Image copyright Thinkstock
Everyone has an idea of what Jesus Christ looked like. In the visual arts of the West, his image was used more often than all others. According to tradition, this is a man with long hair and a beard, a long tunic with long sleeves (usually white) and a cape (usually blue).
The image of Christ has become so familiar that even his silhouette is easily recognizable.
But did he really look like this?
Most probably not.
In fact, the image that has become familiar originates in the Byzantine era, starting from the 4th century. In Byzantium, the main emphasis was on the symbolism of the image of Christ, and not on historical accuracy.
The prototype was the image of the emperor on the throne, an example of which can be seen on the mosaic of the altar in the church of Santa Pudenziana in Rome.
Image copyright Alamy Image caption Initially, the halo was a hallmark of the god of light Apollo, but then began to appear on the images of Christ to emphasize his divine nature.Christ is dressed in a golden tunic. This is an image of the heavenly ruler of the world, reminiscent of the famous statue of the long-haired bearded Zeus sitting on the throne. The monument was so famous in the ancient world that the Roman emperor Augustus ordered to make a monument to himself, made in the same style (only without long hair and beard).
Image copyright AlamyByzantine artists, who were faced with the task of showing Christ as the king of all things, came up with a new image, which in fact was a reflection of the rejuvenated Zeus. Over time, such an image of the God-man became the norm. Nowadays, something from the hippies has also been added to this image.
Image copyright AlamySo what did Christ really look like?
Consider from head to toe.
1. Hair and head
If the first Christians did not try to portray Christ as a heavenly ruler, then he appeared as an ordinary person: without a beard and with short hair.
Image copyright Yale Collections Image caption A reflection of the exemplary appearance of Christ can be found on the walls of the synagogue of the 3rd century in the city of Dura-EuroposIt is possible that Jesus had a beard, as is typical of wandering wise men, but only for the reason that he did not visit a barber.
In general, unshaven hair and a beard were inherent in philosophers and distinguished them from all others. The ancient Greek philosopher Epictetus called it "justified, coming from nature."
In general, in the Greco-Roman world of the 1st century, it was considered obligatory for a man to be clean-shaven and short-haired. Long luxurious hair and a beard were the lot of the gods. Even some philosophers cut their hair.
In ancient times, the beard was not considered a distinguishing feature of the Jews. Moreover, when the Jews were persecuted, it was difficult for the persecutors to distinguish them from everyone else (this is described in the Maccabees book). At the same time, on the coins issued by Rome after the capture of Jerusalem in 70, one can see captive Jews with beards.
Image copyright CNG CoinsIt is therefore possible that Jesus, in accordance with the tradition of the philosophers, had a short beard, like the men from Roman coins, but most likely he had short hair.
Had his hair been a little longer than was generally accepted, some sort of reaction might have been expected. It was believed that Jews with uncut beards and long hair were Nazarenes, that is, those who took a vow. That is, for some time they dedicated themselves to God, pledging not to drink wine and cut their hair. At the end of their vow, in a special ceremony, they shaved their heads in the Jerusalem temple (this can be read in the New Testament book of Acts chapter 21, verse 24).
But Christ did not take the Nazarene vow because the Bible says he drank wine. He was even accused of drinking too much of it. If he had long hair and the distinctive features of a Nazarene, he would definitely not have done without comments about the discrepancy between his appearance and behavior. The Nazarene was not supposed to drink wine at all.
2. Clothing
In the time of Christ, rich people wore long robes on special occasions to show people their high status. In one of his speeches, Christ said: "And he said to them in his teaching: beware of scribes who love to walk in long robes and receive greetings in public assemblies" (Gospel of Mark chapter 12, verse 38).
It is believed that the words of Christ are the most historically accurate parts of the Gospel, so we can assume that he himself did not wear long clothes.
In those days, the average man wore a knee-length tunic - a chiton, and a woman's tunic was ankle-length. If something in this routine changed, a scandal arose. The apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thekla, dating back to the 2nd century, describe the shock caused by the situation when a woman put on a man's tunic. Most often, tunics were sewn from one piece of fabric.
We also know that a cape was also worn over the tunic, and it is also known that it was this part of the garment that was touched by a woman who wanted to be healed (Gospel of Mark chapter 5, verse 27).
