Lunch Hour Lecture on tour at the British Museum: Desirability and domination: Greek sculpture and the modern male body

Professor Maria Wyke (UCL Greek and Latin)

This lecture discusses Greek sculptures and some of the ways in which their ideal representations of the male body have shaped the twentieth century strong man and the bodybuilder, particularly in terms of their display of power and sexuality. The talk includes the culture of the circus strongman, bodybuilding shows, physique magazines and the post-war craze for Italian sword-and-sandal films starring bodybuilders as ancient heroes.