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Today, even the non-religious person knows that the identity of Jesus Christ has been historically proven. However, apparently, it was a great esoteric and prophet, whom even Muslims know and revere (Isa, the son of Maryam), but by no means a god, as the Christian church presented him to us with the “light hand” of the preacher Paul, who never Jesus himself saw and was not his student. But, as the true disciples of Jesus said, he easily sold out and became a renegade who went over to the side of the Romans, turning the pure teachings of Christ into a religion - a global corporation with a multi-billion dollar income. (site)

The Christian religion distorted the teachings of Christ, throwing out of it everything that it did not need for its dominance over the minds of its many millions of flocks. For example, out of several dozen books of doctrine (apocrypha), she left only four gospels, written by no one knows who, and even letters and epistles of the apostles, compiled in most cases by the same Paul.

The external one was also distorted. In our view (the image created by artists and icon painters) - this is a tall European-looking man with long straight hair - shoulder-length. However, as the researchers say, such a person would stand out sharply from those among whom he lived and preached. However, in the Gospel of Matthew, for example, it is said that in the Garden of Gethsemane, Judas Iscariot even had to show Christ to the soldiers so that they would arrest exactly the one they should, that is, he did not outwardly differ from all other people who lived in Jerusalem.

Photos from open sources

Israeli archaeologists, together with British scientists involved in forensic anthropology (determining a person's appearance by indirect signs), decided to recreate the true image of Jesus Christ. By all accounts, he must be a typical Jew from Galilee at the time of the description of those events in the Bible.

After analyzing the skulls of people who lived in Jerusalem in the first years of our era, as well as using all the available written information (Christian and other texts), scientists and artists using modern computer technology (in particular, medical artist Richard Neave - University of Manchester worked on this project) managed to recreate the "authentic" face of Jesus Christ.

In the resulting portrait, Jesus appears as a stocky man with dark skin and the meek dark curly hair characteristic of the Jews of that time. He looks much older than his thirty years, because he worked as a carpenter - he is constantly under the scorching sun.

By the way, we note that some esotericists, as well as people who go in their subconscious to the distant past under hypnosis (to their previous incarnations), described Jesus Christ in approximately the same way - stocky, swarthy and with black hard curls, however, with a more enlightened, spiritual face than it turned out from modern computer scientists.

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.

I recently came across an interesting article in Popular Mechanics. The article is quite old, but I was interested. I thought. It turns out interesting, a paradox, one might say. Jesus Christ is the most famous person in the last two millennia, and what he looked like is still a mystery. In fact, we can judge the appearance of Jesus only by the fantasies of artists, but by the Shroud of Turin. Neither is true, I think. The first is too subjective, the second is more of a matter of faith.

Traditionally in art, Jesus Christ is depicted as a fair-skinned man with a neat beard and even, light brown hair dressed in robes. However, restless scientists, as always, cannot sit still. One of them, a Briton, in collaboration with Israeli archaeologists, conducted a scientific analysis using forensic methods in order to finally solve the question of what Jesus really looked like. In my opinion, the result was quite unexpected.

White man from Oxford

Ideas about the appearance of Jesus changed depending on time, locality, cultural conditions, but gradually acquired a more or less unified look that is common in our time. According to this stereotype, Jesus had fair skin, a narrow, long face, light brown (or even blond) hair, and kind and sad eyes. Long, flowing hair, a neat beard and characteristic attire make his image recognizable to everyone.

As one comedian, Eddie Izzard, jokingly says, the modern image of Jesus is the image of a “white man from Oxford”, so scientists decided to reconstruct how Jesus, as a real historically existing person, could look like. It was decided to do this based on the time period and location of the life story of Christ from ancient texts, using the methods of forensic anthropology.
And here, according to Popular Mechanics, they ran into a problem.

“Nowhere in the New Testament is an image of Jesus described, nor has any image of him ever been found.”

Forensic Research

Richard Neave, a former staff member of the University of Manchester in England, already had experience reconstructing the appearance of historical figures, including Philip II of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great, and King Midas of Phrygia.

Using the methods usually used by the police to solve crimes, Neave used modern forensic techniques to examine ancient skulls from Jerusalem, the region where Jesus lived and preached.

The look is the result of Neave's research (Image: PopularMechanics)

X-ray "sections" from three skulls of Jewish men from the first century AD were created using computed tomography. Then the obtained data were processed by a special computer program. As a result, scientists determined where, what and how many soft tissues were located on the skulls, specified the muscles and the appearance of the skin of the face. The result is an image with a much broader face shape than European images.

