this post was submitted on 21 Mar 2025
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Illustrations of history
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This magazine is for sharing artwork of historical events, places, personages, etc. Scale models and the like also welcome!
Generally speaking, actual photos of a historical item should go to [email protected]
Photos of ruins should go to [email protected]
Photos of the past should go to [email protected]
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Has some "It's me" vibes... Most of these guys were Italian born. Not a lot of blondes and redheads over there.
The problem seems to be when someone like Cato is described as having Reddish hair, artists embellish this and make him Scottish looking. Reddish probably meant by Italian standards - so dark auburn or chestnut is more likely.
Likewise "blonde" over there is probably just a way to say someone went gray early or were best known after their hair turned gray or white.
They're mostly Italians after all. It's the same issue with our depictions of white jesus.
Italy has a not-insignificant amount of fair-haired people. Around 10% of the population around Rome today has blonde hair, and the words used for graying or white hair are very different. Germanic peoples are referred to as very commonly having blonde hair ('flavum'), and some noble families in Rome notably had fair-hair running through the bloodline.
Meh, to put it another way 90% of the modern population don't even have fair hair (and that's with global travel being involved), and only some of the noble families had any in their bloodline.
I just think there's an obvious bias involved when artists make these kinds of choices. Historical depictions should aim for what's most likely: Italians looking like Italians.