# The first recorded fat person in fiction or history **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 24, 2012, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-recorded-fat-person-in-fiction-or-history/622910 "2012-05-24T02:34:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-recorded-fat-person-in-fiction-or-history/622910/1 "2012-05-24T02:34:54Z")
I can’t think of anyone in the bible or Ancient Rome and Greece liturature. I’m not that well read. The earliest fat person written about, fiction or real, that I can recall is the fictional Falstaff character of " King Lear" written during the Elizibethan era. I’m sure you can do better than that. I was pondering the idea, given I haven’t read of any ancient fat people, that either being fat was not a social impediment that would be noteworthy in earlier times, or that people may not have been getting fat at all ! That latter would sure be noteworthy today ! ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-recorded-fat-person-in-fiction-or-history/622910/2 "2012-05-24T02:40:47Z")
[Eglon, King of Moab](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eglon_(king)). Also featuring one of the first left-handed characters in a recorded story. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-recorded-fat-person-in-fiction-or-history/622910/3 "2012-05-24T02:41:23Z")
Buddha? ---
**Author:** ![Otara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a88e4f/32.png) [@Otara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otara)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-recorded-fat-person-in-fiction-or-history/622910/4 "2012-05-24T02:46:21Z")
Fertility goddess statues? As in 29000 BC. > **[Mother goddess](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_goddess)** > > A mother goddess is a major goddess characterized as a mother or progenitor, either as an embodiment of motherhood and fertility or fulfilling the cosmological role of a creator- and/or destroyer-figure, typically associated the Earth, sky, and/or the life-giving bounties thereof in a maternal relation with humanity or other gods. When equated in this lattermost function with the earth or the natural world, such goddesses are sometimes referred to as the Mother Earth or Earth Mother, deity in v... I think they’re too accurate for it to be unheard of to see fat people then. I guess this risks argument over what ‘fat’ is, but I suspect at least some of those builds meet the criteria. Otara ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-recorded-fat-person-in-fiction-or-history/622910/5 "2012-05-24T03:00:17Z")
I would imagine even in HG societies select individuals could get fat. It’s impossible to know how all the human tribes/loose-knit social groups organized themselves, but if some of them had shaman or such that were afforded opportunities to eat but were not required to help in hunting or gathering I could see them getting fat. The fertility statues may have more to do with pregnancy, though, which would cause a noticeable bulge that perhaps was exaggerated in the sculpture. ---
**Author:** ![Meyer6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@Meyer6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meyer6)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-recorded-fat-person-in-fiction-or-history/622910/6 "2012-05-24T04:42:37Z")
> [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](#): > > The earliest fat person written about, fiction or real, that I can recall is the fictional Falstaff character of “King Lear” written during the Elizibethan era. This is a total nitpick, but Falstaff wasn’t in King Lear (at least not that I remember - it’s been a while). He was in Henry IV and The Merry Wives of Windsor. He was pretty fat though. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-recorded-fat-person-in-fiction-or-history/622910/7 "2012-05-24T06:59:30Z")
Fat, fat Jehosephat, what a good, good king is he… ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-recorded-fat-person-in-fiction-or-history/622910/8 "2012-05-24T10:45:03Z")
In Genesis, the pharoah dreamt of fat kine. ---
**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-recorded-fat-person-in-fiction-or-history/622910/9 "2012-05-24T10:52:53Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Buddha? I think you mean Budai. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-recorded-fat-person-in-fiction-or-history/622910/10 "2012-05-24T11:07:05Z")
> [@Otara](#): > > Fertility goddess statues? As in 29000 BC. > > [Mother goddess - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_goddess) > > I think they’re too accurate for it to be unheard of to see fat people then. I guess this risks argument over what ‘fat’ is, but I suspect at least some of those builds meet the criteria. > > Otara That’s neither fiction nor history, though: art and prehistory. ---
**Author:** ![Mithras](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mithras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mithras)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-recorded-fat-person-in-fiction-or-history/622910/11 "2012-05-24T12:55:36Z")
Assuming they’ve got the identification right, we’ve got [Hatshepsut](http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/07/02/sickmummy_arc.html?category=archaeology)’s remains that indicate she was obese over 3000 years ago. Also, the (later in history) Ptolemaic pharaohs were notoriously overweight. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-recorded-fat-person-in-fiction-or-history/622910/12 "2012-05-24T13:10:19Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > That’s neither fiction nor history, though: art and prehistory. There’s also some doubt now as to whether they were fertility symbols. Some scholars think they’re the paleolithic equivalent of a photo of your girlfriend, with the sexiest parts emphasized. ---
**Author:** ![heathen\_earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/13edae/32.png) [@heathen\_earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heathen_earthling)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-recorded-fat-person-in-fiction-or-history/622910/13 "2012-05-24T13:16:58Z")
I wonder if anyone has checked the fossil record for obesity-related stresses on hominid bones. I don’t even know if a study like that would be possible, but it would be pretty interesting if we found evidence of a really fat non-_sapiens_ hominid individual. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-recorded-fat-person-in-fiction-or-history/622910/14 "2012-05-24T14:10:48Z")
William the Conqueror became obese later in life, which might have contributed to his death (horse accident, blunt force trauma to the gut), and made for a [memorable funeral](http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/britannia/anglo-saxon/hastings/williamdeath.html), if true. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-recorded-fat-person-in-fiction-or-history/622910/15 "2012-05-24T14:18:19Z")
If you have a Bible, look to the Book of Judges, chapter 3. “Ehud presented the tribute to Eglon, king of Moab, who was a very fat man.” A few verses later, Ehud stabs Eglon in the stomach with a sword… and according to the story the king’s belly fat enveloped the sword! (Oops… ultrafilter beat me!) ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-recorded-fat-person-in-fiction-or-history/622910/16 "2012-05-24T14:34:55Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > In Genesis, the pharoah dreamt of fat kine. That’s a common mistranslation. Those cows were actually “phat.” ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-recorded-fat-person-in-fiction-or-history/622910/17 "2012-05-24T15:14:07Z")
“Adam, be honest. Does this fig leaf make me look fat?” ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-recorded-fat-person-in-fiction-or-history/622910/18 "2012-05-24T19:16:56Z")
I’ve heard of a notoriously fat Roman who could only walk with the aid of two slaves to hold up his belly. Tbh though the image this calls to mind is of someone with a humungous tumour. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-recorded-fat-person-in-fiction-or-history/622910/19 "2012-05-24T19:55:05Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Buddha? The [fat “Buddah”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budai) is not [the actual Buddah](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gautama_Buddha), who is traditionally depicted as fairly slender. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-recorded-fat-person-in-fiction-or-history/622910/20 "2012-05-24T20:32:43Z")
One of the people mentioned in Barbara Tuchman’s “A Distant Mirror” (a non-fiction book about the 14th century) was nicknamed “The Fat”. He did survive the plague, though. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-recorded-fat-person-in-fiction-or-history/622910.md?page=2)