Nike

(European mythology)

The goddess of victory in ancient Greece. She was honoured by Zeus because she fought on the side of the gods against the Titans. So the Athenians dedicated her statue in Delphi after the naval victory over the Persians at Salamis (480 BC). However, athletes and charioteers also paid her honour for their successes in the games. For the Romans Nike became a symbol of victory over death, their own Victoria ensuring earthly conquests. Victoria's most important altar was placed in the senate house by Augustus in 29 BC.

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Nike, sculpture from a bronze vessel, probably made in a Greek city of southern Italy, c. … (credit: Courtesy of the trustees of the British Museum)

Greek goddess of victory. She was the daughter of the giant Pallas and the river Styx. Nike was originally an attribute of both Athena and Zeus, represented as a small figure carried in their hand. She gradually came to be recognized as a mediator between gods and mortals, and was frequently shown carrying a palm branch, wreath, or staff as the messenger of victory. When depicted on her own, she was often a winged figure hovering over the victor in a competition. At Rome she was worshiped as Victoria.

For more information on Nike, visit Britannica.com.

This highly successful sports goods and accessories company had its origins in the 1950s with two friends at the University of Oregon in the USA, Bowerman and Knight, the former developing athletic shoe design and the latter going on to study for an MBA at Stanford University. Knight pursued the idea that attractively priced, well-designed, and efficiently marketed Japanese shoes could make inroads into the German domination of the US market. As a result a partnership was established with the Japanese athletic shoe manufacturer Onitsuka Tiger and, in 1962, Bowerman and Knight's company Blue Ribbon Sports (BRS) was established as the sole distributor of Tiger shoes. Following a period of real growth BRS began manufacturing its own shoes in 1971 and opened its first retail outlet in Santa Monica, California. BRS broke with Onitsuka Tiger in 1972, renaming itself Nike (after the Greek goddess of Victory). The new company was launched at the US trials for the 1972 Olympic Games and by 1980 the company went public having captured 50 per cent of the US athletic shoe market. In the 1980s Nike International was formed to cater for a growing overseas market that by 2001 covered more than 100 countries. Underpinning the company's success were a number of innovative business strategies as well as technological innovations such as the introduction of Nike-Air cushioning. In the 1990s the company continued to expand, developing its clothing and accessory lines and purchasing Canstar Sports Inc. the world's largest manufacturer of hockey equipment. In 2001 the company launched the first of its women only, NIKEgoddess stores in Los Angeles. These stores were planned as interactive with female consumers providing feedback on the style, design, and performance of Nike products.

Nīkē, in Greek religion, the (female) personification of victory. She became especially popular after the Persian Wars, the Athenians dedicating a statue to her at Delphi after the victory against the Persians at Salamis (480 BC). She was often depicted with wings.

Nike
A stone carving of the goddess Nike at the ruins of the ancient Greek city of Ephesus, Turkey
Goddess of victory
Abode	Mount Olympus
Parents	Pallas and Styx
Siblings	Cratos, Bia, Zelus
Roman equivalent	Victoria
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Greek deities series
Primordial deities
Titans and Olympians
Aquatic deities
Chthonic deities
Other deities
Personified concepts
Muses Nemesis Moirae Cratos Zelus Nike Metis Charites Oneiroi	Adrasteia Horae Bia Eros Apate Themis Eris Thanatos Hypnos

In Greek mythology, Nike (Greek: Νίκη, pronounced [níːkɛː], meaning Victory), was a goddess who personified triumph throughout the ages of the ancient Greek culture. She is known as the Winged Goddess of Victory. The Roman equivalent was Victoria. Depending upon the time of various myths, she was described as the daughter of Pallas (Titan) and Styx (Water), and the sister of Cratos (Strength), Bia (Force), and of Zelus (Rivalry). Nike and her siblings were close companions of Zeus the dominant deity of the Greek pantheon. According to classical (later) myth, Styx brought them to Zeus when the god was assembling allies for the Titan War against the older deities. Nike assumed the role of the divine charioteer, a role in which she often is portrayed in Classical Greek art.

Nike is seen with wings in most statues and paintings, to remind people that victory is fleeting. Most other winged deities in the Greek pantheon had shed their wings by Classical times. Nike is the Goddess of strength, speed, and victory. Nike was a very close acquaintance of Athena.^[1] Nike is one of the most commonly portrayed figures on Greek coins.^[2]

Names stemming from Nike include Nicholas ("Victory of the people"), Nick, Nikolai, Nils, Klaas and Nicola.

In popular culture

• The shoe and sports equipment company Nike, Inc. is named after the Greek goddess Nike, as was Project Nike, an American anti-aircraft missile system.
• A figure of Nike with a vessel was the design of the first FIFA World Cup trophy known also as the Jules Rimet trophy.
• Since the 1928 Summer Olympics, the obverse face of every Olympic medal bears Nike's figure holding a palm frond in her left hand and a winner’s crown in her right.
• In Kamichama Karin, Karin's dead cat Shi-chan had the goddess Nike inside her, and when Shi-chan died, Nike took over her body.
• In Tera Lynn Childs' young-adult novel OH. MY. GODS. the main character is a direct descendant of the goddess Nike.
• In the manga/anime, Air Gear by mangaka Ito "Oh Great" Ōgure, a character later introduced in the series, found to be Takeuchi Sora's twin brother, is named Nike.
• In The Darkest Prison by Gena Showalter, the Greek Nike, a guard of Tartarus who is the embodiment of Strength fell in love with the Titan, Atlas, her male equivalent when he was a prisoner at Tartarus.

Notes

1. ^ Nike: Greek goddess of victory
2. ^ Sayles, Wayne G. (2007). Ancient Coin Collecting II. Krause Publications. pp. 149. ISBN 9780896895164. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=iAnweepmTSMC&pg=PA149&dq=Nike+greek&client=firefox-a. 

External links

• Theoi Project: Nike

Nike is the companion of [[Athena]]

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