Polykleitos’ Doryphoros (c.450-440) is regarded as an example of the ideal Greek male. Read the famous funeral oration given during the Peloponnesian War by Pericles, leader of Athens. Highlight one trait of manliness in Pericles’ speech and discuss how the statue of the Doryphorus exemplifies this characteristic. Then compare this trait of the Greek ideal male to contemporary ideas of masculinity.
Read Pericles Funeral Speech here
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The ancient Greek male was courageous, willing to give his life for the good of the country, in this case, Athens. He fought for the good of the many rather than for his own personal gain. He stood up and defended their way of life in the face of invaders who would destroy Athens. The Greek male was also involved in everyday matters of the state, an active participant of a new form of government, Democracy.
In contrast, today, masculinity is measured in superficial terms. It is measured by how successful a man is. A man’s wealth, physique, possessions, a beautiful woman, social status and even the car he drives seem to be what represents the ideal man.
I agree with Rey when he says the ancient greek males were more willing to give their lives for their country. they were just man doing anything to protect their honor and country. man today are just a bunch of girls shaving their legs and doing their eye brows. man today cant even change a tire. i believe the men of today should look back and see what a real man was like. But their probaly to busy getting a fake tan or whatever
I agree with both rey and connor that the greek males were the alpha male. Most of the time they were the protectors of the city and their country. Although men today are in the army they were not as hardcore as the Greeks when it came to the battlefield.
The ancient Greek man is head strong, powerful, diligent, and a honorable man. The Greek man had work ethics they gave all, fought to be the highest most courage’s man in their city-state hence the coliseums. In the Pericles speech he states, “Where our rivals from their very cradles by a painful discipline seek after manliness, at Athens we live exactly as we please, and yet are just as ready to encounter every legitimate danger.” While the statue of Doryphorus defines the perfect man and gave Athenians a mental picture of what they should be like. The ancient Greek culture was if you were not diligent and courage’s you were useless to the city and to its people unlike today’s society were people manliness focuses on how “hot” or how “powerful” you are. Its unimportant how brave you are or where you came from if you are not known for something or haven’t established yourself women would not look at you or even spare you one minute. Ancient Greek society has defined and showed us what an ideal man should be in today’s society. (A post not a comment)
Pericles speech at the funeral oration during the peloponessian war focuses on the balance of virtues a man should have instead of a defficiency or excessof them. He speaks about one of the most important virtues in greek philosophy, honour, the highest honour a person could accomplish back then was to be courageous at the face of danger or death from an enemy. The statue’s specific proportions also show the importnat that culture placed on balance and the ideal man that achieves a balance of the virtues and if he exceeds or has a defecit of a virtue, his courage may achieve the balance since according to pericles speech because the part of a mans actions is more importnat.
In todays society, not much importance is placed on the balance of a persons virtues because of how much diversity there is. Each culture or ethnic group may have different beliefs on what balance is or what “virtue” is the most importnat. Also people of today dont normally perfer or notice a perfect body because that is an unclear picture and people may have different ideas of what balance is all around the world and even even in a small neighborhood.
The Athenian man would fight for his country and if he was killed, the funeral was helped paid for by the people. This shows how much the people care for their men. The men fought for their own confidence and personal stature. Greek men would stand up for their country and face danger in the eyes. Men also participated in government issues. Men also had a perfect body which meant he was in shape and kept himself in shape.
The typical man in todays society is seen not by what he fights for, but how much money he has. Men today try to have the fastest nicest car. Physique is also another big thing that is seen in men today. Would you rather see a man with a six pack and stays in shape, or a man who can’t get off the couch and weighs 300 pounds?
I neglected to associate Pericles’s speech and Polykleitos’ Doryphoros statue when posting earlier; in addition to my earlier post…
Pericles’s speech is about the spiritual balance of the Athenian male citizen. The statue is all about the perfect physical attributes of the ideal Greek male. Combining the two creates a perfectly balanced human male; the perfect Athenian man.
