As I graduated from childhood to struggle through adolescence, my nose became an quite an issue. Self consciously growing into it, I despaired about the bump in my nose to my parents on many occasions. (This must have been difficult for them at the time, as neither had the cute, turned up nose that I longed for...) My father's response was always to explain to me that I had a special nose, one to feel proud of, a 'Roman Nose'. He tried to help me to reframe my perceptions, to see my Scottish 'Lee Side' nose as having distinctive 'Roman Emperor' connotations. Wikipedia states "An aquiline nose (also called a Roman nose or hook nose) is a human nose with a prominent bridge, giving it the appearance of being curved or slightly bent. The word aquiline comes from the Latin word aquilinus ("eagle-like"), an allusion to the curved beak of an eagle." Now that doesn't make me feel any better at all! It also suggests that my aquiline 'Roman nose' may have genetic links on both sides of the family, as I would describe my mother as having the rather aquiline nose of her paternal 'Miller' grandmother. The Miller clan - of Scottish/Irish descent - sported a number of Roman noses. Kaustubh Adhikari (2016) wrote in 'The Conversation' that 'the history of nose beauty ideals has been changeable and at times dark. For example, in early Europe the hooked “Roman” nose signified beauty and nobility. The Nazis on the other hand despised it and saw it as a characteristic of Jewish people. Even more broadly, Jews like Shakespeare’s Shylock typically ended up being portrayed with a hooked nose to represent evilness.' The Romans do appear to have invaded the southern part of Scotland and have garrisons there for periods of time between 43 AD and about 400 AD, even if they were unsuccessful across most of Scotland. So there is some, if very slim, chance that there may be some Roman genetic matter in my DNA (perhaps I should have a DNA test afterall!). However some respondents to web discussions suggest that while the casts of Roman Emporers do tend to feature Roman Noses, photographic evidence can be found of Aquiline, Roman like noses in the American Indian; Indian subcontinent; and other ethnic groups. Others have concluded that 'a nose is a nose', rather than being race specific. Their conclusion, appearing during my somewhat cursory research into Roman Noses, is not particularly welcome. You see, I have become comfortable with the possibility that a genetic link to my Roman Nose had arisen out of the Roman occupation of Scotland and had passed, not only genetically, but through family stories over centuries which my father had passed on to me A PhD would probably be needed to research this 'warm and fuzzy' hypothesis (....and is unlikely to proceed if left to me to do!) Interestingly, a genetic link to my Scottish Lee/McCann paternal line became obvious when my 'long lost' first cousin, Chris, visited Benalla some years ago. My sister, knowing that my nose has always been 'an issue' for me, suddenly exclaimed over dinner 'Bev, Chris has the same nose as you do!' Next thing I knew, she was arranging for us to stand side on looking at one another to take a photograph of our profiles to confirm this. Perhaps we do have the same nose, but my argument would be... "it looks better on Chris!" Reference and banner photograph image:
Kaustubh Adhikari 'The Conversation' May 24 2016 - 'How we found the genes that control nose shape and what they say about us' |
The Journey ...An 'occasional blog' recording elements of my renewed family history journey. This is the second wave in my 'family history' journey. The first lasted from 2010 to 2014. with intermittent bursts since then. It's time to revisit, to share more stories, to edit, to tackle uncertainties... Categories
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