that there was an archaic nude image of Heracles which was considered to be the

procession has been observed in Nigeria. [See E. R. Dennett, The Spiritual and political System of the Yoruba
(London, 1910). p, 951. At Trani, by Naples, a huge wooden phallic picture called “II Santo Membro” was taken
in procession annually until the eighteenth century. (See Rawson, Simple Erotic Art, p. 75). During the latter
part of the nineteenth century, in big cities of Japan phallic holidays took place in which enormous floats were
exhibited. At several of these holidays, a surging mass of almost naked young men taken a massive papier-mch
phallus. sometimes forty feet long. [See Micheal Czaja, Gods of Myths and Stone (New York, 1974). p. 1741.
There’s enough evidence to demonstrate that phallic processions were standard in many countries and were of great
antiquity. Herodotos (2.48-49) also mentions similar phallic processions in Egypt.
40. pp. 162. 163.
41. For these observations made about Heracles see John Mouratidis.
Exclusion of Women from the Ancient Olympic Games,”Journal of Sport History 11 (Winter 1984): 41-55.
42. Bonfante, Etrusron Apparel, p. 28. The Chaldaeans covered as a rule with ample drapery the sorts of their
43.
85 (1981): 121-132; John Boardman, Greek Sculpture: The Archaic period (Awesome York and Toronto, 1978), p. 261;
n 210, 198; idem, Greek Gems and Finger Rings: Early Bronze Age
IO Lav Classical (London, 1970). pl. 266.
44. p, 221. figs. 111,112

229

work of Daidalos.45 Normally, the hero is depicted nude in early Greek art
which symbolizes old legends. One cannot escape the conclusion that these early
Bare looks of the hero were based on the uncontestable ability of
tradition. On Heracles and his nudity, Evelyn Harrison emphasized that:
There is just one dweller in Olympos for whom the banqueting pose, the heroic
nudity, the short hair and the powerful physique are all genuinely characteristic and that
is Heracles. He alone comes nude into the existence of Zeus and the other gods.
The nudity of the sportsman, the fighter, the laborer is his, which is the true mark of his
Heracles’ nudity is in accordance with the observations made above about the

He was the most
popular hero of the Greeks, known as alexikakos and apotropaios (an averter of
evils) as strong and great, as founder of the Olympic Games, as a helper in all
Issues, as a great athlete, as the protector of the race, as an averter of death,
as a nude warrior-athlete par excellence, as the hero of heroes, and as a
guardian angel.
It really is realistic to suppose that since Heracles was the hero in whose honour

the Olympic Games were maybe held, afterward his protges, the sportsmen, were
Attempting to mimic the nudity as well as several other characteristics of their patron.
From earliest times, the Greek gods and heroes boastfully exhibited their
physical energy and required such a show from their zealots and enthusiasts.
The substance evidence reveals that the warrior-athlete was not a winning
theme for the artists of the late Geometric interval (750-700 B.C.). The sportsmen
of this period carried no weapons and wore no helmets. More emphasis has
been given to the bodies of the athletes and especially to their long arms and
Sturdy legs, rather than to their competitive and warlike characteristics. In url and Proto-Corinthian artwork, there are no traces of the warrior-athlete. The
last fifty years of the 8th century was probably the interval when the nudity of the
warrior-sportsman grown into athletic nudity. This was the same span when
the widespread practice of hero cults, joined with competitive games
Happened. The popularity of sports and numerous practical concerns
were responsible for the change from the warrior-athlete’s nudity to fit
nudity. It is extremely crucial that you keep in mind that the last part of the 8th century is
by custom the eve of the beginning of nudity in Greek athletics and is the
45. https://s3.amazonaws.com/naturist-8/group-sex-on-the-beach.html . Farnell (Greek Hero Cults, p. III) regarded this nude image of Heracles as Dorian
46. more , “Athena and Athens in East Pediment of Parthenon,” AJA 71 (1967): 44.
47. Farnell said that the Lacedaemonian cult of the “Finger of Heracles,” assumed to have been bitten off by