231
Journal of The Never Ending Cycle Of Play From Vita Nuda , Vol. 12, No. 3 (Winter, 1985)
Nudity lived in Greek athletics because it was supported by heroic
tradition and religion. So the use of nudity for aggression and apotropaic
Objectives that is characteristic of the early phases of human society and which
reflects the animal part of human nature lived with an unusual persistency
and beyond recognition in the historical period and found refuge under the
mantle of one of the most illustrious facets of Greek civilization: the sport.
State. The Greek with his sharp eye for physical attractiveness regarded flabbiness, a light skin, want of condition, or
imperfect development as disgraceful, and the sick-developed youth was the laughingstock of his companies."
Kenneth Clark (The Naked, p. 19) commented: "So our surmise the discovery of the nude as a kind of art is
Associated with idealism and religion in quantifiable symmetries appears to be accurate, but it's just half the truth. What
other peculiarities of the Greek mind are called for? One clear answer is their belief that the body was something
to be proud of. and should be kept in perfect cut." Yet, Clark continued, "But in fact Greek confidence in the body
can be understood simply in relation to their doctrine. It expresses above all their sense of human wholeness.
Nothing which related to the whole man could be isolated or evaded; and this serious awareness of how much was
implied in physical beauty saved them from the two evils of sensuality and aestheticism (p. 21). James Arieti
["Nudity in Greek Athletics," 4361 argues "The public nakedness which does not, in the 1970's shock us as it
shocked the Romans-though it does, perhaps, look somewhat uncivilized for the Greeks-empowered the athletes
to show Medical experts note that men's breasts possess the same sexual capacities as women's.133 In addition, studies used over their bodies. Since they were the only folks to compete naked,
they could well believe they were the only individuals capable of such self-control: here, maybe, was a clear
superiority over the barbarians, who had to hide themselves both to prevent tempting others and to conceal their own
Deficiency of management." For more references regarding the practice of nudity in Greek sport, see ibid., pp. 434 n. 10,
Nudity as a Costumein ClassicalArt
![image]()
LARISSA BONFANTE
Abstract
The Greeks saw their custom of fit male nudity
as something that set them apart from the barbarians,as
well as from their own past. A surveyof male nudity as a
costume in Greece tries to trace its origin in eighthcentury rite, its slow transformationfrom initiation
Rituals to the "civic"nudity of the Classical period, and its
significance in various spiritual, magic, and social circumstances. The characterof this institution can be viewed more
clearly by comparing it with earlier Near Eastern approaches to nakedness, and to the after contemporary"barbarian"attitudes of the Hebrews, Etruscans,and Gauls,
as well concerning the contemporaryviews of female nudity,
before its acceptancein the Hellenistic span.*
as a costume.' This is a surprising occurrence. That
We've not been more surprised by it is due to the fact
that we follow in their own custom and take the Greeks
as models, forgetting how frequently their associations and
Perspectives made them the exception, and not the rule,
among ancient peoples. The Greeks of the Classical
world didn't forget. While not, as we shall see, totally
understanding the importance of the custom, they
were proud of its singularity.
A study of nudity in Greece needs to be undertaken
from the historic point of view. I restrict myself, in the
Current article, to a consideration of the signs of artwork
and literature in an attempt to understand what lay
behind the words and figures concerning and representing nudity that have
Journal of The Never Ending Cycle Of Play From Vita Nuda , Vol. 12, No. 3 (Winter, 1985)
Nudity lived in Greek athletics because it was supported by heroic
tradition and religion. So the use of nudity for aggression and apotropaic
Objectives that is characteristic of the early phases of human society and which
reflects the animal part of human nature lived with an unusual persistency
and beyond recognition in the historical period and found refuge under the
mantle of one of the most illustrious facets of Greek civilization: the sport.
State. The Greek with his sharp eye for physical attractiveness regarded flabbiness, a light skin, want of condition, or
imperfect development as disgraceful, and the sick-developed youth was the laughingstock of his companies."
Kenneth Clark (The Naked, p. 19) commented: "So our surmise the discovery of the nude as a kind of art is
Associated with idealism and religion in quantifiable symmetries appears to be accurate, but it's just half the truth. What
other peculiarities of the Greek mind are called for? One clear answer is their belief that the body was something
to be proud of. and should be kept in perfect cut." Yet, Clark continued, "But in fact Greek confidence in the body
can be understood simply in relation to their doctrine. It expresses above all their sense of human wholeness.
Nothing which related to the whole man could be isolated or evaded; and this serious awareness of how much was
implied in physical beauty saved them from the two evils of sensuality and aestheticism (p. 21). James Arieti
["Nudity in Greek Athletics," 4361 argues "The public nakedness which does not, in the 1970's shock us as it
shocked the Romans-though it does, perhaps, look somewhat uncivilized for the Greeks-empowered the athletes
to show Medical experts note that men's breasts possess the same sexual capacities as women's.133 In addition, studies used over their bodies. Since they were the only folks to compete naked,
they could well believe they were the only individuals capable of such self-control: here, maybe, was a clear
superiority over the barbarians, who had to hide themselves both to prevent tempting others and to conceal their own
Deficiency of management." For more references regarding the practice of nudity in Greek sport, see ibid., pp. 434 n. 10,
Nudity as a Costumein ClassicalArt
LARISSA BONFANTE
Abstract
The Greeks saw their custom of fit male nudity
as something that set them apart from the barbarians,as
well as from their own past. A surveyof male nudity as a
costume in Greece tries to trace its origin in eighthcentury rite, its slow transformationfrom initiation
Rituals to the "civic"nudity of the Classical period, and its
significance in various spiritual, magic, and social circumstances. The characterof this institution can be viewed more
clearly by comparing it with earlier Near Eastern approaches to nakedness, and to the after contemporary"barbarian"attitudes of the Hebrews, Etruscans,and Gauls,
as well concerning the contemporaryviews of female nudity,
before its acceptancein the Hellenistic span.*
as a costume.' This is a surprising occurrence. That
We've not been more surprised by it is due to the fact
that we follow in their own custom and take the Greeks
as models, forgetting how frequently their associations and
Perspectives made them the exception, and not the rule,
among ancient peoples. The Greeks of the Classical
world didn't forget. While not, as we shall see, totally
understanding the importance of the custom, they
were proud of its singularity.
A study of nudity in Greece needs to be undertaken
from the historic point of view. I restrict myself, in the
Current article, to a consideration of the signs of artwork
and literature in an attempt to understand what lay
behind the words and figures concerning and representing nudity that have