), Cremona province, northern Italy. Alovisi encouraged local people to search for other parts, and in March they discovered three other fragments: the torso, right arm and leg, and the globe. These fragments were reassambled soon after, and the work was purchased for the Berlin State Museums in December 1841 by the German art historian Gustav Friedrich Waagen (1794-1868), director of the Berlin Gemäldegalerie (Picture Gallery). The statue was further restored in Berlin, with the addition of the missing parts: the wings, left leg, left forearm and the palm branch cradled in the left arm. It is not known whether the figure originally held a wreath in her outstretched right hand.

The plaster cast was made from the original in 1871 for the Abguss-Sammlung Antiker Plastik Berlin, and placed in the Altes Museum in 1987.

According to the inscription on the globe, the statue was commissioned by Marcus Satrius Maior to commemorate a victory of co-emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, probably in the Roman-Parthian War of 162-165 AD.

Victoriae Aug[ustorum]
Antonini et Veri
M[arcus] Satrius Maior

Inscription CIL 05, 04089 (= Conze 00005).

Unusually for a depiction of Victoria, she wears a nebris (νεβρίς, animal skin) normally associated with Maenads and other members of the thiasos (retinue) of Dionysus, and the pose of the lithe figure has been likened to that of depictions of dancing Maenads. The German archeologist Bruno Schröder described her animal skin as "a mixture of bear and cat, in the catalogue called a panther skin, covers the upper torso and is fastened by a belt directly beneath the breast". [11]

In 1939, at the outbreak of World War II, the original statue and other exhibits from the Berlin state museums were stored for safety in the cellar of the mint on the Molkenmark. It went missing during the final, chaotic days of the war, and was considered, like many other artworks and artefacts, to have been destroyed, looted or, more likely, taken as war booty by Soviet army trophy brigades. During the Soviet era and for some time after, information concerning war trophies was classified, and authorities usually either refused to comment on inquiries or flatly denied knowledge of artworks taken from public and private collections.

In 2016 it was announced that the statue had been found in a storeroom of the Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, where it had been deposited 1946, erroneously catalogued as a 17th century French work. Although it had been on a list of artworks specifically sought by trophy brigades, when it arrived at the Hermitage, in one of 40,000 cases of plunder, it was not correctly identified or catalogued. After the war the political climate and the meagre resources available to museums made the investigation of such matters unthinkable, and the kind of research project which led to the discovery of the statue has only recently become possible. The find was first published in a journal published by the Hermitage:

A. V. Vilenskaya and A. N. Aponasenko, 'The Calvatone Victory': the fate of one artefact (in Russian), Transactions of the State Hermitage LXXIV, pages 106–113, Saint Petersburg, 2016.

The museum sent a copy of the article to the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz) in Berlin, which led to an agreement between Hermann Parzinger, President of the foundation, and Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage, on a joint scholarly study and restoration of the sculpture. This is a positive sign of cultural cooperation between the two countries, which will hopefully lead to further research and discoveries.

Restorers at the Hermitage probed the inside of the wings, each weighing 20 kilograms, with an endoscope and discovered an engraving with the date 1844, proving that they were added in Berlin. They have now been replaced with a new, lighter pair.

The nebris, now described as a "bearskin", is still considered by some as inappropriate to a statue of Nike/Victoria, and since the wings are modern additions, it has been suggested that the statue originally depicted another deity, perhaps Diana (Artemis), more specifically Diana Lucifera (Light-Bearer). However, several depictions of Nike in this pose, standing on a globe, are known from the time of Augustus onwards, appearing on his coins, as well as on a number of Roman period artefacts, including oil lamps (see photo, right) and statuettes. The nebris may be explained as an allusion to Lucius Verus styling himself as New Dionysus (νέος Διόνυσος) and the wine god's mythical campaign in Asia (see The Triumph of Dionysus).

The winged figure strides forwards confidently, holding up the laurel wreath of victory in her right hand, and a military standard with the Iron Cross in the left. She wears a helmet topped by an imperial eagle. The helmet particularly transformed the Greek goddess into Borussia, the personification of Prussia, just as in the British Empire Athena was used to represent Britannia. Berliners, with their typically disrespectful sense of humour, nicknamed the statue Goldelse (Golden Elsie), and some of the jokes about her were quite ribald.

Nike/Victoria was a clear symbol of victory in sport and war for the ancient Greeks and Romans, part of the propaganda campaigns of city states, kings and emperors, proclaiming moral and intellectual as well as physical and military superiority over their adversaries. Such symbols have been exploited by modern states since the rediscovery of ancient art during the Renaissance.

