The cult of body and spirit in the leisure time of the inhabitants of ancient Greece. How the spiritual evolution of man was replaced by the idea of the cult of the body and technological progress The cult of a healthy body in ancient Greece

1. The cult of body and spirit in the leisure time of residents Ancient Greece

1. Myth as the basis of human leisure life in Ancient Greece

In the development of Greek culture of the 3rd-1st half of the 1st millennium BC. e. include period ancient civilizations(III-II millennium BC), Homeric period (XI-IX centuries BC) and archaic period(VIII-VI centuries BC)

In addition to myths about the gods and the beginning of the world, the Greeks had very widespread all kinds of myths about heroes, and the most popular ones were combined into cycles, for example, about Trojan War, about the exploits of Hercules, Perseus and many other heroes.

- cult of body and spirit

Ancient humanism glorifies only the cult of the body - the physical perfection of man, but the subjectivity of the individual, its spiritual capabilities have not yet been revealed. The standard of harmony was the physical development of a person. Even the Greek gods are, first of all, eternal perfect bodies. From this follows the proportionality of the proportions of Greek architecture and the flourishing of sculpture. An indicative expression of the physicality of ancient humanism was the exceptional position of physical culture in the system of public education.

However, in ancient society the biosocial nature of man was recognized, enshrined in Aristotle’s formula: “Man is a social animal.” The body was conceptualized as an aesthetic symbol of the Greek city-state, the “polis.” The ancient Greeks tried to cultivate in themselves, through the body and thanks to it, correspondingly harmonious spiritual qualities, seeing in it the presence of feeling and mind in their mutual unity and contradiction, but the weak development of individuality did not allow Greek culture reflect the heights of human emotionality and spirit.

Exalting the body, in general, ancient art and culture, as in the East, resolved the contradiction between the personal and the public in favor of the latter. A person was considered useful to society only thanks to his civic virtues. The contradictions between object and subject as aspects of the human personality can be called the main nerve of ancient culture. If in relationships with society the individual found some way out, then in relation to fate both the individual and society were only objects, blind instruments of Fate.

The idea of the inexorability of Fate is closely connected with ancient slavery, for in the ancient world free people thought of themselves as slaves of the general world order. Single breakthroughs of the human spirit in ancient culture did not become the paradigm of the ancient worldview and did not express its essence.

- entertainment industry

The ancient Greeks lacked both the word “boredom” and descriptions of the corresponding symptoms.

A lot of time was spent in gymnasiums and palestras, where they did physical training. In addition, the sophists and Socrates held conversations in the gymnasiums, and political and philosophical disputes arose. A special place of communication was the market, where they exchanged news while making purchases. Quite often, symposiums were held - friendly feasts at which they sang songs, sometimes competed in eloquence, poetry, and conducted philosophical debates. Only men took part in the symposiums, but flutists, other musicians, and heterae were often invited to entertain the feasters. (Hetaera (from the Greek hetaira - friend, mistress) - in Ancient Greece, an educated unmarried woman leading a free, independent lifestyle.)

2.Theater as the basis for the spiritual education of citizens, leisure and entertainment

In the VII-VI centuries. BC e. Greek theater was born, which grew out of round dances, songs, and prayers performed at religious holidays in honor of Dionysus. The development of dramatic performances is associated with separation from the choir actor- actor.

The art of the archaic period is characterized by the search for a form that expresses the aesthetic ideal of a citizen of the polis who is beautiful in body and spirit.

The creator of classical Greek tragedy is Aeschylus (525-456 BC). He revived the drama by introducing a second actor into it, made the theatrical action more dynamic and interesting, in addition, the use of scenery and masks is associated with his name. One of the main motives of Aeschylus’s work is the glorification of civic virtues and patriotism; the tragedy “Prometheus Bound” is especially characteristic in this regard. Another important theme of Aeschylus is the idea of retribution and the factor of fate, best expressed in the Oresteia trilogy.

The theme of inevitable fate also occupies a large place in the work of another famous Greek tragedian - Sophocles (c.496-406 BC). Showing the struggle of free human will against the injustice of blind fate, Sophocles emphasizes the powerlessness of man and the inevitability of the fate prepared for him. The most famous are Sophocles' tragedies about the legendary King Oedipus. Sophocles is credited with saying: “I depict people as they should be, and Euripides depicts them as they are.”