At the Pericles’s speech, the Athens men are introduced as courageous and perfect warriors who nobly fought to protect and defense their land and again nobly died for their land. One of the most traits of manliness is that “all the survivors in the battle will be ready to suffer in her cause”, this clearly tells every men in Athens are born a warrior for their city. The statue of Doryphorus focuses mostly the perfection. It shows how the ancient Greek men are masculine, powerful and courageous warriors.
However, nowadays being a man is more different than being a man in the ancient Greek. Now, masculinity is mostly for the appearance and money. When we turn on the television, we see how the men care their appearance to be famous or to be part of the magazine shows. However, when we look at the ancient Greek men, they mentioned as a brave warriors, lose their life for their people. Therefore, the masculinty in ancient Greek symbolizes the power of warrior instead of the power of money or appearence
Is true that in this time, that men instead of doing anything to be deffenders and hunters for the one that we care for we happen to worry about expensive materialistic things in order to lure women, personally I may not be part of it but at the same time I have nothing against it, but while today’s men mostly care about simple things, men from ancient Greek does anything in their power to protect their homes and the people they love that meant that they rather die than to live with the shame that they lost a fight. The Spartan men were raised to be spartan warriors which meant that their whole existence was to be able to fight and if they failed such bravery they be seen as a disgrace and to their families.
“The freedom which we enjoy in our government extends also to our ordinary life. There, far from exercising a jealous surveillance over each other, we do not feel called upon to be angry with our neighbour for doing what he likes, or even to indulge in those injurious looks which cannot fail to be offensive, although they inflict no positive penalty. But all this ease in our private relations does not make us lawless as citizens.”
This quote from Pericles shows various aspects of the ideal male and how back then it was about respect, decency, seriousness, passionate, and devotion. The statue of the Doryphorus shows this boldness and strength men had back then without taking steroids like some today. We can see it is all natural and honest. The present ideal male is hot, wealthy, and liked for his possessions. I told my younger nephew what I learned in class about how Ancient Greek men had to show off their muscles by being all bare and he was in shock and said he would never be nude. Back then men were trained at an early age to be whatever profession they wanted to be. So I would agree that throughout these many generations, traits have changed for the ideal man.
i also agree with “ray1701”, those people at that time were warriors, and had the ideal body for that time, which people looked up to and respected as if they were connected to the gods in one way or another, as opposed to in todays society, the ideal man, is and educated, goodlooking, nice body, wealthy indivdual, in a suit. as time changes so does the things around us. and we adapt to the things around us, who knows what the ideal man will be in the next 1,000yrs, but one might assume that they prob will have a muscular physic just like the greek male muscular sculptures, and even todays, physic it is accepted, and has played a major role in human history.
“Our constitution does not copy the laws of neighbouring states; we are rather a pattern to others than imitators ourselves. Its administration favours the many instead of the few; this is why it is called a democracy. If we look to the laws, they afford equal justice to all in their private differences; if no social standing, advancement in public life falls to reputation for capacity, class considerations not being allowed to interfere with merit…”
this speech discusses the education of one, based on knowlege of what he knew, which also shows his own opinon on ways to make things better
In Ancient Greek times people honored soldiers bodies after they died in wars. They also paid for their soldiers funeral personally. Society back then respected and follow their ancestors rituals. The Athenians lived as they pleased and were ready to encounter every legitimate danger, sacrificing their own lives for one safety and happiness. Man were also not jealous people of their neighbors as Pericles said in his speech “We do not feel called upon to be angry with our neighbor for doing what he likes”. From all these details the men from Athens in Ancient Greek times should they really had everything in control and also honored and respected.
Man today all they want is power and since money is power everybody want to be successful. The man today isn’t respected for how many battles he fought or how many good deeds he had done for his country but is respected for how much money he’s making. The ideal man today is to be in a suit workin in a office making lots of money in a few hrs without a sweat and to have a lot of connections.
Men from ancient Greek would do anything to protect their loved ones and their homes (nation). The statue of the Doryphorus shows this built, strong, vigorous athlete had back then without taking steroids like some today. As you can see it is all natural and sincere. Masculinity and being a man today is all about taking steroids and being wealthy. Now days if you don’t have money it you wont get no respect.