Shetlanders with "dark hair and swarthy skin"?!

[Erato]

"big statues to prove it"

Yikes!  There's a statue of Hercules fighting the Hydra, too, but, as far as I know, no one has claimed it as proof of the existence of Hercules or of the Loch Ness monster.

[Viktoria]

It was a joke Erato- hence the grin . 
                  Viktoria

[fenifur]

Something that people often forget is that the Romans often commented on the 'Britons' being 'dark' in hair eyes and skin (also that the women were attractive and the men liked beards) - and the Spanish roots for the 'black Irish' thing has been shown, genetically, to be a myth, I think about 4 out of 500 survived one armada wreck so those 4 men would have had to have been rather prolific... 

[Chris Anderson]

Something that people often forget is that the Romans often commented on the 'Britons' being 'dark' in hair eyes and skin (also that the women were attractive and the men liked beards) - and the Spanish roots for the 'black Irish' thing has been shown, genetically, to be a myth, I think about 4 out of 500 survived one armada wreck so those 4 men would have had to have been rather prolific... 

Exactly

[Skoosh]

Ole' 

Skoosh.

[Redroger]

Niall of the Nine Hostages, we're talking about the dark ages here so no newspaper reports!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niall_of_the-Nine_Hostages

I think a shared experience, history & culture has given the US, a new nation, an ethnicity of it's own? Ethnicity & race are not the same thing.

The 1707 Union was voted through the Scots Parliament by the nobility while the people rioted against it, the unpopularity of the Union & the Hanoverian Succession which came with it, gave rise to the Jacobite Rebellions of 1715, 1719 & 1745. There was also a military threat at the time of the signing i,e John Churchill & his army being used to restore "Order!"

Skoosh.

The Churchill clan has later form at that. Tonypandy, Sydney Street etc. etc.

[Viktoria]

Something that people often forget is that the Romans often commented on the 'Britons' being 'dark' in hair eyes and skin (also that the women were attractive and the men liked beards) - and the Spanish roots for the 'black Irish' thing has been shown, genetically, to be a myth, I think about 4 out of 500 survived one armada wreck so those 4 men would have had to have been rather prolific... 

Exactly

This post made me laugh! it  could read  as though the women had beards-which the  men  liked   
Not often you see a Roman statue with a  beard , was it usual for the Roman army to have facial hair?I can imagine the romans banning it.
I`ll leave the women out of it!!!!!
                                                    Viktoria.

[HughC]

Thank you, Viktoria.
It now makes sense that Moses was given an Egyptian name, to conceal his identity.

It's tempting to think that the Romans regarded beards as barbarian, hence the similarity of the words.  But apparently the Greek barbaros meant babbler (because of course foreigners spoke a different language), while Latin barba is quite a different root.  Of course the Romans may well have seen it as more civilized to shave -- which the Keltoi and Germani and the rest considered quite unnecessary or even effeminate.

[Viktoria]

Well Pharaoh`s daughter knew he was a Hebrew but Pharaoh would not have known or Moses would have  been killed.
AS you say ,The Greeks called anyone who did not speak Greek,  a barbarian " .
In Flemish the word "Babbelar"means a chatterbox, like a small child as we would say "babbling on"
.Also as we say" prattling", and in Flemish to  praat is to talk, a prater is a talker.
Interesting links in different languages.
Viktoria.