# Sorting soldiers by toe **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 18, 2015, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorting-soldiers-by-toe/737875 "2015-11-18T10:08:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Piranha\_Brothers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aca169/32.png) [@The\_Piranha\_Brothers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Piranha_Brothers)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorting-soldiers-by-toe/737875/1 "2015-11-18T10:08:41Z")
A foot where the second toe is the longest is called Greek foot/toe or Morton’s toe. When I was in school or thereabouts I was told that in one ancient battle the dead soldiers had to be returned to each side and they sorted out the Greek bodies by their toes. I’ve been googling like mad but I can’t find the source of this story anywhere. True or not, it must have come from somewhere/one? Anyone else heard this story or does anyone know the source? My google-fu is thwarted by the many results about the Persian or Peloponnesian wars. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorting-soldiers-by-toe/737875/2 "2015-11-18T10:52:20Z")
It could be true - I found [this handy chart](http://topinfopost.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/1013577_834447743236137_1561924309_n1.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorting-soldiers-by-toe/737875/3 "2015-11-18T11:53:57Z")
The Greeks thought themselves superior to the Egyptians, whose feet were splayed because they walked in the mud of the Nile Delta. So they claimed that Greeks had the “noble toe.” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Piranha\_Brothers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aca169/32.png) [@The\_Piranha\_Brothers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Piranha_Brothers)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorting-soldiers-by-toe/737875/4 "2015-11-18T12:19:48Z")
Yes, it’s a real thing. But specifically I wanted to find the source of that story. If there is any. (But even if it’s made-up, it was made up by _someone_.) ---
**Author:** ![Encinitas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Encinitas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Encinitas)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorting-soldiers-by-toe/737875/5 "2015-11-18T19:49:23Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > It could be true - I found [this handy chart](http://topinfopost.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/1013577_834447743236137_1561924309_n1.jpg) Looks like I walk like an Egyptian.😃 ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorting-soldiers-by-toe/737875/6 "2015-11-18T20:53:10Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > It could be true - I found [this handy chart](http://topinfopost.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/1013577_834447743236137_1561924309_n1.jpg) Based on this chart, Janice from accounting must be Celtic, cause she just don’t give a fuck. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorting-soldiers-by-toe/737875/7 "2015-11-18T23:50:11Z")
Huh, despite all three of the major components of my ethnicity (German, Roman, and Celtic) being on that chart, it looks like I nonetheless have Greek feet. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2015, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorting-soldiers-by-toe/737875/8 "2015-11-19T00:12:48Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Huh, despite all three of the major components of my ethnicity (German, Roman, and Celtic) being on that chart, it looks like I nonetheless have Greek feet. Go figure. I have one which is, the other isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Piranha\_Brothers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aca169/32.png) [@The\_Piranha\_Brothers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Piranha_Brothers)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2015, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorting-soldiers-by-toe/737875/9 "2015-11-19T18:51:43Z")
So I gathered most people now hear this for the first time? ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorting-soldiers-by-toe/737875/10 "2015-11-20T01:26:59Z")
First time I’ve heard the term “Greek foot”, but I had a girl friend in college who insisted that people with toes / feet of that shape are the sexiest. No, she wasn’t Greek - she was actually German Mennonite! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Piranha\_Brothers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aca169/32.png) [@The\_Piranha\_Brothers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Piranha_Brothers)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorting-soldiers-by-toe/737875/11 "2015-11-20T08:50:13Z")
Yeah it’s one of those cases where the (ancient) Greek concept has somehow become sort of synonymous with “classic” and “the beauty ideal”. (Not that that’s necessarily true of course.) ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorting-soldiers-by-toe/737875/12 "2015-11-20T09:14:25Z")
I saw a chart showing the Greek (second toe being the longest) and the Roman (big toe longest, others shorter or flush.) My point is there must not have been that many chances for the Greeks to practice the theory. And besides, dress, arms, armor, even hair style are a far better way to distinguish between two nationals. ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorting-soldiers-by-toe/737875/13 "2015-11-20T09:18:19Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > The Greeks thought themselves superior to the Egyptians, whose feet were splayed because they walked in the mud of the Nile Delta. … So the Egyptians were stinky-footed bumpkins? Superior indeed! ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorting-soldiers-by-toe/737875/14 "2015-11-20T11:57:51Z")
Remember, these were the Greeks: when they transitioned from Hellenic to Hellenistic, they added muscles to their male statues that don’t exist in actual human anatomy. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Piranha\_Brothers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aca169/32.png) [@The\_Piranha\_Brothers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Piranha_Brothers)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorting-soldiers-by-toe/737875/15 "2015-11-20T12:33:47Z")
> [@the\_diego](#): > > I saw a chart showing the Greek (second toe being the longest) and the Roman (big toe longest, others shorter or flush.) My point is there must not have been that many chances for the Greeks to practice the theory. And besides, dress, arms, armor, even hair style are a far better way to distinguish between two nationals. Still there is this anecdote about one battle that was so bloody and hard that afterwards (each group wanting to claim their own bodies for proper burial) the dead were unrecognizable except by toe. It’s mentioned on very few websites and none that I found could name its source. Why there was no other way, I couldn’t say. (Perhaps they fought naked as some ridiculous movies would have us believe?) ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorting-soldiers-by-toe/737875/16 "2015-11-20T19:20:55Z")
My guess was Herodotus’ Histories, but can’t find any mention of it in there. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorting-soldiers-by-toe/737875/17 "2015-11-20T20:30:51Z")
This must be the men’s toe list. Everyone knows women have a camel toe. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Piranha\_Brothers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aca169/32.png) [@The\_Piranha\_Brothers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Piranha_Brothers)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorting-soldiers-by-toe/737875/18 "2015-11-23T13:03:10Z")
They were soldiers, so they were men. Unless they were fighting the Amazons, in which case the sorting would have been easy. > [@griffin1977](#): > > My guess was Herodotus’ Histories, but can’t find any mention of it in there. Yes, that’s what I thought, but no luck. Perhaps it’s something from Alexander’s successors???