[le-mark]

> Genetically, the nearest populations to Ancient Romans are Cypriots

I’ve often wondered what the ethnicity of ancient Romans actually was. Looking at pictures of Greek Cypriots on google was enlightening. The “Roman nose” is quite prominent for many people!

[pm3003]

Half of Italy was ethnically Greek / Hellenized (Kai tu teknon!).

[carlosjobim]

Their ethnicity would of course be Roman, and sub-tribes of Romans. Or am I missing something? We can't apply modern ethnicities as the template to fit ancient ethnicities. It can only be the other way around.

[tremon]

The point is that "Roman" is no more an ethnicity than "American" is (as referring to "citizen of the USA" here, not Native American). Roman was a cultural identity, not a genetic one.