#The Nike of Samothrace statue

[gyossefka]

Nike of Samothrace

[canopiancatboy]

I've been sick and really out of it, and felt possessed to print out some classic statues. I asked my partner for one to start with, and they chose Winged Victory of Samothrace

I love that museums and independent organizations just go around using high quality scanners to help make history more accessible, even in small ways like this. I'll likely never visit the Louvre, or Greece if they ever get it back, but I can print my own

[yourfriendlypyrovampire]

Why does the sculpture Rafayel's "restoring" in Ivory Nightfall looks like The Nike of Samothrace statue/Winged Victory sculpture? Yes, I'm obsessed with it and hope to see it in person one day. No, it's not because I found out that my name is the Spanish form of Victoria.

(Which brings up kind of a funny stor(ies) depending on how you look at it. Whenever they ask me for my name at drive-thru intercoms, they mishear my name as Victoria. Since allegedly my name is a different form of Victoria, I just roll with it🤷🏾‍♀️. I even remember as a kid some folks called me Tori instead of Toya🤔)

[epestrefe]

Νίκη της Σαμοθράκης

Nike of Samothrace

Η Νίκη της Σαμοθράκης είναι μαρμάρινο γλυπτό άγνωστου καλλιτέχνη της ελληνιστικής εποχής που βρέθηκε στο ναό των «Μεγάλων Θεών»  Καβείρων στη Σαμοθράκη, παριστάνει φτερωτή τη θεά Νίκη και εκτίθεται στο Μουσείο του Λούβρου από το 1884.

Είναι μία από τις τρεις φτερωτές Νίκες που βρέθηκαν στο ναό της Σαμοθράκης.

Οι άλλες δύο εκτίθενται η μεν πρώτη, που αποτελεί ρωμαϊκό αντίγραφο και το βρήκαν Αυστριακοί αρχαιολόγοι, στο μουσείο “Kunsthistorisches Museum” της Βιέννης και η δεύτερη, που βρέθηκε από την αμερικανική αποστολή του Karl Lehmann και της Phyllis Williams-Lehmann το 1949, στο αρχαιολογικό μουσείο της Σαμοθράκης.

Ο Lehmann και η σύζυγός του βρήκαν αργότερα (το 1950) σε ανασκαφές και τμήματα του δεξιού χεριού της «Νίκης της Σαμοθράκης». Λίγους μήνες μετά το ίδιο ζευγάρι αρχαιολόγων εντόπισε και δάχτυλα του δεξιού χεριού της ίδιας Νίκης στο προαναφερόμενο αυστριακό μουσείο, που τα είχε ακαταχώρητα και δεν γνώριζε ότι ανήκαν σε εκείνην.

Η δεξιά παλάμη της ανασυστάθηκε αποκαλύπτοντας ότι δεν κρατούσε σάλπιγγα όπως πολλοί πίστευαν μέχρι τότε και εκτίθεται επίσης στο Λούβρο, σε χωριστή βιτρίνα κοντά στα άγαλμα.

Το άγαλμα έχει ύψος 3,28 μ (με τα φτερά) και 5,58 με την πλώρη του πλοίου πάνω στην οποία είναι τοποθετημένο σήμερα. Φιλοτεχνήθηκε σε λευκό Παριανό μάρμαρο για να τιμήσει τη θεά Νίκη αλλά και μια ναυμαχία – δεν είναι βέβαιο ποια. Ήταν αφιερωμένο σε ναό της Σαμοθράκης και χρονολογείται μεταξύ και 220 και 190 π.Χ. – οι περισσότεροι συγκλίνουν στο 190 π.Χ.

Σήμερα στο Μουσείο του Λούβρου το έχουν τοποθετήσει σε μια βάση και αυτή με τη σειρά της είναι στερεωμένη σε μαρμάρινη πλώρη πλοίου. Στην αρχαιότητα εικάζεται ότι εκείνος που αφιέρωσε το έργο στο ναό της Σαμοθράκης (τόπο φημισμένο στην αρχαιότητα για την ιερότητά του) είχε δώσει παραγγελία να σχεδιαστεί ένα μικρό σύμπλεγμα θεάς και πλοίου.

