# Nike (mythology)

In Greek mythology and ancient religion, Nike (Ancient Greek: Νίκη, lit. 'Victory') is the goddess and abstract personification of victory in battle, as well as in other kinds of contests. According to Hesiod's Theogony, she is the daughter of Styx and the Titan Pallas, and the sister of similar personifications: Zelus, Kratos, and Bia (i.e. Rivalry, Strength, and Force).
She is often portrayed in Greek art as "Winged Victory" in the motion of flight; however, she can also appear without wings as "Wingless Victory" when she is being portrayed as an attribute of another deity such as Athena.
In Greek literature Nike is described as both an attribute and attendant to the gods Zeus and Athena. Nike gained this honored role beside Zeus during the Titanomachy where she was one of the first gods to offer her allegiance to Zeus. At Athens, Nike became an attendant to Athena as well as an attribute of her due to the prominent status Athena held in her patron city. The fusion of the two goddesses has contributed to the ambiguity surrounding Nike's origins. It is unclear whether she originated from a character trait of the Greek goddess Athena or has always existed as an independent deity. Her Roman equivalent is the goddess Victoria.

## Etymology

The name derives from the Greek noun νίκη níkē meaning "victory", "upper hand [in battle or contest]". The word is of uncertain origin, probably related to Ancient Greek: νεῖκος neîkos "strife" and the verb νεῖκειν neîkein "to quarrel"; ultimately also of uncertain, possibly pre-Greek, etymology. R. S. P. Beekes finds the word unrelated to Proto-Indo-European *ni-h₃kʷo- and sees no strong evidence for the proposed relation with νεῖκος and the Lithuanian ap-ni̇̀kti "to attack". In the Doric Greek dialect, the name was alternatively spelled as Νίκα Níka. The word gave several compounds in Ancient Greek, including the name Νικηφόρος Nikephoros "carrying away victory" and, through the verb νικάω nikáo "to win", it gave the epithet νικάτωρ nikator "victor".

## Family

Hesiod, in his Theogony, has Nike as the daughter of Styx and the Titan Pallas, and the sister of Zelus, Kratos, and Bia. In one of the Homeric Hymns, Ares the god of war is said to be the "father of warlike Victory [Nike]". According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, the Arcadians had a legend that Nike was the daughter of Pallas (the son of their legendary king Lycaon), to whom Zeus gave Athena when she was born to be raised by him.

## Mythology

Nike had little to no independent mythology. In her earliest mention, by Hesiod, Nike is said to have received honors from Zeus for her support of Zeus in his overthrow of the Titans, but no details are given. Following Hesiod, Nike's next several mentions occur, not in connection with military victory, but rather in the granting of victory in other kinds of contests (agones), including athletic or theatrical competitions. The fifth-century AD Greek poet Nonnus gave Nike a minor role in Zeus' battle with Typhon.

### Titanomachy

The first mention of Nike occurs in the Theogony of Hesiod (c. 730–700 BC). According to Hesiod's account, in preparation for the Titanomachy, the Olympians' war against the Titans, Zeus called all the gods to Mount Olympus to determine their allegiance. He declared that any god that chose to align with him against Cronus would receive his honor and favor. The first to do so was Styx, who brought Zeus her children: Nike, the personification of victory, and her brothers Zelus, Kratos, and Bia, the personifications of glory, power and strength. Nike and her brothers all represented qualities which would be invaluable to Zeus in the coming war. As a result Zeus forever honored Nike and her brothers keeping them always with him. And as such, the qualities represented by Nike and her brothers would become attributes of Zeus himself.

### Athletic competitions

Nike is next encountered several times in the early fifth-century BC Greek lyric poetry of Bacchylides and Pindar. Bacchylides describes Nike as the "giver of sweet gifts", and standing next to Zeus judging "the achievement of excellence (arete)" for both gods and men. For both these poets, Nike is the giver of victory in athletic contests. Pindar has the victorious athlete collapse "into Victory's arms" or fall "on the knees of golden Victory". While Bacchylides has athletes winning honor and fame "by the will of Victory", or by "glory-bringing Victory".

