A study examining the millennia-long history of hairstyles in antiquity has concluded that hair was considered a “source of life” and a “symbol of freedom.”
Hair was never merely hair. In classical Greece and Rome, the manner in which it was worn—whether long, short, curled, braided, up, or down—revealed one’s social standing, religious convictions, political allegiances, and even their current mood.
This assertion comes from a team of dermatologists at the Charité university hospital in Berlin. They analyzed iconography from sculptures, coins, and pottery to trace the evolution of ancient hairstyles. Their findings, published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology Symposium Proceedings, indicate that hairstyles reflected how individuals perceived themselves within the context of prevailing cultural and political climates.
In ancient Greece, during the Minoan and Homeric eras, men sported long hair. Frescoes from the Palace of Knossos in Crete depict dancers with dark hair reaching their shoulders. Homer’s heroes, such as the warriors of Marathon (490 BCE), also had long hair. The study points out that Greeks, Assyrians, and Persians grew their hair long, believing it to be a wellspring of life. Furthermore, they offered locks of hair as sacrifices to the deceased.
During the Archaic period, roughly up to 500 BCE, young noblemen known as kouroi wore their hair in exceptionally elaborate styles: locks reaching the shoulders or even longer, meticulously braided. Such elaborate coiffures demanded considerable time and likely the assistance of servants for styling.
However, a shift occurred in the mid-5th century BCE. Men began to cut their hair. The reason? The authors suggest a rather practical one: the rising popularity of athletic pursuits. This led to the emergence of the “athlete’s haircut,” which left the ears exposed. This style spread from Greece to Italy. A terracotta head discovered in a Greek colony in southern Italy portrays a young man with short, tousled hair, styled upwards and held in place with oil.
This style bears a resemblance to portraits of Alexander the Great, who popularized the anastole—strands of hair standing up from the center part of the head. Alexander was also the first Greek king to shave his beard, presenting youth as the ideal of his era. For centuries thereafter, beards fell out of fashion among rulers.
In Archaic Greece, distinguishing the gender of sculpted figures was challenging. Both men and women wore their long hair braided. But by the 5th century BCE, this distinction became clear. Women wore their long hair, typically curled at the forehead and temples, and gathered into a bun at the nape of the neck.
Later, a very distinctive youthful style became fashionable: the “melon” hairstyle. Its name derives from the way the hair was divided into segments running from the forehead to the back of the head, much like slices of a melon.
Homer already mentioned hair ornaments: cords, nets, and diadems like those worn by Andromache. Tombs have yielded evidence of wreaths made of silver or even gold leaves, ivory curling irons, and hairpins. Later, the Romans crafted nets from pure gold, inlaid with rubies and pearls.
Hair coloring and curling were commonplace. Curling irons were used, along with beeswax to set curls, and dyes derived from ashes or henna. Even colored wax was employed, resulting in rather extravagant hairstyles.
In antiquity, the gods not only reigned on Olympus but also dictated fashion trends for hairstyles. Each deity possessed a characteristic hairstyle, which mortals emulated.
Zeus, the father of the gods, wore his hair styled upwards first, then downwards, forming a crown of loose strands. Asclepius, the god of healing, was unique in combing his hair similarly to Zeus. He is depicted as a mature, bearded man with a gentler expression.
According to the Iliad, among the goddesses, Hera wore gleaming, fragrant locks covered by a veil. Athena, the patron of cities, wore a helmet from which fine curls peeked out. Artemis (Diana) pulled her straight hair back tightly. Aphrodite (Venus), the goddess of love, sported a similar style but with more seductive allure, featuring a chignon at the crown of her head. Demeter, the goddess of agriculture, wore a diadem but with disheveled hair on her forehead. German archaeologist Winckelmann interpreted this as an indication of her sorrow over her daughter’s abduction.
A contrast was presented by the world of Dionysus (Bacchus), the god of wine and ecstatic rituals. He and his followers are depicted with androgynous features, broad hips, a stooped posture, and long hair gathered into a bun at the nape of the neck, concealing their ears. Satyrs, on the other hand, are shown on vases with spiky hair, pointed ears, and small horns.
