Ancient Greece was a state which left an enormous mark on history. Among the Greeks were many talented writers, architects, artists, mighty warriors, athletes, great thinkers, and philosophers. Today, when we read ancient Greek myths, we imagine what the heroes looked like based on the sources of those times.
The Greek people called themselves Hellenes; later, the Romans called them Greeks.
The ancient Greeks left behind a huge number of sculptures and images. By studying them, we can imagine what their contemporaries, such as Aristotle or Alexander the Great, looked like.
In fact, this is not true. Sculptors and artists of that time were very fond of embellishing the faces and figures of ancient Hellenes. For example, to depict perfect figures and faces in such characters as gods, and heroes. After all, it was a matter of memory for many centuries, so artists wanted descendants to represent the Greeks as ideal in every way. Negative characters, such as scoundrels or commoners, were depicted with prominent eyebrows and "animal" noses, either flattened, like those of monkeys or hooked, like those of birds of prey.
Take, for example, such a notion as the "Greek profile". The distinguishing feature of this profile is a low forehead, showing mental activity, smoothly passing into the back of the nose; the bridge of the nose is almost invisible; a short, thin, straight nose without a crook; not too wide nostrils; a smooth, rounded, relatively heavy chin without a dimple; deeply set eyes. The Greek profile lacks chewing muscles and cheekbones.
In modern Greeks, not to mention other peoples, such a profile is rare.
Along with the "Greek" nose, ancient artists began to embellish the musculature and hair of their creations. The bodies of ancient models were not so perfect and physically developed. The statues show us the ideal person, but in life it was quite different. Of course, sometimes you could meet a man with the athletic forms of Apollo or a beautiful woman with the body of Aphrodite, but still not often. There were a lot of drunken old women and old fishermen. Especially in the poor quarters of the cities of ancient Greece.

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