Under the
Ethiopian rule and during the Ptolemaic period in Egypt itself we
find, for the first time, that the goddesses are represented with
plump and well-developed outlines. Examination of the mummies
shows that the earlier ideal was based upon actual facts, and
that in ancient Egypt slender, sinewy forms distinguished both
men and women. Intermarriage with other races and harem life may
have combined in later times to alter the physical type, and with
it to change also the ideal of beauty." (A. Wiedemann, _Popular
Literature in Ancient Egypt_, p. 7.)
Commenting on Plato's ideas of beauty in the _Banquet_
Emeric-David gives references from Greek literature showing that
the typical Greek beautiful woman must be tall, her body supple,
her fingers long, her foot small and light, the eyes clear and
moderately large, the eyebrows slightly arched and almost
meeting, the nose straight and firm, nearly--but not
quite--aquiline, the breath sweet as honey. (Emeric-David,
_Recherches sur l'Art Statuaire_, new edition, 1863, p. 42.)
At the end of classic antiquity, probably in the fifth century,
Aristaenetus in his first Epistle thus described his mistress
Lais: "Her cheeks are white, but mixed in imitation of the
splendor of the rose; her lips are thin, by a narrow space
separated from the cheeks, but more red; her eyebrows are black
and divided in the middle; the nose straight and proportioned to
the thin lips; the eyes large and bright, with very black pupils,
surrounded by the clearest white, each color more brilliant by
contrast.
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