bklynbigballs: [quote author=Max link=board=meetgreet;num=1034482765;start=0#6 date=10/13/02 at 13:15:11]Don't forget the classical view ... Greek statuary and renaissance sculpture such as Michaelangelo's David depict male beauty with a small delicate penis. Imagine them adorned with ugly outsized hosepipes such as some of us carry about. That would be far more likely to generate a belly laugh than any aesthetic apprecation. [/quote]
Actually, I wrote a paper about this in college believe it or not. The Greeks and the Romans loved big cocks. There are literary descriptions of the applause that would greet well endowed men when they'd enter the baths. So, yes, it would seem logical that, if these sculptures were supposed to represent the "ideal man," why wouldn't they be hung?
The thing to keep in mind is that these sculptures were supposed to be of youths. (These sculptures are refered to as "Korous" which is Greek for "Youth"). They were supposed to represent a young man in that golden moment of development in which he's just starting to grow up but he's still innocent. The Greeks (and the Romans and the sculptures from the Italian Renaissance, who copied the Greek aesthetic) simply felt that a huge dong would ruin that sense of youth and innocence. It's not that men that age hadn't grown that big yet, but a man that big would seem more experienced and sexual and ruin the effect of the sculpture. By the same token, the Greek sculptures of nude women had modest sized breasts. Venus is depicted as having breasts that would just about fill a champagne glass. Larger pendulous breasts were considered sexy back then but on a sculpture of a goddess, they would have seemed vulgar.
Actually, I wrote a paper about this in college believe it or not. The Greeks and the Romans loved big cocks. There are literary descriptions of the applause that would greet well endowed men when they'd enter the baths. So, yes, it would seem logical that, if these sculptures were supposed to represent the "ideal man," why wouldn't they be hung?
The thing to keep in mind is that these sculptures were supposed to be of youths. (These sculptures are refered to as "Korous" which is Greek for "Youth"). They were supposed to represent a young man in that golden moment of development in which he's just starting to grow up but he's still innocent. The Greeks (and the Romans and the sculptures from the Italian Renaissance, who copied the Greek aesthetic) simply felt that a huge dong would ruin that sense of youth and innocence. It's not that men that age hadn't grown that big yet, but a man that big would seem more experienced and sexual and ruin the effect of the sculpture. By the same token, the Greek sculptures of nude women had modest sized breasts. Venus is depicted as having breasts that would just about fill a champagne glass. Larger pendulous breasts were considered sexy back then but on a sculpture of a goddess, they would have seemed vulgar.
