Nudity in combat

Dying Gaul, anonymous Roman sculpture

Nudity portal

Nudity in combat is the practice of entering combat without clothing and armor. It is rarely practiced because, apart from the social aspects of nudity, the combatant lacks even the basic protection of clothes, e.g. when diving for cover, or crawling. Also the combatant misses the practicality of hiding/carrying objects in pockets and attached to clothes.

The artistic convention of heroic nudity, however, was established in the art of ancient Greece by the Archaic period.

History

Celtic peoples

Polybius' Histories describe how the Celts visually intimidated the Roman enemy before they engaged in the fight: naked, furiously shaking their long hair, shrieking brutally, bragging and defiant, showing an outrageous contempt for their own life.^[1] Diodorus Siculus reported other instances of such combat: "Some use iron breast-plates in battle, while others fight naked, trusting only in the protection which nature gives."^[2] Roman historians recorded that the Gaesatae fought naked in the battles in the Po Valley in Italy in the Cisalpine War.^[3]

Julius Caesar records in his account of the Gallic War that the Gauls went into battle naked save for their weapons.

Sometimes the soldiers wore no clothing but were covered in war paint, a custom that allegedly gave the Picts their name.

Asia and Africa

There is an ancient tradition of bare-breasted female bodyguards in several Asian cultures. The Mauryan kings in India, notably Chandragupta and Asoka, were attended by half-naked women guards^{[citation needed]}, and in the Moghul Empire the Urdu Begi female harem guards gave evidence that this tradition was long-lasting. Similar bare-breasted guardswomen were retained by the medieval Khmer Empire and their Siamese successors. The "Amazon" bodyguards of Dahomey in West Africa are sometimes described as being similarly unclad.

Modern occurrences

In some present martial arts which are designed to be fit for military fighting, full or partial nudity still occurs. The traditional donga style of stick fighting practiced by the young warriors, now bearing firearms, of the Omo Valley Suri tribe, is often practiced entirely naked: serious injury is not uncommon, and it is occasionally fatal. Another example is the stick fighting style of the neighbouring Nyangatom, which fight bare-chested; the goal is to mark the adversary with visible stripes on the back.

In the Vietnam War, Vietcong sappers used to slip through the barbed wire naked or almost naked.^[4]

In modern Liberia, soldiers under "General Butt Naked" Joshua Blahyi fought naked in order to terrorize their opponents.^[5]

References

1. ^ AncientWeb.org: Ancient Spain, the Art, Culture and History of Ancient Iberia
2. ^ Stephen Allen (Author), Wayne Reynolds (Illustrator), Celtic Warrior: 300 BC - AD 100 (Osprey: 25 April 2001), ISBN 1841761435
3. ^ AncientWeb.org: Ancient Ireland, The Art, Culture and History of Ancient Hibernia
4. ^ Looking for a hero
5. ^ How to Fight, How to Kill: Child Soldiers in Liberia: Roles and Responsibilities of Child Soldiers