19. From ancient times right through to the 19th century, philosophers and scientists believed a face reading could help predict how an individual might act in the future
It was the Ancient Greeks who elevated the practice of studying a person’s face and using this to predict their future into a pseudo-science. Physiognomy as it was known was a highly-respected practice. Even some of the age’s greatest minds believed that a person’s face could not only show their character but their destiny too. For instance, Aristotle wrote that “it is possible to infer character from features”, while Pythagoras was even alleged to have chosen his followers according to what they looked like.
Notably, it wasn’t just the ancients who believed that a person’s future could be read in their face. Even in the 18th and 19th centuries, it was discussed with complete seriousness. Above all, the finest thinkers and scientists of the time were keen to find a way of predicting if an individual would likely commit any future crimes. By the mid-19th century, physiognomy had been largely overtaken by phrenology, with scientists increasingly adopting the belief that the size and shape of the head, not just the features of a person’s face, could show their present character and be used to predict their future behavior.