In ancient cultures people were judged by their place on the social hierarchy. If you look around today you will realise that people are still rated by their social standing. In ancient times pharaohs and emperors were at the top of the social hierarchy and a very heavy influence on the public. To the ancient Egyptians the pharaoh was half-man, half-god, to the ancient Chinese the jade emperor was the king of heaven and to the ancient romans the emperor Augustus was part god. Although the modern person doesn’t consider celebrities as gods, they are the equivalent of gods for many and influence people quite a bit. However, it is not just ancient civilisations that regard their rulers as gods. There are many rules that somebody in high society are expected to follow. Feeling good is often it is looking good which one is judged on. One’s appearance must be immaculate at all times, not only keeping clothing free of filth but remaining poised, calm and interested at all times.
They even had a god for it. The ancient Egyptians had a goddess named Hathor, who was the goddess of beauty. Ancient Egyptians aspired to be as beautiful as their goddess as she was said to be absolutely stunning. She had many titles, one of which being ‘the one who shines like gold’. Women prayed to her asking her to help relieve their troubles and when some situations improved they praised her and tried to be as like her as possible. The ancient Greeks also had a goddess for beauty. Aphrodite was her name and like the ancient Egyptians worshiped Hathor, the ancient Greeks longed to be like Aphrodite. She was pictured as young and beautiful with brown/blonde hair. Unlike the ancient Greeks and Egyptians, the ancient Chinese’s devotion to beauty was not as harmless as praying to a goddess. They found small feet especially beautiful and many women went through a very painful process to decrease the size of their feet. Foot binding began in roughly 1100BC and is still practised today by some people. The process of foot binding began from 4-6 years of age. Eight of the ten toes would be broken and then the foot would be bound so that it was in an extreme arch with the toes being pulled towards the heel. Every two