The creator of psychological drama was Euripides (485/484 or 480-406 BC). The main conflict in his works is the struggle between reason and passions, which, just as inevitably as fate, lead a person to death. Among the tragedies of Euripides, “Medea” and “Phaedra” especially stand out.

Aristophanes (c. 445 - c. 386) was an excellent comedian, who gave comedy political urgency and topicality. His work (the comedies “The World”, “Horsemen”, “Lysistrata”, etc.) reflected Political Views Attic peasantry. Aristophanes was an ardent supporter of democracy, an adherent of traditional polis ideals, so his comedies often ridiculed the Sophists and Socrates as supporters of individualism, contrary to collectivist morality.

The whole life of Athenian citizens in the 5th century. BC e. was connected with collective interests and took place in constant communication. The majority of citizens - men - took part in the work of the national assembly, government bodies,

4.Olympic games as the unity of spirit and sporting potential of a person

An important factor cultural development In Greece there were games held in honor of certain gods. The most significant of them were: Olympic Games- sports competitions dedicated to Zeus, held every four years in Olympia, starting in 776 BC. e.; Pythian Games - sports and musical competitions in honor of Apollo in Delphi (every four years); Isthmian - in honor of Poseidon, held near Corinth every two years.

In games in honor of the gods one of the most important elements appears ancient greek culture- agonistic. (Agnostic (Greek agon - struggle) - the desire for success in sports, music, poetry, etc.)

The desire for confrontation and competition, organically inherent in the worldview of the ancient Greeks, permeates almost all areas of their activity. It is characteristic that in the education system of the archaic era the main thing is to surpass the rest, to become the best. Educated man had to own all types of weapons, play the lyre, sing, dance, participate in sports and gaming competitions, etc.

The Olympic Games (Greek: τὰὈλύμπια) are the greatest of the Hellenic national festivals.

They took place at Olympia in the Peloponnese and, according to ancient legend, arose back in the time of Kronos, in honor of the Idean Hercules. According to this legend, Rhea handed over the newborn Zeus to the Idean Dactyls (Curetes). Five of them came from the Cretan Ida to Olympia, where a temple in honor of Kronos had already been erected. Hercules, the eldest of the brothers, defeated everyone in the race and was awarded a wreath made of wild olive for his victory. At the same time, Hercules established competitions that were to take place after 5 years, according to the number of Idean brothers who arrived in Olympia.

There were also other legends about the emergence of the national holiday, which were timed to coincide with one mythical era or another. There is no doubt, in any case, that Olympia was an ancient sanctuary, long known in the Peloponnese. Homer's Iliad mentions races of quadrigas (chariots with four horses) organized by the inhabitants of Elis (the region in the Peloponnese where Olympia was located), and to which quadrigas were sent from other places in the Peloponnese (Iliad, 11.680).

First historical fact, associated with the Olympic Games is their resumption by the king of Elis, Iphitus, and the legislator of Sparta, Lycurgus, whose names were inscribed on a disk kept in Gereon (in Olympia) back in the time of Pausanias. From that time (according to some sources, the year of the resumption of the games was 884 BC, according to others - 828 BC), the interval between two successive celebrations of the games was four years or an Olympiad; but as a chronological era in the history of Greece, the countdown from 776 BC was accepted. e. (see article “Olympics (chronology)”).

Resuming the Olympic Games, Iphitus established a sacred truce (Greek: έκεχειρία) during their celebration, which was declared by special heralds (Greek: σπονδοφόροι) first in Elis, then in the rest of Greece; the month of the truce was called ίερομηνία. At this time it was impossible to wage war not only in Elis, but also in other parts of Hellas. Using the same motive of the holiness of the place, the Eleans obtained agreement from the Peloponnesian states to consider Elis a country against which war could not be waged. Subsequently, however, the Eleans themselves attacked neighboring regions more than once.

Only purebred Hellenes who had not undergone athymia could participate in the festive competitions; the barbarians could only be spectators. An exception was made in favor of the Romans, who, as masters of the land, could change religious customs at will. Women, except the priestess Demeter, also did not enjoy the right to watch the games. The number of spectators and performers was very large; many people used this time to make trade and other transactions, and poets and artists to introduce their works to the public. From different states of Greece, special deputies (Greek: θεωροί) were sent to the holiday, who competed with each other in the abundance of offerings to maintain the honor of their city.

Nevertheless, women could become Olympic champions in absentia - simply by sending their chariot. For example, the first Olympic champion was Kiniska, the sister of the Spartan king Agesilaus.

