Nike with Zodiac (copy)

Nabatean, c. 100 AD
Archaeological Museum, Amman, Jordan

This statue comes from Khirbet Tannur, like the bust of Atargatis on the previous page. A standing figure of winged Victory (Nike) holds up a bust of Atargatis (per the exhibit website below), crowned as Tyche ("Fortune") and encircled by the signs of the zodiac. A crescent moon appears over Atargatis's right shoulder; above her left shoulder are two wands bound together, one exhibiting a crescent moon, and the other exhibiting a grain or fruit. The signs on the zodiac disk are arranged unusually, from top to bottom on either side rather than continuously around the circumference.

The statue is divided into two pieces: the standing Nike, kept in the Amman Museum, and the bust of Tyche with zodiac, belonging to the Cincinnati Art Museum. Its two pieces were reunited for a traveling exhibit, Petra: Lost City of Stone. The sculpture seen here is a copy, that is being kept in the Amman museum while the reunited statue travels (2005).