Before the appearance of the Jewish - Christian - Muslim concept of the shamefulness of the body and nudity, the whole world was in fact one huge nudist camp. Greeks and Romans only wore clothes on certain occasions. They practiced sports, bathed and did similar things in the nude. The human body was an object of adulation and worship, not something to be covered or ashamed of. The word “gymnasium” is derived from the word “gymnos,” meaning nude, because athletes in ancient Greece trained and competed without clothes. Consequently, we can consider nudists to be heirs of the ideas and customs of the ancient times, in the most positive sense.