2001/09/01 by Frederick Mansfield Hodges · 5 citations
Arts and Humanities · Medicine · Psychology · #Aesthetics #Ancient history #Archaeology #Art #Biology #Body Image and Dysmorphia Studies #Conceptualization #Context (archaeology) #Foreskin #Genital Health and Disease #Glans #Greeks #History #History of Medicine Studies #Ideal (ethics) #Law #Medicine #Penis #Philosophy #Political science #Preputial gland #Relation (database) #Surgery
paper · doi:10.1353/bhm.2001.0119
openalex publication_date 2001/09/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/30
This study examines the evolution of Greek and Roman medical conceptualizations of preputial aesthetics, utilizing evidence found in classical medical texts as well as clues from literature, legal sources, and art. A conclusive picture emerges that the Greeks valued the longer prepuce and pathologized the penis characterized by a deficient prepuce--especially one that had been surgically ablated--under the disease concept of lipodermos. The medical conceptualization of lipodermos is also placed in the historical context of the legal efforts to abolish ritual circumcision throughout the Seleucid and Roman empires.