Η μεν θεά φιλοτεχνήθηκε χωριστά από λευκό παριανό μάρμαρο και ίσως κρατούσε στεφάνι για το νικητή ή είχε υψωμένο το χέρι της στο στόμα για να διαλαλήσει τη νίκη χωρίς να κρατά τίποτα ή, τέλος, ίσως χαιρετούσε. Το άγαλμα στο ελληνιστικό σύμπλεγμα ήταν στερεωμένο στην επίσης μαρμάρινη πλώρη ενός πλοίου και έδινε την αίσθηση ότι μόλις είχε «προσγειωθεί» σε αυτό και πατούσε φευγαλέα. Το πλοίο ήταν από μάρμαρου Ρόδου. Οι ειδικοί εικάζουν ότι το έργο ήταν σχεδιασμένο για να το βλέπει ο κόσμος από τα αριστερά, κατά τα ¾ του προφίλ, επειδή όπως συνηθιζόταν στα ελληνιστικά χρόνια ήταν πιο καλοδουλεμένη η μία πλευρά του –εκείνη από την οποία προοριζόταν να το βλέπει το κοινό.

Μία εκδοχή των αρχαιολόγων για το αφιέρωμα επί πολλά χρόνια ήταν πως το είχε κάνει ο Δημήτριος ο Πολιορκητής (337-283 π.Χ.) όταν νίκησε τον στόλο του Πτολεμαίου στα ανοιχτά της Κύπρου γύρω στο 290 π.Χ.

Σήμερα όμως πολλοί πιστεύουν ότι το αφιέρωσαν οι Ρόδιοι όταν το 191 π.Χ., συμμαχώντας με την Πέργαμο, νίκησαν τον Αντίοχο Γ΄ της Συρίας σε ναυμαχία στα ανοιχτά της Σίδης

Το δεξιό φτερό βρέθηκε σχεδόν διαλυμένο εκτός από μικρά κομμάτια του και αποτελεί πρόσθετο έργο ανασύστασης «καθρέφτη» του αριστερού, από εμπειρογνώμονες του Λούβρου. Το άγαλμα εικάζεται ότι κατακρημνίστ��κε και έσπασε εξαιτίας μεγάλου σεισμού κατά τον 6ο μ.Χ. αιώνα.

Τα κομμάτια του γλυπτού βρέθηκαν τμηματικά και στην αρχή η Νίκη εκτίθετο στο Λούβρο δίχως τον κορμό και τα φτερά της αλλά και δίχως την πλώρη, τα κομμάτια της οποίας οι Γάλλοι ειδικοί στην αρχή είχαν εκλάβει ότι ανήκαν σε τύμβο και τα είχαν αφήσει στη Σαμοθράκη.

Συγκεκριμένα, η ανεύρεση άρχισε το 1863 από μια αρχαιολογική αποστολή στην οποία επικεφαλής ήταν ο Κάρολος Σαμπουαζό (1830-1909) (Charles Champoiseau) υποπρόξενος της Γαλλίας στην Αδριανούπολη (σημερινό Εντιρνέ Τουρκίας). Ενώ έσκαβαν σε μια χαράδρα στις 15 Απριλίου του 1863, στα βόρεια του νησιού, ένας Έλληνας εργάτης φώναξε στον Σαμπουαζό «Κύριε, εύραμεν μια γυναίκα!» – ήταν η μισή Νίκη της Σαμοθράκης.

Ο Σαμπουαζό ήρθε αμέσως σε επικοινώνια με τον πρέσβη της πατρίδας του στην Κωνσταντινούπολη και εκείνος φρόντισε η Τουρκία να δώσει τότε έγκριση για να αποπλεύσει γαλλικό πολεμικό πλοίο και να φορτώσει τη Νίκη της Σαμοθράκης για τη Γαλλία -η Σαμοθράκη είχε σημαντική αυτονομία, αλλά ανήκε ακόμα στην Οθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία και απελευθερώθηκε στις 19 Οκτωβρίου του 1912 Το άγαλμα έφτασε στο Λούβρο στις 11 Μαϊου του 1864 και δύο χρόνια μετά εκτέθηκε για πρώτη φορά μετά τις απαραίτητες εργασίες – χωρίς όμως ακόμα να μπορούν να εκθέσουν το επάνω μέρος τους κορμού και τα φτερά.

Το άγαλμα βρέθηκε σε πολλά κομμάτια γιατί στα ελληνιστικά χρόνια οι καλλιτέχνες δούλευαν το γλυπτό τους σε πολλά κομμάτια εξαρχής  – στην αρχαία Ελλάδα δούλευαν χωριστά μόνον το κεφάλι και τα άκρα που εξείχαν. Ο άγνωστος λοιπόν γλύπτης είχε επεξεργαστεί το έργο του κατά τμήματα και μετά το είχε ενώσει, οπότε στο σεισμό με την κατακρήμνιση του γλυπτού, αυτό έσπασε πολύ πιο εύκολα και σε πολλά σημεία.

