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Nike is also depicted in literature as a goddess who judges the excellence of gods and mortals in competition. [21] This role of assessing the greatness of skill of a god or mortal is most evident in war, where Nike is often depicted on the side of the victor granting them the victory.
The Nike of Paionios is an ancient statue of the Greek goddess of victory, Nike, made by sculptor Paionios (Paeonius of Mende) between 425 BC and 420 BC. Made of Parian marble, the medium gives the statue a translucent and pure white look to it. Found in pieces, the statue was restored from many fragments but is lacking face, neck, forearms ...
Along with their mother, Bia and her siblings helped Zeus in his war against the Titans. The war, which was referred to as the Titanomachy, lasted for ten years, with the Olympian gods emerging victorious. Due to their heroic actions during the war, the four siblings won Zeus's respect and became his constant companions.
The statue, in white Parian marble, depicts a winged woman, the goddess of Victory (Niké), alighting on the bow of a warship. The Nike is dressed in a long tunic (χιτών, chitôn) in a very fine fabric, with a folded flap and belted under the chest. It was attached to the shoulders by two thin straps (the restoration is not accurate).
The Nike wears a chiton, of which only the sleeves are visible, and a peplos with a long apoptygma, or an overfold, girt high around the goddess's waist that accentuates her body's contour. The garment she wears enhances the impression that she is flying, as it clings to her legs and billowes in the wind on either side of Nike.
Both deities are war spirits that fly over battlefields during conflicts and choose those to be slain. The difference is that Valkyries are benevolent deities in contrast to the malevolence of the Keres, perhaps due to the different outlook of the two cultures towards war.
Victoria (or Nike) on a fresco from Pompeii, Neronian era. In ancient Roman religion Victoria was the deified personification of victory. She first appeared during the first Punic War, seemingly as a Romanised re-naming of Nike, the goddess of victory associated with Rome's Greek allies in the Greek mainland and in Magna Graecia.
I would suggest that all of these are derived from the Greek word for victory (nikê) rather than the personified figure of the goddess. Nik- prefixed names are also not uncommon in Greek myth, and also as titles of gods, e.g. Nikephoros (victory bringer), with no reference to the goddess Nike intended. --Theranos 16:19, 13 January 2007 (UTC)