versioni della medaglia vittoria DA STAMPARE ClassicalMotifsintheWingedFigureofVictoryontheInteralliedVictoryMedal1919paperv.3WITHIMAGES

1
Giles Penman
Classical Motifs in the Winged Figure of Victory on the Inter-allied Victory Medal 1919
Abstract
An official Inter-allied Victory Medal appears in all the First World War medal groups of
fourteen of the Allied nations. With more than fourteen million issued, collectors expect to
find the medal in a group and view it as ordinary. Consequently, the Victory Medal has
been neglected in the field of Phaleristics. However, a multiplicity of Classical meanings can
be observed in the different representations of the Winged Figure of Victory, who had
special significance in the ancient world, and appears on the obverse of all Victory Medals
with the exception of the Siamese and Japanese Medals. Therefore, this paper will discuss
the relationship between the different representations of the Winged Figure of Victory on
the Inter-allied Victory Medal and the origins and meanings of the Classical Goddess of
Victory, known as Nike to the Ancient Greeks and Victoria to the Romans. This relationship
reveals the multifarious ways in which the Allied Powers wished to be remembered after the
Great War, as Victor, Recipient of Victory Spoils, Triumphator, or Liberator. Classical
literature, art and archaeology will illustrate this relationship.
Victory as the Bringer of Victory
Victory, bearing a sword on the Belgian, French, Cuban, Czechoslovakian, Romanian
Victory Medal and holding a sword and shield and wearing armour on the medal of the
United States of America, delivers victory to the side of right. Victory is seen as the Bringer
of Victory in the writing of the Greek epinician poet Bacchylides and the Roman author
Ovid.
Victory as the Giver of Victory Spoils
Victory, depicted as bearing the palm of victory on the Romanian, British and South African
Victory Medals, a laurel wreath of victory on the medal of Portugal and both a laurel
wreath and the palm of victory on the Greek and Brazilian Victory Medals, appears to
present them to the viewer. Victory is described giving the spoils of military victory to
conquerors in the Orphic Hymn to Nike.
Victory as Triumphator
Victory, portrayed on the Italian Victory Medal as celebrating military victory, riding a
chariot driven by four lions, appears like a triumphant Roman general leading a victory
procession. Victory is portrayed as a Triumphator. Victory is shown in a similar pose on the
mosaic in the House of Vergil in Roman North Africa.
Victory as Liberator
Victory appears on the U.S. Victory Medal wearing a radiate crown and flowing dress in the
manner of the Statue of Liberty. Victory is described as a liberator in the work of the Greek
lyric poet Simondes, since Victory helped to drive out the oppressive Persians.

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Giles Penman
The relationship between the Goddess Victory and the Victory Medal demonstrates that
some nations wanted to be viewed as victors defeating and triumphing over their enemies,
others as liberators freeing countries from occupation, yet others as benefiting from the
military victories. In contrast, some nations wanted to be seen in a combination of these
guises, as both victor and liberator.
Introduction
Before the First World War and following a conflict, European nations used to exchange
campaign medals amongst their allies, with the result that servicemen would be issued with
a campaign medal from their own nation and one from each of the allied nations. For
example, after the Crimean War 1854-6, the Ottoman Empire issued the Turkish Crimea
Medal to allied British, French and Sardinian servicemen, and the British government issued
the Crimea Medal to French, Turkish and Sardinian forces and the Baltic Medal to French
sailors
1
. However, given the large number of the Allies, who participated in the First World
War, such exchanges of medals would have been “an impossible financial and
administrative burden”
2
. Instead, it was decided that each ally should award one
standardized medal to their servicemen
3
.
The medal, which eventually became known as “The Inter-allied Victory Medal”, was first
conceived by a British committee, convened to consider the matter of war medals and was
known initially as the “Allies Medal”. The French and Belgian governments agreed in 1917
that a common medal should be issued after the war by all Allied and Associated powers
4
.
The French Chamber of Deputies voted for a law establishing a medal observing the Allied
victory in December 1918. Due to the interest of the French public, Marshal Foch, Supreme
Commander of the Allied Armies, brought the idea of a single medal to the Paris Peace
Conference
5
.
On 24 January 1919, the Supreme Council, consisting of Heads of State, Foreign Ministers
and military leaders of the five chief powers, the United States of America, Great Britain,
France, Italy and Japan, met in the office of the French Foreign Minister. The Supreme
Council agreed to Marshal Foch’s proposal. In March 1919 an Inter-allied Commission
formulated the medal and resolved several recommendations for its form and issue
6
. The
Committee resolved that the medal for the First World War should be called the Victory
Medal, be bronze and round, 36mm in diameter. The finish, thickness and suspension ring
of the medal should be similar to the French 1870 War Medal and all the medals should have
an identical ribbon of a double rainbow. The Allied governments should choose their own
artists to design their own Victory Medal but it should conform to certain specifications: the
obverse of Victory Medal should have a plain border and feature a full length, full-faced
standing and winged figure of Victory, the reverse should bear the inscription “The Great
1
Hayward, Birch, Bishop [2006: 264, 267, 276]
2
Duckers [2011: 43-4]
3
Laslo [1992: 1]
4
In this paper, the word “Allies” or “Allied” will mean “Allied and Associated”
5
Laslo [1992: 1]
6
Laslo [1992: 1-4]

