Definition of Beauty

A beautiful woman is charming. A beautiful woman is charismatic. Charisma leads to acceptance. Acceptance leads to feeling loved. Feeling loved is all we could ever hope for. Two thousand years ago, a beautiful woman represented purity, while a century ago, a beautiful woman was aware of her cultural identity. Recently, a woman’s physical characteristics seem to determine her beauty. Society has not always had the same definition for what is considered “beautiful”. We have progressed as human beings and with that our personal beliefs have changed. Someone who is graceful today does not possess the same qualities as someone who was graceful hundreds of years ago.
During the Pax Romana time period, people were incredibly religious. Jesus Christ as well as his mother the Virgin Mary were alive during this time. Jesus was viewed as an authorative figure. His mother, Mary, was also viewed as a role model. She possessed inner beauty and purity. She was beautiful because she had a kind, loving heart. She was considered angelic. Mary was praised and this picture illustrates this. Her shirt has a heart on it to demonstrate she is compassionate and there are flowers and sunshine surrounding her to show how she possesses no harm. The era at this time and the way society functioned led to individuals believing beauty was within. Jesus’ teachings contributed to this idea and everyone desired to be “good” just like Jesus and Mary.
In the early 1900’s, people who lived in Eastern Africa, also known as the Swahili’s, had a completely different view of what a beautiful woman was. The Swahili’s had immense pride in their culture and this image is a perfect example of this pride. This woman obviously is their version of beautiful because otherwise, she wouldn’t have been photographed, smiling, like a model. In the photograph, one can see that the woman is wearing fine clothing as well as expensive jewelry. She is sitting down on a wooden chair and is surrounded by