Like, *all* of this. Now, it's true that women in Roman fresco are often drawn with very light skin - that was part of the beauty standard (complete with whitening cosmetics). But men did not generally avoid tans (the sun in Italy not being avoidable) and are darker. 2/7
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I'm also struck by Septimius Severus here. We have period artwork of him (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septimius_Severus#/media/File:Carole_Raddato_(13543792233).jpg …) and he's way darker than this. This fits into a broader problem where the popular imagination of Rome is defined by English BBC actors. That's not accurate. 3/7
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And I know the question is "why does this matter" - but the study of the ancient Mediterranean has a real diversity problem and this is part of the reason - the Roman past gets literally white-washed and many students feel they cannot see themselves in it. 4/7
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But they absolutely can, if we present it accurately! Rome was a fusion society and a Mediterranean one at that; Romans had a wide range of skin-tones. Most of them had dark hair (though light hair was prized). And the empire was diverse by definition. 5/7
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Septimius Severus was North African, with Levantine heritage - as in he openly claimed Punic descent through his mother's side. Hadrian's mother was Spanish. Elagabalus was Syrian on his mother's side and by upbringing. Rome was not a 'white guy club.' 6/7
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So again, not to trash this wonderful project - it is really impressive. But some of the assumptions need to be rethought. The reflexive tendency to think Rome in 50 CE looked like the cast of I Claudius needs to be pushed against. end/7
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One of the dudes is literally known as “Phillip the Arab, no way was he that white”
Kiitos. Käytämme tätä aikajanasi parantamiseen. KumoaKumoa
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Skin tone point aside, not how I imagined Pertinax...
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Can't decide whether Vespasian looks more like Pat Buchanan or like LBJ.
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These are fairly monochrome though. To me, actually, only a handful of those look more or less Caucasian, while the rest seems to be more towards Middle-Eastern and darker. I think unless they were full colour, you can't really argue either way.
Kiitos. Käytämme tätä aikajanasi parantamiseen. KumoaKumoa
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