Q 01/05

Which sportswear logo, sketched by a student in 1971, was inspired by the wings of the goddess Nike?

A) The Swoosh

B) The Jumpman

C) The Trefoil

D) The Three Stripes

Answer · why

A) The Swoosh

The Swoosh earned student Carolyn Davidson just $35, though the company later thanked her with a diamond ring in its shape and 500 shares.

Q 02/05

Since the 1928 Amsterdam Games, Nike has been the main figure on which sporting prizes?

A) Paralympic medals

B) Summer Olympic medals

C) Winter Olympic medals

D) Commonwealth Games medals

Answer · why

B) Summer Olympic medals

Summer Olympic medals have shown her ever since; the 2004 Athens redesign swapped the Roman Colosseum behind her for a Greek stadium.

Q 03/05

According to the travel writer Pausanias, why did Athens keep a wingless statue of Nike in her temple?

A) To honor a fallen general

B) To copy an Egyptian idol

C) So she could never leave

D) To mark a naval defeat

Answer · why

C) So she could never leave

A Victory with no wings could never leave the city, the Athenians reasoned, so her old cult statue stayed wingless while other Nikes flew.

Q 04/05

Which brother of Nike, the Greek spirit of strength, shares his name with the hero of the God of War games?

A) Thanatos

B) Hypnos

C) Phobos

D) Kratos

Answer · why

D) Kratos

Kratos got his video-game name late in development, after the character was already designed, and the match with the myth was a coincidence.

Q 05/05

A famous marble relief from the Temple of Athena Nike shows the goddess bending down to adjust what?

A) Her sandal

B) Her helmet

C) Her necklace

D) Her belt

Answer · why

A) Her sandal

Her sandal gives the carving its name, and the slab once belonged to a parapet built to stop visitors falling off the temple's rock.