Atom Heart Nike Sculpture

When the ancient Greeks made war, their gods fought alongside them on the battlefield, some on one side, some on the other. Ares, the God of War, led a squad of anthropomorphized principles, namely things like Chaos, Mayhem, and Strife. These would wade into the battle, spreading fear, disorder, and rage among the enemy ranks. With the last of the action, on would come Nike, to finish off the dying and to raise her sword in a declaration of victory. The very word ‘victory’ is the Latin equivalent of the Greek ‘Nike”. To some of the Greeks’ eastern counterparts, the right hand was/is the hand of action while the left is the hand of compassion and contemplaton. The figure’s right arm, which would normally be brandishing a sword of victory, is being smothered by its oversized ‘left’ hand growing out of the heart on the flat side of the piece. This extinguishing hand turns out not to be a left at all, but another right, though coming from a left arm, signifying that compassion is by no means passive, but is itself an action.