Architect Johann Heinrich Strack (1805-1880) was commissioned to design the Siegessäule monument, originally to commemorate the Prussian victory over Denmark in 1864. However, further victories of Prussian-led German armies over Austria in 1866 and France in 1871, meant that the original design had to be modified in order to include references to these later conflicts. The so-called "unification wars" were provoked by Prussian Minister President Otto von Bismarck as part of his plan to create a united German Empire under Wilhelm I, with himself as Chancellor.

At the base of the 66.89 metre high monument (originally 60.5 metres) is a massive four-sided entrance hall of polished red granite, the outer walls of which are decorated with large bronze reliefs illustrating episodes from the wars, very much in the way the Greeks and Romans decorated their sacred and secular buildings and columns with scenes of historical and mythical battles. Above the hall, around the column base, the wall within a circular colonnade (another classical form) is decorated with an enormous glass mosaic designed by Anton von Werner. From the colonnade a spiral stairway of 285 steps inside the fluted sandstone column leads up to an observation platform beneath the statue. Around the outside of the column hang gilded cannon barrels, booty from the three wars, again echoing the ancient tradition of displaying the arms of defeated enemies on monuments (see for example the "Monument of Shields" in Dion, Macedonia).

The choice of a monumental column for a war memorial was influenced Roman victory columns, such as those of emperors Trajan, Marcus Aurelius, Antoninus Pius and Phocas, which had been admired by northern Europeans visiting Rome. Similar victory columns were erected around Europe during the 19th century, notably Nelson's Column in London.

Prussia's eagle (in German, Adler) was a symbol of the Hohenzollern dynasty's chivalric past, their place in the Holy Roman Empire (from 1512 the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation), and eventually their claim to imperial supremacy. The eagle, originally associated with the supreme Greek god Zeus and his Roman conterpart Jupiter, became the symbol in turn of the Roman Republic, the Roman Empire and the Christian Holy Roman Empire. With the addition of the swastika it served the Nazi Third Reich (Third Empire), and without it remains the symbol of modern German Federal Republic.

Originally the monument stood on Königsplatz (King's Square, now Platz der Republik), at the end of the Siegesallee (Victory Avenue), between the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag parliament building. As part of the meglomanic plans of Adolf Hitler and his architect Albert Speer to rebuild Berlin as the Nazi world capital Germania, in 1938-1939 it was moved 1.6 km westwards to its present location in Tiergarten. It now stands in the centre of an enormous traffic roundabout, the Großer Stern (Great Star), at the junction of major arterial roads, which is surrounded by other Prussian monuments such as the colossal statue of Bismark. The roundabout is accessed by four underground pedestrian tunnels, designed by Speer and built in 1941.

1. Hesiod on Nike's family, Zeus and the Gigantomachy

"And Styx the daughter of Ocean [Okeanos] was joined to Pallas and bore Zelus (Emulation) and trim-ankled Nike (Victory) in the house. Also she brought forth Cratos (Strength) and Bia (Force), wonderful children. These have no house apart from Zeus, nor any dwelling nor path except that wherein God leads them, but they dwell always with Zeus the loud-thunderer.

For so did Styx the deathless daughter of Ocean plan on that day when the Olympian Lightener called all the deathless gods to great Olympus, and said that whosoever of the gods would fight with him against the Titans, he would not cast him out from his rights, but each should have the office which he had before amongst the deathless gods. And he declared that he who was without office and rights under Cronos, should be raised to both office and rights as is just.

So deathless Styx came first to Olympus with her children through the wit of her dear father. And Zeus honoured her, and gave her very great gifts, for her he appointed to be the great oath of the gods, and her children to live with him always. And as he promised, so he performed fully unto them all. But he himself mightily reigns and rules."

2. Nike as daughter of Ares

It could be argued that Ares is being described poetically and symbolically as the father of victory in war rather than literally as the father of the goddess Nike.

"Ares, exceeding in strength, chariot-rider, golden-helmed, doughty in heart, shield-bearer, Saviour of cities, harnessed in bronze, strong of arm, unwearying, mighty with the spear, O defence of Olympus, father of warlike Victory, ally of Themis, stern governor of the rebellious, leader of righteous men, sceptred King of manliness, who whirl your fiery sphere among the planets in their sevenfold courses through the aether wherein your blazing steeds ever bear you above the third firmament of heaven; hear me, helper of men, giver of dauntless youth! Shed down a kindly ray from above upon my life, and strength of war, that I may be able to drive away bitter cowardice from my head and crush down the deceitful impulses of my soul. Restrain also the keen fury of my heart which provokes me to tread the ways of blood-curdling strife. Rather, O blessed one, give you me boldness to abide within the harmless laws of peace, avoiding strife and hatred and the violent fiends of death."

