(See Greek Hero Cults p.'357) Farnell was likely right since the so-called "Finger of Attis" is interpreted by "Hand"). The ancients believed that the middle finger of either hand had a phallic connotation. Ancient Roman writers mention that the middle finger fully extended and held upright represented the Dick and the closed fingers and thumb on each side signified the testicles. (For references see Scott.
Origins of Greek Religion (Cambridge, 1912). p. 383 n. 2.
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Source of Nudity in Greek Sports period that scholars assigned the so-called "heroic nudity" which rather indicates that nudity in Greek sport had something to do with heroes or warriors. The late 8th century is also when the start of the chain of statues of nude Greek kouroi seemed. All kouroi don't represent Apollo, since many have been Found in cemeteries where they must have functioned as tombstones representing human beings. Furthermore in archaic times kouroi were used for winners in 8 the games4 Why was nudity in athletics a unique Greek phenomenon, since the primitive human reply in using nudity for aggression, from which fit nudity was developed, was common in other cultures also? In order to answer this question, one should consider another aspect of Greek life, somewhat exceptional in Greek lands, the hero cult,49 which was connected with games.'O Greek heroes and gods proudly displayed their physical energy and demanded the same thing from their devotees. The existence of Heracles at Olympia was of prime Relevance for the survival of the custom of nudity in Greek sport because he was, by convention, a nude hero and a naked warrior-athlete par excellence whose nudity was mimicked by the athletes. If nudity was view ed as advantageous to the warrior-athlete, why was it kept just in sports since ancient warriors needed protection and assertiveness at least as much as athletes? The Greeks while winning their way to classical culture retained the custom of nudity in sports but they weren't aware of the Competitive facet of it as were their distant ancestors. In other words, the custom of nudity persisted into a higher culture but the practice of endeavouring to Protected protection in this fashion had been lost or left. This was the chief Motive that the classical warrior had no comprehension of this feeling of protection. This is also the case with numerous current tribes among whom the Custom of nudity for aggression predominated but is fast evaporating as they Slowly come under the impact of modern culture. felt so strongly about their nudity they considered that to be ashamed to be seen Nude in the gymnasium was the characteristic, the proof and the indication of a barbarian. The reason why the Greeks fell in love with their nudity isn't the
Goal of this paper. That endeavor has been nicely done by other writers. 51 48. G. M. A. Richter, Kouroi:Archaic Greek Yourhs (London, 1960), p. 1. Additionally see Bonfante, (Efruscan, pp. 20, 28) who writes that the Etruscan equivalent of a Greek kouros wears a perizoma. http://www.emspectrum.net/__media__/js/netsoltrademark.php?d=fkk.buzz/tag/family-nudismfkkfkk/ of the 8th century, as the interval of the change from the warrior-sportsman nudity to fit nudity, should be seen with some reservations because the scanty material signs may be deceptive. Additionally, one cannot exclude the Part of artistic custom in the material evidence mentioned here. 49. Herodotos (2.50) said that heroes have no position in the religion of Egypt. Also see Peter Kahane, Geometric Art," in The Archaeology of Cyprus: Recent Developments, ed. Noel Robertson (Park Ridge, N.J.: Noyes Press, 1975). 185. For a thorough investigation of the hero cult in both prehistoric and historic Greece see Erwin Rohde. Psyche: The Cult of Souls and Belief in Immortality Among the Greeks (London. 1950), pp. 115-155;
141-173. 50. See Rohde, Soul, pp. 116-l 17; Mircea Eliade. A History of Religious Ideas from the Stone Age to the EIeusinian Mysteries (Chicago, 1978), pp. 285, 313. For references found throughout ancient Greek literature, concerning the matches held in honour of the Greek heroes see: Lynn E. Roller, "Funeral Games in Greek Art," AJA 85 (1981): 107.119. 51. Fardiner (AAW, p. 58) wrote: "It's not just that exposure to the air and the sun-bath are. as physicians now
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