Comments by "" (@neutronalchemist3241) on "Were Romans SHORT?" video.

Is difficult to find datas for Germanic people of Roman times, but Viking males, form skeletons found (usually we find burial of high-class people, so the average height is probably overestimated, since in ancient times they tended to eat better and so be taller than the average peasant) had an average height of 172cm. We already talked about legionaries but, from skeletons, the average male population of Herculaneum (and there are no class differencies there, since they all perished in a natural disaster) was of 169cm, so the Germanic people were probably on average taller than the Romans, but nothing so dramatic. Several Roman sources said of one or another Gaul or Germanic population, that they were very tall, but often the Romans first seen the warrior elite. People that eat very well since childhood, and so were taller than the average.
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Several Roman sources said of one or another Gaul or Germanic population, that they were very tall, but often the Romans first seen the warrior elite. People that eat very well since childhood, and so were taller than the average. Skeletal evidences doesn't suggest Gauls and Germanics to be that tall.
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Joe Blow Is difficult to find datas for Germanic people of Roman times, but Viking males, form skeletons found (usually we find burial of high-class people, so the average height is probably overestimated, since in ancient times they tended to eat better and so be taller than the average peasant) had an average height of 172cm. We already talked about legionaries but, from skeletons, the average male population of Pompeii and Herculaneum (and there are no class differencies there, since they all perished in a natural disaster) was of 168cm, so the Germanic people were probably on average taller than the Romans, but nothing so dramatic.
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Today that's not completely true. Italian and Greek males are on average taller than German males (Italians 176.5, Greeks 177.0, Germans 175.4). Spaniards and Portuguese tend to still be a bit short anyway (173.1 and 173.9). However at 5.9 you are not short by any mean. ;) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Average_human_height_by_country
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@renettedescartes "Yes, you don't need a professor to know Romans were shorter than germans" But you need some research to know of how much. Is difficult to find datas for Gauls and Germanic people of Roman times, but Viking males, form skeletons found (usually we find burial of high-class people, so the average height is probably overestimated, since in ancient times they tended to eat better and so be taller than the average peasant) had an average height of 172cm. We already talked about legionaries but, from skeletons, the average male population of Pompeii and Herculaneum (and there are no class differencies there, since they all perished in a natural disaster) was of 168cm, so the Germanic people were probably on average taller than the Romans, but nothing so dramatic. The difference in average height between Italian and Scandinavian males today is of about 4 cm.
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Is difficult to find datas for Gauls and Germanic people of Roman times, but Viking males, form skeletons found (usually we find burial of high-class people, so the average height is probably overestimated, since in ancient times they tended to eat better and so be taller than the average peasant) had an average height of 172cm. We already talked about legionaries but, from skeletons, the average male population of Pompeii and Herculaneum (and there are no class differencies there, since they all perished in a natural disaster) was of 168cm, so the Germanic people were probably on average taller than the Romans, but nothing so dramatic. Several Roman sources said of one or another Gaul or Germanic population, that they were very tall, but often the Romans first seen members of the warrior elite. People that eat very well since childhood, and so were taller than the average.
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@jt-ru5iy Yeah. A pair of inches at max.
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Not really. Hunter-gatherers tend to be taller than farmers, because agriculture allows to feed much more people with the same land surface, but with a greatly reduced intake of proteins (because to use cultivated vegetables, or land that can be used to grow plants, to feed animals, is a waste). Still in 19th century, native Americans tented to be taller than pioneers.
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The average height of today's Scots is slightly shorter than that of today's English and Welsh.
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Viking males, form skeletons found (usually we find burial of high-class people, so the average height is probably overestimated, since in ancient times they tended to eat better and so be taller than the average peasant) had an average height of 172cm. We already talked about legionaries but, from skeletons, the average male population of Herculaneum (and there are no class differencies there, since they all perished in a natural disaster) was of 169cm, so the Germanic people were probably on average taller than the Romans, but nothing so dramatic.
