Surely, we all know what "clickbait" is now don't we? It is an internet phenomenon that I normally shun quite studiously but earlier today I found myself drawn in by a rabbit hole that followed the heading: "What Historical Figures Really Looked Like". There were over two hundred historical figures with related text and one of them was Jesus Christ.
Surprisingly, in my nineteen years of blogging, I have hardly ever referred to Jesus Christ. That's him pictured at the top of this post according to the clickbait channel. He looks a lot different from that miraculous hippy-type fellow we usually see portrayed with his long hair, kindly face, sandals and flowing white robes. "Suffer little children to come unto me" and all that.
This was the text connected with the picture:
Thousands of paintings, drawings, and etchings exist of Jesus of Nazareth. As the most famous living person to have ever existed, he’s revered by many as the Son of God. Most images depict Jesus as a tall, lean man with shoulder-length brown hair and a kindly face.
As researchers have nothing to go on and no remains or description in the Bible, it’s difficult to say what Jesus really looked like. When a team of scientists took to the task, they used what little information was available to them and came up with a brown-eyed, olive-skinned, heavily bearded man with notably more masculine features than the stereotypical image.
I guess that practising Christians may have to greatly readjust their mental images of Jesus and instead teach their children that far from being gentle, meek and mild - Jesus looked more like a hairy all-in wrestler or a latter day neanderthal.
Here's another famous figure revealed in the clickbait list. Can you guess who it is?
Yes, of course, it's Peter the Great - Emperor of Russia from 1682 until 1725.
Fascinating. I've always (as a student of history, not religion, i.e. mythology) thought of Jesus as more the way your clickbait shows him. After all, he was (if he even existed) Jewish in a very arid and warm part of the world, wasn't he?
ReplyDeletePerhaps he carried a water bottle.
DeleteActually, what is pictured here is very much what I would expect Jesus to look like. It only makes sense that he would be dark-eyed and rather swarthy. I might imagine the hair a little longer since I associate shorter cuts of the time with Romans. And even if one today doesn't choose to believe he was the "son of God", I believe there is historical evidence that a real man existed who many considered to be a prophet, if not Messiah.
ReplyDeleteIt's easy to see now why Mary Magdalene allegedly was sweet on him.
DeleteNice to speculate but that's all it is ...speculation.
ReplyDeleteAs far as I know, there are no photographs of Jesus.
DeleteI once saw a doco about what Jesus would have looked like. It went into some detail: looked at skeletons, the culture of the time etc and finished with a generic picture of every middle eastern kid in every Sydney High School.
ReplyDeleteThis one you've used just looks a bit older
I wonder what "evidence" the "team of scientists" used?
DeleteThat's not something I've ever thought about. If he was to do any laying of hands on me, I'd make sure he washed his hands first. He does seem to be of plain appearance and I think I like the hippy Jesus better.
ReplyDeleteOnly "R" would want to lay his hands upon you Andrew and his personal hygiene is exemplary.
DeleteWhen thinking about when and where Jesus was born it's not at all surprising to see that he would look similar to that picture, although that particular man does look a little worried, perhaps he already knew which way the world was headed?
ReplyDeleteAllegedly his father can do anything so he could have made this world perfect but he chose not to do that. Why?
DeleteHe gave man "free will" and man has abused the privilege. There is probably some serious smiting in our future.
DeleteIf that's what his son looked like, try imagining his cloud-dwelling father.
ReplyDeleteYou wouldn't be able to see him because of the clouds.
DeleteIs there a picture of his dad?
ReplyDeleteEverybody knows what his dad looks like. He's massive and he floats above the clouds, lying on his side. He has got a long grey beard and a serious expression. He is diaphanous and even wiser than David Attenborough.
DeleteI think Leonardo Da Vinci painted some wonderful paintings of religious figures including Jesus and that's 500 years ago YP.
ReplyDeleteIt is easy to believe in Leonardo because he existed. I have been to the farmhouse where he was born in 1452 - not in Vinci but in nearby Anchiano.
DeleteSomehow my first thought about that first image was "No, they've got it mixed up. That's not Jesus, that's Peter..." (not the Russian emperor; but Simon Peter, Jesus' disciple who became head of the church) May have something to do with that worried look that River mentions! (I do agree though that our traditional images of Jesus probably aren't very accurate, and at least in our 'Western' cultures we probably do tend to make him look too "white".)
ReplyDeleteAs for Peter the Great, I really have no preconcieved image of him in my head, so why not...
I bet you didn't anticipate that Peter the Great was probably made from candle wax!
DeleteI've seen that same clickbait ad but haven't clicked it myself. Thanks for doing it for me! I'm sure this image if Jesus is probably a lot closer to reality than the blond, blue-eyed Nordic representations I used to see growing up.
ReplyDeleteHumans seem to need imagery as much as they need ideas. The church in western Europe and North America appear to have promoted notions of Jesus that fit with underlying perceptions of race and credibility.
DeleteI've assumed for a long time that Jesus, Mary and Joseph looked nothing like the statues and pictures that are in our churches here in Naperville, IL. They must have looked like the people who live in the area where they lived.
ReplyDeleteI wonder whose existence is more believable - Robin Hood or Jesus?
DeleteHe was from the middle east, that's how he should look but as you said, everyone wants Jesus to look like them. There are lots of photos of Asian Jesus and Black Jesus as well, even female Jesus. God only knows:)
ReplyDeleteThere should be an LGBTQ Jesus in a wheelchair.
Delete"LGBTQ Jesus in a wheelchair" could be.
ReplyDeleteOne day.
Delete