from: Thibaut de Saint Pol, LE CORPS DÉSIRABLE, Presses universitaires de France,2010.
...
Up to the Christian era
The first representations of the body go back to pre-history. The small artifacts which have come down to us are virtually all feminine and present similar caracteristics: whatever region they come from, all have large hips and prominent thighs. The well-known ‘Venus’ figure of Lussel found in the Dordogne is a case in point. The vital contribution of fat reserves in the countering of food shortages during the cold of the Quartenary may account for such corpulent representations, which historians also associate with fertility. But if Paleolithic man often represents obese women, steatopygic or callipygous, nothing allows us to conclude with certainty that these translate reality.
The most ancient representations of the female body are thus corpulent. The first representations of women with thin bodies go back, in terms of our current understanding, to Ancient Egypt, during the Ancient Empire. Thinness as a body ideal appears without doubt, symbolized by the narrow bodies of gods and goddesses. Men and women, be they painted on the walls of tombs, cast in stone, or sculpted in clay, are thin. Archeological evidence bears witness to the great attachement to appearance and the body, for women as well as men. This translates into the availability of beauty products, in particular eye make-up, and potions to thin the waist line, for which we have found recipes on papyrus and tomb paintings in the Valley of Queens. But Greek aesthetics have been more important, marking representations of bodies in the West. Overweight is here despised as well. Defining beauty in terms of harmonious proportions, the Greek ideal sees corpulence as a form of letting-oneself-go and decadence of the body. The ideal body is getting taller and thinner. With the exception of Gaïa, goddess of Mother-earth with a true round and carnal body, from the Archaïc period, the figure of goddesses is marked by narrow hips and a body sometimes quite muscular, as in the representations of Athena, for example. Thus, not only does the Greek science of proportion which gives body parts their measure discourage overweight, but the importance by Greeks given to hygiene, with in particular sport in the gymnasium with hot and cold baths, and a food diet overall rather austere, do not favour it.
One does however need to note that this was not the case in Ancient Rome, which also influenced our representations. Being fat in Rome tends to be seen as a sign of wealth. The fat body, most notably in men, is one which inspires respect. The toga, a voluminous form of clothing with its elaborate drapings, also enhances the body forms of the better-off. Thinness often appears as suspicious, linked with illness, poverty or marginality. The Romans take up the Greek pre-occupation with proportion, but with a thicker waistline and larger breasts. It is no longer expected that one have the musculature of an athlete, and the attractive female nude is rather corpulent. This pre-occupation can be seen in the food habits of Romans, which are higher in fat and where food is consumed in large quantities by the higher classes. Pig vulva with poppy seeds, a treat in the Roman Empire, is a good example because this food, very high in oestrogen, seems to favour the development of fatty tissue. In parallel, the texts of Romans themselves, including Julius Caesar in his War against the Gauls, inform us about barbarian bodies. The Gauls, who like the Romans have a high fat diet, are without doubt of high corpulence, even where, for example, archeological evidence bears witness to the desire to appear thin through the use of banding tissue to cinch the waist and elevate the bust line in women.
It is with respect to this state of affairs that Christianity offers a break in the relationship to the body. The first Christians argue for asceticism and a distancing from Roman indulgence. Food deprivation is a matter of religion and, as we shall see, this form of relationship to the body remains in our current approach to loosing weight. The body is henceforth a potential source of sin and perversion. However, the figure of the well-fed monk is also a reality of the Middle-Ages and the recommendations of Cluny in the 11th Century call for a return to a dry diet in the face of an overly corpulent clergy. In these times of famine, the Great Lords are also rather hefty. However, the image of the ideal woman, given to us by iconographic and litterary sources, is pale and frail. We find in this period the usage of a band to restrain a too prominent bust. Thinness is already an advantage for the Ladies of the Middle-Ages.
...
cited: J. Cauvin, LA RÉVOLUTION DES SYMBOLES AU NÉOLITHIQUE, 1998.
