Gorgeous Greek

She that far surpassed all mortals in beauty.

The extreme beauty of the countenance, that shone forth in loveliness that mocked the vain attempts of dress to augment it, was peculiarly and purely Grecian; there were the large, dark, melting eyes, the finely formed nose, the coral lips, and pearly teeth, that belonged to her race and country. And to complete the whole, Haydee was in the very springtide and fullness of youthful charm.

—The Count of Monte Cristo referring to Haydee.

Historically, the Hellenic people have placed great value on physical beauty since the times of Ancient Greece, as it was considered to be a blessing from the gods. It's no wonder that names such as Helen of Troy (who was actually from Sparta) are synonymous with beauty, and Classical Mythology is overflowing with not just gorgeous girls but pretty boys as well. This endured even into the Byzantine period where according to their values, The Emperor was a reflection of heavenly authority and since God was perfect, the emperor also had to be physically unblemished. It was also in that time period that both Arabic and Frankish (generic term referring to Western Europe) chronicles often described Byzantine ladies as exotic and seductive beauties.

But make no mistake: the male physique was just as idealized as the female one, if not more so. This notion comes from countless works of arts like paintings and sculptures, especially in the wake of neoclassicism during The Renaissance. During that time period, Greece was under occupation of the Ottoman Empire ever since The Fall of Constantinople, which led to the diaspora of several scholars and intellectuals over Europe and many tales were spread about how Greek maidens were forced into harems for their beauty to denounce Ottoman despotism—sure enough, many famous sultanas were previously slave concubines of Greek origin. Only the Circassian girls topped Greek girls in this regard and eventually replaced them after the Greek War of Independence and Imperial Russia ended the slave trade in Southern European women, making the Ottomans turn to The Caucasus instead.

At the height of Philhellenism by authors like Lord Byron and Alexandre Dumas, female characters were popularly portrayed as tragic and ill-fated love interests for the Western European hero while male characters were as rugged and gallant in a very Balkan fashion, and they almost always wore a mustache.

In some modern works, Greeks fall into Foreign Fanservice territory, usually portrayed as idealized beauties with olive skin and dark hair, though this is not always the case as their looks can vary due to the Mediterranean being a melting pot of multiple different people and cultures. Similar to their Slavic counterparts, the appeal stems from them being caught in the bridge between East and West—being both exotic and yet familiar at the same time.

Sub-Trope of Foreign Fanservice. Compare with English Rose, Sexy Scandinavian, Sensual Slavs, Gentile Jew-Chaser, Circassian Beauty and Latin Lover. Also related to The Burlesque of Venus due to sharing sources. Not to be confused with Gorgeous Geek.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Saint Seiya
  • Saori Kido, the reincarnation of goddess Athena, is stated to be beautiful by numerous characters.
  • The Athena's Sanctuary is in Greece and filled with beautiful people, a great amount of them are born or raised in Greece.
  • Aiolos, Aiolia, Saga, Kanon, and Milo, part of the 12 golden knights of the Sanctuary, particularly, are known to be classic examples of bishounens.
  • Julian Solo, who is the reincarnation of Poseidon is very good looking. Other greek gods that eventually appear in the story like Hades are also classicaly beautiful.
• Don't Meddle with My Daughter!:
  • In chapter 9, Athena Haruka is revealed to be the actual Greek goddess in physical form. She's depicted as an amazonian blonde who's so hot that her enemies, bystanders, and even her own daughter, all wanna bang her. Which is why she's referred to as "the MILF of Steel".
  • Her sister Artemis also qualifies due to having a similar figure, though not as curvaceous as Athena's. Instead, she invokes the look of a librarian when posing as St. Sumire's guidance counselor.
  • Clara is half-Greek and Japanese since she was fathered by the mortal, BM the Shooter. Though, unlike her mom, she's reserved and dresses modestly... until she dons her superhero costume.

Arts

• The Greek Slave by sculptor Hiram Powers who was inspired by the Greek War of Independence portrays an Greek Orthodox Christian maiden made captive by the Ottomans. It also inspired Italian artist Scipione Tadolini to make his own version La Schiava Greca, who is slightly older-looking and bears a necklace inscribed in Greek "elpis" (hope) and a bracelet "pistotes" (fidelity).

