Aquiline nose
Human nose with a prominent bridge
An aquiline nose (also called a Roman nose) is a human nose with a prominent bridge, giving it the appearance of being curved or slightly bent. While some have ascribed the aquiline nose to specific ethnic, racial, or geographic groups, and in some cases associated it with other supposed non-physical characteristics (i.e. intelligence, status, personality, etc., see below), no scientific studies or evidence support any such linkage. As with many phenotypical expressions (e.g. 'widow's peak', eye color, earwax type) it is found in many geographically diverse populations.
01Etymology
The word aquiline comes from the Latin word aquilinus ("eagle-like"), an allusion to the curved beak of an eagle.
02In art
Portraiture
In ancient Roman imperial portraiture, a prominent hooked nose was a recurring element in depictions of the Julio-Claudian dynasty and the emperors of the first century AD, before emerging again in the third and early fourth centuries as a defining feature in portraits of Constantius Chlorus and his son, Constantine the Great; prominent noses could represent the vigour and authority of the emperor and his regime.
Literature
In some fictional works, especially that of post-Enlightenment Western writers, a Roman nose has been characterized as a marker of beauty and nobility. A well-known example of the aquiline nose as a marker contrasting the bearer with their contemporaries is the protagonist of Aphra Behn's Oroonoko (1688). Although an African prince, he speaks French, has straightened hair, thin lips, and a "nose that was rising and Roman instead of African and flat". These features set him apart from most of his peers, and marked him instead as noble and on par with Europeans.
03Racism
In the context of scientific racism, writers have attributed aquiline noses as a characteristic of different "races"; e.g. Jan Czekanowski claimed that it was characteristic of the Arabid race, Armenoid race, Mediterranean race, and Dinarid race. In 1899, William Z. Ripley claimed that it was characteristic of peoples of Teutonic descent. The supposed science of physiognomy, popular during the Victorian era, made the "prominent" nose a marker of Aryanness: "the shape of the nose and the cheeks indicated, like the forehead's angle, the subject's social status and level of intelligence. A Roman nose was superior to a snub nose in its suggestion of firmness and power, and heavy jaws revealed a latent sensuality and coarseness".
04Notable examples
Cleopatra
In ancient portraiture, Cleopatra is typically depicted with a prominent aquiline nose. The French polymath Blaise Pascal believed that the queen's nose played a role in the way she had seduced both Julius Caesar and Marc Antony, writing in his Pensées that "if it had been shorter, the whole face of the Earth would have changed".
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Aquiline nose”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Hump nose.jpg by Klaus D. Peter, Wiehl, Germany Diese Datei aus meinem Archiv habe ich unter der „Creative-Commons-Lizenz“ veröffentlicht. Ich bin dankbar, wenn Sie mir die Verwendung der Datei unter klaus-d.peter@t-online.de anzeigen. I have published this file under a "Creative Commons License". Thank you for your email to klaus-d.peter@t-online.de in case of using this picture., CC BY 3.0 de
- Aquiline (PSF).png by Pearson Scott Foresman, Public domain
- Class I nose.svg by The original uploader was Richtom80 at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 3.0
- Cleopatra bust in the British Museum, side view.jpg by Photo by MacBeth in the British Museum, ancient Roman bust from the 1st century BC, Public domain
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