Scientists have recreated the true face of Santa Claus.
Santa Claus is the main holiday magician, responsible for delivering gifts and fulfilling wishes. Many people know that this mythical character had a real-life prototype. It was Saint Nicholas, a Christian saint who lived in the 3rd to 4th century in the province of Lycia, which was part of the Roman Empire at the time and is now located in Turkey.
THE LEGEND OF SANTA CLAUS. THE BEGINNING.
His good deed initiated the charming tradition of exchanging gifts on Christmas. The legend states that Saint Nicholas saved three beautiful girls from a destitute family from a terrible fate akin to that of Sonia Marmeladova. Their father, having lost his means of support, decided to force his daughters into prostitution. Upon learning of this, Saint Nicholas secretly placed bags of gold in the girls' home. This money was enough for their dowries, allowing the girls to marry one by one. One bag fell near the fireplace, giving rise to the legend that Santa Claus delivers gifts by coming down the chimney.
Santa Claus, or as he is known in Russian tradition, Ded Moroz, has gained a recognizable image in popular consciousness— a tall, sturdy old man with a bushy white beard. But what did Saint Nicholas actually look like? How closely does this image resemble that created by the imagination of his descendants?
No lifetime images of Saint Nicholas have survived. In iconography, a specific and quite recognizable type of appearance for Saint Nicholas of Myra has developed. He is depicted as a slender, dark-eyed man with delicate facial features, a broad forehead of a wise man, and a trademark receding hairline. However, it is unlikely that the first icon painters were personally acquainted with him. Nonetheless, we have a genuine opportunity to learn how the precursor of Santa Claus looked. This is due to the fact that the relics of Saint Nicholas are among the most studied church relics by scientists, facilitated by a remarkable chain of events.
THE RELICS OF THE MIRACLE WORKER AND LENIN'S BODY
Saint Nicholas of Myra died in 345 in the city of Myra (now the Turkish city of Demre), and his remains rested peacefully in the church where he served for about 700 years. During this time, his relics became a widely known object of veneration. In the early second millennium, the Seljuk Turks invaded the Middle East, posing a threat to Christian relics. However, it was not the conquerors who disturbed the remains of the venerable elder.
Under the pretext of saving the holy relics from the invading infidels, the authorities of Venice laid claim to the remains of Saint Nicholas. The transfer of the relics to Venice would strengthen the political status of the maritime republic and elevate its importance as a religious center. Upon learning of the Venetian's treacherous plans, their competitors from Bari also decided to act. Fierce political battles ensued over the relics of Saint Nicholas, even more intense than those surrounding Lenin's body.
In 1087, a group of adventurous pilgrims from Bari decided to forcibly take the body of Saint Nicholas. They equipped a maritime expedition to Myra and, as a result of the robbery (the monks resisted the sacrilege, leading to a mass brawl), most of the skeletal remains were taken to Italy. They are still kept in the Basilica of Saint Nicholas in Bari.
However, during the raid, the Barian group did not remove all of the remains from the sarcophagus. This gave the Venetians an opportunity to launch an expedition to Myra a few years later. Through threats and money (the monks were compensated with 100 gold coins), the Italians found and "privatized" the remaining bones. After their triumphant return, these relics were placed in the temple of the Benedictine monastery of San Nicolo on Lido.
A BROKEN NOSE AND A VEGETARIAN DIET
Naturally, the residents of Bari claimed that the Venetian relics were not authentic. Meanwhile, the Venetians insisted that their Nicholas was the genuine one, while the Bari group had mistakenly opened the wrong sarcophagus during their raid. The disputes persisted for centuries and only ceased at the end of the 20th century. The sarcophagus in Bari, which remained untouched for 866 years, was opened twice—in 1953 and 1957. Professor of Anatomy at the University of Bari, Luigi Martino, studied the bones, conducted numerous measurements, and took X-rays of the skull. He concluded that the bones represented an incomplete skeleton of a man over 70 years old. He was of average height, slender or of medium build, standing at 167 centimeters tall.
In 1992, another commission, which included Professor Luigi Martino, gained access to the "Venetian" remains stored in the Church of Saint Nicholas on Lido.
Drawing by Professor Luigi Martino.
The scientists concluded unequivocally that the bones from Lido correspond to the missing parts of the skeleton in Bari. Thus, it became clear that they were talking about one person.
Medical experts determined that Nicholas suffered from severe arthritis of the spine and pelvic bones during his lifetime. Additionally, there was thickening of the skull bones, which could have caused intense headaches. The nasal bones were broken due to a severe impact, and then healed asymmetrically, resulting in a severely crooked nose. The saint's diet primarily consisted of vegetarian food. Scientists speculate that the fracture and health issues were consequences of the persecution of Christians during the reign of Emperor Diocletian. Saint Nicholas was imprisoned during those years and subjected to torture and beatings.
FOUR VERSIONS OF SAINT NICHOLAS'S APPEARANCE
No one disturbed the saint's bones anymore, but based on measurements and X-ray images, scientists over the years have created several reconstructions of Saint Nicholas's appearance.
1. The first depiction of Saint Nicholas was drawn by Professor Luigi Martino in the 1950s. However, he relied more on intuition; the method of reconstruction developed by Gerasimov was already known but was not applied in this case. As a result, the image resembled the canonical iconographic representation.
2. In 2004, anthropologist Caroline Wilkinson from the University of Manchester used computer technologies and forensic methods to create the first reconstruction of the face of Saint Nicholas.
0Reconstruction from 2004.
- We did not have the physical skull, so we had to recreate it from two-dimensional data (X-ray images - Ed). We surely lost some detail, - Caroline Wilkinson said, - But at that time, we achieved the maximum approximation we could hope for.
3. In 2014, Caroline Wilkinson made another attempt at reconstruction using a new technological level. In the 10 years since the previous attempt, computer modeling technologies had advanced significantly, employing the most modern anatomical standards and new data on soft tissue distribution. As a result, an image was created that significantly differed from the 2004 version.
1Reconstruction from 2014.
4. In December of this year, Brazilian 3D designer Cicero Moraes, a specialist in forensic facial reconstruction, presented his version of the reconstruction. Initially, using data from the 1950s, a 3D model of the saint's skull was created. Then, soft tissues were generated using the anatomical deformation method. For this, a 3D model of the skull of a living person is taken—referred to as the donor. This model is then adjusted so that the donor's skull takes on the exact shape of Saint Nicholas's skull. As a result, the donor's face acquires features of the ancient Christian ascetic.