I ran across Christine Dell’Amore’s article “Ancient Roman Giant Found—Oldest Complete Skeleton With Gigantism,” National Geographic News, November 10, 2012 AD.
It makes a point about ancient Rome that I made about “giants” during biblical times:
It’s no tall tale—the first complete ancient skeleton of a person with gigantism has been discovered near Rome, a new study says.
At 6 feet, 8 inches (202 centimeters) tall, the man would have been a giant in third-century A.D. Rome, where men averaged about 5 and a half feet (167 centimeters) tall. By contrast, today’s tallest man measures 8 feet, 3 inches (251 centimeters)…
“The giant’s tibia, or shinbone, compared with that of a normal Roman male of the same period.”
Photograph by Simona Minozzi, Endocrine Society
Dell’Amore points out that Maximinus Thrax aka Gaius Julius Verus Maximinus Augustus (173-238 AD) is “described in literature as a ‘human mountain’” which, of course, tells us nothing of his height.
Yet, he appears to have been taller than the average Roman of his time as per Historia Augusta, “Life of Maximinus,” 2:2 and Herodian’s Roman History, 7:1:2. Historia Augusta is considered historically unreliable so for what it is worth, at 6:8 it states, “he was of such size, so Cordus reports, that men said he was eight foot, six inches (c. 2.5 meters) in height.”
Note that there is no ancient author or work known as “Cordus” and so it seems to be one of many fictional pseudo-sources to which the text refers.
In any regard, this has him right in line with the tallest personages of whom we know: for example, no NBA pro basketball player quite makes it to 8 feet.
Herodian (7:1:12) was a contemporary of Maximinus notes, “He was in any case a man of such frightening appearance and colossal size that there is no obvious comparison to be drawn with any of the best-trained Greek athletes or warrior elite of the barbarians.”
Andre The Giant was seven feet, four inches tall.
Robert Pershing Wadlow died at the early age of 22 years (1918-1940 AD) is considered the tallest person on record: 8 feet 11.1 inches.
Reportedly Maximinus had oversized brow, nose and jaw which indicates that he had acromegaly which is an enlargement of body parts due to an excess of growth hormone.
In The City of God chap 23, Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD) relates a Roman report of a Goth woman whose “gigantic size over-topped all others” but that “neither of her parents were quite up to the tallest ordinary stature.”
In an upcoming book I elucidate the issue of giants in the Bible regarding which is it important to keep a few things in mind: 1) Many Hebrew words are translated into English as “giant(s).” 2) The Bible generically refers to people who are “tall” and “very tall” yet… 3) The Bible only gives us a few specific heights and none of these go beyond 8 feet—with the possible exception of Goliath who is taller in Greek than he is in Hebrew.
4) Lastly, we are told the size of King Og’s bed but not of his body.
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