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Given the conditions of the days past, would the women of the Antiquity be as beautiful, or more beautiful than today?
I was thinking, maybe if I go back in time I could get myself some hot Roxolani chicks with my horse (I assumed that fine-bred horses are like Porches to the nomads).
The only thing that I am sure of about concepts of beauty in antiquity, is that a man knew that breasts came in one form... natural. :clown:
"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder"
Really, the safest explanation aside from such cliches would be to say that beauty is a fashion. What is beautiful today was most definitely not beautiful in your parent's generation or grandparent's and so on. So multiply that by a factor of hundreds and you can see the answer is impossible to come by.
Just look at nude paintings from a century ago and look at all the blubber those beautiful women carried.... fat was most definitely sexy then - perhaps partly due to it indicating the higher status of the woman - she could afford to be fat and white.
Another good example is to look into the fattening farms of modern day Mauretania. Something like this article http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3429903.stm just goes to show that beauty is hardly a universally agreed upon thing! I am sure Kate Moss would be far from a model there! ;)
A good classical example is Cleopatra who was known through the ancient world to be highly attractive to men, yet whose likeness found on coins leaves a lot to be desired by modern standards.
Add into that the concept of the beauty of the exotic. While many people find beauty in their own race, other's apples fall further from the tree.
When I first moved to Thailand, I was slightly awed by the sheer number of gorgeous women. A week later, I honestly couldn't decide if they were all beautiful or all ugly. Now, 5 years later, I meet about as many beautiful women here as I would in the UK. It's all a matter of personal perspective, so it's impossible to answer your question for everyone.
Basically though, I would say "yes".... there would have been hot chicks in antiquity, even if they weren't considered beautiful in their own time and location! ;)
Your, 'chicks', I mourn, and your horse, I pity.
Yeh well, readi Ovids "on Facial treatment for ladies" or any number of these types of things haha. You will see that the wealthy women used alot of makeup and spent a lot of money on it. Poorer people would undoubtedly be uglier and dirtier etc, but if you were rich, im sure they would be able to compete with any computer enhanced "model" of today.
I'd say depends on the geographical location. Some places seem to naturally have ugly women, while some (such as my country hehe :beam: ) have high concentration of good-looking women.
I assume you'd do better off in the North, at least :sweatdrop:
I doubt that people in Ancient times looked much different to modern people. Take someone from today Rome and dress him in tunica and send him back 2,000 years in times, and take an Ancient Roman and dress him in Jeans and t-shirt and place him in modern Rome - none of both will draw any attraction (as long as both keep their mouth shut).Quote:
Originally Posted by Slim_Ghost
Find a National Geographic about a piss poor rural area and you will get your answer.
You should stick with rich 'chicks' from Greek or Roman cities, others would be too unrefined for a modern man's taste.
I like German women but with nice clothes, decent hair and having all their teeth and preferably with less muscles than me.
Indeed the perception of beauty has changed since Antiquity. The perception of beauty has changed since 10 years ago. There is this video on metacafe showing a Playboy model from each year, 2007 down all the way to whenever it started. I probably shouldn't post it here, but it's interesting how in mere decades what was once considered beautiful and fashionable is now laughable. Especially the hair...those 60's hairstyles are ridiculous.
I also understand that it was considered beautiful to be fair skinned in most of us Greece (Sparta the notable exception) and Rome. Of course, it was mainly just the noble women who could afford to stay indoors all day and have people wait on them. Nowadays, it's considered (by many people at least) beautiful to be tan.
Actually, in most of the world people still retain the concept that whiteness equates to beauty. Here in Asia for example, there is an endless bombardment of TV adverts for whitening cream and girls are obsessive about avoiding the sun.... in direct opposition to the tanning agents and sun-worshipping of the west!Quote:
Originally Posted by TWFanatic
As you said though, it all stems from the basic principle that peasants are forced to labour under the sun, and therefore get dark, while the nobility remains inside and is all but permanently shaded from the sun's rays, through veils and more complete dress, through curtains, parasols and carriages.
I think you hit the nail on the head with that Playboy example though.... beauty is not a fixed concept at all.... and all the people who assume their chosen preferences are universal are sorely mistaken!
now i think the concept is reverted, people who is rich and have money, can afford a "sun bath" on the snow muntains or at the Maldives even in winter, so tanned people, expecially in Winter are seen as "cool". While the "white" poor labourer in the offices or factories, tend to assume a pale fluoreshent colour.
Here for example a lot of people go to these beauty saloons to make an artificial tan in winter. Having a tan is considered a sort of sinonimous of health.
Me for example being white and pale, i like dark haired girl, dark eyes, and not very tall. Im crazy for the Mediterranean stereotype girl, pheraphs cause im not a mediterranean stereotype male (i think the opposites attract themselves).
[THIS IS THE CORNER OF SELF PROPAGANDA: come in Italy, you will find every kind of beauty, you can discover an oriental fachinating eye that look at you behind a corner, a greek profile among the crowd, a nordic blond valkiria madonna smiling at you in that little shop, a gorgeous matrona in that small village so delicious, there is for every taste!!!]
And most end up looking like hideous grilled chickens. :yes:Quote:
Originally Posted by Obelics
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Originally Posted by blank
well, it depends. Sure if I go there i look as a grilled meat. But if you have a little natural tan, you dont look bad.
Anyway i will never enter in one of these thing in my life.
1) People in the past would have lost a lot of their teeth, especially in the lower classes. Thnk about it: no fortified milk, toothpaste, flouride-enriched water etc.
