The Idealized Sexism of Greek Divinity
Greek Art and Architecture // Yale University
This paper has since been published in the Asterisk* Yale Journal for Art History: https://www.asteriskjournal.org/copy-of-fall-2023
The ancient Greek civilization produced some of the most iconic and influential sculptures in the history of art. These sculptures reflect the artistic and cultural values of the Greeks, as well as their social and economic development. Among the many examples of Greek sculpture, two stand out for their beauty, realism, and significance: the Riace Warriors from the Early Classical period and the Aphrodite of Knidos from the Late Classical period. These sculptures represent different approaches to the depiction of the human body and the question of divinity in ancient Greece, as their relation to Greek myth reveal complexities to their social context. Though the Riace Warriors celebrate the human potential for excellence and heroism, the Aphrodite of Knidos challenges the conventions of female representation and creates a new artistic genre: the female nude.
The Riace Warriors are considered to be masterpieces of the Early Classical period, characterized by a new realism and naturalism in sculpture. The two life-size Greek bronze statues portray nude warriors, their highly idealized anatomy proving to be both distracting and alluring. Their expressive facial features and dynamic poses show the ability of the bronze medium to represent great detail and emotion, as even their clear musculature is portrayed in such a way that looks soft enough to be realistic. The bronzes’ turned heads add to this, as they appear to have the potential to come alive and move at any given moment. What is commonly referred to as “Statue A” portrays a young warrior, his face seemingly conscious of its own beauty and power. “Statue B,” on the other hand, portrays an older, more mature and gentle warrior. The asymmetrical layout of their arms and legs not only adds realism, yet also suggests that they originally held spears and shields. Building on the motif of the heroic warrior in Greek mythology, they also show the social and political context when Athens emerged as a leading power in the Greek world: the “fluid and free pose of the contrapposto reflect[ing] the ideals of democracy.” In this context, it is possible that these statues were made to commemorate the Greek victory over the Persians in 480 BCE.
Showing an at once realistic and idealized portrayal of the male physique, the Riace Warriors are not meant to depict specific gods or mythological figures, but rather to celebrate the beauty and heroism of the human form. Their lips and nipples are made of copper, contrasting the bronze skin and adding a touch of intended eroticism. The advanced technology and craftsmanship of the bronze casting further illustrate the great shift and development of ancient Greek civilization in this time period. Valued for its strength and lustrous beauty, “the metal quickly became the preferred medium for freestanding statues,” although very few original bronzes survive as they were usually melted down. As such, this pair acts as a prime example which demonstrates the “superb technical craftsmanship and degree of artistic features that were achieved at this time.”
The Aphrodite of Knidos is a marble statue of the goddess of love and beauty, made by the sculptor Praxiteles in the 4th century B.C. The statue depicts Aphrodite as she is about to take a bath, holding a garment in her left hand and covering her genitals with her right hand. The statue is remarkable not only for its depiction of the nude goddess, but also for its slender proportions with an elongated torso, which contrast earlier representations of a more muscular female body. Her soft, rounded flesh suggests the power of her sexuality and her potential to bear life as a female. It shows the idealized beauty of the female body and the at once modesty and sensuality of the goddess. The realistic flesh-like qualities of marble make the sculpture more shocking to its audience, which would not have seen such depictions of female nudity before. Moreover, the statue also reflects something akin to the orientalization of Aphrodite, as Praxiteles was influenced by Eastern styles and motifs, such as the long, wavy hair, almond-shaped eyes, and delicate features. In this, the artist was not only revealing the female form, but also “creating the definitive female canon of proportions.”
