What Jesus Looked Like

In religious circles, few topics have generated greater discussion over the past few hundred years than the precise description of Jesus' appearance. He has long been portrayed as a white man with a beard in most of the Western world. Historians and religious experts who are quick to point out that Jesus was not from a region of the world where Caucasians were highly common have disputed this numerous times.

The question has been addressed by numerous individuals and organizations. Based on the Shroud of Turin, Italian police employed forensic technology to assess what Jesus would have looked like. Others have deduced that he would have had skin of a darker tone using hints from the Bible. Richard Neave created a composite face to represent what a guy would have looked like at that era in the region of the world where Jesus originated. While he never said it was Jesus, it may have been representative of how someone who looked like him would have appeared.

This contrasts significantly with artwork that has historically shown Jesus as a pallid guy with blue eyes. Of course, there is no actual way to know what the man looked like, so there will likely always be speculation.