Αποτελείται από το μεγάλο κομμάτι κάτω από το στήθος μέχρι τα πόδια, από ένα δεύτερο κομμάτι που είναι ο άνω κορμός, το αριστερό φτερό (το δεξί προστέθηκε αντιγράφοντας το αριστερό) και από το κεφάλι – αυτό δεν βρέθηκε ποτέ από όσο γνωρίζουν οι ειδικοί. Τα χέρια, τα φτερά και τα πόδια, όπως και πολλά κομμάτια του ενδύματος σμιλεύονταν τότε χωριστά και μετά το άγαλμα συναρμολογείτο. Τα φτερά ήταν από δύο μεγάλα μάρμαρα που ήταν συνδεδεμένα στην πλάτη χωρίς εξωτερική στήριξη και αυτό δημιουργούσε πρόβλημα ισορροπίας στο άγαλμα, αλλά ο γλύπτης το έλυσε μ�� μεγάλη τέχνη

Το 1875 Αυστριακοί αρχαιολόγοι είδαν στον τόπο της ανασκαφής τα μάρμαρα που ο Σαμπουαζό νόμισε ότι ανήκαν σε τύμβο και αναλογιζόμενοι ελληνικά νομίσματα που απεικόνιζαν τη Νίκη σε πλώρες πλοίων κατάλαβαν ότι επρόκειτο για τμήματα μαρμάρινης πλώρης. Ο Σαμπουαζό έμαθε για τα μάρμαρα της πλώρης το 1879 και κατάφερε να τα πάρει κι αυτά στο Λούβρο. Η συναρμολόγηση και η αποκατάσταση (π.χ. του αριστερού φτερού που βρέθηκε σε πολλά κομμάτια και του δεξιού που ουσιαστικά είναι σχεδόν όλο προσθήκη μια που βρέθηκε ένα πολύ μικρό κομμάτι του) ολοκληρώθηκε το 1884

πηγη:  Wikipedia

[artschoolglasses]

Winged Victory in the Louvre

Paris, France

[hazelhymns]

frank lloyd wright’s martin house, 1/4/24

[lifeisbetterinmydreams]

i will never beat the accidental poetry of comparing the winged victory of samothrace (the nike statue) and the lament of icurus in my comparative study and being able to say the main difference is one is about victory and the other is about failure

[exhaustthebones]

Winged Victory of Samothrace, from the Louvre

[toast-koast]

[marlowe-art]

nike of samothrace // nike of paionios

the other day i went to paint a statue with some friends & it went poorly for me & now i am determined to get the hang of painting statues to make up for that experience

[quitefair]

The Temple of Mythal and Greek Sculpture

Or: How Bioware takes from history without any nuance.

--

Picture this. You're me, playing Inquisition for the first time. You get to the Temple of Mythal, the doors shut behind you and you finally get to look around. It's a typical elven ruin for the game, nothing much seems different...

Hold on.

Hold the fuck on.

You know what that is.

You know what that's based on, and for a long time after it tickles you. Oh, maybe that meant something in the grander scheme of things! We've never seen such a blatant reference to a real-life sculpture anywhere else in game (to my knowledge at the time)! Maybe it'll come up later and it'll all make sense!

Here's the deal. I've been bothered by this for years. The more I think about it, the more angry I become. Anger over a single fucking type of statue, you say? There's a lot of other shit to be angry over in this game, and you choose this?

YES! I CHOOSE THIS! AND THIS IS WHY.

--

Picture this. You're me again, aged 14 this time. You're in the Louvre, the first museum of Western classical art you've ever been to. You've grown up in a place where this interest could only be cultivated from extra-curricular reading, and for a kid that age from my country to be ass deep in Greek and Egyptian myth is frankly lmao. Neurodivergent. Anyway.

So we're wandering around the Louvre, I've just taken my parents through the Egyptian section and given them a thorough infodump on everything I know about burial rites.

And then we enter this room. And I very nearly fall to my knees when I catch sight of her.

This is the sculpture the statues at the Temple of Mythal are based on - one Winged Victory of Samothrace.

She is a sculpture from the Hellenestic era, depicting the goddess Nike stood at the prow of a ship. Her head and both arms are missing, save one hand with two fingers (also in the Louvre but displayed separately). She was found on the Greek island of Samothrace, among the ruins of what was known as the Sanctuary of the Great Gods. It seemed like she was displayed at the top of a hill, looming down at all that regarded her.

I’ve had the absolute privilege of seeing her in person twice in my life, both before and after the 2013 restoration. And let me tell you, regardless of which staircase that leads you there, the sight of her will stop you in your tracks.

[Now with people, for scale.]

She is massive. Larger than life, and immediately is the centre of your attention. It's not the fact that she has no head, no arms. No, you will realise the closer you get to her, the more you're able to appreciate the details of this absolutely astounding piece of history.

No. It's because she feels so alive.

