Alexander Meddings
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Flexible TravelNike is among the most popular and respected brands in the sports industry and one of the most valued business brands in the world, ranking ahead of Intel and Mercedes-Benz. How did this happen and where did it all start? Have you ever wondered how Nike got its name?
What if we told you it didn’t start in the USA but in Greece — more than 3,000 years ago.
The iconic tick or check mark is synonymous with the Nike brand, and like all good brand logos we don’t even need to see the name on the product to know it is Nike. It is incredible to think that the iconic swoosh cost the owners of the company only $35 and the name was only decided five hours before the first shipment of shoes left the warehouse!
Founded by Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman in 1964, Nike started life as Blue Ribbon Sports. Initially, Blue Ribbon Sports was just a distributor of running shoes made by a Japanese company Onitsuka Tiger (now known as Asics). A few years later they decided to go it alone and asked a graphic design student Carolyn Davidson to design a logo; she was paid $2 an hour to work on the design.
The evolution of Nike’s logos
The chosen design was the now iconic swoosh. By July 1971, Nike's founders were ready to market their own brand of sports shoes, but they needed a name. Most of the suggestions echoed Puma and fast animals – Peregrine, Bengal. Jeff Johnson, one the company’s first employees in Massachusetts, had read an article about Xerox and Kleenex, suggesting a successful brand should be a short word with a maximum of two syllables and an exotic letter.
Just five hours before the shipment was due to go out Johnson awoke with the name Nike. “What’s a Nike?” asked the President of the company. “The Greek goddess of Victory” replied Johnson.
No one was particularly taken with the name, but time was of the essence.
Nike – among the world’s most iconic trainers
Over the years Nike has grown enormously to become sportswear's most sought-after brand, not to mention one of the largest grossing companies. According to a Forbes report from 2020, Nike generates $39 billion in revenue annually.
The name of Nike however spans over 3,000 years from Greece to Rome to an American sportswear brand. In Ancient Greece Nike was the goddess of strength, speed, and victory and so is the perfect representative for a sportswear brand.
According to Greek mythology, Nike was the daughter of the titan Pallas and the goddess Styx. Other stories say she was the daughter of Mars - the God of War - who fathered Romulus and Remus, the legendary founders of Rome.
During the ‘Clash of the Titans’, Nike was the charioteer of the Gods and is often depicted with other divinities, such as Zeus and Athena, or with victorious heroes whose horses she guides.
The Greek goddess Nike depicted on pottery
In ancient Greece she was depicted with famous athletes, symbolising their victories in competitions. At the athletic games held in Olympia over 2,500 years ago, she awarded a laurel wreath to the winners. Today, bronze, silver and gold medals of the modern Olympic Games bear her image.
Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, on the Olympic Medals from Tokyo 2020
Sculptures of Nike were erected in public places as well as temples, celebrating not just speed and strength in competition but victory in war as well. Nike flew around battlefields rewarding the victors with glory and fame, symbolized by the same wreath of laurel leaves (bay leaves). But there's another important meaning attached to Nike's wings: victory is fleeting, and just as it can fall quickly at your feet so too can it disappear in an instant.
The Romans adopted gods and goddesses from Greek culture. In Greece, Nike was a winged figure depicted next to a hero, Zeus or Athene. But in Rome, Nike became a goddess in her own right: Victoria.
The concept of victory in battle was hugely important to the militaristic Romans. Strength, military might and conquest were central to Roman values so Victoria became an important goddess. She was associated with the Senate, who, during the Roman Republic, had the final say on whether to go to war. Many statues and temples were erected in her name.
Closely associated with military victory, she appears on triumphal arches erected for victorious generals as decoration, but statues of her in a chariot also topped the arches. In Rome, Nike was even depicted attending the triumphal parade. When an emperor returned from conquest a huge parade would welcome him into the city. A slave dressed as Victoria with wings on her back rode behind the emperor in the quadriga (a four-horse chariot associated with victory) showing the people that victory was on Rome’s side.
Nike's Roman equivalent Victoria as depicted on the Arch of Titus in the Roman Forum
As the glory of Rome passed and the empire fell, the goddess of victory faded away. Yet she was not forgotten, she morphed and re-emerged under Christianity as an angel – still doing the bidding of God.
As you wander around Rome today, you will find the goddess everywhere. Piazza Venezia's Vittoriano (Altar of the Fatherland) monument is one place she appears. It celebrates the ‘unification of Italy’ in 1871 when the Republic of Italy brought down centuries of papal rule. The building is topped by two bronze statues of Victoria in her four-horse chariot.
Nike (Victoria) atop the Vittoriano statue in Rome
The ancient goddess of Victory rides again - revived anew atop one of the most modern monuments in an ancient city. Directly in front of the ‘Vittoriano’ is one of the major shopping streets in Rome, Via del Corso. At number 476 you will find one of the seven Nike stores to be found in the city. As you walk around the capital you will undoubtedly notice the Roman obsession with having the latest pair of trainers or sneakers.
Immerse yourself in the Eternal City on our Rome Walking Tours. Learn fascinating facts about Piazza Navona, the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, the Vittoriano, the Pantheon and more — all with an expert guide who will bring the city’s past to life.
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