Nike (nī`kē), in Greek religion and mythology, goddess of victory, daughter of Pallas and Styx. Often an attendant of Zeus or Athena, she also presided over all contests, athletic as well as military. She was a popular subject in art, usually represented as winged and bearing a wreath or palm branch. The Victory (or Nike) of Samothrace (Louvre) is one of the finest extant Greek sculptures. The Romans identified Nike with Victoria.
Greek goddess of victory. She was the daughter of the giant Pallas and the river Styx. Nike was originally an attribute of both Athena and Zeus, represented as a small figure carried in their hand. She gradually came to be recognized as a mediator between gods and mortals, and was frequently shown carrying a palm branch, wreath, or staff as the messenger of victory. When depicted on her own, she was often a winged figure hovering over the victor in a competition. At Rome she was worshiped as Victoria.
Nike
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Nike, sculpture from a bronze vessel, probably made in a Greek city of southern Italy, c. …
(credit: Courtesy of the trustees of the British Museum)
Nike
(Victoria) winged goddess of triumph. [Gk. Myth.: Brewer Dictionary, 757]
See : Victory
Nike
the personification of victory in ancient Greece; often an epithet of the goddess Athena, to whom the Temple of Nike (with many statues of Nike) at the Athenian Acropolis was dedicated.
Statues of Nike descending from heaven as a messenger of the gods were erected in honor of victory in war or in athletic or art competitions. The best known statues of Nike are the works of Paeonius and the statue of Nike from the island of Samothrace. In ancient Rome, Nike was identified with Victoria.
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