Maenads, the women who accompanied Bacchic rites, did not comb their hair. Sileni, conversely, covered their baldness with an ivy wreath. In Homer’s time, baldness was considered a mark of ugliness, as noted in the study. Socrates himself, bald, compared his appearance to that of a Silenus.
The authors mention several historical figures and their relationship with hair. Hippocrates was the first to document that eunuchs do not go bald. The so-called “Hippocratic crown” refers to a band of hair around the back and sides of the head in cases of mild androgenetic alopecia.
Homer and the playwright Euripides exhibit early baldness with unkempt, greasy hair hanging carelessly to the sides. Plato, conversely, possessed a luxuriant yet unkempt mane. Pericles, the Athenian statesman who was re-elected for fifteen consecutive years, knew how to present himself: he emulated Athena by wearing a helmet, growing a beard, and sporting a meticulously trimmed hairstyle.
In early Rome, both men and women maintained simple, natural hairstyles. Only dandies resorted to curling irons and oils. Women gathered their hair into a youthful bun or a matronly style. But when Greek dressing tables became fashionable, things became more complicated.
The Romans learned to alter natural hair color. Red hair was achieved with ash; brown tones were obtained from mixtures similar to “batava foam,” imported from what is now the Netherlands, according to Pliny the Elder. Petronius, author of the Satyricon, wrote that wigs were used for evening outings. Blonde hair was highly prized, obtained from captive women of Germanic tribes. Black locks were also brought from distant lands like India.
The study also notes that Romans must have enjoyed spending time at the barber shop, a frequent subject in comedies of the era. Ovid and Cicero ironically mocked men who used hair curling irons.
During the Empire period, portraits and coins of emperors circulated throughout the provinces. And what they wore on their heads became a fashion trend.
Augustus, the young emperor, had short, neat hair combed forward into a fringe. His successors introduced variations: Tiberius and Claudius had short, straight hair at the forehead; Nero, according to Suetonius, curled his hair with curling irons and arranged it neatly in rows.
Titus, conversely, presented a disheveled, curly mane. In sculptures, this effect was achieved through numerous openings drilled into the marble. When necessary, these curls, as described by the poet Martial, were depicted directly on the scalp.
Trajan (98–117 CE) did the opposite: he simply maintained a military-style haircut with strands falling onto his forehead. Hadrian, the Hellenophile emperor of the 2nd century, was the first Roman to sport a beard. This fashion was continued by his successors. His beloved Antinous, who became a myth after his death, is depicted in countless sculptures as the epitome of youth, with locks falling onto his face.
While Roman men lived simply, Roman women significantly complicated their lives.
Octavia, the sister of the first emperor, tied her curls in a loop above her brow and gathered them into a bun at the back. This style soon went out of vogue. More popular was the wavy style with a center part, worn by Livia, Augustus’s wife.
But the most extravagant hairstyles were characteristic of the Flavian dynasty (69–138 CE). Ladies of Roman high society sported two-part hairstyles. On one side, at the crown, they gathered curls that rose progressively higher, forming tower-like masses supported by wigs and likely iron wire.
On the other side, at the nape, they created what was called a “Flavian nest”: several strands of hair. The satirical poet Juvenal mocked this style, describing a woman who resembled Andromeda from the front but was quite the opposite from the back.
These fashion trends were not confined to Rome. They extended to the provinces. This can be observed in portraits from the Fayum mummy paintings, where Roman hairstyles are depicted with great detail.
In the late Roman Empire period, hairstyles became simpler. Julia Domna, mother of Emperor Caracalla (3rd century), wore a voluminous, dense hairstyle with wavy hair, reminiscent of the ancient Greek “melon” style.
According to the authors, the hairstyles described here, referencing masterpieces of ancient portraiture, remarkably reflect humanity’s pursuit of beauty and power. They also offer insight into how people envision themselves and the culture they inhabit.
This sentence could very well serve as a summary of the entire article. The empress’s curls, the king’s beard, the Greek girl’s braid, or the Roman woman’s blonde wig are not frivolous anecdotes. They are historical documents. They tell us how people wanted to be perceived, what they admired, whom they feared, and what they laughed at. According to the researchers, hair was associated with strength and purity, as well as, like among the ancient Germanic tribes, with male dignity and freedom.
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