Naked women in ancient Greek art and thought

Reflections on nude sculptures and paintings & the roots of women's inequality

Aphrodite of Knidos by Praxiteles 350 BC	The ancient Greeks deserve credit for recognising the beauty of the human body. They began to express this is sculpture, paintings and frescoes. They also started to look for a better understanding of that beauty. Aristotle and women Aristotle (384-322 BC) tried to get a grasp of the world around us. He began to describe all livings things, including plants, animals and human beings. In many ways he is the father of the modern sciences. Aristotle came to the conclusion that all living beings are what they are becaise of their 'nature'. Beauty, found in human nature, consists mainly in perfection of form, he said, in balance, proportion, symmetry. And while men's bodies are also beautiful, beauty is a special quality for women. Observing men and women of his time, Aristotle deducted that men are stronger, have a sharper intellect, possess the ability to govern and rule. Women, Aristotle believed, are by nature subject to men. They exist to give pleasure to the men, to support the men and to give birth to their offspring. Men carried the 'seed' of future life and were therefore complete human beings. Women performed the duty of providing the soil into which men could sow the seed.	Kroisus - 530 BC

Aphrodite of Knidos by Praxiteles
350 BC

The ancient Greeks deserve credit for recognising the beauty of the human body. They began to express this is sculpture, paintings and frescoes. They also started to look for a better understanding of that beauty.

Aristotle and women

Aristotle (384-322 BC) tried to get a grasp of the world around us. He began to describe all livings things, including plants, animals and human beings. In many ways he is the father of the modern sciences.

Aristotle came to the conclusion that all living beings are what they are becaise of their 'nature'. Beauty, found in human nature, consists mainly in perfection of form, he said, in balance, proportion, symmetry. And while men's bodies are also beautiful, beauty is a special quality for women.

Observing men and women of his time, Aristotle deducted that men are stronger, have a sharper intellect, possess the ability to govern and rule. Women, Aristotle believed, are by nature subject to men. They exist to give pleasure to the men, to support the men and to give birth to their offspring. Men carried the 'seed' of future life and were therefore complete human beings. Women performed the duty of providing the soil into which men could sow the seed.

Kroisus - 530 BC

"The temptation of Eve" by Hans Baldung 1484-1545	Medieval distortions Christian theologians in the Middle Ages combined Aristotle's doctrine of woman's inferiority by nature with Augustine's disapproval of sex. Women came to be seen as beautiful but seductive. Each woman, like a new Eve, thus is by nature a temptress. She seduces men to disobey God. It became one reason why women were judged unsuitable for the ordained ministries. Applying the 'Law of Nature' to the sexual code led to unsustainable prohibitions that last to this day. Take the question of marriage. Theologians defined openness to conception as belonging to the nature of the marriage act. This is why Pope Paul VI decreed that ‘each and every marriage act must remain open to the transmission of life’. The Pope declared the use of contraceptives which render procreation impossible ‘intrinsically evil’ (Humanae Vitae, 1968, §14), that is: they go against the nature of marriage as established by God. In this view, contraceptives may not be used as a means to space the planning of children. They are not even allowed to women who need to protect themselves against drunken husbands infected with AIDS.	Read this novel which exposes the fallacy of following a presumed 'law of nature' in our sexual morality. The true guide of our actions should be the judgment of our own conscience in each situation.

"The temptation of Eve"
by Hans Baldung 1484-1545

Medieval distortions

Christian theologians in the Middle Ages combined Aristotle's doctrine of woman's inferiority by nature with Augustine's disapproval of sex.

Women came to be seen as beautiful but seductive. Each woman, like a new Eve, thus is by nature a temptress. She seduces men to disobey God. It became one reason why women were judged unsuitable for the ordained ministries.

Applying the 'Law of Nature' to the sexual code led to unsustainable prohibitions that last to this day.

Take the question of marriage. Theologians defined openness to conception as belonging to the nature of the marriage act. This is why Pope Paul VI decreed that ‘each and every marriage act must remain open to the transmission of life’. The Pope declared the use of contraceptives which render procreation impossible ‘intrinsically evil’ (Humanae Vitae, 1968, §14), that is: they go against the nature of marriage as established by God. In this view, contraceptives may not be used as a means to space the planning of children. They are not even allowed to women who need to protect themselves against drunken husbands infected with AIDS.

Read this novel which exposes the fallacy of following a presumed 'law of nature' in our sexual morality. The true guide of our actions should be the judgment of our own conscience in each situation.