Maintenance oF head hair was an essential component of an individual’s kosmos (adornment).131 Disheveled hair was a sign that one was outside the proper order of things, for example, the disaffected, philosophers, persons in mourning, and old people.132 Properly arranged hair reflected proper social order.133
It is unclear when professionaL barbers were first employed in Greece.134 Presumably, in early periods men and women tended their own hairstyles.135 By the fifth century, barbershops were popular gathering places for men; like perfume shops, they were a source of gossip and news.136 Barbers maintained the hair and beard, and they may also have performed other services such as nail paring, removal of corns and warts, and the plucking of stray body hairs.137 Implements such as shears, tweezers, combs, and mirrors are common finds in all periods, though the majority were certainly personal articles as opposed to professional tools.138 Barbers are not depicted on Greek vases, but fifth-century terra cottas representing barbers with their customers are known from Tanagra.139
Women, for whom professional hairstylists were apparently unknown, maintained their own coiffures, sometimes with the aid of personal attendants. Despite the prevalence of toilette scenes generally in vase painting, images of hairstyling are relatively rare.140 These scenes date primarily to the late fifth and fourth centuries, and adorn “women’s pots,” for example a red-figure pyxis
3.7. Red-figure pyxis, unattributed, ca. 420-410 bce, Musee du Louvre, CA 2262, Paris. Photo: Herve Lewandowski. ©RMN-Grand Palais/Art Resource, NY. Drawing by Glynnis Fawkes.
From KercH depicting a crouching nude woman combing her hair while gazing into a mirror (Figure 3.7). An exceptional scene on a lekanis lid by the Marsyas Painter (Figure 3.8), also from Kerch, depicts women in various stages of (un)dress, some arranging their own hair, some attended by others, including erotes; the crouching bather may be Aphrodite, or perhaps a bride.141 The proper arrangement oF the hair, together with the application of scented oils (which surely also functioned as styling products), would have comprised an essential element of the preparations of the bride.142
The use of artIficial dyes and hairpieces, while prevalent in Egypt and in Greece during the Hellenistic and Roman periods, seems not to have been conventional practice in Archaic and Classical Greece.143 Wigs are mentioned by Xenophon as a common Median fashion (Cyropaedia, 1.3.2) and by dramatists in scenes of male-to-female transvestism (e. g., Aristophanes, Women at the Thesmophoria, 258).144 Although it has been argued that the hairstyles of some Acropolis korai wouLd have been impossible to achieve without the use of wigs or “extensions,” we should not expect the sculptor to mirror reality in every detail.145 Likewise, though the Acropolis korai display a broad range of hair colors, including blonde, brown, and red, and Lyric poets refer to various colors, it is impossible to determine whether these reflect natural hair colors or shades achieved artificially.146
A comprehensive history of Greek hairstyles has not been attempted, presumably because of the complexity of the evidence. Still, broad patterns can be
3.8. Red-figure lekanis, Marsyas Painter, ca. 370-360 bce, State Hermitage Museum UO-32, St. Petersburg. Photograph ©The State Hermitage Museum. Photo by Vladimir Terebenin. Drawing by Glynnis Fawkes.
