Nudity In Ancient Greek Art Hurwit

Ancient Greece is one of the most studied places in time. The ancient Greeks developed their own unique culture from the way they ran their government and towns to their own complex form of architecture. The way we study this ancient culture is through their art. The ancient Greeks created millions of unique pieces of art to tell their story. Vases were made to celebrate victory on the battlefield as well as victory in athletic games. Sculptures were created to celebrate the many Greek gods and great rulers and warriors. There were many different ways Greek artists could portray an event or person but the one aspect that consistently stayed the same was the concept of nudity. Nudity was used in almost all Greek art to describe everything from …show more content…
In the second part of his article Hurwit begins to analyze the origin of Greek nudity in art. Hurwit explains the nudity in the ancient Greek world was limited to only the bedroom and to the athletic world. Greek males did not just walk around their village in the nude and Hurwit exclaims that they definitely did not go into battle in the nude. (pgs.45-46) Nudity still was ever prevalent in the Greek way of life. The Greeks thought that nudity was a sign of civility and culture. In Greek art, Greek males being nude was the norm. Artists would only portray someone being clothed if there was a reason to. (pg. 46) Hurwit describes nudity being so common that in order to stand out Greek males would have to wear clothes in order to be noticed. Ancient Greeks believed that a male nude was the ideal body. They believed that it was the way the male was meant to be depicted in art. (pg.46) Hurwit goes on to explain heroic nudity vs. ideal nudity. He describes heroic nudity as art that contains the Greek gods and heroes and the mortals who are heroized. (pg.46) It implies then that males who are nude are heroic and that is why they are portrayed nude. Hurwit explains that there are two kinds of heroic nudity. The first being that of the heroes of Greek mythology and the second of the nude mortals trying to claim heroic status. (pg.46) Either way nudity is heroic to the Greeks because it portrays that ideal strong male and their arête. This brings us back to Dexileos and his relief. Why would he be clothed if the ideal hero is meant to be shown nude? Hurwit brings up the point that in some cases the armor gives the hero some of his strength.