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Title: Nike

Subtitle: The Origins and History of the Greek Goddess of Victory

Author: Charles River Editors

Narrator: Scott Clem

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 15 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-27-17

Publisher: Charles River Editors

Genres: History, Ancient

Publisher's Summary:

It seems to be a normal, modern-day practice to reduce all the gods of the ancient pantheons to their most basic abstract concepts: Ares represents war; Demeter, agriculture; Aphrodite, love; and so on. In the process, these characters lose any personality with which they might have been imbued over millennia of stories. A part of most studies of these gods is usually reserved for the undoubtedly valuable etymology of a deity's name, but more often than not, this etymology reveals little more than the fact they had been associated with their abstract concepts since time immemorial.

Still, most modern audiences understand the ancient Greek deities had "personalities" more complex than the abstract concepts they represented. These "personalities" were elaborated upon to explain relationships between concepts, such as in the case of Ares's and Aphrodite's daughter Harmonia, who always followed in her father's destructive wake, explaining the brutal "cleansing" power of war within ancient Greece's complex political landscape. It is in this same line of thought that abstract characters, such as Harmonia and Nike (Victory), find their place in ancient Greek mythology, especially after the writings of Homer in the eighth century BCE.

Members Reviews:

An Exceptional Account of Greek Mythology, A Must Read!!!

"Nike: The Origins and History of the Greek Goddess of Victory", looks at the story of the legendary deity and the various roles she played in Greek mythology. The ancient Greeks used myths to helped crystallize beliefs and fashion a means of observing and categorizing patterns in daily life. Hesiod's "Theogony" and Homer's "Illiad" and "Odyssey" are the primary sources for our understanding of Greek Mythology. Hesiod' provides us with the Greek's creation mythos as well as a complete description of the origin and genealogy of the immortal beings that populated the Greek's mythic universe. These sources provide the reader with a view of the Greek thought, their spirtuality, and their continuing efforts to both try to understand the mysteries of nature and their desire to understand and live in harmony with the forces around them. The meaning of her name. "Nike" is used to refer to the abstract concept of victory in its many forms in the works of Homer, Sophocles, Plato, and Xenophon. Victories in wars and in athletic competitions are invariably Nikeâs most predominant manifestations. In the historical record, and as such, her appearances in myth as a goddess whose actions took place within the society of the Pantheon are numerous, though mostly silent. Yet it is how the ancients interactions with this goddess that are most fascinating. The sculpture and the songs, the bas-reliefs and coins, all pay homage to Nike the goddess more intimately than the mere use of her image as a placeholder for "a glorious memory." When viewed in the context of a conversation, the appearance of Nike in the historical and archaeological records give the modern reader a tantalizing view inside the psyche of the ancient Greeks. This is the gift from Nikeâs that continues to bear fruit.

This was an excellent book, that is a must read for readers seeking knowledge about Greek Mythology.