We have no right to expect from Homer, or any other Greek writer, an account of the head-form of the “Achæan” heroes. Nevertheless we find in the Iliad a word which gives us some indication on this point.[378] It is noticeable that all the people mentioned by name are captains of hosts, or members of the nobility; the Iliad only records the doings of the “Achæan” heroes. One exception only is there to this rule. At one moment the host, composed no doubt of Alpines and Mediterraneans, thinks of revolting. Their leader is a mob-orator, fond of arguing as is the way with Alpines, and we can have little doubt as to the racial affinities of Thersites. If we had any, one epithet used of him would satisfy us, for his head is described as φοξὀς. The exact meaning of this term has been a matter of dispute, but it is usually rendered “tapering to a point,” and the expression φοξὁς ἔην κεφαλἠν means that he “had a sugar-loaf head.” What better description could we have of the ordinary head-form of the eastern Alpine inhabitants of the Balkan peninsula and Anatolia? If this had been the usual type of head of the “Achæan” heroes, the epithet would not have been used as distinctive of the rebellious soldier; it can only have been so used to imply how different he was in this respect from the noble “Achæan.” This seems to me to indicate, exceptionally clearly, that the Homeric heroes were long-headed. Thus the heroes are found to be tall, fair and long-headed, and so possessing the three chief physical characteristics of the Nordic race. The resemblances between their mental characters and those of the Vikings have often been noted before and need not be repeated.[379]