Reactions to the beautiful body in Classical Athens : a tri-genre approach
Abstract
Economist Daniel Hamermesh’s groundbreaking Beauty Pays, building upon his
earlier research, opens with the sentence: “Modern man is obsessed with beauty. ”His
book analyses how beautiful individuals benefit (mainly financially) from their
appearances, a phenomenon he had previously termed the ‘beauty premium’. Since his
first article on the topic, many disciplines have followed suit, examining the beauty
premium within their respective contexts of politics, law, and other social sciences.
Contrary to the beauty premium is the concept of a beauty penalty, whereby the beautiful
individual is harmed rather than benefited from his/her looks. Hamermesh’s findings are
by no means limited to the modern world and his opening sentence could be adapted to
read: “Man is, and always has been, obsessed with beauty.” In this thesis, I argue that
beauty premiums and penalties can similarly be seen in operation in Classical Athens. I do
so by identifying and analysing reactions to the beautiful human body via a cross-section
of three popular literary genres: old comedy, the writings of Xenophon and attic oratory.
These genres show that reactions to beauty in Classical Athens were pervasive and
yet variegated. Each section begins with a review of what aspects of the male and female
body were considered beautiful within the respective genre. Then, I analyse the range of
diverse premiums (as well as penalties) granted to beautiful individuals. Beauty, and
reactions to beauty, may be a matter of individual preference, but the essential point is that
it causes reactions. Each genre nuances these reactions in its own way. In comedy,
beautiful characters, who have a range of personalities, are given both penalties and
premiums on account of their appearance. Reactions to such beauty are, at times, mocked
and, at other times, beautiful individuals are treated as prizes to be doled out to the main
characters. Xenophon, on the other hand, urges beautiful individuals and their pursuers
alike to ponder beauty and rethink granting undeserved premiums. Oratory unites both of
these findings in the course of its subtle arguments presented to a jury. Overall this thesis
draws attention to the multifaceted expectations of beauty, and the common societal
reactions recorded in this cross-section of literature. It is my hope that this analysis will be
a useful point of contrast to classicists and all those studying the beauty premium in
societies both modern and ancient.
Type
Thesis, PhD Doctor of Philosophy
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