This statues is of Nike (Victory) offered by the Messenians and Naupaktians in gratitude for their victory over the Lakedaimonians in 424 B.C.; it is known by the name of the artist who made it: the Nike of Paionios. It stood upon a tall triangular pedestal (about 9 m. high) in front of the east side of the temple of Zeus, and gave the spectator the impression that Victory, descending from her heavenly abode, was about to land on that very spot. This work is an exceptionally audacious achievement. It is the first time in the history of Greek sculpture that the flight of the winged goddess is rendered with such a keen feeling for the subject, without sacrificing either the plastic values or the structure of the work. The exquisite draping of the lower part of the himation, which counterbalances the two enormous wings, spread out wide open from the shoulder-blades, the marked inclination forward, impetuous, yet at the same time skilfully balanced, the suspended projection of the left limb, the slight bending of the head.

The Hermes of Praxiteles.  This  famous statue, found in  the temple of Hera, shows Hermes holding in his left ann the infant Dionysos while in his raised right hand he probably held a bunch of grapes, dangling it before the childgod, who strecthes out his small hand to grasp the sacred fruit. Hermes has draped his himation over a nearby tree-trunk, reveahng his beautiful, youthful body in all its nudity. c. 340 B.C.

Selina and Rosemary in the backgroumd

Selina and Rosemary viewing one of the twelve metopes at the museum at Olympia.