The cape was worn in different ways. Sometimes she completely covered the tunic. (Some philosophers preferred to wear only a cape without a tunic, leaving the right upper part of the body open).
Image copyright Wiki commonsIt was possible to determine the position and wealth of a person by the size, quality and color of the cape. Purple and some shades of blue spoke of the luxury and honor of the owner. These were royal colors because the paint used was incredibly expensive.
But the colors could indicate otherwise. The historian Josephus described the Zealots, who wanted to liberate Judea from the Romans, a group of murderous transvestites who wore dyed capes, thus hinting that this was an item of women's clothing. From this we can conclude that men who were not endowed with high status had to wear clothes made of undyed fabric.
But Christ did not wear a white garment, which required bleaching or adding chalk to create. In Judea, such clothing was associated with the Essenes, who strictly followed Jewish law. The difference between Christ's garments and bright white robes is described in Mark 9, when the three apostles went up the mountain with Jesus, whose garments began to radiate a bright light. Before the transfiguration, the clothes of Christ appear to be the most ordinary, made of undyed wool.
You can also learn about Christ's clothes during the description of his execution, when the Roman soldiers began to divide his clothes, tearing them into four parts. One of the elements of his attire, most likely, was a tallit - a rectangular cover for prayer.
3. Feet
Christ certainly wore sandals. Everyone wore them. In the caves near the Dead Sea and Masada, sandals from the period of the life of Christ were found, so we can get an idea of \u200b\u200bit. They were simple, the soles of which were made from thick pieces of leather. The top of the sandals was made of leather strips.
Image copyright Gaby Laron4. Facial features
What were the features of Christ's face? They were Jewish. It is clear that Christ was a Jew (or a Jew). This can be read in particular in the epistles of the Apostle Paul. What did a Jew look like at that time?
The Gospel of Luke states that he was 30 years old when he began his ministry.
In 2001, forensic anthropologist Richard Neave recreated a Galilean model for the BBC documentary The Son of God, based on an unknown skull found in that region. He did not claim that this is the face of the real messiah. It was just a way to see Christ as an ordinary person of his time, because his description does not say anything about his exceptional appearance.
Image copyright Thinkstock Image caption Many Christians are convinced that the burial shroud, kept in Turin, Italy, depicted the true face of Jesus.This can be done by taking as a basis the found skeletons of people of that era.
In my opinion, the best reflection of the exemplary appearance of Christ can be found in the image of Moses, painted on the walls of the synagogue of the 3rd century in the city of Dura Europos, from which one can understand what the Jewish philosopher looked like in the Greco-Roman world.
Image copyright Alamy Image caption It is unlikely that Christ had blue eyes, as some artists depictedIt says that Moses wore unpainted clothes, and his cloak was a tallit. This image obviously gives a more accurate picture of the historical Christ than what the Byzantines came up with, which then embodied in the generally accepted standard.
The images of the Savior that we are used to have little in common with his real appearance. This conclusion was made by forensic experts from Britain, using all the achievements of modern science.
In the European tradition, Christ is usually portrayed as a white-skinned man with regular, strict facial features and long brown hair falling on his shoulders in the form of soft curls.
Such an image of Jesus developed by the Middle Ages and was fixed by the famous canvases of the Italian Renaissance, for example, "The Last Supper" by Leonardo da Vinci.
Retired physician Richard Neave conceived the idea of recreating the true face of Jesus using forensic techniques well known to him. As a result, he received a rather unusual portrait of the Son of God for us. This is a man with a broad face, light brown eyes, a thick beard and short, very curly hair, as well as rather dark skin.
Dr. Neave and his team created this model based on the analysis of three skulls belonging to the inhabitants of the Galilee of the historical period when the events described in the New Testament took place. By scanning them with computed tomography, they built an averaged 3D reconstruction that became the basis of the skull. The team then modeled the nose, lips, and eyelids using proven methods, resulting in a realistic image of a human face.
Based on the study of the features of the skull, of course, it is impossible to accurately determine the color of the eyes and hair. They were established on the basis of portraits preserved in the oldest archaeological sources, from those times when the Bible had not yet been compiled. As a result, it was established that Jesus was dark-eyed and dark-haired. The research team also concluded that the Savior wore short hair and a beard.