The way her robes drape against flesh, wet from sea-spray or rain, yet flowing with the motion of an invisible wind. The wings cast behind her dramatically as her right foot steps forward. Standing tall and proud, unflinching, unbowed against the elements. Even without her arms, you can feel how dynamic the torso and legs are.

You don't need to be an art historian, or even have any knowledge of Greek myth or art history to stand in front of her, as I once did as a young teen, and nearly be brought to tears.

So.

This brings me to the first of the two main gripes I have with the way this sculpture is used in Inquisition.

Compared to the way she's displayed in the Louvre, and also presumably how she was presented to her original audience - larger than life, looming, powerful, beautiful - she is relegated instead to smaller, repeating statues of the same nature throughout the temple.

This diminishes the purpose of the original sculpture, which was to instill a sense of awe and wonder. The singularity that forces you to focus and appreciate the scale and intricacy. The aura, the gravitas of having a single, massive sculpture of such a dynamic figure is completely gone.

And to make things worse, they Mythal-ify her. Adding a helmed head and changing her beautiful feathered wings to leathery dragon wings. They don't even add arms, which is odd because the original sculpture very clearly is missing its arms.

And, may I ask, Why?

It feels cheap, like they saw the Winged Victory and were like 'oh shit this is a cool sculpture, we should add it in game' without giving any fucking thought to what the sculpture means.

Which brings me to the second gripe. The complete disregard for the symbolism of the Winged Victory.

Detail from the Athena fountain, Parliament Building of Vienna, showing Nike the Winged Victory in the palm of Athena's hand [source]

Nike is a minor Greek deity, said to be the daughter of Pallas (a Titan) and the river Styx. Her other siblings by the same parents include Zelus (Zeal),  Bia (Might) and Kratos (Strength).

Yes. That Kratos.

She was one of the earliest gods to pledge her allegiance to Zeus in the Titonomachy, and after the victory of the Olympians, Nike and the other gods that allied with them were allowed to live on Olympus. In her aspect as Victory, she is closely associated with several of the major Greek gods, and in particular, Athena.

There's also her Roman counterpart, Victoria. This version doesn't come with the backstory Nike has, but is more of a general concept of victory. This is the aspect that is present in a lot of the modern sculptures and interpretations of Nike/Victoria:

Left: Detail from the Berlin Victory Column. Right: Detail from the Victoria Memorial, London. Note the similar iconography, of a woman seemingly standing against a strong wind, fabric and cloth adhering and yet flowing against the breeze, wings outstretched.

From this, we can probably extrapolate what our beloved Winged Victory might've looked like. Here's an artist's render of one possibility:

There's some iconography we need to go through before moving on - symbols that are commonly associated with Nike/Victoria.

One is the trumpet as see in the reconstruction above, the sound and symbol of the end of war, of impending peace. Another is the laurel wreath, another Greek symbol of victory and achievement. Famously, laurel wreaths were used to crown victors of the original Olympic games.

This is another conversation entirely, but there’s a discussion to be had about the duality of Elgar’nan and Mythal, in term of vengeance and justice, and how an emotional rage versus a calculated wisdom can be compared to the difference between the two Greek gods of war – Ares and Athena.

If we can compare Mythal to Athena, in the sense of her wisdom in making difficult decisions, then it’s not a stretch to associate Mythal with the symbolism of Nike, and therefore explain the presence of statues similar to the Winged Victory in her temple.

But since Bioware absolutely did not put this in the game for anything other than the Aesthetic, there’s some problems that need to be addressed.

Mainly in the way in which these statues are scattered throughout the temple. If you wanted static, ominous statues to line the walls as your player characters explore, perhaps have like, I dunno. Less dynamic statues that you reference?

Left: Nike of Paionos, Right: Stele 1 of Las Incantadas

Or maybe instead of statues, have friezes lining the walls. Like this one from the equally iconic Pergamon altar, depicting the Giganomanchy.

It’s the same symbolism, the wings, the smiting of foes and victory of good over evil.

And then perhaps, at the heart of the temple... where, y'know Bioware, lay a body of water sacred to Mythal herself, you could've perhaps done something remarkable. You could then have had the most dramatic and beautiful entrance you’d ever seen.

[Nike, at the iconic Daru Staircase, the Louvre]

It was at this moment that Mythal walked out of the sea of the earth's tears and onto the land. She placed her hand on Elgar'nan's brow, and at her touch he grew calm and knew that his anger had led him astray. - Codex entry: Mythal: The Great Protector

Mythal herself strides out of the Well Of Sorrows, the metaphorical tears of her followers that died and kept their knowledge alive in her name. Her (draconic) wings spread out, (restored) hands outstretched to touch her husband, to calm the rage that nearly destroyed this world.