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"naturally muscular" is not a thing. Legionaries were easily, on average, much more phisically fit than their enemies, since they trained constantly. Actually the Romans considered the Picts quite short. Romans stationed at Hadrian's wall referred to them as "Britunculi" (tiny Brits).
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@Sojju7 Italian land is mostly mountainous and the climate is arid so, to make even the plains fertile, you have to make massive irrigation works.
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@Sojju7 Italian weather is made of few days of torrential rain and months of no rain at all. The soil is scarce, since the country is mostly mountainous and to cultivate the scarce plains requires massive irrigation works.
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Is difficult to find datas for Germanic people of Roman times, but Viking males, form skeletons found (usually we find burial of high-class people, so the average height is probably overestimated, since in ancient times they tended to eat better and so be taller than the average peasant) had an average height of 172cm. We already talked about legionaries but, from skeletons, the average male population of Pompeii and Herculaneum (and there are no class differencies there, since they all perished in a natural disaster) was of 168cm, so the Germanic people were probably on average taller than the Romans, but nothing so dramatic. Several Roman sources said of one or another Gaul or Germanic population, that they were very tall, but often the Romans first seen members of the warrior elite. People that eat very well since childhood, and so were taller than the average. For the Romans, once you were a citizen, you were a citizen, period.
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@pepperspray7386 The taunting of the enemies is not the most reliable source, otherwise all the Japanese should be myopic and with protruding teeth. Caesar reports one instance, and those that were taunting were members of the aforementioned warrior elite. That doesn't mean that the romans were "200cm tall heroes in shining segmentata" (that had yet to be invented BTW). As said, they were probably on average shorter than the Gauls and the Germanics but nothing so dramatic.
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The "lead poisoning" theory lost most of its supporters. There is no evidence of lead poisoning in Roman skeletons found.
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Mind that the first members of a tribe Caesar met were almost surely part of the warrior elite. Those were better fed than the average peasant since childhood, and so taller.
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They would see you as a tall man. Nothing more. Tall people always existed, even well above 186cm. IE Charles Albert, king of Piedmont and Sardinia from 1831 to 1848 (an age when the average Italian was not taller than the average ancient Roman) stood at 204cm, six-foot-seven, and the thing is barely remembered.
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@Spr1ggan87 And, when they first encountered a tribe, they most likely encountered people from the warrior elite. Those were better fed since childhood than the average peasant, and so higher on average.
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Is difficult to find datas for Gauls and Germanic people of Roman times, but Viking males, form skeletons found (usually we find burial of high-class people, so the average height is probably overestimated, since in ancient times they tended to eat better and so be taller than the average peasant) had an average height of 172cm. We already talked about legionaries but, from skeletons, the average male population of Pompeii and Herculaneum (and there are no class differencies there, since they all perished in a natural disaster) was of 168cm, so the Germanic people were probably on average taller than the Romans, but nothing so dramatic. Several Roman sources said of one or another Gaul or Germanic population, that they were tall, but often the Romans first seen members of the warrior elite. People that eat very well since childhood, and so were taller than the average.
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Where did you get the 1.5m height? Is difficult to find datas for Germanic people of Roman times, but Viking males, form skeletons found (usually we find burial of high-class people, so the average height is probably overestimated, since in ancient times they tended to eat better and so be taller than the average peasant) had an average height of 172cm. We already talked about legionaries but, from skeletons, the average male population of Pompeii and Herculaneum (and there are no class differencies there, since they all perished in a natural disaster) was of 168cm, so the Germanic people were probably on average taller than the Romans, but nothing so dramatic. Several Roman sources said of one or another Gaul or Germanic population, that they were very tall, but often the Romans first seen members of the warrior elite. People that eat very well since childhood, and so were taller than the average.
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Italian males have currently an average height of 176.5cm (measured 2004), they are taller than American and English males, (175.3 for both, measured 2012- 2014), French (175,6, measured 2004) and Germans (175.4cm, measured 2007). Is difficult to find datas for Germanic people of Roman times, but Viking males, form skeletons found (usually we find burial of high-class people, so the average height is probably overestimated, since in ancient times they tended to eat better and so be taller than the average peasant) had an average height of 172cm. We already talked about legionaries but, from skeletons, the average male population of Herculaneum (and there are no class differencies there, since they all perished in a natural disaster) was of 169cm, so the Germanic people were probably on average taller than the Romans, but nothing so dramatic.
