page_title: Nudity
section_title: Ancient history
hierarchical_section_title: Nudity / History / Ancient history
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Drei junge Frauen beim Bade. Seite B von einer attischen rotfigurigen Stamnos, 440-430 v. Chr. English: Three young women bathing. Side B from an Attic red-figure stamnos, 440–430 BC. Français&#160;: Trois jeunes femmes à la toilette. Face B d'un stamnos attique à figures rouges, 440-430 av. J.-C.
context_page_description: Nudity is a state of being in which a human is not wearing clothing or specifically is not covering the genitals. In some societies, partial nudity is defined as not covering other parts of the body that are deemed to be sexual.
  Nakedness, or the loss of body fur, was one of the physical characteristics that marked the evolution of anatomically modern humans from their hominini ancestors. For many thousands of years, humans wore no clothing, which continues to be the norm in some isolated indigenous societies in tropical climates. It is generally accepted that the widespread adoption of clothing occurred as people migrated to other climates which required protection from the elements. In addition, as societies developed from being hunter-gatherers to being agrarian, clothing became part of cultural evolution as individuals and groups became differentiated by status and class. In early civilizations such as Egypt, slaves, children, and others with lower status often continued to be naked.
  The modern understanding of nudity is culturally complex due to different meanings given various states of undress in differing social situations.
context_section_description: In ancient Mesopotamia, most people owned a single item of clothing, and being naked meant being at the bottom of the social scale, lacking in dignity and status.
  For the average person, clothing changed little in ancient Egypt from the Early Dynastic Period, (3150–2686 BCE) until the Middle Kingdom (2055–1650 BCE). Although the genitals of adults were generally covered, nakedness in ancient Egypt was not a violation of any social norm, but more often a convention indicating lack of wealth; those that could afford to do so covered more. Both men and women wore skirts called schenti—which evolved from loincloths and resembled modern kilts. Slaves and laborers were nude or wore loincloths. Only women of the upper classes wore kalasiris, a dress of loose draped or translucent linen which came from just above or below the breasts to the ankles. Women entertainers performed naked. Children went without clothing until puberty, at about age 12. It was not until the later periods, in particular the New Kingdom (1550–1069 BCE), that functionaries in the households of the wealthy also began wearing more refined dress, and upper class women wore elaborate dresses and ornamentation which covered their breasts. These later styles are often shown in film and TV as representing ancient Egypt in all periods.
  Male nudity was celebrated in ancient Greece as in no culture before or since. They considered embarrassment at having to disrobe for sports a sign of barbarism. The female nude emerged as a subject for art in the 5th century BCE, illustrating stories of women bathing both indoors and outdoors. While depictions of nude women were erotic in nature, there was no attribution of impropriety as would be the case for such images in later Western culture. However, the passive images reflected the unequal status of women in society compared to the athletic and heroic images of naked men.
  The toga was essential to announce the status and rank of male citizens at Rome. The poet Ennius (c. 239–169 BCE) declared, "exposing naked bodies among citizens is the beginning of public disgrace". Cicero endorsed Ennius' words. An exception was the Roman baths (thermae), which had many social functions.
  Clothing used in the Middle East, which loosely envelopes the entire body, changed little for centuries. In part, this consistency arises from the fact that such clothing is well-suited for the climate (protecting the body from dust storms while also allowing cooling by evaporation). The meaning of the naked body in the societies based upon the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) was defined by a creation narrative in which Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, were naked and unashamed until they ate the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The philosophical meaning of this myth in terms of stating the source of shame is unclear. The "original sin" did not involve nakedness, but disobedience, yet the first response was to cover their bodies with fig leaves. In all three religions, modesty generally prevails in public, with clothing covering all parts of the body of a sexual nature. The Torah set forth laws regarding clothing and modesty (tzniut) which also separated Jews from other people in the societies they lived within.
  Early Christians generally inherited the norms of dress from Jewish traditions. However, the Adamites were an obscure Christian sect in North Africa originating in the second century who worshiped in the nude, professing to have regained the innocence of Adam. Islamic clothing for both men and women is in accordance with the rules of hajib. For men, clothing covers the area from the waist to the knees. For women, clothing covers the area from the neck to the ankles and also covers the hair. The practice known as veiling of women in public predates Islam in Persia, Syria, and Anatolia. The Qurʾān provides guidance on the dress of women, but not strict rulings; such rulings may be found in the Hadith. Originally, veiling applied only to the wives of Muhammad; however, veiling was adopted by all u
caption: Three young women bathing. Side B from an Attic red-figure stamnos, 440–430 BCE.
exif: {"Image SubfileType": "Full-resolution Image", "Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D50", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "The GIMP", "Image DateTime": "2007:07:19 21:47:32", "Image ReferenceBlackWhite": "[0, 255, 0, 255, 0, 255]", "Image CFARepeatPatternDim": "[2, 2]", "Image CFAPattern": "[2, 1, 1, 0]", "Image ExifOffset": "304", "Image Tag 0x9216": "[1, 0, 0, 0]", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/40", "EXIF FNumber": "5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:02:10 12:41:19", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:02:10 12:41:19", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "-2/3", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "9/2", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "38", "EXIF SubSecTime": "10", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "10", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "10", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[0, 2, 0, 2, 2, 1, 1, 0]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "57", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}