ABSTRACT
HAIR Natural hair is often ‘tamed’ and ‘cultured’ with particular cuts and styles. The ancient EGYPTIANS frequently supplemented their own hair with additional plaited-in locks, or shaved their heads and wore expensive WIGS: hair styling and display denoted high STATUS, and SYMBOLIZED strength and EROTICISM. Men in Assyria, Babylon and PERSIA grew their hair long and thick, coiffured into curls and set with expensive PERFUMED oils. In Greece men were reluctant to ‘tame’ their hair, which represented virile and generative manhood: women too might wear their hair loose as a mark of fertility and sexual display. Goddesses are eukomos (‘rich-’ or ‘fair-haired’ – most frequently HELEN, who represents FEMININE sexuality). However, threatening females are also often depicted with loose hair, flying free of the constraints of a VEIL: the flowing hair of MAENADS, or of low-class PROSTITUTES is symbolic of their marginal status. In general, Roman men did ‘tame’ their hair, keeping it shaved or short, although baldness was not admired. In literary tradition, baldness is closely associated with the stereotype of the ‘bad emperor’. Greek and Roman women displayed social status through their HAIRSTYLES. The symbolism of hair is clear in the coiffures of BRIDES, Greek ephebes offering a lock to the gods upon entering maturity, and boys’ long ‘Horus locks’
dedicated to Isis: it had an important role in rituals of transformation.
