КГБ = Клуб на Готините Баби - 194.

Height has varied from time to time and place to place, based largely on diet, and the prevalence of childhood disease. Contrary to what mostly people think, there is not a simple linear progression in height towards modern times. Many stone age peoples were quite large, based on diet, and with low population densities that meant they had little disease. In the European medieval period, the average height of people was only a couple of inches shorter than our average. Generally, people ate quite of bit of animal protein, and they weren’t very much shorter than we are. Average heights dramatically shrank during the Industrial Revolution, for most of the population: common pasture had been fenced off, and people’s diet became based very strongly around caffeine, sugar, and white flour ((and with respect to the other author here, ‘technophysio evolution’ is bovine excrement…don’t get your history from economists, even if they’re good economists…Fogel saw a dramatic rise in height precisely because he focused on the period in which height had already declined, due a variety of factors…and the end of that period, when industrial production of food and increases in medical technology corrected the problem. If he had started during the technologically primitive middle ages and looked forward, his data wouldn’t have made any sense. There is no direct correlation between technology and height. The estimated average height of ‘skraelings’…the native Americans encountered by Greenlanders during their limited foray in the New World…is over six feet. And they were stone age people. But I digress.)) Any-hoo…back to Rome…based on skeletal evidence, we know that ancient Romans were shorter than we are…the average for males was probably around 5.5″ or 5.6″. The army tried to recruit taller people, so if you allow 5.7″ for the ideal Roman soldier, they’re not that much shorter than 20th century heights. In 1900 5.5″ and 5.6″ would’ve been average for the US. Note also that heights varied based on diet and other factors: the Romans were quite clear about German and Celtic peoples being taller, which almost certainly has to do with the prominence given to animal protein in those societies. They raised and fought over animals, essentially, which were a crucial part of their diets, as well the main source of wealth. Mediterranean Romans did not eat as much protein…the Mediterranean is not as well stocked with fish as you might think, compared to other fisheries, and fish was a luxury food, much of the time (the Greeks used the word ‘opsa’…and tell stories about people drinking very hot water to prepare their throats, so they can show up and eat all the good fish while it’s too hot for other people to consume). Most meat would’ve been consumed, for most people, especially the urban poor, during religious festivals. The staple of the diet was bread, especially for the poor, supplemented by legumes and garden vegetables, olive oil, vinegar, various kinds of fermented fish sauces, and wine. So, to sum up: given the disease load of ancient Italy, including malaria, given the urbanized settlement patterns and relatively high population densities of places like Campanian, Etruria, Latium…given a largely vegetarian diet focused on wheat bread, ancient Romans were shorter than we are. But not drastically shorter, and not much shorter than the average of a lot of different times and places.
https://www.quora.com/How-tall-was-the-average-Roman-soldier?fbc … vBh2UWGXhMzIc8V4Y