Considered to be the first full-scale nude female statue in Greek art, it understandably caused great controversy. Its origins even give way to great writing in the Greek Anthology XVI attributed to Plato, where Aphrodite is said to have cried “Where did Praxiteles see me naked?,” however despite its nudity, the statue shows Aphrodite as a modest and graceful figure by attempting to conceal her body and averting her gaze. The artist’s clever use of props, such as the aforementioned towel or water jar, suggest that Aphrodite is nude because she has just stepped out of her bath. As she reaches to cover herself, “the viewer is made to feel that she has been caught in a momentary state of nudity,” and one that was “never meant to be seen by the viewer.” Although a mortal would probably be greatly punished if they were to see such a sight in mythology, here the viewer is safe to gaze as Aphrodite’s face is turned away from the viewer and appears calm. The goddess has not spotted her audience yet, and never will as she is depicted in a marble that despite its softness remains monumental; her nakedness is thus a forbidden pleasure that the viewer can indulge in. Taking advantage of this, the statue was placed in a circular temple to be admired from different angles, soon praised for its allure and leading to various imitations and variations. It becomes a “canonical way of conceiving and perceiving female form,” and its influence can be seen in other great works of art such as in Botticelli’s “The Birth of Venus” nearly two millennia later.
One of the most remarkable aspects of the sculpture is its groundbreaking display of an alternative idea to the conventional notion of male heroic nudity. While the nude male body was often depicted as a symbol of human potential and virtue, the nude female body was rarely depicted. The contrast between the exposed and idealized male figures and the concealed and eroticized female figure reveals the different attitudes and values that the Greeks had towards gender and sexuality in their culture. Moreover, these sculptures also raise the question of divinity and its relation to the acceptance of bodily display in Greek society. The sculptures suggest that the nude male body was not a representation of the divine, but rather a celebration of the human form and its qualities, while the nude female body was only acceptable as a representation of the divine, as Aphrodite embodied the power of love and beauty in the safe realm of the gods.
This difference in the treatment of nudity may have to do with the cultural and religious context of ancient Greece. The Greeks had a rich and diverse mythology, with many gods and goddesses represented in nature, human life, and culture. “Greek myths explained the origins of the gods and their individual relations with mankind.” The Greeks also had a high regard for the human body, which they considered to be a reflection of divine harmony and order. They associated it “with myths of the period, literature and daily life in Greece.” Therefore, the representation of the human body in Greek art and architecture was not only a matter of aesthetics, but also of religious and philosophical significance.
One of the most distinctive features of Greek art is the nude male figure, which is often depicted as an idealized and heroic warrior, athlete, or hero. As a society, they valued athletic competitions, such as the Olympic Games, where the male athletes (and their muscular bodies) could achieve physical and mental perfection through exercise and training. Additionally, in depicting the human body the Greeks sought to embody the ideal of the citizen who fought for his polis and the values it represented, thus combining “strength and beauty, courage and grace, in a harmonious and balanced composition.” Therefore, the nude male body was a common and acceptable subject in Greek art, becoming a symbol of all the values in Greek society. Furthermore, the nude male body celebrated the beauty of the human form, serving as a mode of differentiation between “the noble Greek and the uncivilized barbarian” as it was believed that only the former “had the ability to recognize the beauty of the body,” the latter being too ignorant to appreciate it. Greek art thus glorified the youthful male as an aesthetic and an erotic ideal, and was soon commodified as an object of desire. In fact, scholar Zainab Bahrani would go as far as to say that in Greek art “men were represented nude in any action or context, regardless of whether in reality the situation would have required or even allowed the man to be undressed.” The nude male figure thus embodied the ideals of beauty, virtue, and power that defined the Greek civilization.
The nude female body, however, was more controversial and rare in Greek art, as women were expected to be modest and virtuous in public. In keeping with this, the conventions of Greek art presented the female figure hidden and draped in layers of cloth. Even previous depictions of Aphrodite showed her in “elaborate garments that enhanced her dignity and authority.” As such, this exception in representing the goddess, who was associated with eroticism and fertility, is nevertheless a great departure from established artistic traditions. Though her nudity can now be justified by her divine nature and role as the patroness of sexuality and procreation, Praxiteles effectively created a new artistic genre, the female nude, which would forever influence artists and cultures.
