06-11-2007, 07:11 AM
Stones are normally not razor sharp and heavy thorns are a big problem also for guys in sandals. And if you are used to go barefoot the soles of the feet are normally so strong that sharp stones, many kind of thorns, sharp metall parts, broken glas or bees and wasps don't bother.
I just watched a report about the excavation of the grave of Tutenchamun. Many of the Egypt workers in the original picture went barefoot although the ground was surely very hot and the surface often very itchy. Some time ago I watched a report about a tribe in Indonesia living a bit like in the stone age. In one scene a few barefoot men bore a heavy boat over a field of nasty looking stones: they went as easily as on a soft carpet.
A problem when going barefoot is not the sole of the foot but the top because it hardens not nearly as the sole. So if you have to run speedily through thick vegetation like on some kind of hunts bare feet may not be the best. A sandal is not so much better in this, however.
The advantage of being barefoot is a much better control about your balance, not unimportant in a fight. The Greeks would presumably not have suffered from much rain, so leather shoes with leather soles were not that problem that it would have been in wet circumstances. But even on dry grass or dry smooth rocks leather soles are sometimes fallacious.
Nudity on the other hand gives not so much advantage in a fight so I think the concept of "heroic" or "erotic" nudity is correct.
I just watched a report about the excavation of the grave of Tutenchamun. Many of the Egypt workers in the original picture went barefoot although the ground was surely very hot and the surface often very itchy. Some time ago I watched a report about a tribe in Indonesia living a bit like in the stone age. In one scene a few barefoot men bore a heavy boat over a field of nasty looking stones: they went as easily as on a soft carpet.
A problem when going barefoot is not the sole of the foot but the top because it hardens not nearly as the sole. So if you have to run speedily through thick vegetation like on some kind of hunts bare feet may not be the best. A sandal is not so much better in this, however.
The advantage of being barefoot is a much better control about your balance, not unimportant in a fight. The Greeks would presumably not have suffered from much rain, so leather shoes with leather soles were not that problem that it would have been in wet circumstances. But even on dry grass or dry smooth rocks leather soles are sometimes fallacious.
Nudity on the other hand gives not so much advantage in a fight so I think the concept of "heroic" or "erotic" nudity is correct.
Wolfgang Zeiler
