The trivia question of the day asked who of the following was a dwarf:
Tha answer was “Attila”. Huh?! How tall was he? How did he become leader of the Huns, anyway… Primogeniture?
Acording to this site, he’s not the only famous dwarf, either.
How many leaders and bright lights of the ancient world were dwarves, anyway…?
You assume too much. Atilla got his name from his wife, as in “Hun, would you run to the corner cow and bring me back a quart of milk?” In some parts of the world, he was known as Atilla the Wuss.
When his uncle died, he and his brother Bleda became co-rulers. He then killed Bleda and became sole king himself. I don’t know how tall he was, though.
Hmmm… OK, thanks.
Was Bleda normal-sized? How did did he kill his brother?
I’m probably way off base – but are they defining dwarf purely in terms of height? Humans have gotten taller and taller through the centuries. The average height way back may have been 4’2", in which case these folks would certainly be outliers, but not incredibly amazing.
Just a thought.
Dwarves today are generally defined as people shorter than 4’ 10" due to a medical or genetic condition.
Who knew that book I picked up in the library last week would come in handy for a GQ thread? I just read “In the Little World: A True Story of Dwarves, Love and Trouble”
Hmmm… well, according to this page and [url=“http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/scottishhistory/ancient/trails_ancient_tombs2.shtml”]this[/ur] page, people weren’t all that short back then:
I’d think that >4’10" tall would be significantly below average, even if median height was 5’6".
Let’s try that link again, shall we…?
…this page…
Also, this: “…>4’10" tall…” should be this: “…**<**4’10” tall…"
Ah, that’s better…
I withdraw my own dumb idea. A bit of net research shows that differences in height over time are mostly due to nutrition, not evolution, and the difference isn’t all that big anyhow.