Physical Anthropology of Ancient and Modern Greeks

Abstract

IN classical times a clear distinction was drawn between Greek and Barbarian; Aristotle, indeed, claimed that they differed physically. To a certain extent it may be shown that in detail Aristotle had right on his side, but it can also be shown that Greek differs physically from Greek, so that his general thesis is untenable. It is true that most of our evidence rests on measurements made on modern Greeks, but there are data to prove that the latter possess physical characteristics not differing essentially from those of the former.