White giants of marble, the epitome of masculine power set in stone for the worship of men and women for thousands of years…or so they thought.
Their muscles may be big, but their (ahem) members are surprisingly small.
Statues of the Greek gods and heroes that have survived to this day have many wondered how accurately they were carved to scale.
And now a TikToker has explained exactly why these famous statues have such small penises, after people joked that they’re “so glad” they weren’t born 3,000 years ago.
Ruby Reign, passing by @rubysaysstuff on TikTok, did some digging and found out why colossal statues of Zeus and Hercules were so modestly presented below.
The social media star found herself scratching her head after noticing this and that the Hellenes depicted appendages differently than we do today.
In the video, which has garnered 3.5 million views and 409,000 likes, Ms Reign asks, ‘Have you ever wondered why so many of the ancient Greek statues have colossal muscular physiques, yet a small package?
“Well, I have, so I did some digging.”
TikToker Ruby Reign, who goes by @rubysaysstuff, shared a video on the social media site explaining exactly why ancient Greeks were depicted with small penises
Statue of the Greek god Zeus in the late afternoon sun, in the Piazza delle Signoria, Florence, Italy. The TikTok star explained that in ancient Greece, having a “smaller pack was considered a sign of virtue”
Showing an image of a Hydria, an ancient Greek pot used to carry water, she explained that the mythical creature seen, Satyr, was “depicted as barbaric and with a huge c**k”
She went on to say that she had found a quote from a Greek playwright named Aristophanes, a comedy writer of ancient Athens, which stated that the ideal of male beauty was “a shining chest, light skin, broad shoulders, a small tongue, strong buttocks’. and a little p***k.’
Meanwhile, larger appendages were still depicted by the ancient Greeks, but more negatively.
Showing an image of a Hydria, an ancient Greek pot used to carry water, Ms Reign explained that ‘what you see depicted here is Satyr, a mythological Greek creature who was depicted as barbaric and with a huge c**k. ‘
But she went on: ‘What I didn’t know was that the Greeks often represented their enemies, the Egyptians, the satyrs, and even fools in comedies, as great appendages.
“So it was kind of a negative thing to have, which is very different today.
So basically I found that big D’s are bad and small D’s are good in ancient Greece. But why was this? This is clearly different from today.’
Sharing another video on the social media site, Ms Reign explained that in ancient Greece, having a ‘smaller package’ was considered a sign of virtue, politeness, self-restraint or discipline.
“Meanwhile, having a bigger one was a sign of lust, gluttony and barbarity, which is very interesting because it is different from today.”
However, social media users are shocked to discover that smaller was considered better, when today, says Ms Reign, people think bigger is better.
Ruby Reign shared a video on TikTok, explaining exactly why ancient Greek statues like Zeus (left) and Hercules (right) were all presented as tiny members
The social media star found herself scratching her head after noticing this and that the Hellenes portrayed appendages differently than we do today
One person commented, “I think I’m starting to like the people of ancient Greece.”
While another said, “I think I have Greek genes.”
And a third said: ‘This sounds like societal reasoning, they may not have considered size as a factor in ability at all, as we do today.’
And a fourth wrote, “I’d say it’s because we now value barbarism, lust, and depravity.”
Another said, “I always thought the images had decidedly average packages.”
While one person jokingly wrote, ‘Thank God I wasn’t born then. I would have been labeled a demon,” as another said, “I seem to have the best male physique.”
A second also said, “Thank God I hadn’t been born, I would have been a demon.”
Another wrote with humor: ‘I have something in common with Zues and Hercules.’
Ms Reign concluded by saying that these shifting images show that our beauty standards and ideals in the modern world are all social constructs, and that we ‘shouldn’t get stuck feeling bad about ourselves because of what society tells us’.