### Military contexts

Nike, invoked together with Zeus, could also occur in military contexts. The first mention of this is by mid-fifth-century historian Herodotus. In his description of the decisive Battle of Salamis (480 BC), he quotes an oracle which supposedly had predicted the victory of the Greeks over the Persians by the agency of "Zeus and august Victory (Nike)". And the names of Zeus and Nike continued to be used together as a military invocation through at least the end of the fourth-century BC. Xenophon reports that the watchword "Zeus Saviour and Victory [Nike]" was used at the Battle of Cunaxa (401 BC), while, according to Plutarch the similar watchword "Zeus and Victory [Nike]" was used at the Battle of Ipsus (301 BC).

### Theatrical competitions

Nike could also be invoked in theatrical competitions, such as Athens' City Dionysia and Lenaia. Competitors, including the late fifth-century BC tragic playwright Euripides, and the late fourth-century BC comedic playwright Menander would sometimes included appeals to Nike at the close of their plays. Euripides concludes three of his plays with the appeal:
   Victory, may you have my life in your charge and never cease garlanding my head!
Three of Menander's plays contain a similar formulaic ending:
   ... May Victory
   That merry virgin, born of noble line,
   Attend us with her favour all our days!

### Battle against Typhon

In Nonnos' Dionysiaca, Nike comes to aid Zeus in his battle against the many snake-headed giant Typhon, who has stolen Zeus' weapons the thunderbolts and begun a concerted attack on the heavens and the seas. When Thyphon discovers that Zeus has, through trickery, retrieved his thunderbolts, Typhon renews his attack, laying waste to the earth. The day ends with Typhon unchallenged, while Zeus waits through the night for the approaching dawn.
Nike, in the form of Leto, finds Zeus alone waiting in the dark and reproaches him saying:
   Lord Zeus! stand up as champion of your own children! Let me never see Athena mingled with Typhon, she who knows not the way of a man with a maid! Make not a mother of the unmothered! Fight, brandish your lightning, the fiery spear of Olympos! Gather once more your clouds, lord of the rain! For the foundations of the steadfast universe are already shaking under Typhon’s hands ...!]
Nike expresses here her particular concerns (as her attendant) for Athena who is the motherless maiden daughter of Zeus. She goes on to tell Zeus that many gods have already given up and fled the battle including Ares, Hermes, Apollo, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus. She also reminds Zeus of the terrible consequences if Typhon were to win, mentioning again the rape and enslavement of Athena, as well as that of Zeus' other maiden daughter Artemis.
When in the morning Typhon again issued his challenge, Zeus gathered the clouds around himself for armor and answered the monster's threats. Nike leads Zeus into battle, as Eris (Strife) leads Typhon. During the fighting, Nike "lifted her shield and held it before Zeus", while Zeus, armed with "his aegis-breastplate", attacked with his thunderbolts. After a long and cataclysmic battle, Zeus is able to defeat the monster and claim victory. As the victorious Zeus rides off the battlefield in his golden chariot, Nike is "by his side" driving "her father’s team with the heavenly whip".
In a relief found near the Erechtheion in Athens, there is a scene of the battle in which Nike crowned Athena for her wisdom in battle, holding a wreath in one hand and embracing the younger goddess with the other.
In Hesiod's Theogony, this battle is described differently. There is no indication of Zeus being hesitant or fearful and Nike makes no appearance to encourage or aid Zeus in the his battle with Typhon.

