The ideal prepuce in ancient Greece and Rome: Male genital aesthetics and their relation to lipodermos, circumcision, foreskin restoration, and the kynodesme

This study examines the evolution of Greek and Roman medical conceptualizat ions of preputial aesthetics, utilizing evidence found in classical medical texts as well as clues from literature, legal sources, and art. A conclusi ve picture emerges that the Greeks valued the longer prepuce and pathologiz ed the penis characterized by a deficient prepuce-especially one that had b een surgically ablated-under the disease concept of lipodermos. The medical conceptualization of lipodermos is also placed in the historical context o f the legal efforts to abolish ritual circumcision throughout the Seleucid and Roman empires.