Nika Samothrace - a familiar stranger

Этой прекрасной даме совсем немного лет – где-то 2204 years. Compared to many other ladies of similar origin, she is still very young. Nika arrived in the Louvre from Samofraki Island, which in the Aegean Sea (according to one of the myths, this island was the residence of Poseidon), where in 1863 she had the honor of the Vice-Consul of France and the archaeologist amateur Charlete Shampoiso, presented his clear eyes not far from city ​​of Andrinopol. True, the statue found did not have a head. Is it interesting at the bottom of the sea or in someone's collection?

History of discovery

By the way, from the fragments of the restorers gathered goddessvictory only by 1884. The right hand of the statue will be found by German archaeologists only in 1950. Nika Samofrayskaya did not hurry to greet 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 stairs leading down, against the background of a bare wall, in order to further emphasize the fact that true diamonds are good and without rim. See what Nick of Samothrace looks like. Photo, unfortunately, will not show us the true, slightly golden color of marble, more like a slightly tanned skin than a cold stone. Compared to it, the gray marble of the foot seems alien.

The history of the statue

Greek sculptor Pifocritus (although not allResearchers are sure of this interpretation) created it in about 190 BC. e. in honor of the unnamed Greek sea victories. It was a time when the Romans, under the pretext of “returning freedom to Greek cities” from those who had captured from the 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 Antigone II Gonat over one of the Ptolemies, who reigned on the ruins of Alexander's empire in 263 BC. e. And there is also 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 complex. The word Rhodhios (Rhodes) carved on a pedestal speaks in favor of the latest version. The pedestal under the statue is the nose of a fighting Greek ship, and perhaps it really has nothing to do with the goddess and the sanctuary of the cabirs.

About archeology and geography

At the time they were found, excavations were carried out onthe territory of the sanctuary of the kabir. These are gods who were not part of the classic ancient Greek pantheon. Many Greeks gathered on the Samothracian mysteries dedicated to these deities in the Hellenistic era. The sculpture of Nick of Samothrace was brought by the Greeks as a gift to the cabir. The archaeologist Charles Shampoiso has long been a French consul in the East and managed to gain the trust of both Greek peasants and the Turkish authorities. Only this can explain the fact that the Greeks indicated to him the place where the statue was hiding, and the Turks allowed to transport it to France. During World War II, Nick of Samothrace was taken out of the Louvre and hid in the dungeon of one of the medieval castles, Valance, located near the Loire in south-eastern France. An interesting choice of the castle. In 1803, Prince de Talleyrand bought him - one of those historical figures, about which we can only say that he knew more about us than we did about him.

All about her

Unkind Erich-Maria Remarque in the "Arc de Triomphe"believes that Nick Samothrace is “a cheap symbol of immigrants and people without a homeland.” Let's try to figure out what exactly led him to such a conclusion? At the same time, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, visiting the Louvre, called Nick "an amazing, inhuman creation." For all the difference in epithets, there is something in common in these terms - a shade of the goddess’s alienity to this world. No wonder her mother - Oceanis Styx. The river of the kingdom of death as the mother of the Victory is an unexpected analogy for the Greeks, peculiar to the greater Egyptian and Hermetic tradition. It was not for nothing that Nika was portrayed with Hermes's wand in his hand.

Nika and the traditions of art

According to ancient Greek mythology, NikaSamothrace - daughter of oceanids and titanium. Her figure is often depicted in the hands of a statue of Zeus. This is almost the only case of the presence of another deity next to the lord of lightning. Another hint at the original foreignness of this particular image of the official Greek religious tradition. But it is interesting how much 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 from Niki. Whether Italian artists could see this particular or similar statue is unknown. But it is she who causes the greatest hatred among fans of computerized modern art. Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, in his Futurism Manifesto published in 1908, declared: "... a roaring car, whose engine works like a large grapeshot, it is more beautiful than the statue of Nika Samofrakiyskaya." Nevertheless, the figure of Nicky stands on the radiator of almost all the luxurious Rolls Royces.