This also brings up the question of agency in representation. In the case of Aphrodite, a male artist displays the female body and is subjecting it to the voyeuristic look of the viewer. Before it, even partial nudity of the female body was rare in Greek art, and any aspect of its revealing occurred only in narratives of violence, where the woman was the victim, or in representations of prostitutes. Here, the subject is a goddess, a deity that is not to be scrutinized or judged by mere mortals, and is more powerful than any of her viewers. However, unlike the heroic nude that oozes power and strength in its musculature and action, she is depicted in a vulnerable state, without any sign of her godly status, thus making her easily mistaken for any female. The use of props takes away from her figure, as instead of acting as an extension of the body as a spear would in the case of the Riace Warriors by taking up more space and acting as a reminder of potential violence, it instead roots her body to the ground, at once taking away from her form and also making it unable for her to move. As described in the description above, the props act as background to a story and near explanation for the scandalous state we find the goddess in, instead of letting her body speak to us in the way the heroic nude does. Furthermore, the two males both display a piercing gaze, standing almost proud of their exposed genitals which have been emphasized by the openness of the contrapposto stance. In her distinct take on the same stance, Aphrodite plays with the pose in such a way that she effectively hides her body as the artist “explored the expressive potential of the female body,” using subtle variations of the gesture to convey different expressions. The clear dip in her hip and shifting in her weight hides her inner thighs and genitals, yet interestingly by covering herself, this gesture makes her nude state almost coy and all the more inviting.
Aphrodite’s voluptuous curves, accentuated by her broad hips and rounded breasts, suggest a new erotic ideal and a foreign influence on the Greek conception of beauty. Yet, her modest gesture which hides her genitals also indicates a clear taboo on female nudity and sexuality in Greek culture. The absence of female genitals is a significant choice on the part of the artist, especially considering that Aphrodite is the goddess of sexuality. The image created by Praxiteles, therefore, not only reflects the feminine attributes of the divine figure, but also engages with the “masculine gendering” of the gaze, who is invited to admire and desire the subject. However, this gaze also implies a sense of fear and anxiety, as the male viewer confronts his own sexuality in front of the powerful goddess. Yet again, the passive subject has to face an active viewer.As such, this rendering of Aphrodite displays a great deal of complexity, as it has to balance the aesthetic and erotic appeal of the nude female body with the cultural and psychological implications of the male spectator.
Returning to the role that materiality plays in this debate, the transition from bronze to marble only emphasized the distinctness of the female nude. Both materials were deeply valued in their societal context, with elaborate techniques of casting and carving developed over time to better handle the expensive mediums. Yet technological innovation in the century between the works aside, the materials also present an interesting feature of reproducibility. When looking closer to the Riace Warriors, from the neck down their bodies are almost identical in stance and proportion, and it has been proposed by scholar Brunilde Ridgway that “each of them was produced from a single basic model,” which was later “altered with direct modifications to the wax casting models.” As such, there is a lasting model for the ever present heroic male, with reproductions possible and still revered throughout time. It is even probable that the two warriors may have been “part of a larger group dedicated at Olympia or Delphi.” Praxiteles, however, was one of the first Greek artists to depart from the traditional cast bronze and make free-standing sculptures from marble. By representing the goddess in marble, the artist breaks all sense of the norm of the female body but also makes it physically impossible to reproduce Aphrodite in the exact manner that is shown, the nude body being one of a kind in its depiction.
In ancient Greece, the representation of divinity through the human body was not a simple matter of imitation or identification, but rather a complex expression of the different attitudes and values that the Greeks had towards their own corporeality and sexuality. The nude male body, which was often depicted in athletic or heroic poses, was a celebration of the human potential for excellence and virtue, as well as a reflection of the idealized image of the Greek citizen. The nude male body was not intended to portray specific gods, but rather to evoke the qualities and attributes that the gods shared with humans, such as strength, courage, wisdom, and justice. The nude female body, on the other hand, was rarely depicted except for the goddess Aphrodite, which was a manifestation of the divine power of love and beauty, as well as a source of attraction and desire for the male viewer. The nude female body was not meant to express the human condition, but rather to reveal the divine nature of the goddess, who embodied the forces of creation, fertility, and pleasure.
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