Modern fashion, which exposes women, is leading European civilization to extinction. Even in its own territories, it is increasingly being replaced by other ethnic groups, in everyday life which have bans on even partial exposure of the female body.

The place of Europeans on earth is being replaced by peoples who preserve the chastity and secrecy of their women, and thereby also protect their men...

Fashionable emphasizing of female charms, provoking sexual lust in men, can be considered as creating “sexual stress”. Because of it, a complex intra-organismal complex of “sexual rejection” is activated, ending in impotence and cancer. The famous doctor, academician Leonid Aleksandrovich Kitaev-Smyk writes about this in his fundamental monograph “Psychology of Stress. Psychological anthropology of stress" (M., 2009).

For clarity and understanding of physiology this process The scientist gives an example from the life of animals. A female in the animal world instinctively searches for the best male, the one more capable of reproducing viable offspring - and at the same time culls and rejects the worst males. But their lust still remains; it is unsatisfied and suppressed. The content of androgens in their blood remains moderately elevated, that is, oncologically dangerous. In a male regularly rejected by a female, the average level of androgens contributes to the development of benign prostate adenoma; in most cases this leads to sexual impotence. Thanks to this, the “not the best” male will not even accidentally be able to leave “not the best” offspring. This mechanism eliminates weak, “not the best” males in the population. In addition, in some of them, prostate adenoma degenerates into fatal cancer.

Science is now accumulating evidence that similar processes occur in humans. There may be an explanation here for why the rich and developed nations of the West are dying out today.
Over the past decades, adenoma and prostate cancer, like an epidemic, have affected men in countries with European civilization. By the beginning of the twenty-first century, 40% of men have an adenoma. Half of European men over forty have it. American pathologists have identified prostate cancer in 80% of men who died over sixty years of age. In other words, many of them did not live to see the tragic manifestations of this disease. At the same time, in Muslim countries there is no such increase in male oncology. Why? After all, it would seem that Western countries have more developed medicine and a generally higher standard of living.

In countries where the “consumer society” dominates, in recent decades, fashionable clothing has become the norm, emphasizing and exposing female charms, in scientific terms - secondary sexual characteristics. Bare female bellies and navels have become an obsessive everyday occurrence, as a symbol of what is below, temptingly irritating tight rounded forms and increasingly open cleavages...

From a physiological point of view, all of these are sexual signals that awaken lust in men. A woman's sexy butt and thighs signal her ability to bear a man's conceived fetus. Covered, especially alluringly half-open breasts indicate the ability to feed a newborn. Navels - about supposedly possible intercourse.

Any arousal should lead to intercourse - this is the mechanism laid down by nature. Eros between a man and a woman is an instrument for the reproduction of the race; it is beneficial and useful to the body in all its manifestations. We are well aware of the surprisingly beneficial effects of normal erotic communication and successfully completed sexual acts. Therefore, in particular, traditional religions encourage marriage and marital relations.

If arousal is provoked frequently and to no avail, it ceases to be conscious, sinking and being repressed into the subconscious. Men seem to get used to the frequent contemplation of women’s charms on the streets, in offices, in public transport, and even stop noticing their erotic lust. However, the sexual arousal of men, immersed in the subconscious, continues to splash androgens into the blood, but no longer in an oncologically safe amount, but with a carcinogenic dosage - the evolutionary mechanisms of “culling male losers” are activated.

On average, a city resident sees such “signals” 100-200 times a day. As a result, an often excited but dissatisfied man receives a powerful carcinogenic, destructive attack from within his body, which leads to an oncological outcome.

“Many women of the 21st century are literally digging the grave of men’s health with their bare legs and deep necklines. Every beauty, going on a date in a top, makes only one person happy, and ten along the way - disabled. Strippers can generally be called “weapons of mass destruction”, which have already turned Western civilization into a society of sick men,” says L.A. Kitaev-Smyk in his interview with the Assalam newspaper.

In addition, wearing clothes that leave the stomach or back uncovered, a woman causes great harm to herself. This method of attracting attention to satisfy the need to be attractive in the eyes of other people threatens the female body not only with hypothermia (hypothermia is possible already at a temperature of 12-15 degrees, and this is a sure path to infertility, cystitis, kidney inflammation and other problems), but also with energy-informational pollution , which in most cases is the real reason many women's diseases. Catching various, not always kind, glances with their bare parts of the body, young and not so young beauties risk violating the integrity of their energy field. And all the energy debris, which on the physical plane can lead to diseases of varying severity, will flow into the resulting hole, like a black hole. You should always remember this when trying on another short top or T-shirt in front of the mirror.

