Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Greek Beliefs About Human Beings

Humanity was very important to the Greek society as well as in art. Protagoras, a philosopher, said that humans were the "measure of all things". The Greeks were the first to create this idea of humanism with the belief of the human body being simple perfection. This concept of perfection is still living with us today in society. Today we still believe in the fact that the human being is superior to all living things. The body itself is believed to be perfect. In ancient times, the Greeks were most interested in the male figure. The male figure was depicted more in art rather than the female and of course the male figure was known to be the dominant of the two. Today, in society we have begun to witness a shift in dominance. The male has always been superior, but with females taking over more and more male roles the male figure has begun to lose that superiority. Recently, we even had a woman running for president! That surely would never have occurred in ancient times. And sure enough, art has also began the shift. The woman's body is, today, more admired and perfected through art. The Greeks also created their gods to model the human form. They made the gods to represent the perfect human individual. The figures in art were shown with perfect muscle form and strength, perfect hair and curls, and every inch of their body was depicted nude in order to show perfection. Most society today is still unaware of the origin of this important concept of humanity and human perfection in which they live by and believe.

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