We explain the five classic foot types that human beings can have.
According to some popular classifications, there are a minimum of five foot archetypes in which the vast majority of the population can be classified. These are the Celtic, Egyptian, Germanic, Roman and Greek foot .
There are also certain people who affirm a relationship between personality and the different morphologies of the classification, in addition to also giving us information about our ancestry. In this article we will find out if this is true, while presenting the five different types of foot in this classification.
Why does this classification exist on the feet?
The classification we are discussing seems to have its origins in genealogical and ancestral theories of the 19th century . These theories looked at the shape of the feet and classified them according to some of the foot shapes represented in sculptures and drawings from different classical cultures. That is to say, the Roman foot would be the one that we would find in those sculptures with origin in the Roman Empire.
Both then and now, there are certain communities that try to establish connections between personality traits and the morphology of the foot or other parts of the body. The practice that we discussed in the article, for example, would be similar to what we can see in countries like Japan, where blood group A, B, O, AB is related to different types of personality.
These types of practices are not usually based on scientific evidence, making them little more than a fun hobby, such as reading the horoscope. In the case of the different types of feet, several factors come together that explain why they were tried to be used to determine supposed ancestral origins .
On the one hand, different foot morphologies may be more prevalent in different populations, with different ethnic origins. If when we go to another country we realize that many of them have feet that are unusual in our population of origin, we will associate this “rare” foot with nationality.
Another more likely explanation is that the study of classical cultures was very fashionable in the 19th century . This was the time when these ideas arose of associating the shape of the foot with different ancestral origins of each one, coincidentally based on the classical cultures that they revered.
Another interesting component of these foot theories is the fact that there are certain factors in the appearance of the foot that have a strong genetic component . This basically means that our feet will look quite similar to those of our relatives, which gives some face validity to assuming that the origin of our feet can be traced back to different ancestral populations.
The reality is that there are different foot morphologies in the different populations of the world . It is possible that some of these morphologies have a certain genetic component and that some of them are more represented in some populations than others. But unfortunately, there is no indication that these variations are determined by classical lineages.
- It might interest you: “Pain in the sole of the foot: causes, symptoms, and how to treat it”
types of feet
Below we present the different types of feet that are described according to the aforementioned classification, which is thought to have emerged in the middle of the 19th century:
1. Egyptian Foot
The Egyptian foot is the most common type of foot , accounting for 61-70% of the Western population. This foot is characterized by the fact that its toes regularly decrease in size from the big toe to the fifth toe, forming an angle of about 45º.
2. Roman Foot
The Roman foot is also known as the square foot. This type of foot is characterized by the fact that both the first and second toes have a similar length and size between them . It is a type of fairly straight foot that needs wide-width shoes.
3. Greek Foot
The Greek foot is a rarer morphology, also called Morton’s foot. In this case, the second metatarsals of the feet are longer than usual, causing the effect of a second toe that is longer than the first toe. This morphology has a strong genetic component and is easily identifiable.
Depending on the population we are talking about, this foot will have between 3% and 22% prevalence. It is a type of foot that needs wider shoes than usual, since the weight distribution is not the same as in other types of foot and they run the risk of suffering from pain that can become chronic.
It is called the Greek foot mainly because it was the most represented type of foot in the statues of classical Greece , but it does not mean that all Greeks had the same type of foot or that there are only Greek statues with this morphology.
4. Germanic Foot
The Germanic foot, like the Celtic foot, are foot morphologies that are used less than the previous three. There is little explanation of its prevalence in the population. His fingers are in practically parallel lines, except for the first one .
5. Celtic Foot
The Celtic foot would represent the most unusual type of foot of all of them . The foot itself is of good size, but its thumb is shorter. As in the Greek foot, the second toe is longer than usual, after gradually reducing in size to the fifth toe. There is talk that it may be a mixture between the Germanic foot and the Greek foot.
Conclusion on these classifications and their relationship with personality
As with some classifications of face types, there’s not much exact science about foot types. This type of classification can become useful in daily life, especially if it is already used in the population in which we find ourselves. They can be used to communicate ideas about parts of our body that are complex to describe .
Its usefulness as a predictor of personality would have to be proven by science before it could be given any kind of validity . Although there is nothing wrong with having beliefs that are not based on science, we can fall into discriminatory behavior if we associate certain negative personalities with some physical characteristics that really have little or no influence on personality.
Bibliographic references
- Romanus, T. Heredity of a long second toe. Hereditas 35: 651-652, 1949.
- Kaplan, AR Genetics of relative toe lengths. Act Genet. Med. Gemellol. 13: 295-304, 1964.
To the classic question “what do you do?” I always answer “basically I am a psychologist”. In fact, my academic training has revolved around the psychology of development, education and community, a field of study influenced my volunteer activities, as well as my first work experiences in personal services.