Minoan Androgynous BoyI mixed depictions of Minoan women and men together, so here’s the M
Minoan Androgynous BoyI mixed depictions of Minoan women and men together, so here’s the Minoan youth representing a divine Hermaphrodite, the Symbol for Wholeness and Perfection.“In this respect the ancient artists have risen to the ideal, not only in the conformation of the face, but also in the youthful figures of certain gods, as Apollo and Bacchus. This ideal consists in the incorporation of the forms of prolonged youth in the female sex with the masculine forms of a beautiful young man, which they consequently made plumper, rounder, and softer, in admirable conformity with their ideas of their deities. For to some of these the ancients gave both sexes, blended with a mystic significance in one, as may be seen even in a small Venus of bronze, in the museum of the Roman College. This commingling is especially peculiar to Apollo and Bacchus.Art went still farther; it united the beauties and attributes of both sexes in the figures of hermaphrodites. The great number of hermaphrodites, differing in size and position, shows that artists sought to express in the mixed nature of the two sexes an image of higher beauty; this image was ideal”.(The History of Ancient Art, Volume 2. By Johann Joachim Winckelmann. 1849)Some facts: Male Aphrodite is Aphroditus Here's Greek bronze Hermaphrodite, Hellenistic period, 2nd-1st century B.C.For understanding the Androgynous nature in history I recommend a book “Mephistopheles and the Androgyne: Studies in Religious Myth and Symbol” Mircea Eliade.*** Done by request of patron from our patreon. Art by ElveoBigger size artwork is available on Develv Patreon in tiers (from 2-13$) -- source link
#androgynous#androgynous boy#hermaphrodite#beauty#young man#illustration#minoan#cretan#ancient greece#greek mythology#greek homoeroticism#mythology#aphroditus