According to Alison Galloway, professor of anthropology at the University of California at Santa Cruz, the presented images are distinguished by the highest possible level of reliability. Richard Neave himself emphasizes that he received rather a portrait of an adult who lived at the same time and place as Jesus, but experts say that his image probably conveys the appearance of Christ much more accurately than the paintings of the great masters.
In addition, researchers argue that the height of Jesus was most likely (like most of his fellow tribesmen of that time) about 150 centimeters, and his weight was about 50 kilograms. At the same time, the body of the Savior had to be swarthy with developed muscles, since until the age of 30 he was engaged in physical work in the open air.
What Jesus Really Looked Like - The True Appearance of Christ:
2 For he sprang up before him like a seedling and like a sprout out of dry ground; there is neither form nor majesty in Him; and we saw Him, and there was no form in Him that drew us to Him.
(Isaiah 53:2)
That is, he looked little like a "Hollywood handsome man". And judging by the Scriptures, His appearance did not cause much admiration.
Long or short hair?
Jesus is usually represented with long hair. But my guess is that Jesus didn't have long hair. And here is the confirmation: He was from Nazareth, but did not take the Nazarite vow. Therefore, he had to look like most Jews looked at that time.
(The Nazarite dinner suggested the presence of long hair).
45 Philip finds Nathanael and says to him: We have found him about whom Moses in the law and the prophets wrote, Jesus the son of Joseph of Nazareth.
46 But Nathanael said to him, Can anything good come from Nazareth? Philip tells him to go and see.
(John 1:45,46)
The Bible speaks of a city, a region of birth. Like today, for example, I was born in Moscow - that means the Moscow region.
So that we do not confuse "Nazarite dinner" from the place of birth - "from Nazareth."
5 All the days of the Nazarite vow, his razor shall not touch his head; until the fulfillment of the days for which he consecrated himself as a Nazirite to the Lord, he is holy: he must grow hair on his head.
(Num. 6:5)
The mention of the Nazarite is a clear instruction on the observance of the rite.
27 Do not cut your head around, and do not spoil the edges of your beard.
(Lev.19:27)
The average Jew followed these verses, as did Jesus, who did not accept the Nazarite.
32 Their camels [will be given] for spoil, and many of their herds for plunder; And I will scatter them to all the winds, those who cut their hair on their temples, and I will bring destruction on them on all sides, says the Lord.
(Jer. 49:32)
There is a mention of the punishment of God in comparison with other peoples who cut whiskey. For this reason, the chosen people did not cut only whiskey. As did Jesus.
My last argument against Christ's long hair:
6 For if a woman does not want to cover herself, let her also have her hair cut; but if a woman is ashamed to have her hair cut or shaved, let her cover herself.
7 Therefore a man must not cover his head, for he is the image and glory of God; and the wife is the glory of the husband.
(1 Corinthians 11:6,7)
My conclusions
The answer to the question: What did Jesus really look like? We can say that he looked like an ordinary Jew, an average one. And there was no beauty in it, as people are accustomed to consider today.
The Son of God did not wear long hair and did not cut his temples, as required by the Law.
And the main idea is that of all the books of the New Testament we will never find a description of what Jesus looked like, but we will find out what God did on earth and what he said.
How He died on the cross and how He rose again!
For the observer, the Shroud of Turin is a piece of an ancient canvas (4.3 x 1.1 meters) with a rather vague image of a naked body appearing on it in two projections - in front with arms folded in front and legs evenly lying and from the back - located in such a way as if a person was placed on the lower part of the cloth with his head to the center, then the cloth was folded in half and covered with it over the body.
The image on the Shroud of Turin is not bright, but quite detailed; it is given in one color - yellowish-brown, of varying degrees of saturation. With the naked eye, you can distinguish facial features, beard, hair, lips, fingers. There are traces of blood on the Shroud of Turin, which left numerous wounds on the body. On the forehead and along the long strands of hair, trickles of blood run down, as it were. Bruises from whips cover the entire chest, back and even legs. On the wrists and on the feet, traces are visible, similar to stains of congealed blood that has flowed out of nail wounds. There is a large spot in the side, apparently due to a deep wound that reached the heart.
