What race were the Ancient Romans?

Question

Serious answers. Do not say 'Italians', as this is clearly not the case.

Answer 1

The Latins migrated into Italy from central/eastern Europe and eventually interbred with natives such and the Etruscans and also greek colonists.

Answer 2

WHITE

Answer 3

Mediterranean

Answer 4

The original romans were a mixture of mostly alpine and mediterranean.

Answer 5

There's no evidence that they were anything other than the same as current Italians. So, Southern European.

Answer 6

What is it with people's obsession with race here?

They were Europeans, which means they were probably mostly white, with mixing from Africa and maybe other continents.  Not that anyone's purely anything, particularly anyone in Europe.  Europeans did way too much moving around, conquering and being conquered, to be anything but mutts.  Other continents did plenty of intermarrying, too, and we're all African if we go back far enough.  So why does it matter?

Answer 7

Ancient Romans did not look the way they are portrayed by the media. Nor did they have British accents. LOL.

The Roman Empire was all over the world, how could anyone in an empire that large have one phenotype? Not when you add in the contact they had with so many African people, Asian people, and all Europeans.

Personally, I think Ancient Romans had very strong boned faces because all ancient people have strong features. Flat, pudding faces....I don't think  so!

But I don't really care.

Answer 8

It makes me giggle how many people think 'white' is a race, I love that, like seriously I really truly do, I'm ethnic white me heh.

They were old Latin aranian, Hitler referenced them in his Aryn's speeches about supreme genes, Stalin dabeld in it a little also.

Thank god one of us knows something.

However you've got to take into account they were one of the first largest multicultures - but essentially they started as Aryan. I'd give this to DeeDee, they're pretty much nail head on.

Answer 9

No particular or unique "race" in the sense of a set of true breeding morphological characteristics. They were carriers of mixed biological inheritances from humans of various provenances like Africa, West Asia, Europe, etc., and tended to be predominantly Caucasoid.

Answer 10

The Ancient Roman  Empire was huge. So I would answer, that Romans varied in appearance. The Roman empire extended to Africa, Asia Minor, Europe (Germany, France, Spain, etc.) and to the British isles. Roman citizens were people of diverse backgrounds. As for the Romans-who lived in Rome (not the Empire as a whole), I believe their physical appearance was like that of the statues and busts that they sculpted. Romans from Rome  probably had the long, prominent, tall noses, brown and dark hair and varying skin tones. The Romans (in Rome, located in Modern day Italy) were Meditteranean people, so they may have looked similar to the Ancient Greeks (who had African-Asian-Arab and European genetic mixing, it all depends on the individual) and they might have looked like Ancient North Africans, peoples of Asia Minor, various groups from India, and people from the Orient.  The Roman Empire was very extensive. I have  read historical documents mentioning Roman trade  with China, Subsaharan Africa, India, etc.

To answer the question, Roman people-who lived in the Roman Empire- could have looked like anybody that you see walking around today. But people from Rome (as in the place in modern day Italy) were Meditteranean in appearance and could have looked like the sculptures and works of art produced by Romans at that period of time.

I have always heard that being a Roman was more cultural than racial, if that makes sense. Have you ever heard of the saying from the New Testament of the Bible,

"When in Rome, do as the Romans?"

Being a Roman-or a member of the Roman Empire, was cultural not a racial  thing.

Answer 11

Legend has it that romulus and remus fled from Troy after the greeks attacked it at and went to italy where they founded Rome.

Answer 12

catholics meh thinks

Answer 13

mexican

Answer 14

similar to modern americans, a mix of african, mid-east palestinian, northern european caucasian  generally amixed mode mutt variety of human

Answer 15

"Mythical beginnings

One version of the legend tells that King Numitor of Alba Longa, a nearby city-state, was murdered by his brother Amulius who usurped the throne. Learning from an oracle that his line stood in danger from future children of Rhea Silvia, his brother's daughter, Amulius presented her to the temple of Vesta, goddess of the hearth, to be the one of her virgins.

But the war God Mars came down and slept with Rhea Silvia one night, and their union produced twin boys, Romulus and Remus. Their conception was considered unclean as it had taken place in violation of Rhea's position as a vestal virgin, so mother and sons were thrown into the River Timber. The two boys survived and were found by a she-wolf, who suckled and raised them.

When the boys grew to manhood they killed Amulius in revenge and decided to build a city at the place where they had been found - at the foot of the Palatine Hill. They quarreled, however, and Romulus killed Remus, becoming sole ruler of the new city, which he named Rome. Something of an outlaw himself now, Romulus took in vagabonds, criminals and runaway slaves to populate his city. But the community needed women, so he invited the neighbouring Sabine people to meet with the Romans at a festival. Amidst the merrymaking, Romulus and his men abducted the Sabine women and took them back to Rome. A bitter war ensued, but peace was eventually brokered by the Sabine women themselves, and the kingdoms came together under Romulus's rule."

You have no idea how long that took me to type up.

Answer 16

they were white people......rich white people