Ancients and Nudity

  Digging a little deeper into ancient cultures, we notice that in the sea of plenty of nude depictions, this theme of nudity is not as clear-cut as we might think at first glance. This is especially true for male depictions. We often see men in swingy clothes, in a little textile, but women very often wear nothing, not even a veil.  Of course, all this is not true of the Greeks, as they have followed their own way in this as well. The ancient Greeks were ardent fans of the beautiful male body, and this was left to us in all its forms of depiction in all its nakedness, for a curious posterity. But  women were dressed conservatively, and with the exception of Aphrodite, almost every beautiful woman could only be admired in some light clothing. What could be the reason for such a sharply opposite view of the body depiction by the Greeks compared to the Egyptians, for example?

  The depiction of the naked male body was not unknown in Mediterranean cultures. For example, the Minoan murals, where we can see men playing sports, with a beautiful, healthy body. This was not found to be the least embarrassing: the athlete’s body is stunning, and showing beauty is a good thing. At the same time, we do not often encounter depictions of nude women.

  On the other hand, it is likely that the depiction of men naked during sports is related to the rite of sports itself and the aim is little to present and admire the naked body. Athletes usually trained without clothes, they also fought for victory at the Olympics without a sports jersey and any kind of clothing. And the Spartans, who, according to their strict rules, did most of their practice, training, and military service only naked.

  Exercise, on the other hand, was a part of life, a good life, the gods were also sometimes depicted as athletes, playing sports. Athletic exercises could only be performed naked. This is also indicated by the word Gymnasium, which means a sports field where you can move naked, exercise and athleticize. Along with being held in high esteem by the handsome and athletic male body, he had no cult of self-showing or looking at young people with elaborate bodies. Women could not even watch athletic events. It was forbidden to walk naked in the city and the gymnasiums could only be visited by men for exercise, not to stare at nudity.

 

  I don’t know if everyone was as enthusiastic about naked sports as the depictions left to us show. It’s an incredibly majestic thing to see a perfectly trained, perfectly controlled body in motion, I think this wonder of nature also inspired Leni Riefenstahl when she made the film about the Olympians. The beauty of movement, the triumph of will and perseverance over the mortal body. The fragility of the body and the celebration of existence, strength, youth and life. The victorious boxer, athlete (naked) was immortalized as a statue, and thus the athlete himself and his body became an offering to the gods, a victory and beauty offered to the gods at the same time. Despite this sacred meaning, athletes will soon no longer be playing naked, but wearing at least one lumbar ligament precisely because of the vulnerability of the body.