A symbol of victory against the blind rage of a god against His father, the Sun. A symbol of wisdom and grace, against the violence of hatred. A divine sense of something bigger than anything we could imagine.

There's also the lack of iconography regarding victory, instead piling on some cheap representations of what we think of as Mythal. That's another post entirely on the symbolism of the Elven gods, but if Bioware really wanted to hone in on the Athena/Athena Nike parallels, they might have thrown in the trumpet/laurel/palm leaf symbolism with the statues, alongside the dragon wings.

If this were the case, then maybe, just maybe, Inquisition would’ve then earned the use of this sculpture in the game.

Sources not listed above/Further reading if you're interested

https://www.louvre.fr/en/explore/the-palace/a-stairway-to-victory

https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1412/winged-victory-the-nike-of-samothrace/https://smarthistory.org/nike-winged-victory-of-samothrace/

https://smarthistory.org/nike-winged-victory-of-samothrace/

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/greek-art/hellenistic/a/nike-winged-victory-of-samothrace

[dzvelinaskebiyars]

Analysis on Liu Xiao's preview.

Please keep it in mind that you might have different interpretations on him as a character and his preview so it's alright if our viewpoint is different. However, I'm trying to reach and analysis what was intended to say in the preview.

Tagging: @ammiya

Firstly, Liu Xiao as spider.

It's veryy interesting that even in the beginning, Liu Xiao is represented as a spider which already tells us what kind of person he is. We see that there's insect trapped in spider's web and the spider, Liu Xiao, is moving towards it for obvious reasons.

Let's talk about spiders in general because isn't it interesting that Liu Xiao is portrayed as spider when he can be any other predator animal? Why not wolf, for example? Why not lion? Why not panther? Why small spider when it's not even comparable to other animals and even birds, as birds often attack spiders and destroy their web? (Many birds and animals may try to eat spiders, or at the very least, they'll probably interfere with the spider's food source.)

Spiders are predators, above all else, so hunting and killing is where they really shine. In the bug world, spiders are fairly fearsome animals -- they're the tiny equivalent of wolves, lions or sharks. Different spiders employ different hunting strategies. Some species build intricate webs to ensnare passing insects. Other spiders, such as the various wolf spiders, seek their prey out on the ground. Trap door spiders dig holes, cover them up with dirt doors hinged with spider silk, and lie in wait for passing prey. Similarly, some spiders hide inside flowers to catch feeding insects by surprise. Liu Xiao is obviously the web-spinning spider that carefully and patiently makes the web and waits for the prey. Web-spinning spiders wrap their prey in a web and then crush its body with their fangs. But let's point out what this tells us about Liu Xiao. Building web requires so much time and good nerves because it can be often destroyed by other animals and even humans after it's done or in the process. This shows two of Liu Xiao's character points:patience and persistence. He carefully and patiently hunts his preys, even if it takes years. He's completely different from his brother. He's not aggressive person, he's not manipulated and he doesn't rush anything. He does it all by himself too. He's the smart, sweet-talking manipulator. Not only that, he keeps others under control like Tiachen as an example just like spiders, who keep other pests under control.

I think I should move on from Liu Xiao as a spider before someone realises I spend hours learning about them👀 (here's the link if anyone wants to know more about web-spinning spiders)

Now second is, headless angel.

Let me point out main things here: it's a statue, no head, the hand placements, the number of wings.

Firstly, let's talk about this representation as statue. We know that greeks & romans are famous for creating statues like this and there is a well-known masterpiece of greek sculpture called The Winged Victory of Samothrace. I could go on and talk more about this specific statue but I'll say it shortly, The Winged Victory Of Samothrace symbolizes the goddess Victory, or Nike, alighting on the prow of a warship. The Winged Victory of Samothrace is one of the rare Greek statues whose exact original location is known. It was made as an offering to the gods for a sanctuary on the Greek island of Samothrace. Placed at a height, people could see her from afar. That is why, in a nod to her original lofty home, she now adorns the top of the Daru staircase. Nike, the winged goddess who heralds victory, is seen just as she is about to alight on a ship. Why is that headless statues were created? It's possible that the head may fell off due to the statue being ancient but sometimes it was purposely like that. It seems the Romans deliberately created statues without heads – and for a practical reason.Headless sculptures are probably among the more iconic features of Roman art and archaeology. But rather than being incomplete due to misadventure, some of these sculptures were created with detachable heads. This is because the Romans, ever the pragmatists, liked to be flexible with their artistic displays. Or, to put it another way, if you commissioned an expensive sculpture of a popular figure or hero, what happens if said hero becomes unpopular? The solution is simple – you pop their head off and replace it with whoever the latest social icon or hero is.This inbuilt flexibility was particularly important for Roman culture, as the act of forgetting was one of the more significant forms of punishment for those in disgrace. Statues were defaced and decapitated as a way to destroy the memory of the person they depicted, which often happened when one emperor replaced another or there was a significant regime change.To be clear, not all sculptures were built for this flexibility, so not every headless example was designed to end up this way.Another reason they are missing heads is because a lot of statues back then represented emperors and leaders. And every time they got a new emperor or a new god or goddess they would remove the head of the old emperor/god/goddess/whatever and put on a new one to look like the new emperor/god/goddess/whatever. There is lot of God/hero/emperor symbolisms in this preview but I'll explain it later.

