Nike

Nike was the Greek goddess of victory. In Hesiod she is the daughter of the Titan Pallas and the water goddess Styx, and the sister of Zelus (Emulation), Cratos (Strength) and Bia (Force). The four children live with Zeus and never leave his side. Artists showed Nike with Zeus and Athena, and the Athenians built a temple to Wingless Victory on the Acropolis.

Family

Hesiod says that Styx, the daughter of Oceanus, was joined to Pallas and bore Zelus and trim-ankled Nike in the house; she also bore Cratos and Bia, “wonderful children” (Hesiod, Theogony 383–385). Apollodorus gives the same family: Pallas and Styx had Victory (Nike), Dominion (Cratos), Emulation (Zelus) and Violence (Bia) (Apollodorus, Library 1.2.4). The Roman equivalent of Nike is Victoria. No ancient source names a husband or children of Nike.

Nike and Zeus

According to Hesiod, these four children have no house apart from Zeus, no dwelling and no path except where the god leads them, and they always sit beside Zeus the loud-thunderer (Theogony 386–388). Hesiod explains this as a reward to Styx. When Zeus called the immortal gods to Olympus and promised that whoever fought with him against the Titans would keep their rights and receive the honours they deserved, Styx was the first to come to him, with her children, on the advice of her father Oceanus (Theogony 389–398). Zeus honoured her with great gifts: he made her the great oath of the gods, and her children were to live with him for ever (Theogony 399–401). So Nike belongs to the party of Zeus in the war against the Titans, although Hesiod does not describe anything she does in the fighting.

Nike in Cult and Art

Nike was normally shown with wings, and a Victory without wings was worth remarking on. Pausanias writes that the Athenians had a temple of Wingless Victory on the right of the gateway of the Acropolis, from which the sea is visible, and that the statue had no wings so that Victory would always remain where she was (Pausanias 1.22.4, 3.15.7). A Victory dedicated at Olympia by the Mantineans was made by Calamis without wings, in imitation of the wooden image at Athens (Pausanias 5.26.6). The Victory dedicated at Olympia by the Messenians, standing on a pillar, was made by Paeonius of Mende from the spoils of war (Pausanias 5.26.1).

Nike appears in the hands of the great gods. The gold and ivory statue of Zeus at Olympia holds a Victory in its right hand, an image of ivory and gold, wearing a ribbon and a garland (Pausanias 5.11.1). The statue of Athena on the Acropolis holds a Victory about four cubits high in one hand and a spear in the other (Pausanias 1.24.7).

See Also: Pallas, Styx, Zeus, Athena, Zelus, Cratos, Bia, Titanomachy