Comic Books

• Agents of Atlas has Venus who was believed to be the actual Goddess of Love, but was retconned to be a siren who is not only extremely beautiful but could supernaturally charm other people. Meanwhile, the true deity Aphrodite Ourania always portrays herself as a voluptuous redhead and a Walking Swimsuit Scene.
• Age of Bronze: Since the supernatural doesn't exist here, Helen's beauty is enhanced by her Greek appearance, which is exotic to the Trojans (situated on the eastern Mediterranean).
• All-Star Squadron: Helena Kosmatos also known as Fury wore a golden skin-tight suit and had Mystical White Hair due to being magically empowered to fight the Nazis during Greece's occupation in World War II. And she wasn't hard to look at as her pose can attest.
• Crusades features Venus Kostopikas as a hot Intrepid Reporter from a dying newspaper investigating an enigmatic 11th century Crusader knight on a killing spree in modern times.
• Athena by Dynamite Comics is portrayed as a voluptuous blonde Lady of War in Chainmail Bikini.
• Elektra is a Greek beauty with typical Mediterranean features such as dark hair and olive skin, she is also a seductive and very sexualized Love Interest to Daredevil.
• The Incredible Hercules:
  • Herc himself is a male example being a shirtless hunk with a chiseled Heroic Build. He also has been depicted as Ambiguously Bi in the mainstream universe at least. In one reality, he and Wolverine are a Battle Couple.
  • Athena Parthenos often takes an Hot Librarian form when disguised as a mortal. She is considered very attractive in-universe, but alas she is a Celibate Heroine.
• Wonder Woman:
  • Diana herself is canonically considered World's Most Beautiful Woman in the DC Universe due to being blessed by Aphrodite with perfect beauty and a loving heart.
  • Wonder Woman (1942): Pre-Crisis supervillain Silver Swan went from plain Greek ballet dancer Helena Alexandros to a woman in white blonde bombshell. She resented her Hollywood Homely appearance in spite of being descended from/named after the mythological Helen of Troy, and struck a deal with Mars in order to become beautiful.
• Averted or even inverted with Morbius: when he was human people would make fun of his fiancée behind her back for being with someone as ugly as him. Being turned into a living vampire made it even worse.

Films — Animation

• Hercules:
  • The title character is a Chick Magnet in-universe, to the point his female admirers literally fight themselves over him.
  • Megara, or "Meg", is not exactly hard to look at, as Hercules, Nessus, Adonis (her ex-boyfriend in the TV series) as well as the man she sold her soul for... for which he was ungrateful, and (briefly) Phil can all attest to.
• Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas: Eris, the greek goddess of chaos, has an elegant figure and long hair that's constantly flowing around her. She alternates between threatening Sinbad with horrific punishments and flirting with him, promising him outrageous rewards if he serves her whims. Sinbad is tempted, but he's already smitten with someone else.

Films — Live-Action

• 300:
  • The titular Spartan warriors are an army of muscle-bound, shirtless warriors wearing little more than leather straps and loincloths with their thighs, abs, and biceps in full display.
  • Though not as prominent as their male counterparts, Gorgo and the Pythia are female Spartan ladies whose outfit reveal more skin than clothe it.
• Alexander has Angelina Jolie, of all people, playing Olympias, mother of Alexander the Great.
• Asterix at the Olympic Games features Greek princess Irina, who is a lovely young lady but somewhat of a Satellite Love Interest to side character Lovesicx.
• Ben-Hur (2016) uses this trope in the chariot race. The racers are all shown to be champions representing different Mediterranean countries which are all part of the the Roman Empire. Naturally, the Greek racer is presented as the most beautiful, with cherubs on his chariot and flowers woven into his hair, even though he is presented as no less masculine than the other racers.
• Naturally, Elektra in Daredevil (2003) and her own spin-off movie. She is established to be Greek in the first movie due to speaking the language among her father and bodyguards and dons a leather outfit that bares her abs and later a red version of said costume in the second movie.
• Mita Xemakis in Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga. Her Bad Girl Song shows the extent of how gorgeous she is, and she's not above trying to seduce Idiot Hero Lars Erricksong. Except she can't, because of his Single-Target Sexuality for Sigrit.
• The Godfather: Apollonia, beloved of Michael Corleone during his exile in Sicily, has her beauty explicitly pointed out as being more of a Greek nature than a local one.
• James Bond:
  • Melina Havelock in For Your Eyes Only is the half-Greek, half-British Bond girl of the movie with her mother Iona counting as a full example due to looking extremely good for her age.
  • Skyfall has Bond briefly retiring with an unnamed Greek lover by his side played by model Tonia Sotiropoulou.
• Helen of Troy, portrayed in different movies:
  • Irene Papas portrayed Helen in 'The Trojan Women'
  • Bella Dayne portrayed Helen in 'Troy: Fall of a city'
  • Sienna Guillory portrayed Helen in 'Helen of Troy'
  • Katrina Grey portrayed Helen in 'Troy the Odyssey'
  • Diane Kruger portrayed Helen in Troy
  • Elizabeth Taylor portrayed Helen in 'Doctor Faustus'
• The harem girl Jamilla in Kismet (1944) is mentioned to be Macedonian in origin which goes a long way explaining why there is a blue-eyed, fair-skinned, blonde in Baghdad's court.
• In the 2009 romantic film My Life In Ruins, Greek studies teacher-turned-tour guide Georgia, after lightening up to her job and to her tour group, falls in love with the bus driver Poupi; at one point, the bus almost crashes since they can't resist each other.
• Troy: Achilles, played by Brad Pitt, since he is a tall, muscled, blonde Chick Magnet who is introduced in a Bed Full of Women. Not even Trojan Proper Lady Briseis can resist his charm. Helen of Troy also counts as a female example (even appearing naked at the beginning of the movie), but she is Demoted to Extra in comparison to Achilles.

