Smithsonian Magazine is always up to something interesting. This month, they’re putting together an exhibit of modern people and their 2000-year-old doppelgänger using facial recognition software which
analyzes your face and scans through 123 facial comparison points, such as the bridge of your nose and the shape of your mouth, before matching you with one of 60 Greco-Roman and Egyptian sculptures dating back some 2,000 years.
You can submit your own photo and see what it turns up.
Spotting doppelgängers has been my hobby forever. Sometimes the resemblance is circumstantial, but still compelling:
Sometimes it takes your breath away:
Sometimes you just have to roll with it:
Sometimes you have to dig a little deeper:
And then sometimes you dig deep and then feel bad for going that low:
And sometimes it clarifies a thing or two
as when you realize that your two-year-old daughter actually is Hermes, the god of mischief.
Of course the easiest way to find your doppelgänger is just to grow one yourself:
Oh, what’s that? You want to know who the Smithsonian thinks looks just like me? I’m so glad you asked:
And that’s why I always get pulled out of lines at airports.
You automatically get a billion points for having D’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths. Also, super cool article! Off to Smithsonian Magazine!!
Apparently my doppelganger is somebody’s German cousin. I have been stopped in malls and various public places to be told, “Oh, sorry, I thought you were my cousin from Germany!” My husband doesn’t understand it; he’s been to Germany and he thinks I look Dutch.