I would like to note that cancer due to “sexual stress” in women is of a different nature than in men. The main cause of female oncology (benign and malignant neoplasms of the mammary glands, uterus, ovaries) at the physical level is the lack of childbearing and infant feeding in the presence of sexual intercourse (sexual acts). A woman’s complex intraorganismal structures “perceive” the absence of childbirth and breastfeeding as signals about her “unsuitability” for reproduction. Allegedly, she is unnecessary ballast in the family, ethnic group, uselessly distracting the sexual potential of men. Such a woman experiences “sexual stress.” The mechanisms of population selection formed by biological evolution “cull” women who are not fertile, but who are sexually “expendable” men.

Stressful signs of sexual collapse in men are “beer bellies”, in women - a lack of waist. This exacerbates the unerotic nature of the figure. Medical statistics have established a direct relationship between the likelihood of myocardial infarction and excess waist size. So, apparently, the subject’s non-participation in the sexual reproduction of his clan, ethnic group, increasingly reduces his erotic attractiveness and then “completely excludes” him from the clan. These are the mechanisms of natural selection in the human population.
Peoples and ethnic groups that cultivated nudity and eroticism (the ancient Greeks, Romans, etc.) disappeared and were replaced by other peoples who retained only the names and partially the language of the extinct. Today, archaic customs with naked bodies are preserved by the aborigines of equatorial countries. But their life expectancy is short and there is no reliable information about the occurrence of male oncology in them. Sexual promiscuity and the cult of the naked body, which captured the ancient Greeks and Romans, may have become one of the reasons for their degeneration. Today these societies have been erased from the map of history. Moreover, they were erased not so much by military actions as destroyed from the inside. What the Bible and Koran say about the inhabitants of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah is one of many examples. They took the path of self-destruction, violating the laws of nature and breaking its natural mechanisms. By the way, “sodomism,” homosexuality, is the ultimate expression of that hedonism, the dominance of sensuality, to which nakedness leads.

But there are still people alive who observe traditional values their ancestors. First of all, these are Muslim ethnic groups, but the ancestors of modern Slavs were also such in their time. All Russian nationalities back in the 19th century. women's clothing covered the body with spacious, long-length dresses, sundresses, etc. These clothes are bright, festive, multi-colored (often with an abundance of red). Decorating women, she attracted men to them, but without erotic appeals, never hugging the figure and in no way emphasizing the breasts. Let us remember the old Russian expression “goof up” - that is, accidentally throwing off a scarf, revealing one’s hair, which means “to make a mistake, to do something stupid that needs to be corrected urgently.” Let's pay attention to ancient Russian frescoes, icons and manuscripts, portraits of ladies of the last century, images of peasant women - we will see a culture of chastely beautiful women's clothing. All peoples adhering to religious traditions had a similar culture of clothing. By preserving the chastity and privacy of its women, society thereby protected the health of its men.

Today we need to return fashion a little back to traditional forms in order to restore the optimal balance of beauty and health, a correct understanding of the purpose of clothing - and then everything will be fine, the scientist says.

History of religions. Volume 1 Kryvelev Joseph Aronovich

CULT DEVELOPMENT (22)

For the initial stage of the history of Christianity, F. Engels notes such an essential feature as the simplicity of ritual. It was already noted above that in the further development of Christianity, the rituals of Judaism, especially such onerous and unpleasant ones as circumcision, were supposed to disappear. New ones took their place.

To remain in the position of a religion without its own specific rituals was associated with the risk of death for Christianity. In the struggle for the masses, it dealt with competitors who kept people under their influence precisely thanks to an extensive system of vivid and emotionally rich cult-magical actions. It was necessary to create our own system of such actions, and life suggested the possibility of borrowing them from those religions from which the corresponding groups of believers came to Christianity.

Material I used christian church to build his cult system, he was rich enough. Jewish proselytes knew the synagogue cult that had developed by that time, more complex than the previous temple one. Along with sacrifices, which were purely symbolic in nature, prayerful speech formulas and chants, playing musical instruments (trumpets, horns), etc. began to play a large role. The atmosphere in the synagogues was more magnificent and outwardly spectacular than in the Jerusalem temple.

