At the trial of Phryne in 350 BC, the courtesan, who was acknowledged to be one of the most beautiful women in Athens, had been accused of defaming the gods and was losing the case, and was about to be sentenced to die.
At the trial of Phryne in 350 BC, the courtesan, who was acknowledged to be one of the most beautiful women in Athens, had been accused of defaming the gods and was losing the case, and was about to be sentenced to die. Standing before the jury, she shed her clothing and stood before them naked. Would the gods, she asked, have created something so beautiful and allow her to do anything that would merit its destruction? The jury acquitted her, and the term “Phryne’s trial” went down the centuries and came to mean equating beauty with truth or goodness. The Athenian courts also went on to ban “defense by nudity.”
Although it goes by different names these days (psychologists call this cognitive bias the physical attractiveness stereotype or the “halo effect”), we still tend to believe beautiful people are not just smarter or more successful, but also more honest, trustworthy, and virtuous, while those on the other end of the scale are “ugly as sin.” This isn’t true, of course: good-looking people can be as good or as mendacious and mean-spirited as anyone, and are often narcissistic and manipulative; it’s just that they can get away with it more because we let them. What has changed, though, is the idea of beauty as a divine gift: if not from the Greek gods, then from a creator who makes good and beautiful people on one hand and wretched and ugly people on the other. A consequence of the theory of natural selection is the secularization of beauty: it’s not a gift from God, but simply good genes.
Bu hikaye Esquire Philippines dergisinin August 2016 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Esquire Philippines dergisinin August 2016 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
What It Means to Be Beautiful
At the trial of Phryne in 350 BC, the courtesan, who was acknowledged to be one of the most beautiful women in Athens, had been accused of defaming the gods and was losing the case, and was about to be sentenced to die.
Of All Time
Both an athlete and a symbol of noble defiance, Muhammad Ali was a hero to men everywhere. Long after the Thrilla in Manila, and certainly long after his death, he will be remembered as the greatest.
Twenty Years Later
Kobe says goodbye, and hello.
Being Miss Universe
Seven months after being named the most universally beautiful woman in the world, Pia Wurtzbach has grown into the job.
So You Think You Know Baron Geisler
The Controversial Actor describes the Angels and Demons in his Lifelong Arch of Stumble and Stir.
The Nice guy
He’s the world’s most famous normal person, the Hollywood Everyman, the good guy who finishes first. This month, he makes himself even more popular by returning to his most successful character, the rogue CIA agent Jason Bourne. Over coffee in Toronto, Matt Damon tells Esquire about surviving early acclaim, overcoming career setbacks, and why he won’t be running for president any time soon. (OK, maybe vice-president.)
N
The road to the north is not narrow at all. But it feels narrow, as all roads are narrow, as a straight, taut bridge to somewhere in the far distance is narrow, no matter how wide the bridge really is, as the eyes narrow, even when you’re only looking at the map and there are no complicated directions, and even when you ignore the instructions given out by the rigid voice on our devices.
