Samothrace [key], island (1991 pop. 3,083), c.71 sq mi (184 sq km), NE Greece, in the Aegean Sea. The main town is Samothrace, or Samothráki, located on the northwest shore. The island is largely mountainous, rising to c.5,575 ft (1,700 m) on Mt. Fengari. In ancient times Samothrace was an important center of worship. There are ruins of a religious sanctuary, some of which date to the 6th cent. b.c. The famous statue of the winged Nike (or Victory) of Samothrace, built c.200 b.c. to adorn a ship and later transferred to the island, was discovered on Samothrace in 1863 and is now in the Louvre in Paris. The island was ceded to Greece by the Ottoman Empire in 1913.
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