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Giles Penman
War for Civilization” in the language of the issuing country and bear the names or heraldic
arms of the Allied powers, and the edge should be plain
7
. Of the Allies represented, the
United States of America, France, Belgium, Great Britain
8
, Portugal, Greece, Italy, Romania,
Czechoslovakia, the Union of South Africa, Brazil, Cuba, Japan and Siam chose to issue a
Victory Medal and followed the recommendations to varying degrees. All the nations chose
to issue a Victory Medal featuring the winged figure of Victory except Siam and Japan, for
whose people the goddess held no significance
9
. Consequently, the governments of Japan
and Siam chose obverse designs, which featured corresponding deities from their own
cultures, equally meaningful to their people as the winged figure of Victory was to the
Western Allies
10
.
Victory was chosen as the obverse design for the Inter-allied Victory Medal of the Western
Allies before or in the early stages of the Inter-allied Commission. The goddess, known as
Nike to the Ancient Greeks and Victoria to the Romans, was the Classical goddess and
messenger of victory. Nike was daughter of the Titan Pallas and Styx and the sister of Zelos
“Rivalry”, Kratos “Strength” and Bia “Force”. She had no mythology of her own, and
instead was assimilated with the cults of other deities, such as Zeus at Olympia and Athena
at Athens. As a result, Nike shared the attributes of these gods and is depicted as having the
control over fate of Zeus and the martial qualities of Athena. Nike, as a messenger-god, was
depicted with either two or four wings, although she was occasionally depicted by the
Athenians and Spartans without wings, in order that she would stay with them and not fly
away to their enemies. In literature, she is first mentioned by the early Greek epic poet
Hesiod in the Theogony, in which she is described as fighting with the Olympian gods
against the Titans
11
.
Already a goddess of martial victory, in the 6th and 5th Centuries BC, the lyric poets
Bacchylides and Pindar, who wrote epicinian odes, victory odes to victorious athletes,
represented Nike in their odes as a goddess of athletic victory, who brought favour to and
aided the victorious athlete in his endeavour
12
. As a result of this power over victory, Nike
was propitiated by athletes and soldiers alike. By the Classical period, the 5th and 4th
Centuries, Nike’s iconography was fully developed and is variously depicted carrying a
palm branch, a wreath, a jug, phiale or libation bowl, a thymiaterion or censer for incense. In
particular, Nike’s palm of victory gained universal significance and recognition in the
athletic games of Ancient Greece and Rome as the token of victory, since it was given, along
with the laurel wreath, to victorious competitors at the games. These victors wore the
wreath and carried the palm as a symbol of their victory to onlookers. The palm branch
became one of commonest attributes of the goddess Victory and appears many times in
7
Laslo [1992: 5-6]
8
Although issued by Great Britain, all servicemen of Dominions, Colonies and Imperial Possessions also
received it, with the exception of servicemen from the Union of South Africa, who received the South African
Victory Medal.
9
Laslo [1992: 6]
10
Laslo [1992: 6]
11
Arafat [2003]
12
Maehler [2012]