K. Tran et al, MINCE OU GROSSE, HISTOIRE DU CORPS IDÉAL, 1996.
...
Up to the Christian era
The first representations of the body go back to pre-history. The small artifacts which have come down to us are virtually all feminine and present similar caracteristics: whatever region they come from, all have large hips and prominent thighs. The well-known ‘Venus’ figure of Lussel found in the Dordogne is a case in point. The vital contribution of fat reserves in the countering of food shortages during the cold of the Quartenary may account for such corpulent representations, which historians also associate with fertility. But if Paleolithic man often represents obese women, steatopygic or callipygous, nothing allows us to conclude with certainty that these translate reality.
The most ancient representations of the female body are thus corpulent. The first representations of women with thin bodies go back, in terms of our current understanding, to Ancient Egypt, during the Ancient Empire. Thinness as a body ideal appears without doubt, symbolized by the narrow bodies of gods and goddesses. Men and women, be they painted on the walls of tombs, cast in stone, or sculpted in clay, are thin. Archeological evidence bears witness to the great attachement to appearance and the body, for women as well as men. This translates into the availability of beauty products, in particular eye make-up, and potions to thin the waist line, for which we have found recipes on papyrus and tomb paintings in the Valley of Queens. But Greek aesthetics have been more important, marking representations of bodies in the West. Overweight is here despised as well. Defining beauty in terms of harmonious proportions, the Greek ideal sees corpulence as a form of letting-oneself-go and decadence of the body. The ideal body is getting taller and thinner. With the exception of Gaïa, goddess of Mother-earth with a true round and carnal body, from the Archaïc period, the figure of goddesses is marked by narrow hips and a body sometimes quite muscular, as in the representations of Athena, for example. Thus, not only does the Greek science of proportion which gives body parts their measure discourage overweight, but the importance by Greeks given to hygiene, with in particular sport in the gymnasium with hot and cold baths, and a food diet overall rather austere, do not favour it.
One does however need to note that this was not the case in Ancient Rome, which also influenced our representations. Being fat in Rome tends to be seen as a sign of wealth. The fat body, most notably in men, is one which inspires respect. The toga, a voluminous form of clothing with its elaborate drapings, also enhances the body forms of the better-off. Thinness often appears as suspicious, linked with illness, poverty or marginality. The Romans take up the Greek pre-occupation with proportion, but with a thicker waistline and larger breasts. It is no longer expected that one have the musculature of an athlete, and the attractive female nude is rather corpulent. This pre-occupation can be seen in the food habits of Romans, which are higher in fat and where food is consumed in large quantities by the higher classes. Pig vulva with poppy seeds, a treat in the Roman Empire, is a good example because this food, very high in oestrogen, seems to favour the development of fatty tissue. In parallel, the texts of Romans themselves, including Julius Caesar in his War against the Gauls, inform us about barbarian bodies. The Gauls, who like the Romans have a high fat diet, are without doubt of high corpulence, even where, for example, archeological evidence bears witness to the desire to appear thin through the use of banding tissue to cinch the waist and elevate the bust line in women.
It is with respect to this state of affairs that Christianity offers a break in the relationship to the body. The first Christians argue for asceticism and a distancing from Roman indulgence. Food deprivation is a matter of religion and, as we shall see, this form of relationship to the body remains in our current approach to loosing weight. The body is henceforth a potential source of sin and perversion. However, the figure of the well-fed monk is also a reality of the Middle-Ages and the recommendations of Cluny in the 11th Century call for a return to a dry diet in the face of an overly corpulent clergy. In these times of famine, the Great Lords are also rather hefty. However, the image of the ideal woman, given to us by iconographic and litterary sources, is pale and frail. We find in this period the usage of a band to restrain a too prominent bust. Thinness is already an advantage for the Ladies of the Middle-Ages.
...
cited: J. Cauvin, LA RÉVOLUTION DES SYMBOLES AU NÉOLITHIQUE, 1998.
K. Tran et al, MINCE OU GROSSE, HISTOIRE DU CORPS IDÉAL, 1996.
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