The appearance revealed by an AI is consistent with the appearance of Jews who lived in the Middle East in the 1st century, as documented by historians.
Dark skin, brown eyes and short black hair . That’s how they were. THE Jews who inhabited the Middle East in the 1st century according to the author of the book What did Jesus look like? new zealand Jeanne Taylor .
The historian suggests that the image of Jesus what we know is far from reality . After centuries of Eurocentrism, Taylor explains, we have absorbed the most famous image of Jesus : a bearded white man with long light brown hair and light blue eyes .
Although this is a portrait recognized by the majority of the world’s 2 billion Christians, It’s a barely credible game which It must have little to do with reality .
The Historical Jesus Taylor said in a report published by BBC was most likely dark , He was short and had short hair. like other Jews of his time.
A “typical” Middle Eastern man
One of the difficulties in knowing what the historical Jesus looked like comes from the very origins of Christianity: the new testament the section of the Bible that tells the life of Jesus which gives no description of his appearance .
“The gospels do not describe him physically. “They don’t say whether he was tall or short, handsome or strong,” warns Taylor, who, in addition to being the author of the book What did Jesus look like? (What did Jesus look like?) is also an academic of Department of Theology and Religious Studies of the King’s College from London, UK.
“The only thing they say His approximate age is around 30 years old. “, adds the historian.
“This lack of data is very significant. “, says another expert quoted by the English media, the historian André Leonardo Chevitarese .
“This seems to indicate that Jesus’ first disciples did not care about this information. what for them It was more important to record the ideas than to say what it looked like physically. “, said the also professor of Institute of History of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and author of the book Historical Jesus. A very brief introduction.
The forensic expert in facial reconstructions, Richard Neave , He used his scientific knowledge to design an image close to the reality of the historical Jesus .
From three skulls from the 1st century ancient inhabitants of the same region where Jesus is said to have lived, Neave and his team recreated thanks to 3D modeling, a typical face that could very well have been that of Jesus .
Skeletons of Jewish subjects from this period show that the average height was 1.60 m And? The vast majority of men weighed just over 50 kilos .
Professor Taylor reached similar conclusions regarding the physiognomy of Jesus .
“The Jews of that time were biologically similar to Iraqi Jews today, so I believe (Jesus) had dark brown to black hair. , brown eyes And brown skin , a typical middle eastern man ” he concluded.
A dark-skinned, long-haired Jesus?
Brazilian designer Cícero Moraes, a specialist in forensic facial reconstruction, has created a scientific image of Jesus Christ at the request of the BBC. Moraes explains that the historical Jesus “it was certainly dark by considering the complexion of the people of this region and, above all, by analyzing the physiognomy of the men of the desert, people who live under an intense sun.”
Another interesting question is Jesus’ Haircut .
In one of the books of the Bible, Corinthians, which belongs to the New Testament, the apostle Paul writes: “It is a shame for a man to have long hair. “, Thus Jesus would not have had long hair as it is usually represented in cinema, painting and art in general.
“For the Roman world, The acceptable appearance for a man was to have a clean-shaven beard and short hair. . Even though in ancient times, philosophers probably grew long beards ” says historian Taylor.
Professor Leonardo Chevitarese believes that the earliest known iconography of Jesus, dating from the third century, depicts him as a barely beardless young man with short hair.
“He looked more like a young philosopher, a professor, than a bearded god. “, he explains.
The Jesus of Art
Taylor believes that the images used over the centuries have always attempted to represent Christ, that is, the divine figure of the son of God and not the human Jesus.
“It’s a subject that has always fascinated me, I wanted to see Jesus “Obviously,” the expert said. The representation of a bearded and hairy Jesus appeared in the Middle Ages during the rise of the Byzantine Empire.
As Professor Chevitaese reminds us, the figure of Christ began to show an invincible being , physically similar to the kings and emperors of the time .
Since the Western Church has not followed such standards, The artists who have depicted Christ over the centuries have created him in their own way. .
“It can be a gentle figure in many Baroque images or a suffering and martyred Christ as in the works of Caravaggio or Goya. ” says sociologist Ribeiro Neto.
“The problem of faithful representation of the historical character This is about our times, where critical reflection showed the forms of cultural domination in artistic representations. ” he adds.
“In this sense,” Neto laments, the problem is not having a blond Christ with blue eyes . The problem is that It is believed that the deity should be presented with European factions because these represent those higher on the social ladder. “.
This distance between the “European” Jesus and the new faithful who came from distant countries, according to the historian Chevitarese, was reduced in the search for a much more intermediate representation, a “Ethnic Jesus “.
“Images of Jesus in Macau , the former Portuguese colony of China , they show it with slanted eyes , with the way a Chinese person dresses . In Ethiopia there are also traces of a Jesus with black features. ” he adds.
On the Chinese social network TikTok, the user AI drawing shared a picture where you can see to a Jesus modeled by Artificial Intelligence .
In the recess you can see a dark skinned man , brown eyes and long hair . Traits similar to those described by experts consulted by the British media, and which are consistent with the Jews of the first century.
Check the image below:
The image is not so far from what the Dutch photographer did, Lower Uterwijk who used the Artificial intelligence to model another recreation of what the historical Jesus would look like.
Here is his result:
Source: Latercera
I am David Jack and I have been working in the news industry for over 10 years. As an experienced journalist, I specialize in covering sports news with a focus on golf. My articles have been published by some of the most respected publications in the world including The New York Times and Sports Illustrated.
