Goddess of Victory
Nike personifies victory in both war and peaceful competition, flying above battlefields to crown the worthy.
The Meaning of Goddess of Victory
Nike was the daughter of the Titan Pallas and the river goddess Styx. When Zeus called the gods to fight against the Titans, Styx brought her four children — Nike, Kratos (Strength), Bia (Force), and Zelos (Rivalry) — to fight on his side. As a reward, Zeus kept Nike at his side permanently. She is usually depicted with great wings, carrying a laurel wreath or a palm branch, swooping down to crown victors in battle or athletic games. At the Olympic Games, athletes prayed to Nike before competing. Athenians built a small temple to Athena Nike on the bastion of the Acropolis, and uniquely depicted her without wings — Apteros Nike — so that victory could never fly away from their city.
Parents
Pallas and Styx
Symbols
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Nike
⚡ godGoddess of victory
The winged goddess of victory who flew across battlefields crowning the victors and who stood beside Zeus as his constant companion.
Nike
⚡ godGoddess of victory
Nike was the winged goddess of victory in all domains — war, athletics, art.
Olympian
💭 conceptExcellence, supreme achievement, athletic greatness
Pertaining to supreme mastery or athletic competition, from Mount Olympus, home of the gods.
God of Athletes
💭 conceptAthletics, competition, physical excellence, gymnastics
Hermes presides over athletic contests, protecting competitors and rewarding speed, skill, and fair play.
Winged Victory of Samothrace
💭 conceptvictory, art
The monumental marble sculpture of Nike alighting on a ship's prow, created around 190 BC and now the most visited sculpture in the Louvre after the Venus de Milo.
Goddess of Wisdom
💭 conceptWisdom, strategy, crafts, warfare
Athena embodies strategic intelligence, skilled craftsmanship, and disciplined warfare, standing as protector of civilized life.
Amazonomachy
💭 conceptBattle of Greeks and Amazons
The Amazonomachy was the legendary battle between the Athenians and the Amazons who invaded Athens — depicted alongside the Centauromachy as a key symbol of Greek triumph.
Aristeia of Diomedes
💭 conceptwar, heroism
The battle sequence in Iliad Book 5 where Diomedes, empowered by Athena, wounds both Aphrodite and Ares, achieving the extraordinary feat of harming immortal gods.
Nike of Samothrace
💭 conceptHellenistic sculpture
A monumental winged marble sculpture of Nike, the goddess of victory, carved around 190 BCE and displayed at the Louvre since 1884
Pindar
💭 conceptLyric poetry, victory odes
Greatest Greek lyric poet renowned for his epinician odes celebrating athletic victors
Birth of Athena
💭 conceptNarrative
The miraculous emergence of the goddess Athena, fully armed, from the head of her father Zeus
God of War
💭 conceptWar, bloodlust, battle rage, courage
Ares embodies the brutal, violent side of warfare and was feared even by his fellow Olympians.