Beauty, Gods, and Early Greek Art: The Dedications of Mantiklos and Nikandre Revisited

Abstract

Did beauty matter for art in ancient Greece? Detailed analysis of two famous votive statues—the dedications of Mantiklos (ca. 700–675 BCE) and Nikandre (ca. 660–630 BCE)—spotlights beauty’s significance in early Greek art. Examining contemporary Greek texts alongside these statues reveals that notions of beauty were instrumental to both the objects’ manufacture and their social and religious purposes. The ambiguity over whether these statues represent gods or humans—like the many votive kouroi and korai made in Archaic Greece—is integral to their meaning and function as votives: the aspiration to solidarity between human and divine.