(WARNING: I MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE COME UP WITH THIS ON THE SPOT WITH HALF REMEMBERED WIKIPEDIA ARTICLES THAT WERE READ TWO YEARS AGO)Romans. Rome. Sort of in the name.Okay now that I’ve joked about that, let’s talk a little bit about the history of the Roman civilization!So, according to Romans, they are the descendants of the last survivors of Troy. That would mean that they immigrated from modern-day Turkey and were therefore middle-eastern in origin (Remember, always think in ancient time terms. Middle Eastern doesn’t mean turban wearing Arabs or fez wearing Turks. Neither of them are in Turkey yet). This sounds like a pretty likely story, erm, the Middle Eastern migratory mouvement part, not the whole entire Troy thing. That was just for a little bit of flair. Saying “Oh, we are the proud descendants of the a great city that the gods fought over” and saying “Well, we were a bunch of goat herders in that hot dusty place.” sort of changes how glorious you seem. (When I say “hot dusty place”, not talking about desert, talking about a Mediterranean climate. Remember, abandon stereotypes, we’re not talking about desert Bedouins).I’m sure there’s tons of other fun possibilities that I don’t know about, but that sounds about right to me. I mean, you must remember, that Romans looked down on the Germanic peoples. Heck, before Caesar, if anyone had fair hair, they were considered “loose” or a bed slave (Good ol’ Julius was blond btw). So if your imagining of Romans were fair, blond haired, button nosed men and women wearing togas and lying around drinking wine all day, then sorry to burst your bubble, but they most likely were dark haired (varying from black to a dark auburn), large nosed, mostly dark eyed men and women wearing togas and lying around drinking wine all day.Upon re reading this, it is completely possible that I’m going crazy from sleep deprivation and have just written down random thoughts passing through my head. Oh well.
Dark skinned Sicilians. Modern day Spanish and many Sicilians today, as well as brown Italian-looking people in North Africa are the still living examples of ancient Romans. When they had massive immigrations from Europe come in, and then when the Vandals (Slavic people) invaded, many Romans lightened up or became more European looking due to intermarriages. Those who mixed with Africans became more similar to black or Middle Eastern looking, and those mixed with Europeans became more European looking. Romans called their race “Latin”, and they were very nationalistic. Race was not a huge deal to them, but nationality and culture was a HUGE deal.
Fayum portraits might help a little — these were portraits painted onto wood which were then placed on mummies in Roman Egypt, like so:Whether this’ll tell you what ‘original Roman people’ looked like is debatable, but then again, what were the original Roman people? Rome was around for a long time, after all.A curator of Egyptology (Campbell Price) said:“What is particularly fascinating about them is that the people portrayed by the artists often look as if they are Greek and Roman rather than traditionally Egyptian - indicating just how much of a melting pot Egypt was 2000 years ago.” [1]So, maybe they’re fairly trustworthy sources.You could look at statues, too, though they’re probably more likely to be stylised, with the better features (of significant figures, too) emphasised, and others improved. It’s also quite difficult to get a feel for the ‘look’ of a person from their statues and busts, though you can, to an extent:Cicero looked like a most humorous chap.Some frescoes survive, particularly at the Pompeii sites (Pompeii, Herculaneum, Oplontis, Stabiae, and Boscoreale). Since Vesuvius erupted in 79AD, that was Imperial Rome. The frescoes certainly look like the kind of people depicted in the Fayum, so that’s part of why I think they’re also a good source.Hope this helped!
Who were the Ancient Romans (ethnically)?
It is believed that ethnic Romans started from refugees who populated today's Rome. The refugees were predominately male and at some point did a mass abduction of Sabine (Italian/Latin) women. These new people then made wars on local Latin population and eventually overpowered them and created a united empire under Roman rule. At some point in history the empire falls apart and Italians gain their independence from the Roman empire. Some time later Gypsies start appearing. Seems like the entire European population today has separated themselves from them and outcasted them as not native. Gypsies are the only people today who call themselves Romani or Roman or Roma depending on grammatical usage. Also, modern Romania has the highest concentration of Romani Gypsies. Not all Gypsies are Romani, but all Romani Gypsies are known as the Gypsies of Europe. The separation and persecution of Gypsies may have started during the Christian Roman era when the pagans were persecuted instead of Christians this time. Now here comes the skin color, the Gypsies are knows to have darker skin tones and perhaps have bleached out over the years partly from the abduction of the Sabine women and from mixing genes with the rest of the European population. Romani dialect is Sanskrit and may be the missing link to the Indo-European linguistic theory, as some words may have melted into the European languages. Interesting to note, Romans being the minority would have spoken the official Latin language. Who realized that if you rearrange letters in word Latin, you would get ItaLn? Italian people would most likely be related to the Latin Sabine people who probably were white. Gypsies today are known for fortune telling and there are stories of them abducting women, which Romas of the old share in common. The Romani gypsies would be the descendants of a Gypsy named Romulus, who populated modern Europe. In conclusion, ethnic Romans were not Italians/Latins. We are told Roman origins are obscure. Even if they are modern day Gypsies, Gypsy origins in Europe are unclear. It would also be hard to believe how these Gypsies could dominate the ancient Italian population, much like how Mongols could dominate Russians. Russians of the ancient did not have the sophistications of the modern Russian. Stars rise and they fall too.
What did the ancient Romans look like, ethnically?
