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Do you look more like the goddess Aphrodite or the god Apollo? A Canadian museum thinks it may have the answer. For its upcoming exhibition “My 2,000-Year-Old Double,” the Musée de la Civilisation in Quebec City, Canada, is inviting people from around the world to upload their own photos in an effort to find their ancient dopplegängers. Those with the closest matches will then be featured as part of the museum’s exhibition, which is slated to premiere next autumn.
Here’s how it works. After uploading your head shot to the museum’s website, Betaface API, a facial recognition software program, 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.
So far, more than 25,000 people have uploaded images, but as of press time only five or six are what Hélène Bernier, the museum’s Director of Programming, considers “perfect matches”—meaning photos that resemble a statue with at least 95 percent accuracy and result in a double take. For example, she points to one sculpture in particular, that of a young Roman man who looks eerily similar to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
To find your own best match, Bernier offers a few tips. To start, take the photo in bright and evenly lit space. “If the lighting of the photograph isn’t good, shadows can change your physiognomy,” Bernier tells Smithsonian.com. She also recommends that people use photos where they’re facing forward, not smiling, and are free of wearing glasses or a hat. (Just pretend you’re getting your booking photo taken at your local police precinct.)
Read more: Find Your 2,000-Year-Old Dopplegänger | Travel | Smithsonian
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Here’s how it works. After uploading your head shot to the museum’s website, Betaface API, a facial recognition software program, 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.
So far, more than 25,000 people have uploaded images, but as of press time only five or six are what Hélène Bernier, the museum’s Director of Programming, considers “perfect matches”—meaning photos that resemble a statue with at least 95 percent accuracy and result in a double take. For example, she points to one sculpture in particular, that of a young Roman man who looks eerily similar to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
To find your own best match, Bernier offers a few tips. To start, take the photo in bright and evenly lit space. “If the lighting of the photograph isn’t good, shadows can change your physiognomy,” Bernier tells Smithsonian.com. She also recommends that people use photos where they’re facing forward, not smiling, and are free of wearing glasses or a hat. (Just pretend you’re getting your booking photo taken at your local police precinct.)
Read more: Find Your 2,000-Year-Old Dopplegänger | Travel | Smithsonian
Give the gift of Smithsonian magazine for only $12! Give the gift of Smithsonian
Follow us: @SmithsonianMag on Twitter
Come on, it will be fun.
