A fascination with the nude male body and nude men has existed from the earliest times: on cave walls, in paintings, on stone and in every other way possible. Seemingly since the very dawn of mankind himself, arose his need to express himself artistically. In our section on Prehistoric Cave Art, we examine some of his earliest, and some would say crudest attempts to depict the nude male form.

Nude men were also frequently captured by the artists of one of the most sophisticated and advanced early cultures - that of Ancient Egypt - though in Egyptian art, nudity was most often a sign of a person's class rather than meant as an affectionate homage. The primary exceptions to this rule regarded rulers, spirits, and gods.