Detected, primarily on the basis of gender and age, though these change over time. Most studies are based on representations in sculpture, which is generally more detailed, and at a larger scale, than vase painting.147 In most cases, the visual evidence is corroborated by the literary sources. Unfortunately, specific styles are rarely described in detaIl by the ancient authors, and although Pollux And the lexicographers name several hairstyles, we cannot be confident of their identifications.148
As in many cultures, Greek hairstyles functioned as indicators of gender and age.149 In general, both boys and girls wore their hair long; as they grew toward adulthood, their hair was progressively brought under social control by means of braiding, binding, or cutting.150 Artistic conventions change over time, and there is a discernible shift from the Archaic to the Classical periods. For example, early Archaic kouroi anD korai (e. g., Figures 4.14, 5.8) all wear their hair long in the back and cut short in the front, perhaps a reflection of ritual haircutting at puberty (for boys) or marriage (for girls).151 The long, unbound hair symbolizes aristocratic status for both genders. Later kouroi wear shorter styles (e. g., Figure 2.4), sometimes achieved by rolling or plaiting the hair, binding the braids along the hairline.152 This practical style seems to have developed as a reflection of the increased popularity of athletics after the middle of the sixth century.153 After this time, men and boys are usually represented with short hair (e. g., Figures 2.5, 3.3), and long hair is reserved for (some) divinities. In contrast, adult women, both human and divine, are generally shown with long hair bound up in a chignon or “ponytail” (e. g., Figures 3.5, 3.14, 4.21, 5.12,
5.23, 7.8), sometimes with a fillet, or covered with a sakkos, mitra, or veil (e. g., Figures 4.10, 4.12, 4.22, 4.23, 5.16a, 7.8, 7.15).154
Whereas hairstyles for boys and men form a continuum, the visual evidence reflects a clear progression in feminine hairstyles from girlhood to adult womanhood.155 For example, three Classical grave stelai depicting idealized images of deceased females at different life stages display three distinct hairstyles:156 the young girl wears her long hair loose down her back, with only the front locks caught in a topknot (Figure 4.8); the parthenos wears hers bound up in a band, but with the ends of her hair emerging from it like a kind of brush (Figure 4.9); while the hair of the adult gyne is completely bound with a sakkos, and covered in addition with a thin veil (Figure 4.22).157 The hairstyles associated with the three primary female life stages reflect increasing levels of social control. Further gradations of this scheme are discernible in Classical vase painting - for example, on side A of the red-figure kylix by the Wedding Painter in Compiegne (Figure 3.9). The two maidens in the center gathering fruit are identifiable by their long hair: the figure on the right wears hers loose underneath her stephane, whereas the figure on the left wears hers in a kind of bound ponytail tied with a fringed fillet.158 The other women, in contrast, have their hair bound up completely, identifying them as gynai. The significance of binding and covering women’s hair is especially evident in the prevalence of hair-binding scenes in wedding iconography (see Chapter 7, p. 210).
Interestingly, it seems that proper women’s hairstyles were shareD by hetairai as well. Although women of servile status are often identified by cropped hair,
3.9. Red-figure kylix, Wedding Painter, ca. 470 BCE, Musee Vivenel 1090, Compiegne.
3.10. Tondo of red-figure kylix, Briseis Painter, ca. 480—460 BCE, Museo Nazionale Tarquiniese XXXX0.4434, Tarquinia.
Few women in symposion scenes wear this style (though see Figure 3.10). Long hair is more common, usually arranged in the same way as proper women.159 The fact that hetairai are not distinguished from other women by means of hairstyle suggests that the primary referent for hairstyles was gender as opposed to social status. It likewise suggests a slippage of social categories also discernible in other practices of body modification, such as bathing and the use of cosmetics (discussed earlier).
Short-haired women in Attic iconography are generally identified as slaves (Figures 3.10, 7.16).160 The notion that shorn hair indicated servile status is a frequent trope in the literary sources (e. g., Aristophanes, Birds, 911).161 On the other hand, male workers often cover their short hair with various head coverings, while male elites rarely cover their heads.162 In both cases, those of lower status experience a kind of inversion of gender roles: the female slave has short hair like a man; the male worker covers his head like a woman.