I am going to give an answer: but this question would be good on the "Art" area We have art: sculpture, paintings on walls, mosaics, and more in the literature from "Rome". We know Romans (those in the main families) were not all dark haired and say tanned, better "olive skinned" as I am. Cicero and all those guys wrote this down, the artists painted, and such, but there we terms - words- for those born, or such from other lands, but as the folks posted here: they became "Romans", real citizens. Roman citizens of "noble" birth were "in-breed", to a degree, but do not panic, no more than the Royals of Europe over the last 200 years. Why? well most of the TV and movies use "British", United Kingdom actors. I mean can some guy act in a role who is an American with a regional accent? No, well; we will let the great Brando get away with his Julius Caesar movie in the 1950's. So, Italians were not are not nor the people of Rome all darker skin, and black hair, not even in 44BC or 200 AD. But the further north one gets the hair colours change, could be it was the same then. But just get an Art book on Rome and well the question is answered. But blonde's in Rome? Not on the mosaics. Well not much.
What did the ancient Romans look like?
a particular gene could be everyday in unrelated populations. additionally, Puetro Ricans have dissimilar "Mediterrean" ancestry from Spain, which has similarities to Italians, and dissimilar African ancestry, so that's smart they had look like people who're "afro-american and white"--maximum of them are. i assume the appropriate indication of what pores and skin tone Romans had could be the artwork from Pompeii--which coach a rather huge version. There are a truthful form of photographs surviving from the Roman era in Egypt that are quite often swarthy-finding Caucasians, yet those could be human beings particularly of Egyptian ancestry. as a count of actuality the Romans did no longer undertaking themselves plenty with pores and skin shade. They conquered blond Celts and Germans, and black Nubians and dealt with them with reference to the comparable--all people became liable to be enslaved or granted citizenship and dissimilar the the Aristocracy in the later Empire have been descendents of barbarians from throughout.
Some facial reconstructions of Ancient Romans using the actual skulls (Skin tone and hair color might not be accurate) :(A nobleman)(Emperor Tiberius Caesar)Some facts :-Skin whitening make up was common in Ancient Rome as pale complexion was not the natural skin color of the Romans.Cosmetics in Ancient Rome - Wikipedia-Romans gave nicknames which would occasionally turn into cognomina like Flavus (blondie), Ahenobarbus (red bearded), Niger, etc, a practice which only makes sense if the population looked Mediterranean. It would be fairly strange to nickname someone the blond in a Scandinavian nation, for example, as most of the Scandinavian population are blond.-After the fall of Rome, Southern arrivals into Italy were Arabs in Sicily, and Byzantines (Greeks). Arabs stayed about one century in Sicily, but their numbers are still debated. Arabs and (later) Byzantines were expelled, or killed, many left (especially Arabs refusing to converting to Christianity) but some remained.-There were intermarriages with Germanic people.Conclusion :The Ancient Romans looked more or less like in the pictures above with a stereotypical Mediterranean complexion (More tanned than Scandinavians, dark eyes/hair).UPDATE : Oh, and they also wore wigs and hair paint, if that matters to you.
How did the ancient greek and romans look like?
The ancient Greeks and Romans were known to have white/olive skin with brown/black hair. The Greeks used to bleach their hair to look lighter, and the Roman women used to bleach their skin or put articial cremes (sorry forgot the name they used) to make their skin look whiter. They had long heads and were naturally shorter than Nordics. The average height for a Roman was 5'6. The Romans and the Greeks used to imagine their Gods and Goddesses as blonde and blue eyed, as that was seen as a rare color in Ancient Greece and Rome. Of course thats not to say there werent any blondes. Aristotle described them as "the perfect race" as they weren't white as Nordics but not dark as Egyptians therefore having the "perfect" complexion. Pretty much they looked Mediterenean/Caucasian and they had that 'Mediterenean look' same like today.
What did the Celts, Romans and Anglo Saxons look like?
The Romans and Greeks generally describe Celts (known to them as Gauls) as tall, very fair, with blue eyes and blonde hair. The men wore trousers, grew their hair long, and often times sported moustaches. The Romans were Mediterraneans, and looked much the same as modern Central Italians. Fairly short, olive skin, brown eyes, and dark hair. They would have worn tunics or togas (depending on their class, profession, etc) or - in the case of women - stolas. The men would have had short hair, and were usually clean shaven. I couldn't say for the Anglo-Saxons.... ADD: To correct the other answers, during the Principate (the Golden Age of the Empire, which we generally think of when we think "Roman"), to be Roman *did* mean to be Italian (and vice versa). Yes, others could gain citizenship, and assimilate into Roman culture (although, it was very difficult to do so), but that was only for individuals; the only population that was Roman as a *whole*, were the Italians. Also, it's important to note, even non-Italians who *did* assimilate into Roman culture and gained Roman citizenship, were still generally viewed as foreign, and not truly Roman. This is made evident by the following quote of Statius, about Septimius Severus (Punic grandfather of the Emperor of the same name); he clearly can't understand how a foreigner could seem so Roman, and concludes by saying he *must* be Italian: "Did Leptis that loses itself in the distant Syrtes beget you?...Who would not think that my sweet Septimius had crawled an infant on all the hills of Rome ? Who would not say that he had drunk, his weaning done, of Juturna's fountain? Nor is your prowess to be wondered at : straightway, still ignorant of Africa and its shallows, you entered the havens of Ausonia, and sailed, an adopted child, on Tuscan waters.....Neither your speech nor your dress is Punic, yours is no stranger's mind : Italian are you, Italian !" In other words, when we think of Ancient Romans, we're *really* thinking of Ancient Italians.