What was the average height in Classical Greece?

Question

This is a follow-up for Average height of Ancient Roman Men and Women? :

I'm curious what was the average height and build of men & women citizens of Greek states (Athens, Sparta, etc) in 7th-3rd centuries BC as well as civilizations they interacted with (Persians, Egyptians).

In particular, were there height and build differences between the above states/peoples statistically significant in comparison with height and build variations within individual state/people?

My guess is that since people generally had similar gene pool and also similar living standards - nutrition, stress levels, etc... - so the average height difference between the two eras will be minimal. — CsBalazsHungary, Nov 19 '14 at 09:33
Are you sure you meant 7th to 3rd century B.C.? That is the Archaic and Classical periods. Late Antiquity is more like A.D. 3rd to 7th century. — Semaphore, Nov 19 '14 at 13:30
@Semaphore: I meant BC; the mistake was in the words "late antiquity". — Michael, Nov 21 '14 at 07:00

score 13 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 22 '23 at 19:44

13

In 1944-45, the late forensic anthropologist John Lawrence Angel studied Ancient Greek skeletal remains. His results were 162 cm for men and 153 cm for women. He only had a rather small sample size at the time, though.

Right after his death, excavation began on the cemetery of the Magna Graecia colony-city of Metapontum. The Metaontum necropolis was remarkably well preserved, and an examine of the excavated remains vindicated Dr. Angel's earlier results.

The Metapontion necropolis ... revealed that the average height of adult males was between 162 and 165 cm, that of females between 153 and 156 cm, and with a body weight of approximately 60-65 kg for males and 50-55 kg for females; in other words, the findings of earlier examinations were soundly confirmed in this respect.

_{- Kagan, Donald, and Gregory F. Viggiano, eds. Men of Bronze: Hoplite Warfare in Ancient Greece. Princeton University Press, 2013.}

For future reference, height of European skeletal remains since Classical Antiquity:

enter image description here

_{- Koepke, Nikola, and Joerg Baten. 2005. “The Biological Standard of Living in Europe during the Last Two Millennia.” European Review of Economic History 9(1): 61–95.}

edited Apr 22 '23 at 19:44

Mithical

609
3
16

answered Nov 19 '14 at 13:20

Semaphore

97,526
21
393
402

1

+1 Interesting to see the period of dark ages how average female height dropped significantly, most probably because of poor nutrition and higher stress levels. – CsBalazsHungary Nov 19 '14 at 13:26
1

For us backward USAians, that's about 5'4 for men and 5'0 for women. – T.E.D. Nov 19 '14 at 14:10
4

+1. But I wonder why the graph has separate vertical scales for male and female. That makes gender based comparison meaningless. – Rajib Nov 19 '14 at 19:22
1

@T.E.D. that's close to current trends in India. Although other conclusions such as milk consumption cannot have a bearing on the US population. – Rajib Nov 19 '14 at 19:26
@Rajib - Nice link, and it confirms some things about height that I'd observed unscientifically. In particular, both the milk thing and the "striking regional differences" make me wonder how useful comparisons of averages of different very local cultures in different eras and areas really are. – T.E.D. Nov 19 '14 at 19:37
@Rajib I think they intended to show the trend in changes, rather than any gender based comparisons. The paper is mostly about investing the factors behind these changes (GDP, climate, etc) – Semaphore Nov 19 '14 at 20:01
5

No females born in Europe since 1500? That's tough. – Oldcat Nov 20 '14 at 01:29
1

You can just subtract the two scales to get the result that women are about 9 cm shorter than men over this span. – Oldcat Nov 20 '14 at 01:31
Oh, it was pink for men, blue for women? Got me confused for a moment. Damn it, Toys R Us! – Michael Jun 25 '19 at 16:22

What was the average height in Classical Greece?

1 Answers1