## Cult

Evidence for a cult of Nike exists for several locations in Greece and Magna Graecia. From as early as 500 BC, Nike is a frequent appearance on the coinage of Elis, as well as several cities in Syracuse. According to the geographer Pausanias there was an altar to Nike in Olympia between an altar of Zeus Katharsios ("Zeus Purifier") and Zeus Chthonios ("Zeus Underground"). The so-called "Decree of Themistocles" (the authenticity of which has been debated) mentions sacrifices offered to Zeus, Athena, Nike, and Poseidon. Nike may also have been assimilated into the cult of other gods such as Zeus at Olympia, and most prominently the cult of Athena Nike at Athens.

### Athena Nike

Athena Nike is a cult title of the goddess Athena, with whom Nike was closely associated and was perhaps popularly confused. The exact relationship between Nike and Athena Nike is uncertain. However, a cult title, such as Athena Nike, which joins the name of a major god with that of a more minor one known to have had their own independent cult suggests that such a fused title arose from the assimilation of an existing local cult by the major god.
Athena Nike had an altar on the Acropolis of Athens from as early as the beginning of the sixth century BC. The title Athena Nike is first attested by an inscription (dated 580-530 BC) on a block from an Archaic altar found as part of the excavation and rebuilding of the southwest bastion upon which the current Classical (c. 420 BC) Temple of Athena Nike rests. This seems to have been the official title of the temple's goddess through the fifth and fourth centuries continuing into the Hellenistic period, although less formal texts, from as early as the fifth century BC, often refer to Athena Nike as simply Nike. In fact, the late fifth-century BC tragedian Euripides could refer to Athena herself as Nike.
Ancient sources refer to a cult image of Athena Nike in connection with the temple at Athens which, unlike the normally winged Nike, was wingless (apteros). Heliodorus (150 BC?) is said to have written in his book Concerning the Akropolis that the Athenians venerated a wingless statue of Nike Athena which held a pomegranate in the right hand and a helmet in the left. Pausanias, writing in the second century AD, refers to the temple of Athena Nike as a temple of Nike Apteros, "Wingless Victory", which is the name he gives to an image of the goddess, without wings, which he says the Athenians had placed there. He explains that "the Athenians think that Victory, having no wings, will always remain where she is."
This cult image was part of the early sixth-century BC sanctuary which was destroyed by the Persians in 480–479 BC, although the image was preserved. It was later reinstalled inside the Classical Ionic temple which was surrounded on three sides by a sculpted parapet. Carved into the parapet, one on each of the sides of the bastion (north, west, and south), were three sets of winged Nikes (Nikai), although the remains of the parapet sculptures are fragmentary, they are thought to form three votive processions each moving toward a seated Athena. The three processions depicted Nikes, in the presence of Athena, erecting trophies and bringing sacrificial bulls.

### The Priestesses of Athena Nike

The cult of Athena Nike was functioning as early as the beginning of the sixth century BC. However, there remains significant debate over whether the cult of Athena Nike in its earlier years had its own priestess, no priestess, or if it shared a priestess with a nearby cult. The earliest substantial evidence for a priestess of Athena Nike is provided in a decree named IG i^3 35 passed in the early fifth century by the Athenian Demos. This decree proposed a plan for a new temple and priestess for Athena Nike. The decree was unusual because it broke with Athenian tradition by handing over control of the cult to the state and instituting a democratic selection of the next priestess of Athena Nike by lot from all Athenian women.
According to Michael Laughy, the priesthood was traditionally controlled by a genos or family clan who selected the next priestess from one of their heirs. For example, the priestess of Athena Polias was the heir of the aristocratic Eteoboutadai genos, since they controlled the priesthood for Athena Polias. Thus, the process of selecting a priestess in Athens was not traditionally a democratic process. This decree was also significant, according to Josine Blok, because it gave all Athenian women access to influential and prominent cultic roles in the Athenian city-state during a time when Athenian women's freedoms were fairly limited. The final unusual aspect of the decree was that it broke with Athenian tradition by handing over responsibility of the priesthood from the genos to the state. According to Laughy, ancestral practice played a key role in how Athenian cultic rituals and sacrifices were performed. Thus, a break in custom to transfer religious authority from the genos to the state was exceptional for Athens during that time as it transformed the cult of Athena Nike into a polis-cult, a cult funded and overseen by the Athenian city-state.
While the decree does not state the identity of the new priestess, a verse epitaph on a marble stele funerary monument reveals that the first priestess of Athena Nike to be selected democratically by lot was Myrrhine, daughter of Kallimachos. According to decree IG i^3 36, she would have received a portion of the sacrifice and a stipend of fifty drachmas paid for by the kolakretai. While neither decrees specified the tenure of her office, Blok proposes that Myrrhine would have likely served for life since that was the tradition for Athenian women serving in cultic offices. Her responsibilities are described in the Myrrhine epigram (IG i^3 1330) and include maintaining the sanctuary and its statues.