But Christianity could draw much more material than from Judaism when creating its cult from the religions of the Hellenistic world. This material was all the more important the greater the place former pagans occupied among the newly converted Christians. Worshipers of Isis and Mithra, Dionysus and Cybele, Bacchus and Serapis brought their cult habits and inclinations to the new religion. To recruit neophytes from these layers, it was necessary that they find familiar surroundings and familiar rituals in the new religion. Therefore, the ideologists of Christianity did not oppose the inclusion of pagan rituals in the emerging Christian cult. Already at the beginning of the 5th century. Augustine not only recognized the borrowing of pagan rites by Christianity, but also substantiated the legality of such borrowing. “Christians,” he wrote, “should, less than anyone else, reject anything good just because it belongs to one or another... Therefore, continue the good customs practiced by idolaters, preserve the objects of worship and buildings with which they used does not mean borrow from them; on the contrary, it means taking from them what does not belong to them and returning it to the true owner, God, dedicating it to him directly in his cult or indirectly in the cult of saints” 23.

With such a readiness to assimilate rituals, customs and church orders from other religions, this process was very active. As a result, something like a synthesis of Jewish and pagan rituals arose, and in the course of the development of the new religion, the first was quickly replaced by the second. Circumcision as a symbol of communion with the one-saving faith and the host of its adherents gave way to water baptism 24 . The latter became one of the “sacraments”, the most important rite, the performance of which is associated, according to belief, with a miracle.

Immersion in water as an act of joining a given religion did not first appear in Christianity. This ritual was widespread in pre-Christian religions of antiquity.

In the first generations of Christians, when mainly adults joined the new religion, the rite of baptism was performed on them. But later, belonging to this religion became hereditary, and parents naturally sought to convert their children to Christianity from birth. That is why the baptism of newborns entered religious life and church laws.

Probably, somewhat earlier than baptism, the rite of communion took its place in the Christian cult. Its spread was facilitated by the fact that it did not have to, like baptism, displace the corresponding Jewish rite.

We find a specifically Christian explanation of the semantics of communion in the Gospel legend about the Last Supper. But its real origins lie in pre-Christian cults. This ritual came into Christianity from Mithraism, from the orgiastic mysteries of Dionysus, from the cult of Bacchus, from the Cretan Orphic mysteries and other ancient cults 25. The ritual of eating the flesh and blood of God in its origin goes back to primitive times and totemistic cults. In the religions of primitiveness and antiquity, there was a widespread idea that by taking inside a particle of the body of his deity, a person gains his strength and wisdom, his valor and cunning. Being a central element of the Christian cult in the early period of its history, the rite of communion played a large role in the design of the entire divine service. The organization of this ritual on a large scale resulted in a common meal for community members. Such meals received the Greek name “agape” - a supper (or suppers) of love. The matter could not be limited only to the collective eating of food, and in particular to the eating of “the body and blood of the Lord.” The ritual inevitably had to acquire a number of verbal prayer and other formulas, which in the further development of the Christian cult resulted in liturgy.

The rites of baptism and communion served as the basis for the emerging Christian cult. The fact that they were borrowed from other religions created certain difficulties in understanding them. Borrowed cult forms required a different explanation than the one they had in the religions that gave birth to them.

The creation of a new etiology for borrowed rituals placed an additional burden on the imagination of religious ideologists who were involved in formulating dogma. Material for new explanations of old rituals was sought out in the books of the New Testament, and sometimes simply invented and recorded in the writings of early Christian authors.

A number of details and episodes of the biography of Christ created at this time were dictated by the needs of the mythological etiology of the emerging ritual.

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What kind of “cult of the body” was this among the ancient Greeks?? What is this? and got the best answer

