Nike
The winged goddess of victory who flew across battlefields crowning the victors and who stood beside Zeus as his constant companion.
The Myth of Nike
Nike was the daughter of the Titan Pallas and the Oceanid Styx. When Zeus called the gods to war against the Titans, Styx was the first to rally to his cause, bringing her four children: Nike (Victory), Zelus (Zeal), Kratos (Strength), and Bia (Force). As reward, Zeus made them his permanent attendants. Nike stood at Zeus's side on Olympus, and she flew across battlefields bestowing victory on the side the gods favoured. She was depicted as a winged woman carrying a laurel wreath or a palm branch. Her most famous representation is the Winged Victory of Samothrace, the Hellenistic masterpiece now in the Louvre — a figure of such dynamic beauty that it has inspired art for over two thousand years. At Athens, Athena Nike (Athena as Victory) had her own temple on the Acropolis bastion. The Greeks depicted Nike without wings in this temple — apteros, wingless — so that Victory could never fly away from Athens.
Explore Further
Nike
⚡ godGoddess of victory
Nike was the winged goddess of victory in all domains — war, athletics, art.
Victoria
⚡ godVictory, triumph, success
Roman goddess of victory, equivalent to the Greek Nike
Goddess of Victory
💭 conceptVictory, triumph, speed, strength
Nike personifies victory in both war and peaceful competition, flying above battlefields to crown the worthy.
Bellona
⚡ godWar, destruction, battlefield fury
Roman goddess of war and destruction, companion or sister of Mars, equivalent to the Greek Enyo
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.
Athena
⚡ godGoddess of wisdom and strategic warfare
The warrior-goddess born from Zeus's head who embodied strategic intelligence, craft, and the civilising arts of the city.
Athena
⚡ godGoddess of wisdom, craft, and strategic warfare
Athena was the goddess of wisdom, strategic war, and craftsmanship — born fully armoured from Zeus's head, she was the most respected and feared Olympian after Zeus himself.
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
Enyo
⚡ godGoddess of war and destruction
Enyo was a goddess of war who delighted in bloodshed and the destruction of cities — she accompanied Ares and Eris into battle.
Pegasus
🐉 creatureFlight, heroism
Winged divine horse born from the blood of Medusa who carried Bellerophon against the Chimaera
Hera
⚡ godQueen of the gods and guardian of marriage
The queen of Olympus and goddess of marriage who defended the institution of matrimony with a wrath that shaped half the myths.
Pegasus
🐉 creatureWinged divine horse
The immortal winged horse that sprang from the blood of Medusa when Perseus beheaded her. Pegasus was tamed by Bellerophon and later became a constellation.