The hand placement.

One hand is resting on the chest, which is done when introducing yourself or as the way of showing that you're being honest, practically saying "trust me". The second hand is often used in art, which I'm pretty sure all of us can tell that it symbolizes telling something, whether it's a story or whether explaining something. So what's shown is that this headless angel is saying something ehile indicating that they're being honest, thst they're trustworthy. Ironically enough, we can't trust these hands to know that the angel is being honest because it doesn't have the most important part of body to read the truth from: the head. What kind of expression does the statue have? What kind of emotion is portrayed? Do their eyes look honest? We won't know, because the angel has no head. I think this tells us more about Liu Xiao. I mentioned that he is sweet-talking manipulator. He'll convince that he's honest about helping you, or about whatever information he gave you but is he really? Maybe he's offering protection because that's what angels do, but you won't know if he's truly being honest. Because he's not. You can't read him, he's like headless angel here, showing you that he's honest when he's not.

The number of wings.

Honestly, it's hard to tell. It can be four and six too but from what my viewpoint, the statue has four wings. Now, in Christianity, we have four winged angel(s), Cherubs. In Christianity, angel wings are a powerful symbol of divine presence and protection so what do Cherubs protect? what belongs to God or even His own presence. They're throne bearers of God. They represent purity, grace, and the innocence of the divine and symbolize presence of the Divine.

To sum it up, this angel symbolizes purity, innocence, honesty and protection like other angels but the difference is the desperate conviction (with hands) and they're being honest, trustworthy but there's not a way to confirm that.

Do you all know what's more ironic? Yes, we talked about angels a lot and there's lot of angel statues and angel symbolisms but the very next scene and its symbolism make us doubt that the place, this scene, and Liu Xiao are actually related to good things.

The very next scene where goat-head men worship Liu Xiao immediately breaks the good image of him. Because goat heads are the symbol of the Church of Satan, the symbolism of satan. Which I think tells us that these men are followers of "satan", followers of evil and who do they follow? Liu Xiao. Oh Liu Xiao is fact was NOT being honest, huh? Now Satan has many different views. For example, in Christianity he's seen as evil, fallen angel who pushes humans into committing sins. But people believe Satan punishes sinners and hence, isn't bad at all. What I believe, as an Orthodox Christian, is that Satan doesn't punish sinners at all. He's sinner himself, a devil, and he isn't even ruler of hell in the first place. Satan spreads evil and I think that's what Liu Xiao is doing for whatever reason.

Now we also learn that Liu Xiao plays dart boards game.

Does even this have a meaning? You might ask. But yes, it does. Everything in the preview has meaning that we need to know in order to know more about Liu Xiao.

The dart board represents clear, specific goals in life. It symbolizes the satisfaction and motivation derived from achieving these goals, especially when they require focused, persistent effort. Now, obviously, Liu Xiao probably plays this game due to boredom especially in preview and not everything has deep meanings usually, but it's a preview. In previews, we're being shown to what kind of things or character we're going to see and usually such graphic and visual representations such as Liu Xiao's preview tells us so much more than we might even realise. Now, due to this dart game, we know that Liu Xiao has a goal in mind that he deeply focuses onto and doesn't do all these for laughs and giggles. He's serious and motivated. Conversely, the "dart" or "arrow" can be seen as a representation of death or the passage of time.

And again, the angel.

Showing angels after we saw Satan's followers is ridiculous but obviously it has meaning. From what we see, here's six winged angel. Seraphim. Seraphims have six wings and Seraphim serve as agents of purification. Their whole job is to honor God with that proclamation and to make His holiness known to everyone who dares to approach the throne of God. This statue's hands are placed differently than the previous. We're directly shown the palm, which is done in few cases: show that you're being truth to your words, introduce or point at something and manipulation. Have you all ever heard of saying "you have them in palm of your hand" or anything similar? It means to have complete control over someone and to be able to make them do anything you want. Hence, manipulation. I'm not even exaggerating. Throughout history, the open palm has been associated with truth, honesty, and openness. On the other hand, a palms down gesture suggests dominance, aggression, and authority. However, for a manipulative person, we do see the face of angel but it's Impossibly hard to identify the emotion. Why? Because it's a statue. I think that's the whole meaning of showing truth, honesty, openness, protection & authority, manipulation, dishonesty through statues because it's hard to know what kind of emotion is on the statue because statue has no emotions.