2) People would have been a lot shorter. With the agricultural revolution, despite being the "cornerstone of civilization", the standards of living dropped hideously, people ate a less balanced meal, so they were less healthy, had greater bone lesions due to disease (at least in their remains), and nearly lost a foot of their height when compared to hunter-gatherers who inhabited the same region.
3) With regards to filth, I'm sure people would have been dusty, but the fact that many did not use detergents or soap on their bodies would have meant that they actually would have had less-oily hair and less acne (as these products do irritate the skin, and cause glands in the scalp to secrete oil).
When I was younger I used to think "Man, Ancient Egyptian women must have been hot" until I realized they had all these problems, and as a bonus, also shaved their heads....
I probably would have gone with a Thracian/Dacian gal, seeing as how they had their diets supplemented with more protein and milk due to the transhumant pastoralism some of them practiced; I may also be slightly biased, coming from Romania.
Well, that would have turned out well until she would decide to sacrifice my first-born as a messenger to Zalmoxis...
I need me an asian girl, none of that, look at me, I'm trying to get skin cancer.Quote:
Originally Posted by Spearthrower
As far as beauty goes, I think Rome on HBO has conclusively proved that 'who cares what she looks like, fuck her anyways'.
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Source! if you pleaseQuote:
Originally Posted by Romano-Dacis
And BTW: what is it that you have against women that have "short" haircut? :belly:
They also didn't have sugar to ruin their teeth, so I don't know if their teeth would be that bad.Quote:
Originally Posted by Romano-Dacis
The hot chicks probably hadn't had much breast. The breast size improved only towards the end of the last century because of better alimentation. The main advantage of antiquity's chicks was that none of them had implants. Pure nature to greet and enjoy!
Looking at the women of the past and the women of today i would say they wouldn't be as beautiful as todays "modern woman". In the past the what you were born with was what you had and women for the most part looked real you could see almost every (what would be considered now) imperfection. It was beautiful. Lets dissect the image of what the modern woman should look like. So skinny they look like a small gust of wind could blow them over. Hair extensions, Look like they visit the plastic surgeon everyday. I used to think that Implants look so Hot. Then after a while they just looked ridiculous to me. They completely turn me off now! I'm an all natural man now. And the most annoying things. Everybody has a tan ( i have people who start envying me because I'm dark all year long) ,everybody has blond hair, and everybody has straight pearly white teeth. I just love it when i see a woman who is just natural. My ideology is you look beautiful with what your born with.
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Originally Posted by Slim_Ghost
I've always been quite fond of the Empress Theodora, though she's...arguably more medieval than ancient. She looks rather stunning IMO in that wall mosaic in Ravenna.
Actually surveys show that most men don't like implants or plastic surgery. Myself, i don't like dyed hair, either, it just looks so obviously fake :whip:Quote:
Originally Posted by Wolfman
Tan is ok as long as they don't go too far with it (the aforementioned grilled chicken), and teeth.. well, i have to say i prefer nice teeth :egypt:
I disagree. Remember that when they were filming Master and Commander, they had to find Polish extras to play the sailors because modern Brits didn't look sufficiently like 17th-century (or was it the 18th?) Brits.Quote:
Originally Posted by konny
Sweetmeats, pickled figs, sugared plums........ :laugh4:Quote:
Originally Posted by Horst Nordfink
Haha, I used think that too.Quote:
Originally Posted by Romano-Dacis
Me, I never saw any sense in riding down routing Screeching Women when a different kind of lust could have been satisfied with them, but oh well. :no: The models in the game don't look too appealing anyway.
You guys are forgetting about the polygamy part....
And naked Spartan chicks doing stretches...
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Originally Posted by antisocialmunky
Brilliant i almost pissed my pants when i read this!! way to Antisocial
No cosmetic dentistry in any event. Even if not bad - certainly not white and straight save by luck.Quote:
Originally Posted by Horst Nordfink
While not everyone will agree - lightening the hair and enlarging the breasts will certainly play to the percentages in most cultures :yes: .
I couldn't agree more. And somebody should tell those chicks that skin should never be darker than the hair. Never.Quote:
Originally Posted by Wolfman
Hmmm....what about those countries where blonde chicks can get, you know, sunlight? Nobody likes girls that are extra-crispy, but if you ask me, there's nothing like a *natural* tan...some of these Northern Europe chicks I can actually see veins through their skin at a distance. Ew.
Yep, not to mention mill-grit in the flour. Most pre-modern societies had very poor dental health.Quote:
Originally Posted by Romano-Dacis
IIRC the Romans were about 6 inches shorter on average than their German foes, but I forget where I saw that data (it was 10-15 years ago at University). They were all like Rocky vs Drago, staring their enemies in the breastplate. And just like rocjky, they kept knocking 'em down...Quote:
Originally Posted by Romano-Dacis
Also most people cold not afford many sets of clothing, and in winter there wasn't a lot if washing done....Quote:
Originally Posted by Romano-Dacis
...not just their heads.:egypt:Quote:
Originally Posted by Romano-Dacis
IIRC the Egyptians were pretty scrupulous about washing and perfuming.
I think upper class Roman Empire women would have been close to modern ideas about hygene. Except when they were brushing their teeth with imported urine.:inquisitive:
I understand some girls from NW Romania don't go for the suntan? In fact they don't go out in the daytime at all? Or was that just in a movie I saw...:scared:Quote:
Originally Posted by Romano-Dacis
Frigging Zalmoxis, how I hate him. I bet he doesn't have to put up with toothless short foul smelling women.Quote:
Originally Posted by Romano-Dacis