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details about military training in Sparta, or, in
Athens, about the ancient institution of the ephebeiapyrrhic, or armed dance, was performed nude at thePanathenaia and involved choruses fro
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Athens, about the ancient institution of the ephebeia
pyrrhic, or armed dance, was performed nude at the
Panathenaia and involved choruses from the Athenian
tribes.75 The tradition of the warrior sportsman who participated in armed dancing and races, still being held in
the Classical period, may, as Mouratidis noted, have
of the continuingdominanceof the aristocracyin a changing
Ecosystem."Murray's views in Early Greece have been
developedfurther in an article, "The Symposium as Social
Organization," in R. Hdigg ed., The Greek Renaissance of
the Eighth Century BC: Tradition and Invention (Stock-
holm 1983) 195-99. See E. Gabba, "La societhateniese nel
'VecchioOligarca',"Athenaeum66 (1988) 6-10, for the situation in Athens, ca. 440 B.C.
73 "The polis derivedfrom the folks in arms;it was essentially the state of the citizens. Both facts made the defenseof
the state the concernof its individuals. There was no question of
the ability to serve constitutedthe fully qualified citizen":
E.L. Wheeler,
"Hoplomachia and Greek Dances in Arms," GRBS 23
(1982) 223-33, summarizesrecent work on this area.
74 R. Ridley, "The
Hoplite as Citizen: Athenian Military
Associations in Their Own Social Context," AntCl 47 (1978)
509-48. P. Ducrey, Guerre et guerriers dans la Elegance an-
tique (Freiburg,Switzerland 1985) 69-72. For the ephebeia
at Athens and the crypteia at Sparta, see P. Vidal-Naquet,
Le Goff and P.
Nora eds., Faire de l'histoire III (Paris 1974) 151-60; see
also supra n. 45.
For representationsof the Pyrrhicdance,see Poursat (supra
n. 33).
verses," in J.-P. Vernant ed., Problemes de la guerre en
du guerrier,"in La cite des images (Paris 1984) 35-47. On
the attire of the knights (not a "uniform,"and seldom naked),
see H. Cahn, "Dokimasia,"RA 1973, 3-22.
555
originated in earlier times before being introduced
into the Olympic plan.76
and of the tan skin that was the result of their exercising in the nude.
illustrates how, to a practiced military eye, nakedness
allowed an exact judgment of a guy's physical fitness: "He gave instructions.., .that the barbarians
captured in the raids be exposed for sale naked. So
stripped, and fat and lazy through endless riding in
carriages, they believed that the war would be just
like fighting with women."77 The contrast between
their own bronzed men's bodies and the white, feminine flabbiness of the Persians renewed the guts
of the Greek troops.
Male figures on Attic painted vases reveal the significance of physical beauty for sportsmen, youths, citizens,
and soldiers. Most are lithe and slender, though one
Attic red-figure vase shows a heavy, paunchy body,
(fig. 3): he's a specialized sportsman, a fighter.78 A rare
scene of naked men who are hideous turns out to symbolize slaves who prepare the palaestra, not citizens exercising in the gymnasium (fig. 4),79 indicating the dif-
Body 3. Reddish-figurecup, ca. 480 B.C.: sportsmen training. British Museum. (CourtesyTrustees of the British Museum)
ference between the free man who worked out bare,
gymnos, in the gymnasium, and the slave who was
naked in the line of work and out of poverty. (The
slaves on this vase, like the athletes, are infibulated.) A
law prohibited slaves to work out and anoint themselves in
the gymnasia like free men (though obviously it did
not prohibit them to enter in order to do the required
in general, but of upper-class citizens, who worked out
as members of the hoplite military. The use of nudity for
Charming reasons, on the other hand, belonged to another degree of reality-and was limited, as we have
seen, to herms, satyrs, and the period.
By the Classical period, the custom-or "habit"-of
nudity had changed, from a religious to a civil practice.
From the rite nudity of the kouros-set up, from the
seventh century B.C. on, as image of Apollo, votive present,
funerary image, offering or servant of the god-and the
ritual nudity of the sportsman who competed in the
Olympic games, dedicated to the gods, there was a
change to the athletic nudity of the citizen-soldier. The
transition was, I believe, initially involved with the
ritual costume suitable for initiation rituals.
