Sportsdude wrote:
ugh that reminds me of Geography class and how cultures copy off of one another. For example during the time of Alexander the Great, Buddha was was white and looked Greek. All cultures copied off of one another. No story is truly original.
I wrote:
I know what you're refering to. That was the Gandhara School of art in ancient India, in which Hindu and Buddhist ( i.e. Indian ) themes were portrayed, but the dress and the physical apprearance of the people were Graeco-Roman. This was an indirect result of Alexander the Great's conquest of northwestern India. But in actuality, the historical Buddha quite possibly was "white" as you put it. Gautama Siddharatha was of the Scythian tribe, known as Shakyas in India. Which is why he is often called Shakyamuni: the Shakya sage.
Conversely, the actual Jesus probably looked more like a Saudi or an East Indian, because Jews in those days were more eastern. Double irony. We usually see Jesus portrayed as blond and blue-eyed, and Buddha as eastern-looking. In reality it might have been precisely the reverse.