Undescribed Appearances in Classical Greek Politics

Abstract

Classical Greek historians, biographers, and orators rarely described the appearance of individual public figures. By contrast, Homer depicted the looks of individuals, as did ancient historians, biographers, and orators after the Classical Greek era. This unusual silence about appearances in Classical Greek texts is perhaps connected to the undifferentiation of appearances in much of Classical Greek art. Arguing from visual and textual evidence, this paper seeks to describe and understand the disregard of appearances in Classical Greek politics.