This passage from a religious to a civic circumstance was
pyrrhic, or armed dance, was performed nude at the
Panathenaia and involved choruses from the Athenian
tribes.75 The tradition of the warrior sportsman who participated in armed dancing and races, still being held in
the Classical period, may, as Mouratidis noted, have
of the continuingdominanceof the aristocracyin a changing
Ecosystem."Murray's views in Early Greece have been
developedfurther in an article, "The Symposium as Social
Organization," in R. Hdigg ed., The Greek Renaissance of
the Eighth Century BC: Tradition and Invention (Stock-
holm 1983) 195-99. See E. Gabba, "La societhateniese nel
'VecchioOligarca',"Athenaeum66 (1988) 6-10, for the situation in Athens, ca. 440 B.C.
73 "The polis derivedfrom the folks in arms;it was essentially the state of the citizens. Both facts made the defenseof
the state the concernof its individuals. There was no question of
the ability to serve constitutedthe fully qualified citizen":
E.L. Wheeler,
"Hoplomachia and Greek Dances in Arms," GRBS 23
(1982) 223-33, summarizesrecent work on this area.
74 R. Ridley, "The
Hoplite as Citizen: Athenian Military
Associations in Their Own Social Context," AntCl 47 (1978)
509-48. P. Ducrey, Guerre et guerriers dans la Elegance an-
tique (Freiburg,Switzerland 1985) 69-72. For the ephebeia
at Athens and the crypteia at Sparta, see P. Vidal-Naquet,
Le Goff and P.
Nora eds., Faire de l'histoire III (Paris 1974) 151-60; see
also supra n. 45.
For representationsof the Pyrrhicdance,see Poursat (supra
n. 33).
verses," in J.-P. Vernant ed., Problemes de la guerre en
du guerrier,"in La cite des images (Paris 1984) 35-47. On
the attire of the knights (not a "uniform,"and seldom naked),
see H. Cahn, "Dokimasia,"RA 1973, 3-22.
555
originated in earlier times before being introduced
into the Olympic plan.76
and of the tan skin that was the result of their exercising in the nude.
illustrates how, to a practiced military eye, nakedness
allowed an exact judgment of a guy's physical fitness: "He gave instructions.., .that the barbarians
captured in the raids be exposed for sale naked. So
stripped, and fat and lazy through endless riding in
carriages, they believed that the war would be just
like fighting with women."77 The contrast between
their own bronzed men's bodies and the white, feminine flabbiness of the Persians renewed the guts
of the Greek troops.
Male figures on Attic painted vases reveal the significance of physical beauty for sportsmen, youths, citizens,
and soldiers. Most are lithe and slender, though one
Attic red-figure vase shows a heavy, paunchy body,
(fig. 3): he's a specialized sportsman, a fighter.78 A rare
scene of naked men who are hideous turns out to symbolize slaves who prepare the palaestra, not citizens exercising in the gymnasium (fig. 4),79 indicating the dif-
Body 3. Reddish-figurecup, ca. 480 B.C.: sportsmen training. British Museum. (CourtesyTrustees of the British Museum)
ference between the free man who worked out bare,
gymnos, in the gymnasium, and the slave who was
naked in the line of work and out of poverty. (The
slaves on this vase, like the athletes, are infibulated.) A
law prohibited slaves to work out and anoint themselves in
the gymnasia like free men (though obviously it did
not prohibit them to enter in order to do the required
in general, but of upper-class citizens, who worked out
as members of the hoplite military. The use of nudity for
Charming reasons, on the other hand, belonged to another degree of reality-and was limited, as we have
seen, to herms, satyrs, and the period.
By the Classical period, the custom-or "habit"-of
nudity had changed, from a religious to a civil practice.
From the rite nudity of the kouros-set up, from the
seventh century B.C. on, as image of Apollo, votive present,
funerary image, offering or servant of the god-and the
ritual nudity of the sportsman who competed in the
Olympic games, dedicated to the gods, there was a
change to the athletic nudity of the citizen-soldier. The
transition was, I believe, initially involved with the
ritual costume suitable for initiation rituals.
This passage from a religious to a civic circumstance was
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