Athletic Beauty in Classical Greece: A Philosophical View

Classical Greece is famous for its athletic art, particularly the image of the nude male athlete. But how did the Greeks understand athletic beauty? Plato, Aristotle, Xenophon, and others discuss athletes' beauty, while the educational ideal of kalokagathia conceptually connects athletic beauty with the good. More questions need to be answered, however, if we are to understand ancient athletic beauty. We need to ask ourselves what the Greeks appreciated when they looked at athletic bodies. What did those qualities mean to them? In what way was it erotic? How did it differ for females and males? In this paper I argue that the beautiful athletic body is framed in ancient Greek thought, not just as an aesthetically pleasing image, but as an ideal expression of a certain kind of soul. Keywords: beautyAncient Greecebody kalokagathia Notes 1. For an overview of the concept of kalokagathia see Martinkova (6 and 7). 2. Although more lenient clothing rules were recently adopted for the London Olympics, women's bodies will continue to be showcased in the event. For more on this issue, see Weaving (13). 3. For an explanation of what it means for athletes to be 'sexualized', see Davis (3). 4. For a fuller account of Aristotle's philosophy applied to sport see 'Aristotle's Pentathlete', in Reid (8: 69–80). 5. It is noteworthy in the Hellenistic and Roman period how many conquerors and leaders from Alexander to Nero are depicted as the embodiment of Heracles. 6. For a complete account of aretē and its relevance to modern sports, see Holowchak and Reid (5). 7. The metaphor is usually derived from Theaetetus 176ab, where becoming like a god is associated with flight from the material world. But at Philebus 716cd, it is associated with sophōsyne and dikaiosyne, key parts of aretē. For a full discussion see Armstrong (1). 8. Plato, Symposium 219c. 9. Aristophanes, Clouds, 1009–23. Ironically, the gymnasium student was described in contrast to the students in Socrates' imagined school, who grew long penises and long tongues. 10. Scanlon (9: 234–5) notes that the Greek term for the practice, kunodesme, literally means 'dog-leash'. Since 'dog' was often used as slang for the penis, the use of a 'dog leash' had the implication of controlling one's sexual desires. 11. Plato, Symposium 219c–20. 12. For an excellent discussion of this aspect of the text, see Evangeliou (4). 13. At Gorgias 463b ff., Socrates calls rhetoric a form of flattery which makes the soul seem healthy when in fact it is not. 14. In Plato's Euthyphro Socrates' 'usual haunt' is identified as the Lyceum gymnasium (2a). Charmides, Euthydemus, Theaetetus, and probably Sophist and Politicus are set in gymnasia. In Lysis Socrates is on his way from one gymnasium (the Academy) to another (the Lyceum) when he is pulled aside into new wrestling school (Lysis 203–4a). 15. One cannot help but feel a little sad that the erotic bond between Socrates and Alcibiades never achieved its purpose. From his speech it seems as though Alcibiades regrets his failure to live up to Socrates' standards of spiritual beauty – but he just couldn't get past the debauched rewards of his conventional beauty. This is unfortunate not just for Alcibiades, but also for Athens, since these erotic partnerships played an important civic function of educating values and creating strong community bonds outside of the family. Alcibiades was a real historical person who led Athens into the disastrous Peloponnesian war, then switched sides and contributed even further to his native city's undoing. Socrates, to some degree, was probably blamed for Alcibiades' vices, which shows the civic importance of these relationships. In writing Alcibiades' speech for the Symposium, Plato seems to some degree to be apologizing for Socrates, but he is also suggesting the political importance of erotic relationships based in the gymnasium. 16. Events for female athletes included the Heraia, in which girls raced on Olympia's track. There was a race (or chase) for girls dedicated to Artemis at Brauron, and inscriptions suggest that females participated in such major athletic festivals as Delphi, Isthmia, Nemea, Dionysia and the Panathenaia. For more, see Scanlon (9: Ch. 4–7). 17. Most artistic depiction of female athletes are from the Hellenistic and Roman periods, when games for girls and young women seem to have been more widespread. 18. Hygins, Fab. 185, cited in Scanlon (9: 178). 19. On the other hand, athletic women may have been erotically attractive to other women. There exist several examples of bronze mirror handles in the shape of naked athletic females. It has been suggested that the handle had erotic value for woman who grasped it. See Scanlon (9: 137–8). 20. For a full account of Spartan gymnastics and athletics for girls, see Scanlon (9: 121–38). 21. In this he contrasts with Aristotle, who thought women had different kinds of souls. See Reid (8: 77–8). 22. Scanlon (8: 178–90) argues that Atalanta does have the kind of athletic aretē normally associated with men, noting that her eventual husband Hippomenes has to play a clever trick in order to win her. This is a complete reversal of the traditional Greek gender roles. Atalanta therefore, is the exception that proves the rule of the masculinity of athletic aretē. 23. For more on the idea of athletes as community servants in ancient Greece see Reid (8: 27–30).