Greek Grooming

[Stavros]

Hey alli recently read that ATG made sure that his army of men were clean shaven. this was done so the enemy could not grab them by their beards while stabbing them with their spears????? Stavros

[marcus]

Hi Stavros,That's a nice story, although I don't believe it. I'd be interested to know where you read it.We all know that Alexander kept himself clean shaven, of course, and from coinage it would suggest that many of his friends copied him (the top man dictates fashion as usual!) but I know of no evidence that suggests that the rank and file of the army shaved their beards.I could believe that Alexander got his soldiers to keep their beards short, but not that he had them all clean shaven.All the bestMarcus

[Susa]

HiYou know - the guy would have died anyway, so what's the point of not having a beard?susa

[John]

Plutarch mentions this, saying Alexander ordered his troops to shave before battle. When someone questioned him, Alexander replied, "Don't you know that in battle there is nothing easier for the enemy to grab hold of than the beard?"Really, I think Alexander did start a style. Before Alexander, only effeminate men shaved; after Alexander, it was common. (Look at Ptolemy on his coins, Seleucus, etc...)Monkey see, monkey do, I guess.John

[Linda]

I think it was an Athenian tradition for fashionable young men to shave; Alexander adopted this, and his freinds copied him. He has very long sideboards in the Darius mosaic - I wonder if they'll stick them on Leo.

[John]

If you read the Athenian comic Aristophanes, you can see that the Athenians used to laugh at any man who shaved his face, calling him a "Cleisthenes," who was a notoriously effeminate Athenian who used to shave his face. It was Alexander who took the shame out of shaving.(I wonder what Alexander's father Philip would have said if told that Alexander would be shaving at 32? Would it even matter what Philip thought?)John

[Linda]

Shame out of shaving - I like that....Aristophanes dies in 380BC, so he was writing quite a bit before Alexander was born. The infamous Alcibiades was also depicted as being clean-shaven, with long hair and a twist to his head...But I agree that Alexander popularised this "youthful" look.Linda

[John]

Alcibiades, too, had a beard, at least in this Greek bust of him I saw. Depictions of him "clean-shaven" must have come from Plato's description of him as a beautiful youth.When Alcibiades was exiled from Athens, he went to Sparta, and grew his beard even longer, to fit in with the ultra-manly Spartans. (Of course, then he got caught messing around with the Spartan king's wife, and hot-tailed it out of Sparta. What a character!)John

[Stavros]

Hi I read this in a publication called the Chicago Tribune published mid-99, but the article was on shaving and not ATG. Interesting responses, could have some truth to it?? If so then long hair was most likely or definately out of the question as well? kind regards,Stavros

[ruthaki]

He also created a style of shorter hair. This clean-shaven and shorter hair style was adopted by all his officers. I'm not so sure the old generals who had fought under Philip were keen on following this fashionable new look.

[davej]

It is interesting just how many times ancient sources contradict themselves. I have mentioned before that I am interested in Alexander's Use of Sarissa. Why would a man need to be clean shaven if he is hold a 5m spear out in front of him. I suggest that if anybody is close enough to grab you beard you may as well grab your own bum and kiss it goodbye;.

[yiannis]

True, but not ALL of ATG's men were carying the sarissa...

[wmp]

john - I've just returned from Sparta - and there
is a mosaic of Alkibiades in the Sparta
museum, that depicts him as cleanshaven, with
longish hair, and a decided twist to the head...
I'm not certain what era the mosiac is, but shall
check (you have to ask for the lights to be
switched on in the museum, so I may have
missed a description of the mosaic in the
gloom)...enjoy...wmp

[wmp]

I cut my long hair after some one in my own line
grabbed it to prevent me fighting the person in
front of me so that he could take them on,
merely for the kudos... :)wmp

[John]

That mosaic must have been based on Plato's description of Alcibiades, who was describing him as a youth (and therefore no beard).On Tim Spalding's Images of Alexander, he has a bust he labels "Philip (some say Alcibiades)"http://1stmuse.com/frames/s_filpsc.jpgJohn