Next, we're being shown the face of the angel statue up close which is only statue that we see the expression of up close. I'd say it has more to do with Christianity but that won't be right, because in Christianity angels don't have human faces. Many of us like the picture of angels as beautiful winged feminine creatures or baby-like creatures with halos and harps, known as cherubims. But angels in the Bible likely do not look like any of our imaginations, nor do they appear as our media would have us believe.Angels, being spiritual beings, can take on different forms. As we see in Scripture, angels can sometimes appear as humans, to the point where we may not even recognize that we’ve served an angel. The short answer is we don’t have a definitive description for angels, but we can use Scripture to show how they sometimes appear.

I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, a man clothed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude (Daniel 10:5-6).

And, of course, the most bizarre: Their entire bodies, including their backs, hands, and wings, were full of eyes all around, as were their four wheels (Ezekiel 10:12).

This being said, I do not recognize the angel that is shown and unfortunately,I can't tell much about it. It's probably greek or roman sculpture but I can't tell which one and I can't idetify the "angel" (face) shown in the preview, so please pardon my lack of knowledge. But I can talk about the scene where this specific angel "cries" in red lights. Firstly, let's say that from beautiful angelic statue, it suddenly turned into demonic. The colour red symbolizes many things but is popular to symbolize danger, warning and us often related to satanism in a way. Now the biggest attention we need to pay to is crying/weeping angel. Has any of you heard of the myth of crying angel? Yes? No? Maybe so? Apart from basic meanings such as tragic loss, weeping angel symbolizes (according to myth) monster with the capability of sending others back in time by touching them. Now, Link Click is known for time travelling stuff and the anything related to time so it shouldn't be a surprise that maybe Liu Xiao's ability is exactly that, not manipulation. I mean, he's smart and very intelligent so why not? Maybe he's not using his ability but his brains to manipulate others. He's shown to be able to play chess and cards/poker which already indicates that he's intelligent.

Speaking of cards/poker:

These are the cards Liu Xiao played and apparently won with. Now let me educate some here about cards and their meanings.

Spades suit is considered the highest-ranking suit in games that give preference to the card suit. Spade symbolizes the winter season, and the symbol represents the water element. The suit symbolizes the acme of old age when humans gain knowledge, transformation, and acceptance.

the heart suit represents the season of spring. It also symbolizes the childhood stage of life and represents the fire element.

the diamond suit represents the autumn or fall season. The suit implies the growing state of a person’s working career. A diamond card represents progress, ethics, stability, commitment, and the air element.

the club symbol represents the summer season and the earth element. The club suit in cards indicates youth, a phase when a person focuses on education, and recklessness.

Ace – Desire

2 – Union

3 – Faith

4- Satisfaction

5 – Change

6 – Adjustments

7 – Victory

8 – Power

9 – New beginnings

10 – Success

King of Spades – King of Israel, David

King of Hearts – King of France, Charlemagne

King of Diamonds – Roman Caesar, Augustus

King of Clubs – King of Macedonia, Alexander

‘Jack’ in the 16th and 17th centuries meant a male servant without a specific role or skill; so not a cook, gardener, coachman etc, just a strapping fellow who can carry stuff, be sent on errands or brought along as a guard, whatever you happen to need doing. The French word for the card is valet, which in French means exactly the same thing.The other English word for the card is knave, which originally meant ‘boy, young man’, as its German equivalent, Knabe, still does. It evolved to mean ‘young manservant or henchman’. Eventually it became a derogatory word because royal households had so many of these young men, who went swaggering around the streets picking fights, molesting the girls and generally making nuisances of themselves.

Now the card I want to pay attention to is Ace of Spades. Why? Because the ace of spades is a symbol for people who are asexual and aromantic. Now, I'm not saying that Liu Xiao is 100% aro/ase or smth since I know that this probably isn't meaning at all but I'm analysising everything here as much as I can. But also, in poker Ace of Spades is often related to luck, wealth, power, transformation and even death. The Ace of Spades is also known as the "death card," and is often associated with bad luck or negative outcomes. However, in other games, the Ace of Spades is considered a lucky card, and players will often try to collect as many of them as possible. But well, we are talking about Poker, so it's death card.

Does this mean Liu Xiao dies? No, what this mean is that the men who were playing against Liu Xiao died.

