Nakedness (of men) in Ancient Greece

At a reading of The Boy with Two Heads yesterday, in Wigton Library, I showed pictures of vase paintings of (male) naked athletes. 

These three boys of differing body types are at an Athenian gymnasium where middle and upper class men and boys trained almost every day. The word 'gymnasium' comes from the Greek for naked, gymnos (spelled gamma, ipsilon, mi, ni, omicron, sigma - there are no Greek fonts for this blog!) 

My audience of year 6 students asked, "Why were they naked?" If I remember correctly, my answer was along the lines that 
1)  it was only the men and boys, and they did not see why not
2)  the weather was often hot
3)  they had no problem showing off their physical beauty. 

Concerning point 1, I think they did not see "why not" because their religion did not suggest they should cover their bodies. The Christian Bible was written many centuries later. Genesis chapter 3 vividly describes how Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge and realised they were naked. They made aprons of fig leaves to cover themselves, but God ejected them from the Garden of Eden anyway. For Christians this has resulted in a belief through the centuries that we need to be ashamed of the parts of our bodies to do with reproduction. I don't know the Q'ran or other religions' bibles, but perhaps there are similar stories. In Ancient Greece (and some other religions, even now), such parts of the body were often seen as the sacred means of continuing the family and the tribe. There was no shame or guilt attached to them.

Concerning point 2, the weather in Greece, especially in July and August when athletics competitions were mainly held, can be very hot (at least 35 degrees C in the shade). So any clothes can feel unnecessary.

Men's 'chiton' or robe

Ionian Women's 'chiton'

And Ancient Greek clothes were mainly just pieces of cloth attached to the body by belts and/or brooches. This made them impractical when it came to sport. There's a story in Pausanias (I think, or it might be Homer. I can't find it again, of course!) that in the very early days, the runners wore loincloths. During one race, one runner's loincloth came off as he ran and he won! So it became the norm for athletes to train and compete without any clothes at all to impede them.

the Discobolos of Myron

This leads into point 3 above. Being naked was a way of showing off an athlete's perfect physique. The body-perfect was a theme for aspiration, discussion and artistic debate even more then, it seems, than it is now! Larissa Bonfante has written about 'nudity as a costume' in classical times.

So in the right circumstances, nakedness could be not only acceptable but desirable. However, on this blustery, damp day in early winter in northern England, those circumstances seem a long way away and a long time ago!

I salute Cumbria Libraries

I heard today from the Cumbria County Library Reader Development and Stock Manager that she had been responsible for the purchase of 12 sets of Cambridge English Readers now available throughout the country. She says that 'whilst they are clearly written for ESOL students, I felt that they also had a purpose to serve in relation to the wider basic skills agenda ... The series fills a very important gap in our provision.' 


So good for her! for realising that the series can be used in support of literacy and Life Skills programmes. And good for us that all our efforts are appreciated by our own UK libraries, as well as language schools all over the world. 


Cambridge English Readers have never included the kind of exercises that make controlled language fiction so obviously part of a school curriculum. The idea has always been that they are simply novels that can be read in the same way as novels in the reader's first language. What with that, their genre specific stories, and their full-colour covers, they are easy and attractive, even to people who are not habitual readers.

Flyers at the table

Because I was so excited yesterday about finding the Cambridge English Readers in the library, I forgot to mention that I took some flyers for The Boy with Two Heads to the only remaining bookshop selling new books (that I know of) in Penrith. 


Called the Wordsworth Bookshop and Coffee House, it is in an old cottage on a pedestrian street beside the churchyard of St Andrews. The proprietors are Andrea and John Dennison and they welcomed me warmly although I had not contacted them beforehand. Andrea led me upstairs from the cafe area to the bookshop for a chat. The walls are lined with bookshelves and there are easy chairs dotted around on the dark wood floor. The ceiling is low but the windows let in plenty of light and the whole atmosphere is cosy but airy, inviting you to sit and read and discover new worlds. They hold regular poetry readings and other events so that readers can do just that.


When I came back at midday for lunch downstairs with a friend, I found my flyers standing propped up between the salt and pepper! A bit like this photo I took at home later ...


So, in spite of the rather iffy weather, yesterday in Penrith was a very good day for me and The Boy.


And today I have been to Maryport Library and found the same whole series of CERs and Quick Reads (see yesterday's posting). The series editor and I are investigating how this wonder has come about. Surely they are not in every library in Cumbria? Imagine the budget  provision for that!

Luck at the Library!

Today I went to Penrith to start my library visits in the place where Suzanne in The Boy with Two Heads lives and almost dies. It turns out that the county leader of Young People's Services is based there, so we had a long chat about the kind of library event she might be able to slot The Boy into. 


And during that chat I discovered that the Cambridge English Reader (CER) series has been installed in some of the libraries in Cumbria! The editors and authors of CERs have been trying to persuade the powers that be that these short but pithy novels would be good for UK readers (as well as for EFL students all over the world) for years.

Some of the 90 or so CER titles in 7 levels of language

In Penrith, they are in the section that helps people with literacy, whether they are native English speakers or people for whom English is a second or foreign language (EFL).  I found Nelson's Dream among them!! And they told me that Dragons' Eggs was out on loan (even more exclamation marks!). On the same shelves were a plethora of Quick Reads, too.


I was thrilled that in fact the whole series of CER titles are now available from a library. I had a short chat with two librarians about them and dashed home to write a mail to the central office of Cumbria's libraries to find out how this came about and thank them.