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sex; 5) for apotropaic reasons, to turn away the effects
of magic, sorcery, the evil eye, and hostile spirits. We
shall see that one or more of these factors can
Additionally clarify what nudity once meant for the Greeks-and how it changed.2
Though it doesn't serve as a protection against the
weather (1), nakedness, like clothing or armour, was
used to distinguish social groups (2), in life and in art.
Clothes, in fact, recognizes human society, civilized
Folks, from animals and wild creatures, which are
Nude. Humans wear clothes, animals do not. In a
clothed society, yet, nakedness is unique, and can
be used as a "costume." As it developed, Greek nudity
came to indicate a comparison between Greek and nonGreek, as well as between men and women. The latter
distinction is linked with the most basic connotation of nakedness, the sense of shame, vulnerability and
exposure it arouses in person (3), and the related sense
of shock induced by its sight. Garments was made to
avoid such strong emotions by covering the body, especially the male genitals, the phallus, and female genitals and breast.
public is fairly universal.3 There initially existed in

Classical antiquity, as elsewhere, a garment designed
to hide the wearer's sex organ, a loin cloth, perizoma or
diazoma, as the Greeks usually called it. The attractiveness of
the naked body (4) has often been exalted. Its sexual and
aesthetic allure, as Kenneth Clark has shown, has
caused an alternate word to be used: this facet of nakedness is known as "nudity."4
In the early Near East Ishtar,5 and in the West
Aphrodite,' the goddesses of love, were traditionally
naked. The beauty and strength of the naked male
body were also praised, and heroes, like the Master of Animals, were symbolized naked, or wearing
only a belt.7 It was the Greeks who brought into our
culture the ideal of male nudity as the highest kind of
beauty. Greek art and sport exalted the beauty of
the youthful male athlete, whose figure supplied the
model for the hero or youthful god. The picture of the
Naked young man, the kouros statue of early Greek art
was kaloskagathos, "lovely and commendable."8
On account of the strong emotions of shame, shock,
lust, admiration, irreverence, pity, and disgust aroused
by the sight of the naked human body, the most frequent associations are with taboo, magic, and ritual
(5).
was unleashed. Apotropaic and enchanting nudity, calling for the exposure of male genitals and female
Bearing force of this complicated picture. As a taboo, it
can shield against the evil eye. Like the Gorgon's
gaze, it can paralyze or protect. The partial nudity or
exposure of a girl's breast or genitals, for example,
also function as powerful magic.9 In art and in life,



belief in such magic powers is well attested in many
cultures throughout history, and has endured into our
own times. Phallic or "priapic" figurines and amulets,
as well as obscene gestures, still function as protection
When
Apparel is normal, exhibitionist acts of nakedness frequently
have a magic significance. In the world of magic, nudity
wards off a fascination or other dangerous kind of magic, compels love, and gives strength to one's own practice of
witchcraft and conjuring."1 Since, then, in a clothed
society nudity was exceptional, atrocious, dangerous, and
powerful,"1 whole nakedness was averted in regular life. It was saved for special situations or particular
ritual services.
Language, also, sustained hints of this magic power
of nakedness. The word, like the fact, had to be
avoided, so that its magic power could be maintained. A
linguistic taboo thus caused the kind of the word for
"naked" to transform, in all the Indoeuropean languages.
Though gymnos, nudus, nackt, etc. were all initially
related to each other-so linguists ensure us-they
were all transformed in varied and surprising ways,
so that their initial similarity is almost unrecognizable.12 For most parts of the body, there's what
Devoto called a "compact" vocabulary:13 the words for
"heart," "eye," "foot," "knee," "nose," "tooth," "eyebrow" are basically the same in all the Indoeuropean

languages. Differences can be accounted for, even clarified, by linguistic "rules." But words for "nude,"
as well as the names of specific parts of the bodyfinger, tongue, hand, and hair-are distinct in the
different languages. How can this be clarified? Indoeuropeans obviously had fingers, tongues, hands, hair,