Nike

Nike,
the goddess of Victory, is first mentioned by Hesiod (Theogonia 383–4) as daughter of the Titan Pallas and Styx, and sister of Zelos, Kratos, and Bia (‘Rivalry’, ‘Strength’, and ‘Force’). With these she was honoured by Zeus because she fought with the gods against the Titans. Bacchylides (11. 1) depicts her standing next to Zeus on Olympus and judging the award for ‘areta’ (virtue) to gods and men. The victorious athlete sinks into the arms of Nike (Pindar Nemean Odes 5. 42). Here Nike is already victory of an athletic, not only a military, contest.

Nike has no mythology of her own, and in cult may be assimilated with other gods, such as Zeus at Olympia (Pausanias 5. 14. 8) or Athena at Athens, where from c.566 BC, she had an altar on the Acropolis, and subsequently a Classical temple. [The entire page is 505 words long]

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