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Facial stigma. Medieval origins of the ‘Jewish nose’
https://doi.org/10.28995/2686-7249-2020-5-10-38
Abstract
In the modern anti-Semitic caricature, Jews are usually presented with predator-like long hooked noses. This trait has become a recognizable stigma, a visual marker of the physical, cultural, psychological or spiritual otherness. Looking for the origins of such images, historians turn to the medieval anti-Semitic iconography and easily find “portraits” of Judas Iscariot, high priests or Pharisees with exactly the same profile. This article shows that in the Western Medieval iconography, the type that historians often call “Jewish”, was also used in portraying the adherents of different faiths as well as heretics. At the same time, the Jews themselves were represented not only with a hooked, but also with a flat upturned nose. That physiognomic pair from the 12th century has been ubiquitous in Western art. Both types of noses in the medieval physiognomy treatises had the most negative reputation.
Medievalists often use a hooked nose as a marker that allows them to recognize Jews or characters identified with them in the image. However, in many cases that leads to errors, because the hooked nose was more likely one of the universal signs of the otherness and villainy than a specifically anti-Semitic sign.
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About the Author
M. R. MaizulsRussian Federation
Mikhail R. Maizuls
bld. 6, Miusskaya Sq., Moscow, 125993
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Supplementary files
For citation: Maizuls M.R. Facial stigma. Medieval origins of the ‘Jewish nose’. RSUH/RGGU Bulletin: “Literary Teory. Linguistics. Cultural Studies”, Series. 2020;(5):10-38. https://doi.org/10.28995/2686-7249-2020-5-10-38
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