Why is it that most Greek and Roman statues of naked men have survived almost intact but have their penises missing? Were they wacked off (no pun intended) by later religious zelots or Victorian prudes or was it an inheritantly weak point of the artwork?
2006-09-10 06:09:32 · 10 answers · asked by ericbryce2 7 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Visual Arts ➔ Sculpture
Why is it that most Greek and Roman statues of naked men have survived almost intact but have their penises missing? Were they whacked off (no pun intended) by later religious zealots or Victorian prudes or was it an inheritantly weak point of the artwork
2006-09-11 19:48:39 · update #1
So far I've received quite a few interesting answers to this question. I was looking up Apollo on Wikipedia and there was a picture of a I believe Roman marble statue that was flawless in every detail except you know what was missing. I think that it is the opinion of most, so far, is that the damage was done by religious zealots. Although time and neglect has certainly contributed to damage on some ancient statues, the lack of any other damage at all seems to confirm this
2006-09-12 08:09:00 · update #2
Most of them were broken-off during the Crusades by puritanical religious fanatics.
Once, many years ago,our class took a field trip to Forest Lawn, Glendale to view the great artworks there. One of them was a reproduction of the famous nude statue of David. The penis had been recently broken-off during the night by a group of women from a conservative Christian church nearby. They felt it was "obscene," but they never bothered to ask if anyone else was offended. So, it's still happening. Insecure people will often use their religion as an excuse to run other people's lives, or regulate their experience of the world.
2006-09-10 06:19:28 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
look the first thing u musat looking after is how many statue is Missing genitals u will see that most of them as i see i live in alexandria at egypt and this city passed with most of the great civilization ,,,,,so when u compare bettwen greek ,roman statues and egyptian statues u will discover that egyptian statues most of them still good till now also its older in age so WHY???
now u will see the truth that's the secret roman and greek dont look for the ablety od the stone matrianl and make a strong moving in the statues action in the air then fall down becouse it become week point but look to the egyptian statue they use stones but dont make strong moveing over the ablety of the matireal they make the statue move in walking i mean simple moveand when the carve a space in the stone the know how to make it but without make a week point and at the last make a great shape .. i hope that u understand my opinion and i dont wanne say that greek and roman wrong they make a great art i like it till now but i fell that this is a week point may be they were know that but i think they wanne get the best thing in the butefull range
2006-09-10 15:32:28 · answer #2 · answered by MoRo * 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
lol. I know that you meant this as a serious question -but I can't stop laughing...I think it was most likely the effect of time on the art itself; sort of the same idea with the nose of the Sphinx. But I'm sure that a few were broken off in attempt to keep society "civilized." You know, it's too weird: Playboy and Playgirl are everywhere you look, but nude sculptures is somehow just wrong; where's the justice in that?
2006-09-10 14:05:47 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
They were probably wacked off by later religious zelots or victorian prudes.
2006-09-12 07:07:59 · answer #4 · answered by Avner Eliyahu R 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My suspicion is that because of their long phalic shape that is precariously connected by just a base, they have fallen off over the years.
Thank goodness this doesn't happen in real life, eh?
2006-09-10 13:16:30 · answer #5 · answered by Stacy 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Maybe a bit of both but I lean towards the later. I know your first option sounds pretty funny but the fact that their penis' are structurally weak is funny too.
2006-09-11 23:25:19 · answer #6 · answered by www.Thomas-Martin.org 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Considering that societies moral views changed over the years....my guess would be that some well meaning individuals probably broke them off.
2006-09-10 13:16:40 · answer #7 · answered by Canadian Ken 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I was told in Art History class that there was a closet or cabinet in the Vatican that contained quite a few "missing members"....
2006-09-12 09:45:03 · answer #8 · answered by Megan S 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You're absolutely right. Sadly, they were removed by the Catholic Church at a time when such displays of artwork were considered "ungodly".
2006-09-10 13:18:15 · answer #9 · answered by diatonicform 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
they were taken by invading soldiers!
2006-09-12 14:53:41 · answer #10 · answered by lisette 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