Persons of an advanced age are represented as such by artistic conventions that closely mirror biological realities.163 In vase painting, mature men are recognizable by their receding hairlines or partial baldness (Figures 4.12, 6.1), while elderly men and women are distinguished by their white (or gray) hair (Figures 4.10, 5.20).164 These are, in fact, naturally occurring permanent body modifications.165 As discussed earlier, hair carries with it erotic connotations; hence, hair loss indicated a corresponding loss of sexual prowess. On the other hand, balding men are frequently represented on symposion cups engaged in sexual activity; but perhaps these images are intended to be humorous. It seems that white hair also connoted loss of sexual vigor: in several poems of Anacreon, an aged speaker paradoxically denies the diminished capacities of a mature lover.166 In general, however, white hair simply identifies the bearer as old, in contrast to dark-haired youths.167
Although distinctions in hairstyles between older and younger men are commonly mentioned in literature, they are not generally apparent in the visual sources, in which adult men share the same short cut. Thucydides (Histories, 1.6.3) notes that old men fastened their long hair with golden cicadas, presumably a type oF barrette (echoed by Aristophanes at Knights, 1331; Clouds, 983).168 Although hairclips are not represented, Attic grave stelai of the fourth century generally represent older men with longer locks.169 On the other hand, Aristophanes makes several references to young men wearing their hair long, with obvious disapproval.170 Long “Laconian” hair (discussed later) carried with it connotations of excessive luxury (e. g., Clouds, 14; Knights, 579-580) and passive homosexuality (Clouds, 1101; Wasps, 1068-1070). This hairstyle may reflect larger social changes of the last decades of the fifth century, in particular a perceived breakdown of popular morality.171
As is often the case for Spartan social practices, Laconian hairstyles are reported by Athenian authors to be the exact opposite of their own.172 Whereas Athenian males grew their hair as children and cut it upon reaching adulthood, Spartan boys were kept shorn, but they grew their hair long as adults.173 Herodotus explains the origin oF the long style as a sign of mourning following a sixth-century military defeat by the Argives (who thereafter cut their hair short: 1.82); Xenophon ascribes the style to the lawgiver Lycurgus’ conviction That “it would make them look taller, more dignified and more terrifying” (Constitution of the Lacedaemonians, 11.3).174 Aristotle notes that the Spartan hairstyle was the mark of a free man, since it was difficult to perform menial tasks with long hair (Rhetoric, 1.9.26-27). On the other hand, young Athenian elites emulating Laconian hairstyles and clothing are mocked in Aristophanes.
Just as Spartan men’s hairstyles are the opposite of those of Athenian men, Spartan women’s hairstyles are the opposite of those worn by Athenian women; they are also the opposite of Spartan men’s. The evidence is mostly late, thougH Aristotle says that Spartan women were required to wear their hair short (Constitution of the Lacedaemonians, fr. 8);175 Plutarch further specifies that it was cut as part of the Spartan wedding ceremony, in which the bride would also wear a man’s cloak and sandals (Plutarch, Lycurgus, 15.3).176 As Vernant has noted: “In shaving the head of the young bride, everything that could be still considered masculine and martial - and wild - in her femininity is extirpated in her new matrimonial state.”177
Similar inversions characterize the hairstyles oF barbarians. Regarding Egyptians, for example, Herodotus notes that “Everywhere else, priests of the gods wear their hair long; in Egypt they are shaven. With all other men, in mourning for the dead those most nearly concerned have their heads shaven; Egyptians are shaven at other times, but after a death they let their hair and beard grow” (2.36).178 Herodotus’ description matches images of Egyptians in Greek vase painting (e. g., Figure 3.18).179 Aside from the Egyptians, most foreigners are identifiable in vase painting by their headgear rather than their hairstyles.180 An exception is the Thracians, who are sometimes represented witH light or reddish color hair, confirming the testimony of Xenophanes of Kolophon (fr. 16).181 Some Thracian women have cropped hair (though this could be an indication of their servile status rather than their ethnicity); others have long, unkempt hair, emphasizing their wildness.182 Africans (or Ethiopians) are distinguished by their wooly hair, sometimes rendered in relief on vases.183 Herodotus specifies that Ethiopians from the East have straight hair, whereas those from Libya have the wooliest hair of all men (7.70; cf. Xenophanes fr. 16). In general, the hair of barbarians is distinct from that of Greeks.
Within the GreeK (male) population, some natural characteristics of the hair were thought to reFlect internal character. In the Pseudo-Aristotelian Physiognomics, the meanings of hair are adduced by means of analogy, especially with women, barbarians, and animals. For example, the author argues:
When the hair of the head stands up stiff, it signifies cowardice, by con-gruity, for fright makes the hair stand on end: and very wooly hair also signifies cowardice, as may be seen in Ethiopians. Thus extremely bristly and extremely wooly hair alike signify cowardice, and so hair gently curling at the end will make for boldness of spirit, as is to be seen in lions. A ridge of hair on the upper part of the forehead indicates a liberal Disposition, as in the lion: but a growth of hair on the forehead down by the nose indicates illiberality, the argument being from congruity, because such a growth presents a servile appearance. (8i2bi.26—8i3ai.2)184
Such comparisons reinforce the Greek masculine ideal by constructing the others in opposition to the norm.
World History
