What did the Romans and Byzantines look like?

Question

I met a Greek woman the other day. She was telling me all the reasons as to why she HATED the Turks (personally, I always found them to be a proud and friendly people, but I digress.)

Anyway, she said that before the Turks conquered Greece back in the 15th century, Greeks were fair skinned, and many had blond hair and blue eyes.

The Western Romans were conquered by various Germanic Tribes, and the Byzantines were conquered by the Turks, but how different do the current inhabitants of Italy, Greece and Turkey look like compared to the people that lived in these regions 500-1500 years ago?

I love history, but never really thought about what the Romans and Eastern Romans/Byzantines looked like. Can anybody offer any insight?

Answer 1

It is true.

The point from the Greek perspective however, is not simply whether Alexander was blonde or not. After all, the Dorian Greeks were blonde as a rule, just as the original Persians and Mede settlers of ancient Iran were as well. The issue is that of using the notion of blondeness to project a specifically non-Greek Nordic west European image. Irrespective of whether Alexander was blonde or not, he represented the culture of ancient Greece, which is not necessarily the same as that of modern Western Europe.

Answer 2

500-1500 years ago? The one thing I would recommend to you is to look at the art of the times.

Answer 3

if you study your history you'll start to understand that these people are very multi racial from way way back many thousand of years . the sailors and traders and army's and migrants move around the Mediterranean  since the Begining.

Answer 4

The fourth person: Just like, yours truly, moi.

Answer 5

I suppose the Byzantines looked Mediterranean. Whether Lebanese, Greek, or Italian, we look quite similar. This area has seen so many conquests (Persian, Greek, Crusades, Islamic...) even way before the Turk/Greek dichotomy. So I think the people are a mix. I am lebanese, with olive-like skin, green eyes, and light brown hair. You find mixes like that everywhere in the Mediterranean.

Answer 6

Here are two drawings of Greek warriors, an Athenian and a Spartan.

http://www.holycross.edu/departments/cla...

Here is a rendition of a Roman Soldier, circa 75 B.C..

http://www.ancientworlds.net/227899