“The whole process was carried out using software, the results were verified with anthropological data. Based on this data, the researchers built a digital 3D reconstruction of the face. They then created a mock-up of the skull. Layers of clay, corresponding to the thickness of the facial tissue specified in the computer program, were carefully applied to the mock-up, then a skin imitation was made. We modeled the nose, lips and eyelids, following the contours of the muscles, ”says Popular Mechanics

A new face for an ancient man

Through these manipulations, the team was able to identify common facial structures typical of a Middle Eastern man who lived in the Galilee in northern Israel at the time of Jesus. However, the question remained open with the color of the skin and the type of hair and hairstyle.

To resolve this issue, Neave decided to turn to ancient art from the archaeological sites of the region. According to these sources, Jesus must have had dark skin, a thick dark beard and short hair, in accordance with local traditions of that time.

According to Popular Mechanics, one chapter of Paul's letter to the Corinthians says that he allegedly saw Jesus, and then expresses the opinion that long hair for a man is a disgrace.

“If a husband grows hair, then this is a dishonor for him”

Thanks to this statement, the research team became convinced that Christ simply could not have long hair. Neither from the point of view of traditions, nor, even more so, from the point of view that with the appearance traditionally attributed to Jesus by Europeans, he would have stood out very much from his compatriots. But Judas even had to point to him in order to betray him. It would be more logical and easier to just tell the pursuers about his unusual appearance.

Archaeological data and skeletal remains indicate that the average height of a Semitic man two millennia ago was about one and a half meters, and his weight was about fifty kilograms. In addition, if it is true that Jesus was a carpenter, then he must have spent a lot of time in the open air, doing hard work, and, therefore, was physically developed, tanned, with chapped skin, which greatly added to the age of his appearance. If anything, he must have seemed older than his years.

God's Son

And finally, I would like to talk about another interesting interpretation of the solution to the question of the appearance of Christ. Italian researchers, again in collaboration with the police, conducted their own experiments and created their own version of the facial reconstruction of the young Jesus. In this they were helped by the well-known Shroud of Turin.

“Using the Shroud of Turin, a shroud from the alleged burial of Jesus, police officers created an image of the appearance of the young Jesus Christ. They reduced the size of the jaw, lifted the chin and straightened the nose, "reversing" the aging process.

The resulting image is strikingly different from Neave's and much more reminiscent of the traditional ideal of the Christian Son of God.

Anticipating the indignant exclamations of believers, I want to say that Jesus, who looks more like a Neanderthal, I, as a European and just a believer, is also not very to my liking. However, it is necessary to pay tribute to objectivity, which hints to us that such an appearance could also take place, moreover, it has at least some grounds. And we don’t even know what Jesus Christ looked like in reality.

The image of Jesus Christ in world art was created by such great artists as Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo. They endowed the portrait of the Savior with features characteristic of the Greeks or Italians. However, African and Arab Christians often portray Jesus as black. So what could he really look like?

Modern culturologists express the idea that the variability of the image of Jesus is due to differences in the culture and traditions of artists. The world is dominated by the Western European view, but you can still find portraits in which the Savior is endowed with the features of an Arab or Latin American.

In church literature, Yeshua Ha-Notsri is described as an "ordinary person" and a "brother" of people. Presumably, he spent his childhood and youth in the city of Nazareth, which means that his appearance could have been Middle Eastern. Another clue can be obtained from a special area of ​​​​knowledge - criminal anthropology. British scientists for their research used methods identical to those used by the police to solve crimes. Together with Israeli archaeologists, scientists have recreated the most accurate description of the most famous face in human history.

Researcher Richard Neave believes that a comprehensive study of the issue using data from the fields of anthropology, archeology, physics and biology will help shed light on what the iconic figures of history could look like. He was already engaged in the "reconstruction" of portraits of Philip II of Macedon, Alexander the Great, the Phrygian king Midas.

According to the researcher's theory, many people did not support the massacres of Jews and Muslims, which were regularly carried out by the Catholic Church, because the people who were killed looked just like Jesus. Pope Alexander VI ordered the destruction of all images of Jesus in which he was depicted as a Semite. Instead, new paintings were painted, for which the Pope's son, Cesare Borgia, posed. It was he who could become the prototype of the image to which Christians around the world are accustomed today.

To recreate the portrait of Jesus, Richard Neave borrowed from archaeologists three skulls from Jerusalem that could have belonged to Yeshua's contemporaries. Then the scientist conducted a lot of computer research and established how the skull could look like, as well as how the muscles on the face were located. In accordance with this information, he determined the shape of the nose, lips, and eyelids. Drawings of the 1st century were also involved in the work, in accordance with them, it was established that Yeshua's eyes were most likely dark in color, and also that he wore a beard. According to the surviving remains of the skeletons, the average height of the Semites was established - 155 cm, and weight - about 50 kg.

