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Clark I wouldn't put much stock into Ashkenazi (European Jewish) definitions of what King David looked like. If you want an idea of what King David looked like I would turn to more Sephardic Jewish interpretations. First off you need to get rid of your western notions of race and ethnicity. Plus the word "ruddy" was used to describe peoples skin color alot in the bible. Many Europeans interpreted this to mean red hair, however it really means tan like skin. The concept of "race" is very different in a place like Saudi Arab or Iraq.
Its not unusual for their to be a large diversity of looks among Semitic looking people ranging from very dark almost black skin to an olive tone complexion. Instead of thinking of the ancient hebrews as one stereotypical looking group, think of them in them in terms of a continuum with most people being somewhere in the middle (dark to olive skin with black hair). Sorta of like Hispanics. Yes some Semitic people can have red hair and dark skin, even in a place like Ethiopia you can find black red heads.
Just look at any group of pictures from modern day Jews living in Arab lands and you will have a good idea of what the jews living in antiquity mostly looked like.
Hispanics are not a race! Hispanics can be of any race, phenotype, or skin color.
Suprised no one mentioned Beta-Israel... never mind I just seen it said Jews and not Israelites
Beta Israel and Falashas are all descendants of ancient Jews and ancient Israelites. In fact the Ethiopian population as a whole is most likely descended from ancient Jews and ancient Israelites.
Btw Beta Israel is mentioned in some sources and links I posted!
People need to remember that Ashkenazi Jews intermixed heavily with Northern Europeans as Sephardic Jews interrmarried with Southern Europeans and North Africans. So their features changed. But Jews from the Middle East whose lines have been there for ever still look just like other Middle Easterners.
There is no Jewish gene. There is the Cohen Gene.
The Cohen Modal Haplotype is found among many Jewish populations of the world, including Ashkenazim, Sephardim, and the Bene Israel of India.
The Cohen Modal Haplotype, which belongs to haplogroup J, was a component of the ancient Israelite population, and especially common among the Cohens (priests of the Temple in Jerusalem).
The Cohen Modal Haplotype is not exclusively found among Jews, but rather is also found among Kurds, Armenians, Italians, Palestinians, Arabs, and a few other peoples.
About half of Ashkenazic Levites possess Eastern European non-Israelite haplotypes belonging to the R1a1 haplogroup. This is almost never found among Sephardic Levites, and may have been introduced into the Ashkenazic Levite lines by Slavs or Khazars who converted to Judaism.
Very good response, thank you..
As of Op's Q.
1. There were none back in times discussed. Jews.
The term Jew passed into the English language from the Greek Ioudaios and Latin Iudaeus, from which the Old French giu was derived after dropping the letter "d", and later after a variety of forms found in early English (from about the year 1000) such as: Iudea, Gyu, Giu, Iuu, Iuw, Iew developed into the English word “Jew.†It thus ultimately originates in the Biblical Hebrew word Yehudi meaning "from the Tribe of Judah"
2. In English language, it is very easy to confuse a Jew and a Jewish person. A Jew is a person that is born to a Jew mother, by modern definition (used to be born to a Jew father, but it was changed back in 4th century I believe, for reason obvious). A Jewish person is one who belongs to a Jewish religion. Hence, it can be virtually any race type on Earth. But it will not be a Jew by blood and Jews are very particular about the blood line to be preserved. That is a known fact beyond any dispute. So if you were to be blond with classic Greek nose, blue eyes yet, born to a Jew female and 2 rabies vouch for you - you are a Jew.
3. Btw, there was no Semites before Abraham. Semites "many peoples will I start from you", said God, begin with Ishmael, Abraham's son that was forced out of family, though being a first born, and left into desert. "Many peoples" them being modern Semites, origin from his children. Resulting in centuries lasting feud stemming from offense, taken by Ishmael, when a 2nd born son of Abraham became heir to the estate.
Hispanics are not a race! Hispanics can be of any race, phenotype, or skin color.
Duh I was not saying that Hispanics were a race!
I was simply stating a fact that most "Hispanic" people have a varying range of looks, just like many Jews. If you want to get all semantic on me you could argue that Jews are not a race either.
I'm just stating a fact that if you transported yourself 2000 years ago you would find that most Jews living throughout the Near East probably fell within a continum of looks that are very similar to people living in modern day Persia, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Greece and North Africa.
Skin color and hair texture in the aforementioned nations can vary widely from fairly dark to olive skin complexion.
A more updated study shows that Jews, Chinese and Zulu are all descendent of a Chimp like ape sharing about 98% of their genome. they all should shake hands and sing Kumbaya.
I was simply stating a fact that most "Hispanic" people have a varying range of looks, just like many Jews. If you want to get all semantic on me you could argue that Jews are not a race either.
I'm just stating a fact that if you transported yourself 2000 years ago you would find that most Jews living throughout the Near East probably fell within a continum of looks that are very similar to people living in modern day Persia, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Greece and North Africa.
Skin color and hair texture in the aforementioned nations can vary widely from fairly dark to olive skin complexion.
Ok, well, Jews are NOT a race either. In fact, even the claim of Jews being an ethnicity is still disputed by many.
And also that is what makes things so complex. Jews spread out globally so quickly in such a short amount of time.
Also, there are Arab Jews, Persian Jews, Kurdish Jews, and even Berber Jews.
If Jews are an ethnicity how can one describe these/such factions?
A more updated study shows that Jews, Chinese and Zulu are all descendent of a Chimp like ape sharing about 98% of their genome. they all should shake hands and sing Kumbaya.
LOL! Agreed
Humanity/human beings are all related if you go back far enough. There is only one race and that is the human race.
I saw a TV program a few years ago, where they discovered a tribe of people in Central Africa that followed all of the old Jewish traditions. The researchers were trying to determine if they were the "lost tribe". The tribe members seemed to think that they were. Their spoken history said they originated in the area that is now Israel. They were very dark-skinned.
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