Answer from Ksanna[guru]
In Ancient Greece there was a cult of a healthy, strong body. The ancient Greeks were not ashamed to be naked to a certain extent. They had something to show. And what do we have today? Men dressed in all sorts of clothes. They try to cover up their frail, pampered body. They simply have nothing to show. but I don’t want to show weakness and flabbiness. That's when the disease begins to rage...
Then, in ancient times, during the time of Hippocrates, voluntarily or involuntarily, most of the male half of the population had to strengthen their bodies physically. Whether you like it or not, when the state is attacked by enemies, the state has to be defended. Defend with sword and shield. And both the shield and the sword weighed quite a bit. weak man It just won't lift them. But you didn’t just have to lift it, you had to run around with these military supplies. .
Ancient humanism glorifies only the cult of the body - the physical perfection of man, but the subjectivity of the individual, its spiritual capabilities have not yet been revealed. The standard of harmony was the physical development of a person. Even the Greek gods are, first of all, eternal perfect bodies. From this follows the proportionality of the proportions of Greek architecture and the flourishing of sculpture. An indicative expression of the physicality of ancient humanism was the exceptional position of physical culture in the system of public education.
The body was conceptualized as an aesthetic symbol of the Greek city-state, the “polis”. The ancient Greeks tried to cultivate in themselves, through the body and thanks to it, correspondingly harmonious spiritual qualities, seeing in it the presence of feeling and mind in their mutual unity and contradiction, but the weak development of individuality did not allow Greek culture to reflect the heights of manifestation of human emotionality and spirit.

Reply from Antipova Elena[guru]
They did exercises and kept their bodies clean.

Reply from Polinka-Malinka[guru]
Yes, indeed, the Greeks really valued a beautiful body. There is even one story: Once in Greece, a prostitute girl was convicted, and a lot of people gathered. Nothing was said in defense and it was decided to execute the girl. And then, in front of all the people, she took off her clothes. Her body was beautiful, lovely... The Greeks let her go because they could not destroy her beauty.
Here's the story.

Reply from Mitrich[guru]
Everyone who answered is absolutely right.
True, in fact, how other Greeks actually lived is known only from late Roman sources and rare fragments of Greek texts proper. Greek civilization was destroyed first by the elements, and then by Rome at the root. Fully.

Participants of the bike ride. Late 1930s

Body cult. This phrase very often has a negative connotation - now critics like to use it totalitarian regimes XX century. However, in Soviet era it was believed that the “cult of the body” is there in the West, but here it’s all “physical education, hello!” and no cult. The cult of the body, as opposed to spirituality, harmony, fair competition in sports... The cult of the body, as the cult of sex.

Interest in sports and other bodily pleasures did not arise immediately in the 1920s. It all started in late XIX century, but it was after the First World War that humanity finally occupied the beaches, courts and cycling tracks. Sleek obesity has unconditionally ceased to be associated with beauty and... wealth.

Variety show performers in miniskirts. 1920s

Cover of Vogue magazine. Early 1930s

Fashion model in a swimsuit. 1920s

By the way, the attitude towards the body in the 1920s and in the 1930s was noticeably different. At first, this is simply an aestheticization of extreme thinness and narrow hips, and it does not matter how this thinness was acquired - on a treadmill or through a coffee-liquor diet (in the morning - a cup of coffee, in the evening - a glass of liqueur). The 1930s gave birth to a new standard - thin, but completely healthy person(in the USSR the ideal was somewhat larger than in other countries).

Soviet athlete and athlete. 1920-1930s

Soviet athletes. 1920-1930s

Activists of the German organization "BDM".
Late 1930s

The Soviet and Hitler regimes simply made the cult of the body part of their ideology, but by no means had a “monopoly” on it. However, it was in the USSR and the Third Reich that a person’s physical health became a matter of national importance - it could no longer be a purely private matter.

Academicism and asceticism: the naked body.

People writing about the Third Reich often view it as a completely autonomous phenomenon - without connection with historical development Germany. Hence the helpless attempts to talk about the so-called “erotica of the Reich”, about some special fascist debauchery reigning in the country.

Photos of the Third Reich.

Still from "Olympia"

It should be noted that the calm (devoid of sexual message) attitude towards the naked body in Germany has long roots. Suffice it to recall that Frederick the Great (an almost ascetic man) decorated his residence with rather immodest (from the point of view of the libertine Voltaire) paintings. In addition, nudism originated in Germany at the end of the 19th century (the first club opened in 1903). At the same time, even then the motive of closeness to nature, to the natural relationship with the human body was also noticeable.

National socialist propaganda picked up and used this interest in the chastely naked body for its own purposes - to demonstrate the Aryan ideal of beauty, to educate physically developed person- warrior. There can be no talk of any corruption of youth and the transformation of Germans into a herd of copulating idiots - in a strictly regulated society there simply can be no porn or free love. (You can hate the Third Reich for crimes against humanity, but attaching additional labels to its leaders is immoral).

Stills from Olympia.

