An aquiline nose (also called a Roman nose) is a

human nose The human nose is the most protruding part of the face. It bears the nostrils and is the first organ of the respiratory system. It is also the principal organ in the olfactory system. The shape of the nose is determined by the nasal bones ...

with a prominent bridge, giving it the appearance of being curved or slightly bent. The word ''aquiline'' comes from the Latin word ''aquilinus'' ("eagle-like"), an allusion to the curved beak of an

eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

In racialist discourse

In racialist discourse, especially that of post-Enlightenment Western scientists and writers, a Roman nose has frequently been characterized as a marker of beauty and nobility, as in Plutarch's description of Mark Antony. The supposed science of physiognomy, popular during the Victorian era, made the "prominent" nose a marker of Aryanness: "the shape of the nose and the cheeks indicated, like the forehead's angle, the subject's social status and level of intelligence. A Roman nose was superior to a snub nose in its suggestion of firmness and power, and heavy jaws revealed a latent sensuality and coarseness". Class I nose

Among Native Americans

The aquiline nose was deemed a distinctive feature of some Native American tribes, members of which often took their names after their own characteristic physical attributes (e.g. The Hook Nose). In the depiction of Native Americans, for instance, an aquiline nose is one of the standard traits of the "noble warrior" type. It is so important as a cultural marker, Renee Ann Cramer argued in ''Cash, Color, and Colonialism'' (2005), that tribes without such characteristics have found it difficult to receive "federal recognition" or "acknowledgement" from the US government, which is necessary to have a continuous government-to-government relationship with the United States.

Among South Asian peoples

Among South Asian ethnic groups, the aquiline nose type is most common among the peoples of Afghanistan,

Dardistan The Dardic languages (also Dardu or Pisaca) or Hindu-Kush Indo-Aryan languages, are a group of several Indo-Aryan languages spoken in northern Pakistan, northwestern India and parts of northeastern Afghanistan. The term "Dardic" is stated to b ...

, Pakistan and

Kashmir Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...

, as well as a prominent feature in the Greco-Buddhist statuary of

Gandhara Gandhāra is the name of an ancient region located in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent, more precisely in present-day north-west Pakistan and parts of south-east Afghanistan. The region centered around the Peshawar Vall ...

(a region spanning the upper Indus and Kabul river valleys throughout northern Pakistan and Kashmir). The ethnographer George Campbell, in his ''Ethnology of India'', states that:

The high nose, slightly aquiline, is a common type Kashmiri Brahmins">Kashmiris.html" ;"title="mong Kashmiris">Kashmiri Brahmins Raise a little the brow of a Greek statue and give the nose a small turn at the bony point in front of the bridge, so as to break the straightness of the line, you have the model type of this part of India, to be found both in living men and in the statues of the Peshawar Valley.

In racialist discourse

Among Native Americans

Among South Asian peoples

See also

See also

See also

References

Further reading