Originally Posted by
johngaunt
The Romans noted that the Britons, upon arriving on the white cliffs of Dover, many were naked, they shaved thir bodies, apart from their heads and top lip, and wore woad, giving a blue appearance, this must have been a truely horrific site for them.
Here are two Roman accounts
"They are very tall in stature, with rippling muscles under clear white skin. Their hair is blond, but not naturally so: they bleach it, to this day, artificially, washing it in lime and combing it back from their foreheads. They look like wood-demons, their hair thick and shaggy like a horse's mane. Some of them are clean-shaven, but others - especially those of high rank - shave their cheeks but leave a moustache that covers the whole mouth"
Diodorus Siculus (A Roman historian)
All the Britons indeed, dye themselves with woad, which occasions a bluish colour, and thereby have a more terrible appearance in fight. They wear their hair long, and have every part of their body shaved except their head and upper lip. "
Julius Caesar (A Roman Emperor)
I attached a plate of a Briton from a book on celts, also two photos of Irish and Welsh rugby players, who imo closely resemble what most Britons would have looked like.
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