By Aakar Patel
How important is the physical appearance of men in their rise as leaders? An academic study of this would be revealing.
Men prefer to be large and brute-like rather than small and pretty and, given a choice, most men would choose the former appearance. This is because it makes it easier for them to assert themselves as leader.
What did Hannibal look like? We do not know, and he is shown in History Channel documentaries as European. That is wrong, because he was from Carthage/Tunisia and would have looked like a North African Arab, like Gadaffi. But it would be uncomfortable for European and American audiences to see an Arab as the conqueror of Italy and Spain in 218 BC, and so the change.
Another great warrior whose appearance we know little about is Atilla, who conquered and ruled most of northern Europe in the 5th century AD.
The Hun legacy remains in the name Hungary, but his biographer John Man thought Atilla and his men came from outer Mongolia (they were skilled as horsemen and as archers). So Atilla would have been quite oriental in appearance but, again, an Asian shown as conquering Europe would be alarming.
The other way around is fine, of course, and so Alexander of Macedon is shown as he was. He had long, blond hair that reached his neck. He had a prominent forehead, a straight nose, a short aggressive chin and was clean shaved. He had an intense gaze and that comes through even on his coins. His hair was curly, and this fearsome warrior was actually quite short.
Charlemagne or Karl the Great united Europe and became Roman Emperor in AD 800. He was a man's man and was apparently seven feet tall. He was also susceptible to putting on weight, perhaps because of his love of roast meat (his doctors wanted him to eat boiled meat instead). He had a large stomach, but unfortunately had a high voice. He had a big nose and fair hair and wore a bright and cheerful expression.
Boswell said of Dr Samuel Johnson in his biography that the great man was "very forbidding" in his appearance. He was also very ugly.
Johnson was tall and fat and his face was "scarred by scrofula," a phrase Derek Walcott also used to describe V S Naipaul's prose. In Dr Johnson's youth, the "immense structure of his bones was hideously striking to the eye". When Boswell met him, much later, Johnson's "apartment, and furniture, and morning dress were sufficiently uncouth." He had on a "little old, shrivelled unpowdered wig, which was too small for his head." Yet, "all these slovenly particularities were forgotten the moment that he began to talk."
Napoleon wasn't really short and his autopsy recorded his height as 5'7", which was average for the time in Europe and much taller than the average Indian. His actual name, by which his wife and friends called him, was Bonaparte. And that is how he used to sign his name (spelling it Buonaparte earlier). He started using his first name, Napoleon, only after he was crowned Emperor in 1804. In his biography of the tyrant, Paul Johnson wrote that Napoleon signed himself as 'Nap' or 'Np' and sometimes forgot altogether and signed 'Bonaparte'.
In his famous book 'Intellectuals' Johnson took great delight in skewering great men for their personal weaknesses. Of Karl Marx he wrote that the founder of Communism seldom bathed and ''took very little exercise, ate highly spiced food, often in large quantities, smoked heavily, drank a lot." Marx also impregnated his maid and dumped her on Engels.
Suetonius described Caesar as being tall. He had "a fair complexion, shapely limbs, a somewhat full face, and keen black eyes; sound of health, except that towards the end he was subject to sudden fainting fits and to nightmare as well."
Caesar was epileptic and twice was affected during his campaigns. He was vain and troubled by his baldness, of which he was reminded often by his detractors. He used to comb what little hair he had forward to cover the bald patch, what we would call a combover. Of all the honours he was given by the senate, Suetonius wrote, quite cruelly, "perhaps there was none which he received more gladly than the privilege of wearing a laurel wreath at all times."
Plutarch wrote that Caesar was kidnapped when he was young by pirates. They asked for a ransom of 20 talents. Caesar laughed and said they should ask for 50. He misbehaved with them for 38 days, and promised to have them hanged when he was free. They let him go, and he hunted them down and crucified them.
The Prophet of Islam was described by his companions as being broad- shouldered, and slim. He was above average height and had wavy hair that was long and parted in the centre. He was described as brave and strong, and though he didn't eat much, was quite fit. He had a wide forehead in the middle of which a vein protruded "which became prominent in anger."
His manner was graceful and his words clear ("neither verbose, nor cryptic"). His companions were devoted and alert to what he said, and obeyed him promptly.
Greek philosopher Plato's name means broad, but we do not know why the philosopher was called that. Indians know him as Aflatoon, and in Gujarati we use the word as an exclamation for something that is superb ("ekdum aflatoon").
Indian philosopher Gautam Buddha (Buddha means enlightened) was supposed to have long ear lobes, but that is because, as a rich man before his renunciation, he would have worn heavy gold earrings.
India and the east in general is not particularly interested in describing and recording as is the west and a lot of our knowledge of ourselves comes from them.
The Greek merchant Basile Vatatzes saw Nadir Shah in March, 1729, exactly 10 years before the Persian defeated the Mughals at Karnal in Haryana. What separated Nadir from many of his contemporaries was the constant training he gave his army and Vatatzes was present at one of these drills. He says Nadir was powerful, handsome and manly (though pictures of him indicate a weak chin). His larynx would move constantly as if he was trying to swallow phlegm. He spoke to his officers playfully. A fine soldier himself, Nadir could hit a glass target placed on a pole with his arrow, three times out of four while moving on horseback. While doing this 'he galloped with his bow, he would open his arms out from his body like wings, take an arrow from his quiver, aim it and shoot it all in one smooth movement, looking like an eagle. ('The Sword of Persia, Michael Axworthy').
Angered by the killing of his soldiers in Paharganj by Delhi's grain merchants, he coldly slaughtered 20,000 of the city's residents to establish control.
A leader who had no need to demonstrate such strength was Gandhi.
Woodrow Wyatt the British politician described Gandhi as looking like "a polished nut, all bright and shiny, with no spare flesh -- a brown nut, carefully cherished. He gleamed, you know. His chocolate coloured skin was smooth, healthy and young-looking and shone all over."
One of his followers described Gandhi to the author Ved Mehta for his book Mahatma Gandhi and his Apostles. The follower said Gandhi had "a short, thin neck, a noble chest, a narrow waist, big expressive hands with well-formed fingers, and long, thin, firm legs with knobby knees. His head was large, and his ears stood out abruptly. Because he had high blood pressure, the veins in his temples protruded a little. His nose was fat and pointed downward. His lower lip was sensitive and somehow conveyed suffering. He had lost all of his teeth by the time he reached his mid-fifties. He laughed a lot and liked to be teased."
That follower, unnamed in the book but perhaps Indira, said she told him one day (when he was keeping his weekly vow of silence): "Bapu, I think I saw the ugliest man in the whole world yesterday." Gandhi frowned at her rudeness. She said, "then I remembered, and said, 'No, the second-ugliest.' That made him smile."
The writer is director with Hill Road Media in Bombay. Email: aakar@hillroadmedia.com