## Iconography

Nike alone is often depicted in Greek art winged and carrying a symbol of victory, such as a laurel wreath or a palm frond. Statues of her attempt to evoke a sense of flight. In the Archaic period of ancient Greek sculpture Nike often appears in a "kneeling run" pose or "knielaufen" pose with her head turned to the side to look at the viewer as her body swiftly rushes forward. The marble statue of Nike, possibly designed by Arkhermos of Chios and found at Delos, dates to around 550 BCE and exemplifies this style of pose. Nike's right arm is outstretched at an angle while her left arm is bent so that her hand rests upon her upper thigh. Her wings are attached to her upper back and her body runs to the side while her head is turned to observe the viewer instead of the place she is running to. Richard Neer proposes that this posture with the running stance, wings, and flowing garments were meant to evoke the swift speed of the goddess.
As time goes on Nike's legs begin to straighten and her movement becomes a more subtle alighting movement with a slight forward component. An example of a transitional phase in movement from the "kneeling run" to the alighting and striding pose is Paionios's statue of Nike discovered in the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. This statue of Nike was made of Parian marble and was dedicated to Zeus by the Messenians and Naupaktians around 420 BCE during the Classical period. The statue originally stood near the temple of Zeus on an 8.45m high, three sided pillar. The statue itself was roughly two meters high and was orientated to face the east. Instead of flying sideways, Paionios's Nike advances forward with feet just alighting upon the ground. At her feet an eagle is shown to fly to the viewer's left as Nike moves forward with left leg stepping down to touch the earth. Her left arm is raised and once held her himation, or outer robe, as it blew out behind her in the wind. Fragments of Nike's face, forearms, and wings are missing, however, pieces of her wings can still be seen attached to her shoulders. In this statue of Nike from the fifth century the goddess's alighting motion is towards the viewer as opposed to the sideways running motion of earlier statues. Additionally, Paionios's Nike has adopted a striding stance as opposed to a pinwheel-type running stance. By changing Nike's stance, Paionios has relinquished depiction of Nike's swift speed in favor of depicting her in a forward alighting motion that directly engages the viewer.
By the mid Classical period and the start of the Hellenistic period, statues of Nike begin to portray her with legs almost completely straight in an alighting pose meant to evoke an appearance out of nothing rather than a hurtling into view. This slight forward and downward motion is illustrated in the Capitoline Nike (460 BCE) from Magna Grecia. This statue was made of Thasian marble and showed the goddess standing almost completely straight with a slight lean forwards to indicate Nike's downward and slight forward alighting motion. Although her wings are lost, the roots of them can still be seen behind her shoulders. The straight lines of her garments imply weightiness and the pull of gravity during her gentle descent. The slight overfold of her peplos across the midsection also evokes the sense of a small wind blowing upwards from her soft descent. Additionally, both of her feet are placed side by side in a standing pose rather than a striding pose. All these details suggest Nike is appearing and making a graceful descent to the earth rather than dashing sideways into view.
The statue of Nike from the Temple of Neptune at Corfu also implies a gentle appearance out of nothing rather than a hurtling from somewhere. This statue is speculated to be from the Hellenistic period according to Andrew Parkin. The statue is made of white marble and is seventy-three centimeters tall. Nike herself is posed atop a globe, which is acting as the base. While Nike's forearms and wings are missing the sockets for attaching her wings can be seen on her back. The goddess is standing with both legs straight and together. Her head is bent downwards slightly so that her gaze rests on the ground rather than the viewer. As a result of this, her body also leans slightly downwards. Her winged, straight, and slightly bent posture evokes the appearance that she is looking down at where to place her feet as she descends. The Nike of Corfu also has a hollowed out back which has resulted in Parkin, C. Vermeule, and D. Von Bothmer to hypothesize that the statue was originally mounted on another base or the statue was intended to fit into the hand of a larger deity.
During the Classical period, statuettes of Nike were often placed in the hands of larger deities. One such example is Pheidias's statue of Zeus at Olympia. According to Pausanias's Description of Greece, the statue of Zeus "...holds Victory in ivory and gold..." in his right hand and a scepter with an eagle perched atop it in his left hand. Pheidias's cult statue of Athena from the Parthenon in Athens also held a smaller Nike statuette in one hand and a spear in the other. According to Pausanias, this Nike statue was roughly four cubits tall (about seventy-two inches). Both Nike statues in Zeus's and Athena's hands were winged. Nike typically appears without wings in Greek sculpture when she is being represented as an attribute of another deity, such as Athena. The Athena Nike statue within the Temple of Athena Nike on the Athenian Acropolis depicts the Greek goddess wingless and seated with a pomegranate in her right hand and her helmet in her left hand. According to Andrew Stewart the doffed helmet and pomegranate are symbols of assistance, fertility, and peace. According to the Suda, Athena Nike without wings represents calm civility, the pomegranate represents prosperity and the doffed helmet represents peace. In his Description of Greece Pausanias claims that Athena Nike's depiction as "Wingless Victory" was meant to keep the goddess in Athens.