The sculptors of the Third Reich - Joseph Thorach and Arno Brecker - strategically embodied the image of a superman in their monuments. Superhumans were simply obliged to resemble ancient gods and heroes. Their nudity is no more sexual than the naked bodies of Apollo and Aphrodite. (Torah loved naturalism so much that one can only be surprised and happy that his statues of Frederick the Great turned out to be clothed).

Working with a model.

Monuments of Joseph Torah.

By the way, what's strange is nudism was officially banned in the Third Reich, and girls who dared to sunbathe naked would also have a hard time. That is, for the sake of the idea - it’s possible, but not for the sake of it. Do you find this surprising? In general, there was a lot of strange things in the cultural life of Germany in those years. Thus, the frivolous cancans of the fully dressed Marika Rökk were branded as indecent, and photographs of naked models were considered acceptable and even useful... The dressed ladies of the American pin-up aroused anger due to their " debauchery,” and the multi-meter “Venuses” of Torah received applause.

Monuments to Arno Breker.

In the middle is a girl (from clothes - one ball).

The fact of the matter is that both Marika Rökk, American pin-up, and semi-forbidden swing dancing turned to eroticism, to teasing half-hints, to lust under the guise of inaccessibility. Naked girls - models do not tease anyone - they are waiting for the artist, not their lover.

Mountain films.

Long before Hitler came to power, so-called “mountain films” were very popular in Germany - they told about the dubious joys of mountaineering, about overcoming difficulties, about snow drifts and landslides. In addition to the “mountain” films, there were films about icebergs, polar pilots, about brave girls stranded in the ice and about the love of the above-mentioned pilots for these girls. Directors Arnold Fanck and Georg Wilhelm Pabst, who shot all these icy thrillers, gladly used the talent of actress and climber Leni Riefenstahl

Posters and postcards with the image of L. Riefenstahl.

In addition to the beautiful but evil mountains, these films demonstrated the capabilities of the human body, its triumph over cold and heights. So the cult of the body, strength and health existed in Germany even before Hitler - under him, this admiration of muscles acquired a propaganda character, but by no means appeared for the first time.

The "pre-Nazi" period of Leni's work...

The big picture.

Racial theory included the cult of a biologically healthy body, the cult of childbirth and the multiplication of the race. Thus, the very meaning of communication between a man and a woman was deprived of all romance, giving way to physiological expediency. There is an opinion that the "Aryan" standard of beauty is boring, monotonous and joyless - a muscular blond with a fixed lower jaw and devoid of any piquancy " snow queen".

SS men.

Private photo.

But the standard of beauty is always a reflection of the dominant idea in society: the Third Reich did not need steep-hipped courtesans and narrow-shouldered botanists - their union could only produce a jerboa. Courtesans were relaxing in Ravensbrück, botanists were working out their abs. Even the weak Reichsführer Himmler manically passed the SS sports standards - he was afraid of disgracing himself...

Sports paintings by P. Keil and a postcard.

I’m already saying that in the 1930s, playing sports was essentially preparation for a future war. In addition to sports, the Nazi state cultivated respect for physical labor - by the way, it was never placed above mental labor - physicists / lyricists were very much valued there.

The Nazis devoted children's physical culture great attention. Comparison curricula German gymnasium in the early 1930s. and the plans of the elite fascist school in 1937 shows that the maximum reduction in teaching time was in foreign languages, and the maximum increase was in military physical training, not counting the time allocated to general physical education.

...When girls turned 17 years old, they could be accepted into the organization "Faith and Beauty" ("Glaube und Schöncheit"), where they remained upon reaching the age of 21. Here girls were taught housekeeping and prepared for motherhood and childcare. But the most memorable event with the participation of "Glaube und Schöncheit" was the sports round dances - girls in identical white short dresses, barefoot, entered the stadium and performed simple but well-coordinated dance movements. The women of the Reich were required to be not only strong, but also feminine.

By the way, the attitude towards the performances of "Glaube und Schöncheit" was not positive everywhere. Religiously minded citizens (especially in small towns) had a sharply negative attitude toward this “state pornography.” In addition, there were many obscene jokes and rumors about the girls from this organization that were not true - these girls were more likely vestals than bacchantes...

The standard man of the Third Reich - prince, Nazi, athlete, manufacturer -
His Highness Christoph-Ernst-August of Hesse-Kaselsky.

And in the east at this very time, other muscular blonds with their peasant Venuses were building socialism to the sounds of songs:
"Step forward, Komsomol tribe*,
Bloom and sing so that smiles bloom!
We conquer space and time
We are the young masters of the earth."