Perhaps there is no other historical figure in history that causes so much controversy as the person of Jesus. Of course, conspiracy theorists, putting forward a variety of ideas, are trying to understand the world, and therefore you should not judge them harshly. But sometimes they put forward really crazy versions. In our review, some of them.

1. Jesus is a tin merchant in the UK

Jesus is a tin merchant in the UK.

The most fruitful part of Jesus' life for conspiracy theorists is the so-called "missing years". The Bible is mysteriously silent about the 18 or so years between Jesus' childhood and when he began to preach. Several theories link Jesus to a certain Joseph of Arimathea who visited Great Britain to trade in tin.
Today it may seem that long distance travel was impossible in ancient times. But for many centuries, tin from Cornwall was taken to the Mediterranean Sea, and the Romans transported it across Europe all the way to the English Channel.

2. Jesus was a mushroom

In 1970, archaeologist John Allegro published a book called The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross. In it, he argued that scholars had traced elements of the New Testament to older sources in Sumer and Babylon. After decades of careful study, he concluded that the New Testament was a way of perpetuating the old fertility rites.

According to his version, "Jesus" was a metaphor for a hallucinogenic mushroom, such as fly agaric. Amanitas were quite often used in religious ceremonies, so he believes that it is quite possible that Christianity was no exception.

3. Jesus was an alien

There have always been attempts to explain the miraculous events described in the Bible from a rational point of view. True, and among them were frankly extravagant. For example, one of these theories claims that Jesus was not a man and not a god, but in fact was a hybrid of an alien and a person. Those who argue for the alien origin of Jesus claim that the angels who visited Mary were actually aliens, and the star over Bethlehem was nothing more than a UFO. Jesus' ascension to heaven was simply his return to an alien ship.

4. Jesus was a woman

In the ancient Middle East, an unmarried man was rather the exception to the rule. Therefore, some conspiracy theorists claim that Jesus was actually a woman. There is even a papyrus fragment that allegedly proves that Jesus was addressed as a woman. Another piece of evidence, from the point of view of the adherents of this theory, is that Jesus has been depicted as effeminate in art throughout history.

5. Chinese younger brother of Jesus

One of the doctrines of the Christian Church is the virginity of Mary. When the Bible speaks of the brothers and sisters of Jesus, this is usually explained as the fact that they were actually his distant relatives or like-minded people. In China, however, there is a more mystical theory.

In the 19th century, Hong Xiuquan had a vision. He ascended to heaven, where he saw a bearded man who told him to destroy the demons. Later, when Hong Xiuquan got acquainted with Christianity, he came to the conclusion that this man was the younger brother of Jesus, and the demons are actually the ruling elite. While this may seem rather absurd, it led Hong to lead a peasant uprising known as the Taiping Rebellion that resulted in the deaths of 30 million people.

6 Jesus Was A Time Traveler

Throughout history, people have periodically claimed to be Jesus. Some consider this a manifestation of deep faith, while others explain the appearances of Jesus by his ability to travel through time. These even explain the resurrection of the Son of God.

If Jesus came from the future, then his healing miracles could be explained by the routine use of future medicine. Another justification for this theory is an icon depicting Jesus dating from 1595, in which a modern satellite can be seen.

7. Jesus was a Buddhist

Jesus lived in a multicultural world. At that time, the Romans ruled most of the world, Greek was used as the language of science and business, and trade was active between different countries. Is it possible that his teaching was developed under the influence of Eastern beliefs?

It is claimed that Jesus spent part of the infamous "missing years" in Kashmir, and that this is where his tomb is located. Even if Buddhism did not reach the ancient Near East, Jesus' journey to Kashmir could explain a lot. After all, in fact, these two religions have a lot in common. Some even note similarities between Jesus and Buddha: they were both teachers who came into the world in an unusual way, both used parables to spread their faith, both started preaching at the age of 30, and both had followers.

8. Jesus never existed

Attempts to rationalize a number of New Testament traditions culminate in the assertion that there never was a historical figure named Jesus. There are no historical documents during the life of Jesus in which he is mentioned. The canonical Gospels, which were written 40 to 60 years after his death, may have been written by people who never met him.

The earliest texts of the New Testament are letters from the apostle Paul, who never met Jesus. The fact that Jesus performed miracles in a Roman province during one of the best-documented periods of antiquity makes one wonder why there is no mention of this in Roman documents.

9. Jesus in Japan

Jesus did not die on the cross... at least according to one Japanese tradition. His burial mound can be found in Shingo. Adherents of this faith claim that Jesus' lesser-known brother Isukiri took his place on the cross so that Jesus could escape. Jesus then moved to Japan and became a farmer and worked in the rice fields. He married and lived a sedate life until he died at the age of 106.

