Aesthetics Taste of Ancient Greeks

孔令晏

Abstract： As one of the sources of western culture， ancient Greek culture has made a notable impacton later culture and art. Among all the cultures， the pursuit of beauty is especially impressive and shinning including the beauty of healthyhuman body， harmonious proportion with the marvelouswisdom and the beautiful souls. This paper would aim to analyze the ancient Greeks pursuit of beauty and their aesthetics taste about the human body shape by listing the examples from the mythologies and epics， especially the Trojan War and Helen.

Key Words： Greeks， beauty， human body shape

【中圖分類號】I545

“We all love beauty” is the famous speak of the Athens statesman Pericles which has expressed Greeks advocating and persistent pursuit of the spirit of beauty. （1）The created art treasuresof ancient Greece have the profound realistic significance which hasshocked by the later generations with the harmonious integrity， the heroic and lofty spirit and the respect for people with good quality.Among the numerous legendary events， one of the most impressive one is the story of the Trojan War. In this war， there is one woman who is not the leading role but all of the destructive results are because of her. She is Helen. The reasonwhy she becomes the start of the war is her beauty. This is the most realistic portraiture and reflection of the ancient Greeks to advocate and pursue the true spirit of beauty. Therefore， this paper attempts to explore the ancient Greeks pursuit of beauty and the pure humanities spirit by observing Helen through the ancient Greek myth and legend of the Trojan War. Although Trojan people blame Trojan Prince Paris has caused this war， they are sincerely willing to bear all risks to protectHelen when the elders and all the soldiers have only glanced at her， only because she is extremely gorgeous.（2）

This worship to the human body is essentially one of the most original and real humanistic consciousness and the most true and emotional spiritual needs. （3）Helen is the typical example of the natural human body beauty which has been shaped by the ancient Greeks. She has lured numerous heroes and states. “She looks like a special goddess"， the Greeks are generous to give the most fervent praises to her.1

There are other evidences to prove how the ancient Greeks advocate the human natural shape. Another is the images of the Olympus Gods， we are easy to prove their particular concept about human beauty. The male godsare all muscular with strong physique and well-balanced bodies. The female godsare all curvaceous and glorious who look like more womanly. Burns said： “the Greek godsare made for the benefits of the people. So when Greeks praise gods， they are actually praising themselves.”2 In the myths and legends， the king of the gods Zeushas been attracted by the beauty of the world girl Europa， and Zeus does not hesitate to become the bull and offer his hospitality. Greek mythologies and epicsare the celebration of human desires. Through them， we can find the Greeksexpressions of human desires are natural. They acknowledge that peoples all desires are normal and they dont belittle these desires or go to regulate them.

On the other hand， the ancient Greeks have shown their nature of loving beauty by the human body sculpture.By the 4th century BC to the 1st century BC Greek era， the ancient Greeks has used their beauty loving nature through the portraits and sculpture art to show the human body at their peak times. No doubt that one of the most famous statues is the Brokeback Venus. This statue with historic unique has delivered the ultimate feminine beautyfor the Greek people. Meanwhile， she has become synonymous with the highest praise for the female human body and become the classic forever.

Notes：

1 Bauer， Morris. 1959. Ancient Greek Literature [M]. Oxford： Oxford University.

2Burns. E.V. 1998.The World Civilization [M].Beijing： The Commercial Press.

References：

[1] Jason， Steuber. 2001. The Art Literature [M]. New Jersey： New Jersey Pres.

[2]斯威布，古斯塔夫，1959，《希臘神話和傳說》[M]。北京：人民文學(xué)出版社。

[3]遲軻，1992，《西方美術(shù)史話》[M]。北京：中國青年出版社。