## Possible origins

Nike and Athena are both associated with victory, which has resulted in contestation over the origins of Nike. According to a paper by Harrison (as cited in Sikes, 1895) Nike was once a facet of the Greek goddess Athena, who was composed of Boulaia (good council), Ergane (skilled handcraft), and Nike (victory). According to this theory, Nike eventually broke off from Athena to form her own distinct personality. Baudrillart, in another paper (as cited in Sikes, 1895), shares a similar view that Nike was once a part of Athena and separated from her around the 5th century. However, he holds that the Athena Nike personality continued to exist alongside the distinct Nike personality. In contrast to Harrison and Baudrillart's views, E.E. Sikes believed that Nike was always a distinct personality from Athena. According to Sikes, Nike existed as an independent deity from Athena since Nike represented victory in musical, athletic, and military competitions and Athena's authority was limited to strictly military victories. Sikes postulates that the theory that Nike first originated from Athena arose from the confusion of the two goddesses at Athens where Athena Nike and Nike existed alongside each other.

## Gallery

* Nike in art
* Nike between youths, amphora from Rhodes c. 550-520 BC
* Nike crowning an athlete on an amphora, 470-460 BC.
* Nike with bowl and kithara, red-figured lekythos, 460 BC, Blanton Museum of Art.
* Nike preparing the victor's trophy c. 450 BC
* Nike crowning a young tragedian c. 400-380 BC
* Nike of Epidaurus statuette in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens c. 380 BC
* Nike crowning a young athlete c. 370 BC
* Nike statue from Pergamon in Istanbul.
* The Winged Victory of Samothrace, Louvre Museum.
* Statuette of Nike from Mysia, Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon.
* Head of Nike, 2nd century AD, Museum of the Ancient Agora in Athens.
* Nike column of Las Incantadas.
* Victory, Janus, Chronos and Gaea by Giulio Romano.
* Nike Crowns the Hero, outdoor sculpture in Berlin.
* Statue of Nike in Linderhof Palace, Germany.