True face of the ‘cruellest man’ revealed 440 years after his death
The scientific reconstruction shows his cold stare.
He is one of the cruellest people in Russia and now scientists have revealed his true face.
Ivan the Terrible ruled Russia almost 500 years ago, from 1547 to 1584, and is one of the country’s most infamous leaders.
He was known to boil, impale, roast and drown people and even have them torn apart by horses.
Historians believe that he also murdered his son in a fit of anger after an argument between the two of them.
His face has been revealed thanks to a scientific reconstruction which was made from his skull.
Cicero Moraes is lead author of the new work and said: ‘It appears that Ivan indulged in a disorderly life of excessive eating and alcohol abuse.
‘This must have worsened his condition in his last years.
‘This is in contrast to the appearance he had when younger, when he was described as tall, with beautiful hair, broad shoulders, strong muscles, and a pleasant face.
‘An interesting fact is that they found a large amount of mercury in his body, which made some suspect poisoning.
‘But given the habits of the time, it may have been used as a treatment for some health problem.’
The construction of his face involved used data from living donors to reveal the thickness of his skin.
The face and skull of a living donor was also digitally altered to match the dimensions of Ivan’s.
Cicero explained: ‘The final bust was a combination of all this data.
‘It was a very interesting experience, as it involved not only facial approximation, but the study of the tsar’s history.
‘I found sources that affirmed the epithet of “terrible” and others with different evidence, indicating that the fame may have been exaggerated, for example, by enemies and adversaries.’
A depiction of Ivan was revealed in 2017 using multispectral imaging from the cover of the book ‘Apostle’ that was published in 1564.
Cicero says this new face is a good match to the reconstruction in 2017.
‘After finishing, I compared the faces and, although we used different approaches composing the busts, the results were very similar,’ he said.
‘They only differ in the lower lip and chin region.’
Ivan the Terrible was just a three-year-old when he rose to power after his dad died.
As a young child, he already displayed signs of paranoia and fits of rage by pulling the feathers from live birds and throwing cats and dogs out of windows.
Ivan died aged 53, in 1584, during a game of chess and was succeeded by his second son, Feodor Ivanovich, after killing his first.
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