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Swordmaker from #236: "Find me a source other than Popular Mechanics that cites that figure. I can't find it. Believe me. I've looked... so have others."

I have continued to search for data regarding expected heights of ancient peoples, with some interesting results from several perspectives:

From the Iliad: "Then tall Hektor of the shining helm answered her: 'All these things are in my mind also, lady; yet I would feel deep shame before the Trojans, and the Trojan women with trailing garments, if like a coward I were to shrink aside from fighting…' "
Heros are tall.
From Archaological Odyssey, March 2005: "Salt miners in the central Iranian province of Zanjan recently discovered the well-preserved remains of a 35- to 40-year-old man who died over 1,700 years ago. A giant of a man among the ancients, he stood nearly 6 feet tall, and pieces of wool and a woven straw mat were apparently in his possession at his death."
Six feet tall is considered "a giant of a man among the ancients."
Selecting Saul King of Israel: "1 Samuel 10:22-24 (New International Version)
"So they inquired further of the LORD, "Has the man come here yet?"
"And the LORD said, "Yes, he has hidden himself among the baggage."
"They ran and brought him out, and as he stood among the people he was a head taller than any of the others. Samuel said to all the people, "Do you see the man the LORD has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people."
"Then the people shouted, "Long live the king!" "
Saul was selected because "he was a head taller than any of the others."
Referring to a Mayan tomb: "In 1962 archaeologists discovered this tomb and its burial goods, including shells, pottery and jade carvings—and the skeleton of the 6-foot-tall king."
The Mayan king was six feet tall.
A.O., referring to Egyptian Ramses II: " The pharaoh had a long, narrow face with a strong jaw; he stood almost 6 feet tall, a giant among ancient Egyptians; and he had reddish-brown hair. His mummy showed the wear and tear that 92 years extract from a life:"
The six foot pharaoh was "a giant among ancient Egyptians."
B.A.R. discussing a Bulgarian dig site: "The “ruler,” a 45-year-old, tall, athletic man, holds a scepter in his right hand."
A tall man is assumed to be "the ruler."
The Roman Emperor Hadrian, according to ancient sources: "The portrayal of Hadrian in the Historia Augusta, a fourth-century C.E. compilation of imperial biographies, could be a description of this very statue: “He was tall of stature and elegant in appearance; his hair was curled on a comb, and he wore a full beard to cover up the natural blemishes on his face.” "
The Roman Emperor was "tall of stature."
From A.O., Oct 2000: "In the fall of 1999, we were ready. We opened four squares, revealing a total of four tombs. The first mummy we found (in Tomb 54) was that of a woman about 5 feet tall. This mummy has a gold mask; the gilding also extends over the neck and down the chest.."
An Egyptian woman of five feet tall.
From B.A.R. July 1996: "Textiles covered the floors and walls, and the 6-foot-tall man buried on the couch, dubbed “the prince of Hochdorf,” wore a golden neckring, belt, armring, brooches and shoes. The abundance of weapons in the tomb and the battle scenes embossed on the bed suggest that this “prince” may actually have belonged to the warrior aristocracy that emerged in Iron Age Europe."
Again, six foot tall considered aristocracy.

So, how tall is the Shroud image? The answers from supposed "experts" range all over the board. To understand just why, we're probably not going to find better explanations than those of Giulio Fanti°, Emanuela Marinelli & Alessandro Cagnazzo from 1999:

"Till now, the studies carried out have been based on more or less subjective hypotheses admitted also in consequence of the thesis that the various authors tried to show: some researchers favourable to the authenticity of the Shroud are inclined to provide the lowest values for the height, while those who are anti-authenticity are inclined to provide the highest values.
"The authors who believe the Shroud is false claim that the Man of the Shroud, about 1.80 m height [that's 5 ft 11 inches], was a giant compared to his contemporaries and therefore it wouldn’t have been necessary for Judas to give him the famous kiss to point him out in the group.
"However from recent excavations made in Rishòn Letziòn [2] it is evident that many Canaanitic men were very tall: many of them reach 1.75 m." [that's 5 ft 9 inches]

Fanti et al arrive at a Shroud image height of about 5 ft 9 inches. That's at the lower end of most "experts'" results, but still 4 inches taller than Fanti's reported "average" for all middle-easterners (5 ft 5 inches).

And careful reading of the Fanti report shows they "assumed away" at least six inches of the Shroud image's height. Naturally they say these are 100% reasonable, even testable assumptions. But they are assumptions none-the-less. Reasonable people could easily "assume away" less of the Shroud image's apparent height. That would leave us with an figure closer to the 6 feet that most other "experts" concluded.

Like other studies mentioned in other publications, the one at Rishòn Letziòn claiming "many Canaanitic men were very tall: many of them reach 1.75 m [5 ft 9 inches]," is not readily available for review & confirmation.

In summary:

Unusual height was recognized in the ancient world as an attribute of royalty. Six feet tall was considered a "kingly" height. And to reduce the Shroud image height below six feet requires certain assumptions which are not accepted by all "experts" on the subject.

So where does the New Testament tell us that Jesus was considered "kingly"? Only two places: All four gospels report Pilot's question and Jesus' answer, with two gospels mentioning Pilot's cross-sign saying, "This is the King of the Jews."

The only other place follows the feeding of the 5,000 in John 6:15: "Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself."

Remember, this is a crowd of ordinary people, whom we might reasonably assume would not even consider "mak[ing] him king by force," if Jesus did not, like Saul before him, in some sense "look the part."

In short: rather than being an argument against the Shroud's authenticity, a six foot tall image may suggest to us why the ancient authorities considered Jesus such a threat to them. It also suggests, of course, that some of our modern biblical scholars might be a bit off target.