Nike (Victory) of Samothrace

Nike of Samothrace (Sculpture)

Athena (greek deity)

Nike (Greek deity)

Goddesses, Greek

Mythology, Greek

From the Sanctuary of the Great Gods, Samothrace. The wind-whipped costume and raised wings of this Victory indicate that she has just alighted on the prow of the stone ship that formed the original base of the statue. The work probably commemorated an important naval victory, perhaps the Rhodian triumph over the Seleucid king Antiochus III in 190 bce. The Nike (lacking its head and arms) and a fragment of its stone ship base were discovered in the ruins of the Sanctuary of the Great Gods by a French explorer in 1863 (additional fragments were discovered later). Soon after, the sculpture entered the collection of the Louvre Museum in Paris.

Unknown artist

Stokstad, Marilyn

Art History, 4th ed., Upper Saddle River, N. J.: Pearson Education, 2010 (9780205800377)

Department of Visual Studies

University at Buffalo

ca. 180 BCE

BCE

Joe Easterly

Use for educational purposes only. Single copies (print, photocopy, download) are permitted for personal study, research and teaching.

statues

sculpture (visual work)

Still Image

VS4562677

vw-20100831-1

2011-08-18

2011-08-18

Visual Resources Collection

VS001

figure approx. 8 1 high

marble

Louvre (Paris, France)

High Hellenistic

Hellenistic

Ancient Greek

AHI101

UB Only