It is interesting that most of the earliest depictions of Jesus are of a youthful, Apollo-like deity.  But after Christianity is placed under the protection of the Roman Emperor Constantine in the 4th century, the images of Christ change dramatically and almost exclusively to the bearded Christ.

Assuming that''s a fair summary, it fits well with Paul's sky-god.  It also fits well with a gnostic or mystery origin for the Jesus story.

The site also says (my ellipses and paragraphing) -

The only physical description of Jesus that does exist is from a copy of a letter from the Roman consul Lentulus to the Roman Emperor Tiberius. ...  According to the copy ..., the original ... was dated to the 12 year of the reign of the Emperor Tiberius [ie 25-26 CE].  Scholars have historical verification that a certain Roman consul named Lentulus was in Judea at the time of Jesus’ trial and crucifixion. [Do they?] His influential family is mentioned by the Jewish historian Josephus in his book Antiquities of the Jews.   Scholars are divided, however, as to the authenticity of the letter. ... Lentulus describes the condemned man named Jesus of Nazareth as having:

a noble and lively face, with fair and slightly wavy hair; black and strongly curving eyebrows, intense penetrating blue eyes and an expression of wondrous grace.  His nose is rather long.  His beard is almost blonde, although not very long.  His hair is quite long, and has never seen a pair of scissors…..His neck is slightly inclined, so that he never appears to be bitter or arrogant.  His tanned face is the color of ripe corn and well proportioned.  It gives the impression of gravity and wisdom, sweetness and good, and is completely lacking in any sign of anger. 
(Holy Land Magazine, Franciscan Holy Land Press, Spring 1998).

This site says it's a 13th cent forgery.  Certainly it sounds like hooey to me.  But it would certainly account for the countless illustrations of a well-shampooed Jesus with wavy chestnut hair who looks far more like a middle-class Swede about to Volvo to a toga party than a Jewish peasant from the eastern Mediterranean in the Roman era.

On top of that it seems to be clearly at odds with a few hints in the NT.  If you assume an historical Jesus then you can argue that -

First, descriptions of him were omitted because he looked terrible.

Second, Luke 4: [23] And he [Jesus] said to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, 'Physician, heal yourself; what we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here also in your own country.'"

Those would be odd lines to place in Arnie's mouth.  They suggest some visible physical deficit, or at the least a puny build.

Third, John 19: [19] Pilate also wrote a title and put it on the cross; it read, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews."

Whether the author's intention is to mock the Jewish leaders or Jesus, again the joke won't work if Arnie's under the sign.

Fourth, the tales of the crucifixion are told in terms of Jesus dying on the same day before sunset - that's to say quite quickly relative to the normal time it took.


Finally (and irritatingly) I recall reading years ago, in a book (or possibly a magazine) that I now forget, an allegedly historical description of Jesus as having a crooked back and eyebrows that met in the middle.  If that story rings a bell with any of you, I'd be grateful for illumination.

Have I overlooked anything?  Any thoughts?

This thirteenth-century text is given in the form of a letter purporting to have been written by a Roman official, Lentulus, at the time of Tiberias Caesar. This detail is found in some (but not the oldest) of the manuscripts. The original language is Latin, but a Syriac Letter of Lentulus was found in the Mingana collection (Syr. 47). Persian and Armenian translations also exist. - page 542

According to M. R. James (The Apocryphal New Testament: Being the Apocryphal Gospels, Acts, Epistles, and and Apocalypses, with Other Narratives and Fragments [Oxford: Clarendon P, 1924]) the description of Jesus in the letter of Lentulus

follows the traditional portraits closely, and was no doubt written in presence of one. The Greeks, it may be added, had similar minute descriptions of the Apostles and the Virgin - just as they had of the heroes of Troy. - page 478

Finally (and irritatingly) I recall reading years ago, in a book (or possibly a magazine) that I now forget, an allegedly historical description of Jesus as having a crooked back and eyebrows that met in the middle.  If that story rings a bell with any of you, I'd be grateful for illumination.

I remember that article, but I seem to recall that it was describing the physical characteristics of Paul (which itself is problematic!). I also recall reading somewhere that the Greek icons of Jesus (as the long-haired and bearded ascetic dressed in a habit) were probably based on the images of the Early Desert Fathers - the first Christian monastics.

Incidentally, Daniel Caner, in Wandering, Begging Monks: Spiritual Authority and the Promotion of Monasticism in Late Antiquity (Berkeley: University of California P, 2002) writes that

It has often been observed that church leaders of this period [circa 313-418 CE] identified ascetic practices such as [...] the wearing of long hair (by men) and short hair (by women) with heresy partly because such practices effaced commonly recognized categories on which the Roman social order and hierarchy was based. - page 16

Blü wrote:

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DCH

1931 (I also found the date 1929) seems long enough ago for Herr Eisler's book to have been processed pretty thoroughly by the academic mill, so I'd guess his speculations were deemed to be just such.

Five feet tall was a very usual height back then - Greek and Roman soldiers have left us skeletons and armor appropriate to that size and no doubt there are other researches as well.