Literature

• Haydee in The Count of Monte Cristo is probably the Trope Codifier in literature. The daughter of Albanian nobleman Ali Pasha and his Greek concubine Kyra Vassiliki, she was sold to slavery after her parents' deaths until her freedom was bought by Edmond Dantès and becomes his Morality Pet. The page quote above taken from the narration details how exotic and nubile the fair Greek lady is. By the end of the book, she becomes Edmond's lover.
• Lord Byron's Don Juan: Haidée is native from the Cyclades isles, and the main character falls in love with her after she saves him from a shipwreck, despite being unable to understand each other's language.
• The Egyptian Cinderella: Rhodopis, the titular character herself is actually Greek by birth and was sold to slavery in Egypt. She has distinctive foreign looks like blonde hair which make her stand easily out from the others.
• Histoire d'une Grecque moderne by Antoine François Prévost tells about the tragic romance between an French diplomat to Constantinople with Théophé, an Greek concubine whom he frees from an harem.
• James Bond's novel Colonel Sun: Ariadne Alexandrou, a beautiful GRU agent that serves as love interest of the week.
• The Mark and the Void: Ariadne, a Greek waitress whom the protagonist Claude is infatuated with, but is so awkward talking with her (she must be really that distractingly beautiful).
• A Night in a Moorish Harem: The Grecian lady Helene is one of the resident harem girls that entertains the main protagonist and has an entire chapter dedicated telling her backstory. She is described as being 22-years old and "about medium height, very slender, but graceful and well rounded, and her skin was as white as alabaster. Her features were of the perfect antique mould and were lighted with fine grey eyes. Her glossy black hair was all brushed back to a knot just below the back of the neck, from which but a single curl escaped on either side and toyed with her firm but finely rounded bosom".
• On the Edge of Eureka: Deliberately invoked with Dahlia when she wears an elaborate Greco-Roman toga when meeting Mira for the first time.
• The Camp Half-Blood Series Percy Jackson does not dwell on his own looks in his own pov, but later on Hazel, a Roman demigod mistakes him for a god when she first lays eyes on him due to his good looks. Another Roman demigod, Reyna pretty much propositions him to become a Ruling Couple with her.
  • Apollo, the sun god is also described as incredibly good looking by everyone that interacts with him.
• The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: Lena, a teen girl of Greek heritage, is said to be considered incredibly beautiful by everyone.
• The Sookie Stackhouse Mysteries: Dahlia is said to be of Greek origin, having lived during ancient times and interacted with Ulysses. She is also described as having a petite build with large green eyes, pale skin and long black hair.

Live-Action TV

• CSI: NY: Stella Bonasera is a Fair Cop of half-Greek heritage. It helps that her actress is a second-generation Greek immigrant.
• Daredevil: For the Netflix show, Elektra is only Greek by adoption, and is implied to have French-Cambodian roots, much like Élodie Yung, who plays her.
• Full House: Jesse Katsopolis is the handsomest of the three male leads, swooned over by women both in the show and the audience. Played by Real Life example John Stamos.
• Discussed in 'The Good Place'. Eleanor states that she always pictures the historical philosophers Chidi talks about as super hot. Her image of Aristole is "John Stamos with a beard". Chidi admits that this is his image of Aristole as well.
• Magnificent Century: Kösem: Anastasia (later on Kösem Sultan) is a sexy Greek harem girl who enters the seraglio and quickly becomes the Sultan's favorite.
• Spartacus: Blood and Sand features a number of Greek beautiful slave girls among the Roman Republic with the most prominent examples being Sybil and Chadara.
• Vikings: Kassia in Season 5 is a Byzantine Naughty Nun who uses her feminine wiles to wrap emir Ziyadat Allah around her fingers.