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Actual Italians, yeah, they are on average taller than Brits, American, French and Germans, and Greeks are even taller. So much for the mediterranean populations being short.
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@joeampolo42 Not really. Apart from the ones that voluntereed, even slave Gladiators were VERY precious (they had an high-level training that required MUCH time and resources) and VERY famous. They were like todays sport stars.
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@joeampolo42 Usually horses and bulls have not a row of girls waiting for them (the successes of gladiators among women were well known) and are not paid. For a strong gladiator was not that difficult to earn enough to pay for his own freedom (but strong gladiators often decided to keep on fighting anyway) and usually the owners of gladiator schools were former gladiators.
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@joeampolo42 But women are no cows, and both bulls and cows have no choice. Gladiators and their admirers had.
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@escaramujo worldwide average for females born in 1996 is 159.5. For males is 171.3. https://ourworldindata.org/human-height In the European Union (that's practically the world's tallest human group) the average height (general adult population) is 163.9 for females and 176.2 for males. https://ec.europa.eu/commfrontoffice/publicopinion/archives/ebs/ebs_246_en.pdf
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The average US citizen is shorter than the average Italian actually.
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Romans recruited massively in N.Africa, but those were berbers, not blacks. However people at the time moved a lot more than we tend to think. Transaharian commerce routes were a thing. There were black people living in N.Africa, and some of them joined the legion, but they were quite rare.
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Not really ground-breaking. In few decades after WWII the Dutch passed from being one of the shortest populations in europe to be the tallest. Actual Italian males are on average taller than French, German and English and the Greeks are even taller. As for sports. It had been noticed that in the US volleyball team at the 2012 Olympics there was not even a single black man. Maybe the same genetic that makes black people so good at basketball prevent them to play volleyball? Or simply American blacks don't play volleyball that much? How many high-level African sprinters there are?
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Actually height limits in military are made so that the average people pass them, and only the shorter ones are excluded. You don't want an army made only of the higher 10% percentile, you only want to eliminate the weaklings and/or those that couldn't use standard equipment.
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Actually sexual dimorfism in humans has grown after WWII. Due to better diet the males' average height skyroketed, while the age of females' menarche (after which females' increase in height is drastically reduced) lowered.
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Actually Italian males are currently on average taller than American and English males, 176.5cm for Italians (measured 2004) vs 175.3 for English and American (measured 2012- 2014)
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Napoleon was 1.69m. Slightly above the French average of his time.
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Is difficult to find datas for Germanic people of Roman times, but Viking males, form skeletons found (usually we find burial of high-class people, so the average height is probably overestimated, since in ancient times they tended to eat better and so be taller than the average peasant) had an average height of 172cm. We already talked about legionaries but, from skeletons, the average male population of Herculaneum (and there are no class differencies there, since they all perished in a natural disaster) was of 169cm, so the Germanic people were probably on average taller than the Romans, but nothing so dramatic. Several Roman sources said of one or another Gaul or Germanic population, that they were very tall, but often the Romans first seen the warrior elite. People that eat very well since childhood, and so were taller than the average.
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In Cicero's time Sicily was a specific province and so Sicilians were provinciales exactly like Gauls, Greeks or Syrians. Italy meant only the peninsula. Italics acquired Roman citizenship right after the Social War of 91-88 BC.
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165cm https://www.thecalculatorsite.com/conversions/common/cm-to-feet-inches.php
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Is difficult to find datas for Germanic people of Roman times, but Viking males, form skeletons found (usually we find burial of high-class people, so the average height is probably overestimated, since in ancient times they tended to eat better and so be taller than the average peasant) had an average height of 172cm. We already talked about legionaries but, from skeletons, the average male population of Herculaneum (and there are no class differencies there, since they all perished in a natural disaster) was of 169cm, so the Germanic people were probably on average taller than the Romans, but nothing so dramatic.
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