ANCIENT BEAUTIES

Top 5 Ancient Beauties

Historical Hotties

Our impressions of ancient figures today have been shaped by the many sculptors, painters and Hollywood actors who have tried to capture some of their eternal essence – from Michelangelo with his statue of David to Elizabeth Taylor’s famous portrayal ofCleopatra or Angelina Jolie’s performance as Queen Olympias in Alexander.

Some of these characters may in reality have been plumper, shorter or less (perhaps more, in one case) generously endowed than their portrayals in art. However, all lived up to their reputations in one way or another.

: David

In his iconic sculpture on display today at the Accademia Gallery in Florence, Michelangelo succeeded in flattering David everywhere except down below. The modest dimensions of the biblical king’s “pisello” are a running joke with Italians, and the stuff of irreverent postcards. But that hasn’t stopped the statue becoming one of the most recognised pieces of Renaissance sculpture ever, and a symbol of both strength and youthful human beauty.

Was the second ruler of Israel really all that? Apparently so, according to the Book of Samuel, chapter 16, which reports that David was “ruddy, with beautiful eyes, and handsome appearance.” Since there is little archaeological evidence to confirm the Bible’s picture of David, we’ll have to take Samuel’s word for it.

As for his famous “pisello”? There’s been a recent explanation: since Michelangelo carved David in what he imagined to be the moments before his epic battle with Goliath – showing a classic posture of fear, tension and aggression – modern scholars have speculated that the poor chap was obviously shrivelled by the threat of mortal danger. Happens to us all.

2: Aphrodite

Aphrodite was quite literally a goddess – the classical Greek deity of love and beauty. Her origins make for uncomfortable reading: according to Hesiod, the Greek poet, she was born when Cronus castrated his father Uranus, and threw his severed genitals into the sea. From the aphros (sea foam) arose Aphrodite. Let’s hope all involved washed their hands afterwards.

Aphrodite was such a stunner other gods feared that jealousy would interrupt the peace among them and spark war, so Zeus married her to Hephaestus, who was not viewed as a threat. Hephaestus was clearly a bit of a pushover though, because Aphrodite later got into a bit of a warped relationship with Adonis as both his lover and his surrogate mother. Eugh.

She has various equivalents in other civilizations – Inannau (Sumerian), Astarte (Phoenician), Turan (Etruscan), and Venus (Roman). Representations of Aphrodite and her equivalents are numerous and generally curvy and provocative, often showing the goddess as a bit of a flirt, if not an outright tease. The best known amongst them is the Venus de Milo, a legendary ancient Greek statue currently on display in the Louvre, Paris.

3: Alexander

Alexander the Great really had it all – bravery, wisdom, strength, moral fortitude, a broad athletic frame and monumentally handsome features. No wonder he was as much of a hit with the men as the ladies, and remains one of ancient history’s most popular gay icons.

The undefeated Macedonian king and general is known to have married at least two women in his time, Roxana, daughter of a minor noble and the Persian princess Stateira, daughter of Darius III of Persia. Yet his soul mate and long term companion was Hephaestion, the son of a Macedonian noble and second-in-command of Alexander's forces until his death.

While many contemporary sources point out that their relationship was certainly intense, none report that it was anything more than platonic. Many modern scholars and writers read much more into this friendship though – particularly the matter of Alexander’s devastation at Hephaestion’s untimely death, and the fact that the king did not eat for days after it occurred

4: Nefertiti

18th dynasty Pharaoh Akhenaten is remembered for fairly ignominious reasons – revolution, heresy, working citizens to death etc – and may have even suffered from a rather nasty case of elephantiasis, but his wife Queen Nefertiti was a regular Egyptian eyeful, and remains an iconic figure in the 21st century.

Much of our impression of her today is based on the spectacularpainted bust by the sculptor Thutmose discovered in the ruins of Amarna, now on display in the Altes Museum in Berlin. It’s one of the most instantly recognisable and replicated images of ancient Egypt. But even in her day, word of Nefertiti’s beauty is said to have spread far and wide.

And she wasn’t just a pretty face. Nefertiti seems to have had an unprecedented level of influence over the Amarna kingdom – perhaps even as much as her husband. During the first five years of his reign she is depicted nearly twice as often in reliefs as her husband – although, if you compare her perfect lines to his swollen belly, jutting chin and spindly arms – it’s not hard to speculate why.

The Egyptian Queen Nefertiti gives even Cleopatra a run for her money as the most beautiful woman in ancient history

5: Cleopatra

Perhaps no other figure in ancient history has been depicted so widely in pre-modern and modern culture as Cleopatra. Literary figures from Shakespeare to George Bernard Shaw have written about her; she has been a central character in over fifteen major motion pictures, countless TV productions, many many plays and a few operas and ballets too. Paintings of Cleopatra – particularly from the Renaissance period onwards – are so numerous it’s hard to know where to begin. She even had a dodgy 90s pop bandnamed after her.

She was a powerful ruler in her time, but that’s not the main reason why her story has proven so compelling. Rather, it’s her reputation as perhaps the most legendary beauty to have ever lived – combined with her fame as a seductress who managed to ally herself with two of the most powerful men of her time (Julius Caesar and Mark Antony) – that make her such a source of lasting modern fascination.

Cleopatra was no flawless beauty. Ancient Roman coins portray her as beaky, with a jutting chin to match her hooked nose. Tellingly, the ancients politely avoid mentioning her looks. In one passage of his biography Life of Antony, Plutach describes Cleopatra's beauty as being “not altogether incomparable, nor such as to strike those who saw her”. He claims Cleopatra’s attraction lay more so in her charm, sense of humour and “sweetness in the tones of her voice”.

Cleopatra may not have been the button-nosed beauty of the movies, but the fact that she managed to woo the most powerful men of her time with her sweet-talking wit means that she definitely deserves a place on the beauty list.