3. Nike as judge

"Nike, giver of sweetness, to you the father, son of Ouranos, on his high bench has granted glorious honour, so that in gold-rich Olympos you stand beside Zeus and judge the outcome of prowess for immortals and mortals: be gracious, daughter of thick-tressed, right-judging Styx; it is thanks to you that Metapontion ... is now filled with the celebrations and festivities of strong-limbed youths, and they sing the praises of the Pythian victor."

Bacchylides (Greek lyric poet, 5th century BC), "For Alexidamus of Metapontion, victor in the boys' wrestling match at Pytho (Delphi)". Ode X, Fragment 11, British Museum Papyrus 733.

See:

David A. Campbell, Greek lyric poetry: a selection of early Greek lyric, elegiac and iambic poetry. Bristol Classical Press, 1982.

J. M. Edmonds, Lyra Graeca Volume III, Book VII: Victory songs, 38 (X), pages 174-185. The Loeb Classical Library. William Heinemann, London; G. P. Putman's Son, New York, 1927.

4. Pauanias on Nike Apteros

Pauanias, describing the entrance to the Athens Acropolis, wrote:

"On the right of the gateway [Propylaia] is a temple of Wingless Victory."

Pausanias, Description of Greece, Book I, Chapter 22, section 4. At Perseus Digital Library.

Later, he comapres a cult figure of Enyalius [Ares] in Chains in Sparta, with the Wingless Nike in Athens:

"Near is a temple of Hipposthenes ... Opposite this temple is an old image of Enyalius [Ares] in fetters. The idea the Lacedaemonians express by this image is the same as the Athenians express by their Wingless Victory; the former think that Enyalius will never run away from them, being bound in the fetters, while the Athenians think that Victory, having no wings, will always remain where she is."

5. Nike in the Souda

The Suda or Souda (Σοῦδα), a Byzantine encyclopaedia of the ancient Mediterranean world, written in the 10th century AD.

See: Suda On-Line

6. Nike on a black-figure amphora from Amathus, Cyprus

Arthur H. Smith (1860-1941), Excavations at Amathus. In Alexander S. Murray, Arthur H. Smith, Henry Beauchamp Walters, Excavations in Cyprus, pages 87-126, plates IV and XIV. British Museum, London, 1900. At Heidelberg University Library.

7. The Nike akroterion from the Athens Agora

The statue was found in front of the Stoa of Zeus Eleutherios, and the American archaeologist Homer A. Thompson believed it stood on the south wing of building. Later the archaeologist Evelyn B. Harrison (who also worked at the Agora for many years) considered that it was proportionately too large for the stoa, and suggested that it may have been a corner akroterion from the Doric hexastyle peripteral temple of Ares, which had been moved block by block to a different location in the Agora in Antiquity. Although she admitted that there was insufficient archaeological evidence concerning the temple's roof to be certain, she noted that the statue's support had been rechiselled during the Roman period. The figure's wings may also have been repaired at this time.

8. The Assinaria festival in Syracuse

Plutarch related that the general assembly of the Syracusans voted to name the commemorative religious festival after the river. He does not mention games as part of the festival, and their existence has been questioned by some scholars.

9. Ancient coins in the Civic Archaeological Museum, Milan

10. Kitharoidos Relief and Delphi

The suggestion was first made in two articles by Franz Studniczka, in: Jahrbuch des Kaiserlich Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Band 21 (1906), pages 77 ff., and Band 22 (1907), pages 6-8. Georg Reimer, Berlin, 1907 and 1908.

Studniczka was aware that the Doric architecture of the temple at Delphi did not match the Corinthian style building shown on the reliefs. As part of his argument for a Delphic setting, Studniczka also suggested that the small statue on the pillar may have been the dedication of Echecratides (Ἐχεκρατίδης) mentioned by Pausanias as the earliest dedication set up in the Delphi sanctuary:

"Echecratides of Larisa dedicated the small Apollo, said by the Delphians to have been the very first offering to be set up."

11. The Victoria of Calvatone nebris

"Ein Fell, ein Gemisch von Bär und Katze, im Katalog als Pantherfell bezeichnet, bedeckt den Oberkörper und wird von einem Gürtel dicht unter der Brust zusammengehalten."

("An animal skin, a mixture of bear and cat, in the catalogue called a panther skin, covers the upper torso and is fastened by a belt directly beneath the breast.")

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