Practice Slide Identification

Slide 2: Sample Answer

Bear in mind that in archaeology there is almost never one and only one answer. What I provide here is one way to approach the task of placing this object into its archaeological, social, historical, and / or cultural context. There are of course other ways to engage this material.

• reconstruction of Nike of Samothrace in its original setting
• ca. 200 BCE
• sanctuary of Great Gods on island of Samothrace
• Perhaps by a Rhodian artist
• marble and limestone

This reconstruction drawing shows the famous statue of Nike (which is now in the Louvre) in its original setting in a pool perched high above the sanctuary at Samothrace and commanded a dramatic view over the entire sanctuary. The statue itself is an excellent example of the so-called "baroque" style of Hellenistic sculpture: restless undulating surfaces, contrasts of texture, careful interplay of shadows and highlights created by deep carving, and an openness of form that denies boundaries. In addition the setting constructed for the statue also illustrates a "baroque" esthetic: the dramatic view over the sanctuary, the high elevation that echoes the air-borne nature of the goddess, the two-tiered pool with large boulders suggesting an actual shoreline and the presence of the prow of the ship suggesting a real narrative. The goddess is depicted as if just alighting onto (or taking off from) the prow of a ship, and the water rippling in the reflecting pool beneath her echoes the fluttering of her massively powerful wings. This Nike could take off at any moment, and the folds of her drapery with their deep shadows reinforces the idea of motion and flight. These stylistic details have many parallels on the Altar of Zeus at Pergamon. It has been suggested that the monument was dedicated by the Rhodians to celebrate their naval victory over Antiochus 3. If so, it belongs to the long-standing tradition of victory monuments in Greek sculpture in which military (or athletic) victories were commemorated by statues of Nike, as in the Nike of Paionius at Olympia. It was this tradition that Alexander dramatically departed from when he dedicated in the sanctuary of Zeus at Dion numerous free-standing sculptures of his fallen comrades to commemorate his victory at the Granikos River. With the Granikos monument (which also included a statue of the victorious Alexander himself), a new way of commemorating victories was established, a new way which culminated in the Attalid monuments in Pergamon and Athens celebrating their defeat of the Gauls.