Cicero Moraes described the final results as a "strong and determined" likeness of the Russian tyrant.
Scientists have recreated the face of 'Ivan the Terrible', known as Russia's cruelest ruler, 440 years after he died. Ivan became the Tsar of Russia when he was just three years old. By his thirties, he became very paranoid and ordered the execution of anyone he thought was a traitor. He even killed his own son, Ivan IV, in a fit of rage.
Cicero Moraes, a Brazilian graphics expert, used advanced techniques to reconstruct Ivan's face. "It was very interesting because it involved not only facial reconstruction but also studying his history," Moraes said in a YouTube video.
Moraes gathered data from a scientific excavation of Ivan's grave by Soviet researcher Mikhail Gerasimov. "According to Dr. Gerasimov's study, Ivan lived a disorderly life with too much eating and drinking," Moraes said. "This likely worsened his health in his later years."
He added, "They found a lot of mercury in his body, which made some people think he was poisoned. But it might have been used as a treatment for health problems back then."
Moraes explained that the final reconstruction was made using various scientific methods and Gerasimov's findings. He used data from donors to estimate the thickness of Ivan's skin at different points on his skull and used a technique called anatomical deformation to digitally shape Ivan's head.
Moraes described the final result as a "strong and determined" likeness of Ivan. However, he noted that the final image was very different from the younger Ivan, who was described as "tall, with beautiful hair, broad shoulders, strong muscles, and a pleasant face."
Interestingly, while researching, Moraes found that Ivan might not have been as terrible as his name suggests. "I found sources that supported the name 'terrible' and others that suggested his reputation might have been exaggerated by his enemies," Moraes said.
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