The Tasteful Judge of Beauty
“But I am a great admirer of beauty myself. For in the contests [at Athens] for the prize of manliness, they select the handsomest, and give them the post of honour to bear the sacred vessels at the festivals of the gods. And at Elis there is a contest as to beauty, and the conqueror has the vessels of the goddess given to him to carry: and the next handsomest has the ox to lead, and the third places the sacrificial cakes on the head of the victim.”
~ Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae, XIII
When Athenaeus speaks of his own love
Of beauty, he puts manly beauty at
The top. He notes what cities place above
All other loveliness: the habitat
Of highest beauty rests in men. For each
Of several cities he writes down how they
Choose gorgeous males and think that those will reach
Divine attention since these ones display
Stupendous handsomeness in rites before
The gods. In Athens and in Elis both
The winners of male beauty contests bore
The vessels to the altars like an oath.
..Men, champions of beauty, were their boasts
…. And handed loftiest religious posts.
