[greenwich26]

> What does "white" mean? Are you telling me the Romans were British? German? Nordic?

It means that the second image, showing Roman senators played by a few dozen white Italian extras, is a perfectly likely depiction, and the caption about how real Roman senators were much more swarthy ("like modern Italians", he claims) is nonsense.

(Of course, the HBO show was filmed in Italy, and almost all the extras and background characters were Italians.)

Even if I am wrong, he is wrong too.

[zozbot234]

These days you can actually do direct comparisons of ancestry, and it turns out that the closest-related people to the "natives" of early Republican Rome can still be found in modern-day central Italy, in the area known as Abruzzi and local surroundings. So, Italians yes but rather "swarthy" in modern terms. It's not nonsense, it's what you get from the genetic data.

[uniqueid]

A Roman would likely have taken issue (and maybe taken offense) with that claim.

  The men of Britain are taller than the Celti, and not so yellow-haired, although their bodies are of looser build. The following is an indication of their size: I myself, in Rome, saw mere lads towering as much as half a foot above the tallest people in the city, although they were bandy-legged and presented no fair lines anywhere else in their figure. Their habits are in part like those of the Celti, but in part more simple and barbaric— so much so that, on account of their inexperience, some of them, although well supplied with milk, make no cheese; and they have no experience in gardening or other agricultural pursuits.

[tovej]

It's great that you're engaging in the discussion. You didn't really respond to my questions though. If you could, it would ground your argument, and we could actually talk about something concrete.

Also, if you have some sources for your claims, I would appreciate it if you at least mentioned them. At the moment you seem to be arguing from emotion.