Photograph of the shroud in ultraviolet light
It is believed that the image on the Shroud of Turin arose when the body of Jesus Christ, in accordance with the gospel story, was placed in a burial cave. At the same time, His body lay on one half of the Shroud of Turin, and the other half, thrown over the head, covered Him from above.
Christians call a piece of linen cloth the "Fifth Gospel" - after all, on it, as if in a photograph, the face and body of Christ were miraculously imprinted on it. Each of the many wounds of Jesus was imprinted, each drop of blood shed for the salvation of mankind!
– This message, which is almost two thousand years old, visibly testifies that everything that is written in the Gospel is true! - says the director of the Russian Center for the Shroud of Turin, physicist Alexander Belyakov. – It brings people the good news about the Savior, about the victory over death…
... What militant atheists did not do, trying to declare a unique relic a fake! Stupidly repeated, they say, this is just a drawing of the artist. The examination refuted this version: there is indeed a mirror imprint of the body on the fabric. Another argument of skeptics burst with a bang - as if a person smeared with paint was wrapped in cloth. On the canvas is not ocher, but blood. It was possible to detect its components: hemoglobin, bilirubin and albumin. By the way, the increased content of bilirubin indicates that the person died in a state of stress, under torture. Established blood type - IV (AB). According to the set of chromosomes in leukocytes, the sex was determined - male.
Digital technologies have made it possible to recreate the face of Christ
But the experts of the Institute of Forensic Science of the FSB of the Russian Federation found that the radiocarbon analysis of the age of the tissue, which was done twenty years ago by laboratories in the UK, USA and Switzerland, was, to put it mildly, inaccurate. According to Anatoly Fesenko, Doctor of Technical Sciences, who led the research, foreign experts “rejuvenated” the relic by more than a thousand years, because they did not take into account the most important circumstance. In the Middle Ages, a terrible fire broke out in the cathedral where the shroud was kept, and soot particles settled on the fabric. Therefore, the devices recorded not the age of the tissue itself, but the fragments of carbon compounds adhering to it ...
The latest research at Oxford has confirmed that the FSB experts were right - the shroud was indeed woven during the life of Christ.
Commissioned by the Vatican, for the first time, the most accurate image with a resolution of 12.8 billion pixels was taken from it. It captures the silhouette of the body of the Savior and his appearance to the smallest detail. The most modern technologies have made it possible to study in detail the greatest shrine.
Scientists photographed thousands of fragments of fabric, and then from them, as if from pieces of a puzzle, they laid out a picture of the shroud on a computer.
Under high magnification, stains of the sacred blood of Jesus are visible
“We stitched together 1600 frames, each the size of a credit card, and created a huge shot. It is 1,300 times larger than a photograph taken with a 10 million pixel digital camera,” explains Mauro Gavinelli. - Thanks to new technologies, you can see every thread, every detail ...
The funeral vestment of Christ is extremely rarely unfolded in front of believers. The Shroud is stored in a folded silver casket. Over the past century, it was taken out only five times! She last exhibited in front of pilgrims in Turin in 2000. And the next - in 25 years.
This is where the Shroud of Turin is kept.
Now everyone will be able to see the multiply enlarged image of the Savior, reflected in a miraculous way on a linen cloth - scientists plan to put the digital photo on the Internet. And everyone will be able to join in its study - for humanity it will be an amazing day! People will see with their own eyes the imprint of the body of Jesus Christ.
The Shroud of Turin began to be studied exactly 120 years ago - and precisely thanks to photography. The linen canvas was then photographed by the Italian lawyer Secondo Pia. Having shown it, he looked at the negative. And instantly I realized that the lens captured something that the eyes did not see - the imprint of the body of a bearded man, whose wrists and feet were pierced. And his face - as on the icons of Christ!
The herringbone canvas, woven from Mediterranean linen with an admixture of Egyptian cotton, retained the image of Jesus wrapped in it - full-length, front and back. Here is the description made from the picture by the medical examiner:
“Hair, randomly sprawled on the cloth, a small beard and mustache. The right eye is closed, the left slightly open. There is a drop of blood above the left eyebrow. The nasal bone was broken from a blow on the left side. On the left side, the face above the cheekbone is broken, there are traces of edema. There is a blood stain to the right of the mouth.