Victory of Samothrace: The Goddess Who Personified Victory, 21cm Full Alabaster Statue

The Winged Victory of

Samothrace, or the Nike of Samothrace, is a votive monument originally found on the island of Samothrace, north of the Aegean Sea. It is a masterpiece of Greek sculpture from the Hellenistic era, dating from the beginning of the 2nd century BCE. It is composed of a statue, in white Parian marble, which depicts a winged woman, the goddess of Victory (Nike), whose head and arms are missing, and its base in the shape of a warships bow. In Greek mythology, Nike was a goddess who personified victory in any field including art, music, war, and athletics. She is often portrayed in Greek art as Winged Victory in the motion of flight, however she can also appear without wings as "Wingless Victory" when she is being portrayed as an attribute of another deity such as Athena. The total height of the monument is 5.57 meters including the socle, the statue alone measures 2.75 meters. The sculpture is one of a small number of major Hellenistic statues surviving in the original, rather than Roman copies. It was discovered on 1863, during the exploration of the ruins of the sanctuary of the Great Gods on the island of Samothrace. Winged Victory has been exhibited at the Louvre Museum in Paris, at the top of the main staircase, since 1884.  

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