Kore of Nikandre
Early Greek female figure dedicated to Artemis.
Down one side of this sculpture is an inscription naming Nikandre as the person who gave it to the sanctuary on Delos where it was found. All we know about Nikandre is what we are told in the inscription, which identifies her by naming all the men in her life. The goddess honoured with this gift is not named, but is described as being an accurate long-distance archer — it can only be Artemis.
The first line of the inscription is written left to right, the second right to left. This alternating format is called boustrophedon, meaning ‘ox-turning’, like a plough in a field
Athens, National Museum 1
Purchased in 1884
Lippold: Griechische Plastik, 43 n.12; pl. 11.2
Markade: Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique LXXIV 1950, 182
Karo: Personality in Greek Archaic Art, 17 & 92-3
Jenkins: Dedalica, 68-
Homolle: Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique III 1879, 1-
Walston: Catalogue of Casts in the Museum of Classical Archaeology (1889), 8, no.5
Friedländer: Epigrammata, no.46
Woodhead’s inscription no.33
Stewart: Greek Sculpture, 108, pls. 34-5
Inscription: IG xii, 5.2, p.xxiv; SGDI 5423; ID II, 1; Jefferys LSAG 303; Hansen CEG (1983), 403
Karakasi: Archaic Korai (2003), 67
Nikandre daughter of Deinodikos the Naxian outstanding amongst women, sister of Deinomenes and now wife of Phraxos, dedicated me to the far-shooting archeress
Delos, in front of the Temple of Apollo