Origin of the Alans

[Urselius]

I think that there was considerable cultural pressure on Classical authors to portray barbarians as being as "other" as possible, especially in their physical appearance. There were certainly racial stereotypes in Roman writing. Caligula is supposed to have rounded up a group of the tallest Gauls he could find, these had their hair dyed red in order for them to be passed off as German captives. I think this says far more about Roman prejudice and expectations than it does about the actual appearance of the average German or Gaul. Ammianus could have been factual in his description of the Alans, but he was certainly fantasising about the Persians and insulting them, no human beings have goat-like eyes.

The huge strides made recently in ancient DNA extraction and processing will soon answer many questions about ethnicities. I expect many surprises!