If you are drawn to the Greek goddess Nike, you are a winner: Nike is the goddess of victory. Throughout its history, it has allied itself with the most powerful gods of the Greek Pantheon. And, through its Roman incarnation, it has entered our language as more than the name of a running shoe and an anti-aircraft missile. The Romans called it Victoria.
Learn more about the goddess, her history, and the mythology that surrounds her before visiting the Acropolis of Athens, where she takes her place alongside Athena.
Origin of Nike
The Greek pantheon of gods and goddesses features three waves of main deities. The primordial gods were the first to emerge from Chaos: Gaia, Mother Earth; Kronos, the spirit of the time; Uranus, the sky and Thalassa, the spirit of the sea, among them. Their sons, the Titans (Prometheus who gave man fire is probably the most famous) replaced them. In turn, the Olympians (Zeus, Hera, Athena, Apollo, and Aphrodite) defeated them and became the main gods.
You’re probably already wondering what all of this has to do with Nike. It somehow explains its complicated origin. According to one story, she is the daughter of Pallas, the Titan god of Warcraft who fought on the side of the Olympians, and Styx, a nymph, a daughter of the Titans and the presiding spirit of the great river of the underworld. In an alternate history, recorded by Homer, she is the daughter of Ares, the son of Zeus, and the Olympian god of war, but Nike’s tales likely predate Ares’s stories by millennia.
In the classical period, many of these early gods and goddesses had been reduced to the role of attributes or aspects of the main gods, in the same way that the pantheon of Hindu gods are symbolic aspects of the main gods. So Pallas Athena is the representation of the goddess as a warrior and Athena Nike is the victorious goddess.
Nike’s family life
Nike had no consort or children. She had three siblings: Zelos (rivalry), Kratos (strength), and Bia (strength). She and her brothers were close companions of Zeus. According to myth, Nike’s mother, Styx, brought her children to Zeus when the god was gathering allies for the battle against the Titans.
Nike’s role in mythology
In classical iconography, Nike is depicted as a fit, young, winged woman with a leaf or palm leaf. He often wears the staff of Hermes, symbolic of his role as Victoria’s messenger. But by far its large wings are its greatest attribute. In fact, in contrast to earlier depictions of winged gods, which could take the form of birds in stories, in the classical period, Nike is unique in having preserved its own. She probably needed them because she is often depicted flying across battlefields, awarding victory, glory, and fame by handing out laurel wreaths.
In addition to her wings, her strengths are her ability to run fast and her ability as the divine charioteer.
Given his striking appearance and unique abilities, Nike does not appear in many mythological stories. Her role is almost always as a companion and assistant to Zeus or Athena.
Temple of Nike
The small and perfectly formed Temple of Athena Nike, to the right of the Propylaea, the entrance to the Acropolis of Athens, is the first Ionic temple on the Acropolis. It was designed by Kallikrates, one of the architects of the Parthenon during the reign of Pericles, around 420 BC. C. The statue of Athena that was once inside had no wings. The Greek traveler and geographer Pausanias, writing some 600 years later, called the goddess represented here Athena Aptera, or wingless. His explanation was that the Athenians removed the goddess’s wings to prevent her from leaving Athens.
It may well be, but shortly after the temple was completed, a parapet with a frieze of several winged Nikes was added. Several panels of this frieze can be seen in the Acropolis Museum, below the Acropolis. One of them, Nike adjusting her sandal, known as “The Sandal Binder”, represents the goddess wrapped in a wet cloth that reveals the figure. It is considered one of the most erotic carvings on the Acropolis.
- Visit the Acropolis from 8 am to 5 pm, last admission at 4:30 pm; Full price entry in 2018 is € 20. A special ticket package, valid for five days at a total price of € 30: includes the ancient agora of Athens, the archaeological museum of Karameikos, the archaeological site of Lykeion, Hadrian’s library, the museum of the ancient agora (highly recommended ), the slopes of the Acropolis and several other sites. Reduced price tickets and free days available.
- Visit the Acropolis Museum from 9 am in winter and from 8 am in summer. Closing hours vary. General admission, available at the museum or online, is £ 5.
The most famous representation of Nike is not in Greece, but it dominates a gallery of the Louvre in Paris. Known as the Winged Victory, or the Winged Victory of Samothrace, it features the goddess standing on the prow of a boat. Created around 200 BC, it is one of the most famous sculptures in the world.