Pro Wrestling

• Former WWE Diva Dawn Marie is of Greco-French-Italian descent. She was a Heel Ms. Fanservice. WWE never emphasized her ethnicity, pretty much portraying her as a Manipulative Bitch from Joisey.

Video Games

• Assassin's Creed:
  • Lysistrata in Assassin's Creed: Revelations is a wealthy Byzantine noblewoman in league with the Templars, and uses her seductive charisma to entrap Ottoman officials. She is one of Ezio's minor targets during the story mode and playable in the multiplayer mode as "The Thespian" avatar.
  • Assassin's Creed: Odyssey is set in Ancient Greece, so naturally there will be characters of both genders that fill this trope like Kassandra/Alexios and specially, their love interests who are designed to be appealing.
• Civilization:
  • Byzantine Empress Theodora in Civilization V is a Femme Fatale reclining seductively on her bed.
  • Queen Gorgo of Sparta in Civilization VI is portrayed as a stern-looking Amazonian Beauty dressed in red.
  • Alexander in Civ VI is also portrayed as exceptionally handsome. When you first meet him,◊ he takes off his helmet to dramatically reveal his long, flowing locks underneath, while his breastplate has distinctly drawn abs and pecs.
• God of War: Commonplace in the games set in ancient Greece where several goddesses (Aphrodite, Eos and Lachesis) and female mortals (Lora, Zora, Leda, Persephone and Poseidon's Princess, to name a few) are featured in varying states of undress. Also Once per Episode until God of War: Ascension, Kratos could have an Optional Sexual Encounter with semi-naked Greek babes in exchange for experience points, including Aphrodite herself.
• Smite:
  • The demigod Achilles is a Long-Haired Pretty Boy who gets to show off his ripped body whenever he forgoes his armor. Even his victory animation pokes fun at his status as Mr. Fanservice!
  • Aphrodite, unsurprisingly due to being the Goddess of Beauty and very aware of it.
• Soul Series:
  • Sophitia Alexandra might be the most shining example in gaming. Even though shed lived in the 16th-Century during a time Greece was under the Ottoman Empire, Sophitia dresses like an ancient Greek warrior in a skimpy fashion and is more or less the poster girl for the series.
  • Her sister Cassandra also qualifies though she is more of a Hot-Blooded Tomboy example that downplays the Greek motif.
  • Sophitia's children Patroklos and Pyrrha in Soul Calibur V also inherited their mother's good looks. The former in particular has a mop of cherubic blond hair, evoking Classical Greek sculptures of beautiful young men.
  • Soulcalibur VI turns Sophitia's husband Rothion◊ into this trope. After portrayed as average and plain-looking, he gets Progressively Prettier in this game.

Visual Novels

• Fate Series:
  • Fate/stay night: Rider is a Statuesque Stunner with purple hair and Dressed Like a Dominatrix who turns out to be the mythological gorgon Medusa. The reason why she doesn't look monstrous is that her current look is the same one before she was cursed by Athena, meaning this is the same one that enchanted Poseidon.
  • Fate/Grand Order: The Lostbelt Lancer is Greek heroine Caenis who appears as a tall and voluptuous warrior in Chainmail Bikini.

Web Animation

• Played with in RWBY. While the nation and culture of Greece does not exist in Remnant, the character Pyrrha Nikos, who is based on Achilles, has a Greek name, has weapons and armor inspired but Athenian warriors and is presented as an astonishingly beautiful green-eyed redhead.

Western Animation

• Gargoyles: David Xanatos is a suave and charismatic Evil Genius who was the son of a Greek immigrant. And he manages to win Janine "Fox" Renard's heart.
• The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy: Eris is the Greek goddess of chaos and is a voluptuous woman in a white toga. Yet for some reason, she speaks with a British accent.
• Hercules: The Animated Series has Adonis as the epitome of male with long golden hair and tanned skin and Helen of Troy, naturally.
• Legend of the Three Caballeros: Xandra, the Goddess of Adventure and the heroes' guide, is dressed in a stripperiffic Hellenic-styled armor in addition to her name. It's pretty much all but spelled out she is Greek in contrast to the leads (an American, a Mexican, and a Brazilian).
• The Simpsons: Parodied/Invoked in "the Girl Code" subplot where Homer gets a job in a Greek restaurant and styles himself as a Greek with a big mustache which Marge finds irresistible.

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