Also a tribe and also masters. Who - whom?

*The expression “Komsomol tribe” belongs to J.V. Stalin (“Greetings to Lenin’s Komsomol” // Pravda. 1928. October 28).

"Love, Komsomol and Spring."

In the USSR, depicting nudity was somewhat more difficult than in Germany - this was due to the natural shyness of the Russian people, and the fact that in Soviet ideology there was no place for the concepts of “superman” or “racial standard”, so undressing the builder of communism in order to show all his perfection, there was no reason. But nevertheless, such images still appeared, and they were not something underground or semi-forbidden.

A. Deineka "Ball Game"

A. Deineka "Mother".

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Stalinist classicism inherited from antiquity the idea of “heroic nudity,” not even always covered by sports shorts and chaste bras. Athletes, girls with oars - all this is a tradition creatively reworked by Soviet ideologists. In the 1930s, the cult of a healthy, strong body was associated with the youth and strength of the country.

I.Shadr "Girl with an oar". Central Park of Culture and Culture named after. Gorky.

If in the Third Reich the cult of the body is associated, first of all, with the idea of increasing the race, and a beautiful, strong body was considered as a “biologically perfect individual,” then in the USSR such a body is, first of all, the body of an exemplary worker. But no matter who they were - an SS man-manufacturer or a Stakhanovite with a pick - both were not free: their lives belonged to the Leaders. True, in the “totalitarian” cult of the body there is not a hint of commerce, which cannot but rejoice!

A. Deineka "Ring Relay "B"

A. Deineka "Lunch break in Donbass".

Another important aspect - the cult of the body in the Third Reich was associated with the revival of the great past: here is the literally understood ancient καλοκαγαθία, and the constant appeal to Teutonic-Prussian images. It was all a look back, and living with your head constantly turned back is a very tiring task. In the USSR there was exactly the opposite task - creation of the man of the future, because the past in Russia (according to the tenets of agitprop) was dark, cruel and full of oppression. The man of the past attacked the man of the future! How, tell me, can a person who is mentally still wearing a cocked hat defeat a person who is mentally already in a spacesuit?!

Unlike the German couple from the painting "Ebb and Flow",

Soviet goalkeeper flies alone...

"...She had that sporty look that recent years bought all the beautiful girls."- this is Zosya Sinitskaya from the novel “The Golden Calf”.
“Standing in front of me was a girl of about sixteen, almost a girl, broad-shouldered, gray-eyed, with cropped and tousled hair - a charming teenager, slender, like a chess piece...”- this is Valya from “Envy” by Yuri Olesha.

Cover of the magazine "Ogonyok" with a parade of athletes.

The same Yuri Olesha in the film story “The Strict Young Man” gives a description ideal man: “There is a type of male appearance that has developed as a result of the development of technology, aviation, and sports in the world... From under the leather visor of a pilot’s helmet, gray eyes, as a rule, look at you. And you are sure that when the pilot takes off his helmet , then blond hair will flash in front of you..." What follows is a description of the same blond tankman.

A. Deineka "Ode to Spring"

A. Deineka "Expansion".

And a resume - "Light eyes, blond hair, thin face, triangular torso, muscular chest - this is the type of modern male beauty. This is the beauty of the Red Army soldiers, the beauty of young people wearing the GTO badge on their chest." To please this beautiful and life-affirming, but still stereotype, even Leonid Utesov was dyed blond for the film “Jolly Fellows”:

You can embody the standard only with blond bangs.

By the way, the children's fairy tale "Three Fat Men" is filled with hostility towards a physically undeveloped, flabby body - fatness is associated with the defeated propertied class. The caricatured bourgeois is certainly pot-bellied and cheeky, and his numerous rings cut into his sausage fingers. Maxim Gorky calls “their” jazz “the music of the fat people”... The local enemy, the NEPman, also does not suffer from lack of appetite.

Soviet posters.

Positive characters - starting with the fabulous Suok and Tibul, ending with the completely earthly characters of "Circus", "Goalkeeper", "Volga-Volga" and "Strict Youth" - are certainly fit, muscular, thin and always ready. The evil genius from the film "Circus" seduces circus performer Zinochka with cake. Cake from "Three Fat Men" with a balloon seller, as a symbol of world evil and tyrannical oppression of man. Down with the cakes! Long live meat - the weapon of the proletariat!