Naturally, the question immediately arose: why did Jesus choose Japan for "retirement". It turns out that those "missing years" in the Bible can once again explain this theory. During the undocumented years of his life, Jesus allegedly actually studied with a certain master at the foot of Mount Fuji. When his life was threatened in the West, he fled back to his spiritual home.

10. Drugs in a sponge

The disagreements in the various gospels regarding the life of Jesus are often used by skeptics to cast doubt on the entire Christian teaching. For example, in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and John, one curious detail is mentioned: on the cross, Jesus moistened his lips with a sponge soaked in vinegar, after which he died. Another theory says that the sponge was soaked not with vinegar, but with some kind of drugs to fake an artificial coma. Accordingly, Jesus did not die on the cross, and there is nothing surprising about his resurrection three days later.

On the eve of the Nativity of Christ, the Daily Mail decided to turn to the image of Jesus Christ. Specifically, to research, thanks to which scientists are trying to recreate it, doubting that traditional images are correct.

Nobody really knows what Jesus Christ looked like. There are no details in the Bible about this. But thanks to numerous paintings, we imagine the Son of God in the form of a man with fine features and fair skin, whose appearance is not at all typical for the area where he was born and raised. If this were true and Jesus would have been noticeably different from his fellow citizens, then Judas would not have had to point to him to those who came for him to the Garden of Gethsemane. And so they would know.

The Apostle Matthew also reports: “... Judas, one of the twelve came, and with him a multitude of people with swords and stakes, from the high priests and the elders of the people. The one who betrayed Him gave them a sign, saying: Whom I kiss, He is, take Him ... And kissed Him ... "

Richard Neave, an artist and specialist in so-called forensic anthropology at The University of Manchester in England, based on the testimony of Matthew, quite reasonably suggested that Jesus must have looked like Semites from Galilee after all.

Together with colleagues from Israel, the scientist examined the Semitic skulls of the time of Jesus. Computed tomography helped to reveal the characteristic features. Based on them, an average skull was "designed", its life-size model was made. And according to it, the whole image was recreated according to the method of Professor Gerasimov.

Neeve suggested that the eyes of the Son of God were dark rather than light. According to Jewish tradition, he wore a beard.

The length of Jesus' hair is debatable. We are used to him - long-haired. The Apostle Paul, who personally saw the Son of God, notes in the First Epistle to the Corinthians: “If a husband grows his hair, then this is dishonor for him.” Based on these lines from the New Testament, Neeve and his colleagues decided that Jesus had short hair. And curly, like the vast majority of Semites. It is unlikely that he would have gone bald by the age of 33.

Bottom line: a man with curly dark brown thick hair, brown eyes, a large nose, with a round face.

Read more about how the image of Jesus Christ was restored in Popular Mechanics magazine.

Archaeologists claim that in the 1st century AD, Semitic men were undersized - no more than 160 centimeters on average. They weighed 50-60 kilograms. Most likely, Jesus had about the same parameters. In addition, he was of a strong physique, tanned, weathered - which is typical for the former - carpentry - profession of the Savior, associated with work in the fresh air.

At one time, scientists working with the Italian police created a computer program that made it possible to "age" faces - that is, to show how the people depicted in the photo will look after many years. With the help of such a program, it was possible to identify and arrest several mafia leaders who had been hiding for many years, having only their photos in their youth.

Now the police have launched their "reverse" program - in order, on the contrary, to "rejuvenate" the face in the photo. And thus they saw what the young Jesus Christ looked like.

As a “photo” for virtual rejuvenation, experts used an image from the famous Shroud of Turin, on which, as many believe, the image of the Savior was imprinted.

Let me remind you that the Shroud of Turin is a linen cloth 437 cm long and 111 cm wide. It is kept in the Italian city of Turin in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. On the canvas there are two negative typos of the human body with traces of mutilation - in front and behind.

Some believe that it was in this canvas that the Savior, taken down from the cross, was wrapped, whose body was imprinted on the fabric in a supernatural way.

Skeptics doubt. And they suspect that the shroud is still fake. That is, the image on it, if not drawn, is somehow obtained artificially. The two sides have been arguing bitterly for years.

The Holy See maintains a kind of neutrality. Officially, he does not recognize the shroud as a funeral cloth, but he preserves it as a most valuable relic.

The skepticism about the shroud's authenticity stems from a 1988 study in which three independent laboratories radiocarbon dated a piece of cloth. And it gave a result: the shroud was made in the period from 1260 to 1390. The Savior on it - long-haired with delicate features - fully corresponded to the image that had been established by that time.