Hercules

One thing I have discovered is that the Greeks and the Romans had a knowledge of and appreciation for the human body and its anatomy. Sculptures of naked men are everywhere. The male body was an acknowledged object of beauty in ancient Greece and crafted with elegant symmetry and form.

Today’s tour of the Vatican Museum displayed several beautifully sculpted and ripped specimens. Note how the sculptures show an etched, almost six-pack stomachs, cut pectorals, and a defined iliac crest characteristic in a lean torso when muscles are strongly developed. Also notice the powerful thighs and articulated calf muscles.

And Michelangelo’s pictorial story of creation on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and the Last Judgment on the wall behind the alter are filled with naked, deeply cut and toned muscular bodies.