Nika Samothrace - a familiar stranger

This beautiful lady is quite a few years old - somewhere2204 years. Compared with many other young ladies of similar origins, she is still very young. Nick arrived in the Louvre from the island of Samothrace, which is in the Aegean Sea (according to one of the myths, this island was the residence of Poseidon), where in 1863 she honored the French vice-consul and archaeologist-amateur Charles Shampoiso, before his clear eyes near city ​​of Andrinopol. True, the found statue did not have a head. I wonder if it is on the bottom of the sea or in someone's collection?

History of the find

By the way, from the fragments the restorers collected the goddessvictory only in 1884. The right hand of the statue will be found by German archaeologists only in 1950. Nika Samofraiskaya was not in a hurry to say hello to humanity. La Victoire de Samothrace is one of the greatest treasures of the Louvre. And it is exhibited just like that, standing at the top of the downward ladder Daru, against the background of the bare wall, to further emphasize the fact that the true diamonds are good and without rim. Look at how Nika Samothrace looks like. The photo, unfortunately, does not show us the true, slightly golden color of the marble, more like a slightly tanned skin than a cold stone. Compared to it, the gray marble of the foot seems alien.

History of the statue

Greek sculptor Pifocrit (though not allthe researchers are sure precisely in this interpretation) created it approximately in 190 BC. e. in honor of the unnamed Greek sea victories. This was the time when the Romans, under the pretext of "returning freedom to Greek cities" from those who captured Macedonians, quickly spread their political and financial influence over all policies of Greece. Against this background, such a symbol of victory lands on the Samothrace rocks. Although, again, some historians believe that the statue was created in honor of the victory of Antigonus II Gonath over one of the Ptolemies, who reigned on the ruins of the empire of Alexander in 263 BC. e. And there is a version that the goddess Nika of Samothrace was born in Rhodes, in honor of the victory over the Syrian fleet. But the story of her appearance on Samothrace should then be more complicated. Carved on the pedestal of the word Rhodhios (Rhodes) speaks in favor of the latest version. The pedestal under the statue is the nose of a Greek combat ship, and perhaps it really has nothing to do with the goddess and the sanctuary of the cabs.

About Archeology and Geography

At the time when it was found, excavations were conducted onterritory of the sanctuary of the cabins. These are gods, not included in the classical ancient Greek pantheon. On the Samothrace Mysteries, dedicated to the said deities, during the Hellenistic era, many Greeks gathered. Sculpture of Nick Samothrace was brought by the Greeks as a gift to the kabir. Archaeologist Charles Shampoiso for a long time was the French consul in the East and managed to win the trust of both Greek peasants and Turkish authorities. Only this can explain why the Greeks indicated to him the place where the statue was hiding, and the Turks were allowed to transport it to France. During the Second World War, Nicholas of Samothrace was taken from the Louvre and disappeared into the cave of one of the medieval castles, Valence, located near the Loire in the southeast of France. The choice of the castle is interesting. In 1803 he was bought by Prince de Talleyrand - one of those historical personalities, of which it can only be said that he knew more about us than we knew about him.

All About It

Unkind Erich-Maria Remarque in the "Triumphal Arch"believes that Nika Samothrace is "a cheap symbol of emigrants and people without a homeland." Let's try to figure out what exactly led him to this conclusion? At the same time, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, visiting the Louvre, called Nick "an amazing, inhuman creature." With all the difference in epithets, there is something in common in these terms - a shade of the goddess's alienation to this world. Not without reason, her mother is the oceanic Styx. The river of the kingdom of death as the mother of Victory is an analogy analogous to the Greeks, peculiar to the Egyptian and Hermetic tradition. It is not without reason that sometimes Nick was depicted with a scepter of Hermes in his hand.

Nika and the tradition of art

According to ancient Greek mythology, NikaSamothrace is the daughter of oceanids and titanium. Her figure was often depicted in the hands of the statue of Zeus. This is almost the only case of the presence of another deity next to the lord of lightning. Another hint of the original alienity of this particular image of the official Greek religious tradition. But I wonder how it is the flesh of the flesh of all classical art ... It seems that almost all the later angels and archangels of the Italian Renaissance are written with Nicky. Whether Italian artists could see this particular statue or a similar statue is unknown. But it is she who causes the greatest hatred among the fans of the mechanized modern art. Filippo Tommaso Marinetti in the "Futurist Manifesto" published in 1908 declared: "... a roaring machine whose engine works like a large grabber is more beautiful than a statue of Nicky of Samothrace". Nevertheless, the figure of Nicky stands on the radiator of almost all the luxurious Rolls-Royces.