Modern projections

I've never been to a nudist colony or a nude beach. I once spoke with someone who had done such and they told me it was outsiders who imagined it was a sexy experience but it wasn't actually about sex.

Most people at a nude beach or whatever are not members of the beautiful people. I was told if you actually go, the idea that nudity is sexual soon wears off.

This fits closely with many other things I have read. Among other things, I have read that if you want something to be sexy you should cover it up and keep it covered instead of putting it on display.

So I am skeptical of modern interpretations of ancient stories involving nudity. I think "we" -- modern peoples -- see sexuality in such stories when that may not be the case at all. I think we look back on history and we project a lot of modern stuff onto it that distorts what really happened.

It was relatively "modern" peoples who chose to cover the genitals of old statues with fig leaves. The people who made the statues had no problem with making them nude.

The original Olympics in the ancient world existed long before we had spandex or lycra and I have read that the athletes competed in the nude. I think that makes sense given the lack of stretchy materials and so forth.

A story I sometimes ponder and feel like "I think we got that wrong" is the story about Cleopatra supposedly "seducing" Julius Caesar by having herself delivered to him nude.

I feel like first of all the Egyptians didn't wear a lot, so her being naked wasn't necessarily as big a deal as we imagine. I think most likely the first thing she most urgently needed to do was in some way prove herself to him and gain his trust.

I think it is much more likely she got herself delivered nude so that she wouldn't be killed out of hand as a would-be assassin. Being naked meant she had no place to conceal a weapon and that likely bought her enough time to say something like "I am only here to talk."

Sex was not anything terribly important in the grand scheme of things. He was interested in her because she was a power broker in the region. She was interested in him because she had been ousted by her traitorous brother (if I recall correctly).

She was there to strike a deal. Trust was essential to that process. I think that's why she showed up nude -- assuming that detail is even historically accurate, which it may not be.