**2.1. Antiquity: the nobility of human embodiment—the nude body as subject and representation of wisdom**

The basic assumption for founding a theory of aesthetics in anthropological thinking, namely that the human anatomy plays a fundamental role in the understanding of harmony and beauty, as well as the expression of spiritual wholeness and beauty, is illustrated in many pieces of art in antiquity and classic Greek sculpturing.

In antiquity, the human body was a gendered subject and not an externalised object. It was only in contemporary societies that the body began to be regarded exclusively as a passive object of desire. According to Erez [11], this is evident in the censorship efforts ancient sculpture has been subject to. Modern man's refusal to view naked human bodies is closely related to the fear that too long a gaze will suggest a homoerotic interest and thus a homosexual identity [12]. In contemporary society, the tendency is that the body is viewed rather as an exclusively passive, sexualised object robbed from subjectivity and nobility than an icon of vital spirituality (**Figure 3**).

Within Greek art, the naked human body and its perfect symmetry equal beauty and should be assessed as a piece of art. Spivey [13] refers to the canonisation of human embodiment in art by Polycleitus (**Figure 4**).

For Polycleitus, the human body is from an aesthetic point of view perfect due to the tension between symmetry, balance and harmony. This principle of harmony and balance is basic to the classic depiction of the human being as an expression of beauty and therefore as human grace and nobility. Every part of the body is 'beautiful'. Even the sexual organs played a decisive role in the depiction of human embodiment as 'divine' and expression of spiritual values such as nobility, courage, grace and wisdom.

Already in *The Republic*, Plato wrote about the qualities that can heal and beautify life. It all starts with gentleness, the characteristics of a philosophical disposition [14]. Grace and seemliness of form and movement should complete gentleness. They are qualities of poetry, rhythm and harmony. And the content of poetry depends on moral character. 'So, if our young men are to do their proper work in life, they must follow after these qualities wherever they may be found. And they are to be found in any sort of workmanship, such as

**Figure 3.** The statue of the priest Ahmose and his mother, 18th Dynasty 1490–1499 BC, is quite remarkable. In Egyptian anthropology, the soul was viewed as an intrinsic part of human embodiment. Often in Egyptian sculptures, it seems as if the face was emotionless. This is not the case here. The figures represent complacent intimacy and projects soulfulness. It could be described as an excellent example of embodied aesthetics. One can even 'see' on their faces what they are thinking: contentment and fulfilment. Permission: National Museum, Copenhagen; photo: D.J. Louw.

**Figure 4.** The image from an ancient Greek statue in the classical Polycleitus-style (around 450 BC) suggests grace, harmony, control, inherent integrity and dignified courage. Within the whole of embodiment, male sexual identity becomes 'whole'. Permission: Royal Cast Museum, Copenhagen; photo: D.J. Louw.

painting, weaving, embroidery, architecture, the making of furniture; and also in the human frame and in all the works of nature: in all these grace and seemliness may be present or absent' [15].

With reference to the interplay between grace, the naked human body and aesthetics, the socalled *Three Graces* in ancient art has become a classic indeed (**Figure 5**).

The following remark by Plato, underlines the fact that in Hellenistic art, nudity was removed from the idea of promiscuity. Greek art and sculptures rather were attempts to combine nudity with nobility, grace and profound wisdom. 'Rather we must seek those craftsmen whose instinct guides them to whatsoever is lovely and gracious' [16] (**Figure 6**).

The naked human body represents gracious movement and courageous self-affirmation. The human body should therefore be rendered not as 'ugly' and from a lower order, wherein merely sensuality is playing a role in the establishment of meaning. The human body establishes and represents the spiritual striving towards wholeness, healing, integration and harmony, despite the existential reality of disintegration and external factors that rob our human existence from dignity and a sense of well-being—the existential reality of ugliness.