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Giles Penman
Roman imperial art
13
. The Greek goddess of victory, Nike, appeared with particular
frequency in statuary and art after the Athenian victory at the Battle of Marathon and is
depicted alone, pouring libations over an altar, in athletic and martial contexts, occasionally
holding weapons or decorating a trophy. In the Hellenistic period, after the reign of
Alexander the Great, Nike is used by his successors, the Diadochi, for political means,
showing that Nike was on their side
14
. Although Victoria, the Roman goddess of victory,
originated from the earlier Sabine deity Vacuna, she was the equivalent of the Greek Nike.
Consequently, Victoria had the same attributes and fulfilled the same function in the Roman
pantheon as Nike in the Greek pantheon. As such, Victoria was the goddess of victory in
athletics and war. This meant that soldiers prayed to Victoria for success in battle and so
Victoria gained surnames associating her with particular legions
15
. Thus, the role of the
winged figure of Victory evolved over time to encompass victory in war and athletics. This
heritage of differing and changing usage and meaning of the winged figure of Victory is the
one, which the Western Allies shared when they decided that the goddess would represent
the victory of the Allies at the end of the First World War on the Inter-allied Victory Medal.
For the Allies, the palm of victory was particularly recognizable as a token of victory as was
the laurel wreath
16
.
However, it was disagreements amongst the delegates at the Inter-allied Commission over
the practicality of an international competition to design the Victory Medal and over whose
nation’s artists should be chosen for the task, which led to the Inter-allied Commission’s
resolution that each nation should issue their own Victory Medal individually
17
. This
decision inevitably resulted in varying and, in some cases, vastly differing images of the
goddess Victory. These various images appeared on over fourteen million Victory Medals
and have come to be an excepted and commonplace element of First World War medal
groups. Consequently, the Victory Medal has been overlooked in the field of Phaleristics
with few books and academic articles written directly about them, only Alexander Laslo’s
1992 book entitled “The Interallied Victory Medals of World War I” , an article by Richard
Florey in the September 2009 edition of the OMRS Journal entitled “The Type I Victory Medal
1914-19”, and a current series of articles by Martin Fuller in Medal News. However, there is
a plethora of different ancient motifs present in the winged figure of Victory on the Victory
Medal, which were important to the Greeks and Romans. It is the intention of this paper to
discuss the relationship between the representations of the winged figure of Victory on each
Victory Medal and the ancient deity, a relationship mediated by the actions of the issuing
Ally during the Great War and their behaviour and gains at the subsequent Paris Peace
Conference of 1919 and other contemporary conferences. This relationship will reveal the
different ways, in which the victorious Allies wished to be viewed as victors at the end of
the First World War, variously as victor, recipient of war prizes, triumphator and liberator.
The analysis of the connection between the winged figure of Victory and the goddess of
13
Tarbell [1908: 264]
14
Arafat [2003]
15
Rose, Scheid [2012]
16
Tarbell [1908: 264]
17
Laslo [1992: 4]

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Giles Penman
Victory will be conducted under the following headings: Victory as Bringer of Victory,
Victory as Giver of Victory Spoils, Victory as Triumphator and Victory as Liberator.
Victory as Bringer of Victory
Nike was seen by the Ancient Greeks as a goddess, who brought victory to her favoured
athlete. For example, the poet Bacchylides wrote in the Pythian Ode for Alexidamus of
Metapontion after the Boy’s Wrestling Match at the Pythian Games in Delphi
"Victory…Sped by your will Metapontion, love of the gods is even now seized by the revels
of the boys…pealing the song of the Pythian win of Phiascus’ wondrous son", suggesting
that Nike’s support caused her champion to win
18
. Indeed, Nike is described as standing
beside or hovering over her favoured athlete, bringing about his victory. For instance,
Simonides, a 6th Century lyric poet, wrote "To win glory, stepping into the chariot of
honoured Nike (Victory): for to one man only does the goddess grant to jump into her great
carriage "
19
, indicating that the victorious charioteer metaphorically rides in Nike’s chariot
and is not responsible for his own victory but is instead guided to it by Nike, the bringer of
victory. Given Nike’s power over victory, she was often propitiated in order that victory
would come to the propitiating athlete. Bacchylides wrote “Lady Nike, may you always look
with favour on the lovely chorus of the Karthaians the sons of Kranaus (Cranaus)”
20
. Here
Bacchylides beseeches Nike as the bringer of Victory to bring success for the chorus.
Figure 1: Tetradrachm of
Demetrius Poliorcetes © Trustees of the British Museum
In martial contexts, the Ancient Greeks believed that Nike supported the nation, which
represented Justice, Civilization and Order, because of her connection with Themis , a Titan,
whose name meant “Law”, “Right”, and “Order”. For example, the Homeric Hymn to Ares
contains the line “ [Ares, god of war] father of warlike (eupolemos) Nike, ally of Themis”
21
.
Therefore, Nike as the comrade of Themis brings victory to the side representing Justice,
Order and Civilization. Nike’s role as a warrior goddess, who brings victory in war to the
side of Right, is emphasized by the description of her as “warlike”. In this way, on the silver
tetradrachm of Demetrius Poliorcetes, Figure 1, Nike is shown standing on the prow of a
18
Fagles [1998: 30]
19
Campbell [1991: 396-7]
20
Atsma [2011]
21
Atsma [2011]