The next scene is number of hands asking help and shortly after dragging someone's leg and someone with them. The hands are definitely of Liu Xiao's victims so could this mean that he's feeling some kind of guilt? Who knows, but there's emotion in those scenes. First is desperation for help then something like anger and dragging (probably Liu Xiao) down.

Chess.

Liu Xiao is holding the King, which means he's being protected. He's mastermind. But this specific scene where he hits the black knight, his ally is so thrilling. He's supposed to attack white pieces, his enemies, but he suddenly gets rid of his own ally himself? One doesn't know such thing in chess, but of course, it's not simply chess but another key to know what kind of person Liu Xiao is. My sister said from her analysis that this is portraying betrayal, where I think it's getting rid of your ally/puppet after they're no longer useful. So, this scene can be perceived in different views, however there's one fact that stands for sure. Liu Xiao isn't opposing the idea of getting rid of and betraying his own allies if he needs to.

THIS is the reference with headless angel. Same hand position, seems to spread kindness and righteousness and makes himself to be our ally/friend but how true is that? The light above him makes him seem godlike being, saint or innocent. He's wearing blue expensive clothes (ironically, spiders hate blue colour), gold rings and earrings which makes us think that he's capable of helping us, he's rich and capable. But the previous analysis on headless angel proves us otherwise. While we do see his expression, his face, we can't identify exact emotion. For a second he seems amused, all knowing and in another second it's as if he's taking pity on us. Plus, he's looking down on us, directly. Showing that he's on higher stage, higher status. I said this before, he's sweet-talking manipulator and here is being shown how he's truly manipulating others.

[art-that-fucks-you-up-tournament]

SET FIVE - ROUND ONE - MATCH THREE

"Laocoön and His Sons" (c.27 BCE-68 CE - attributed to Agesander, Athenodoros, and Polydorus) / "Winged Victory of Samothrace" (c. 200-190 BCE)

LAOCOÖN AND HIS SONS: when i think of ancient greek marble sculpture i usually think of laocoon or artemis of ephesus (those aren't boobs they're beads! er that's offtopic) or the elgin marbles (let's not talk about those.). and of THOSE it's laocoon that fucks me up. look at them. they're in AGONY. that's MARBLE. and the snakes are amazing and the hair and ugh. and the unfairness of punishing both the sons for something they didn't do is also heartrending. learn to assign blame correctly!! (@kaerran)

WINGED VICTORY OF SAMOTHRACE: the drapery and wings feel like they are totally weightless. indomitable. (@universallygladiatornacho )

("Laocoön and His Sons" is a marble sculpture attributed to Agesander, Athenodoros, and Polydorus. It measures 208 cm × 163 cm × 112 cm (6 ft 10 in × 5 ft 4 in × 3 ft 8 in) and is located in the Vatican Museums.

"Winged Victory of Samothrace" or The Winged Nike is a sculpture made of parian marble. The sculpture is 5.57m (18.3 ft) tall, including the boat shaped base, and the statue only is 2.75m (9 ft). It was originally found in Samothrace, Greece, but is currently held in the Louvre in Paris.)

[pmamtraveller]

WINGED VICTORY OF SAMOTHRACE (NIKE OF SAMOTHRACE) b. 200-175 BCE

This is a masterpiece of GREEK sculpture from the HELLENISTIC era. It is a colossal statue representing the goddess NIKE (VICTORY), composed of a white marble statue and a grey marble ship's bow base

The sculpture depicts NIKE alighting on the ship's bow, with her wings dramatically outstretched behind her and her drapery billowing in the wind. This dynamic composition conveys a vivid sense of movement and energy, as if the goddess has just descended from the heavens to announce a naval victory.

The sculptor's technical mastery is evident in the construction of NIKE'S wings, which were carved from marble and inserted into slots on her back. This innovative approach allowed the creation of large, unsupported wings without the need for external support, a rare feat in ancient GREEK sculpture.

Stylistically, the NIKE of SAMOTHRACE exemplifies the HELLENISTIC aesthetic, with its dramatic, emotive pose and the eroticized rendering of NIKE'S body beneath the sheer drapery. The statue was intended to be viewed from multiple angles, encouraging the viewer to physically engage with the artwork

Regardless of the specific historical context, THE WINGED VICTORY OF SAMOTHRACE stands as a masterpiece of HELLENISTIC sculpture, celebrated for its technical virtuosity, dynamic composition, and emotive power.

[ryebread-x]

Nike ,Goddess of Victory

My design for Nike ,the winged greek goddess of Victory!

I based my design of Nike off the famous statue of her the "Winged Victory of Samothrace" which is why she has wings in place of arms and a more marble-like color palette to her design

[artschoolglasses]

Winged Victory at the Louvre

Paris, France