Editing Beard (section)

===Ancient and classical world===

====Phoenicia====
[[File:Anthropoid sarcophagus discovered at Cadiz - Project Gutenberg eText 15052.png|thumb|160px|right|Phoenicians gave great attention to the beard, as can be seen in their sculptures.]]

[[Phoenicia]], the ancient Semitic civilization centered on the coastline of the Eastern Mediterranean (modern-day [[Syria]], [[Lebanon]] and [[Israel]]), gave great attention to the hair and beard. It was arranged in three, four, or five rows of small tight curls, and extended from ear to ear around the cheeks and chin. Sometimes, however, in lieu of the many rows, we find one row only, the beard falling in tresses curled at the extremity.<ref>{{Source-attribution|sentence=yes|{{cite book|last1=Rawlinson |first1=George |title=History of Phoenicia |url=https://archive.org/details/historyphoenici01rawlgoog |year=1889 |publisher=Longmans, Green, and Co}}}}</ref> There is no indication of the Phoenicians having cultivated mustachios.

====Israelites====

[[Israelites|Israelite]] society placed a special importance on the beard. Many male religious figures mentioned in the [[Hebrew Bible|Tanakh]] are recorded to have had facial hair. According to biblical scholars, the shaving of hair, particularly of the ''corners of the beard'', was a mourning custom.<ref>''[[Peake's commentary on the Bible]]''</ref> The religious cultivation of beards by Israelites may have been done as a deliberate attempt to distinguish their behaviour in comparison to their neighbours, reducing the impact of foreign customs (and religion) as a result.<ref name="Jewish Encyclopedia">''Jewish Encyclopedia''</ref> The [[Hittites]] and [[Elamites]] were clean-shaven, and the [[Sumer]]ians were also frequently without a beard;<ref name="Jewish Encyclopedia, Beard">''Jewish Encyclopedia'', ''Beard''</ref> conversely, the [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptians]] and Libyans shaved the beard into very stylised elongated [[goatee]]s.<ref name="Jewish Encyclopedia, Beard" />    [[File:Black Obelisk, Jewish delegation to Shalmaneser III.jpg|thumb|center|upright=4|The Israelite king [[Jehu]] kneels before [[Shalmaneser III]] as carved on the [[Black Obelisk]]. He and the Israelite delegation are distinguished from the Assyrians by distinctive beards.]]

====Mesopotamia====
[[File:Gilgamesh Statue Sydney University Statue4.14th.JPG|thumb|upright=.6|Statue of [[Gilgamesh]] with elaborate beard]]
[[Mesopotamia]]n civilizations (Sumerian, Assyrians, Babylonians, Chaldeans and Medians) devoted great care to oiling and dressing their beards, using tongs and curling irons to create elaborate ringlets and tiered patterns.<ref name="Motamedi">{{Cite book |last=Motamedi |first=Mohammad Hosein |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UGmQDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA586 |title=A Textbook of Advanced Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery: Volume 2 |date=2015-04-22 |publisher=BoD – Books on Demand |isbn=978-953-51-2035-3 |language=en}}</ref>

====Egypt====
While generally ancient Egyptian fashion called for men to be clean-shaven, during at least some periods the highest ranking Ancient Egyptians grew hair on their chins which was often dyed a reddish orange with [[henna]] and sometimes plaited with an interwoven gold thread. A metal false beard, or [[postiche]], which was a sign of sovereignty, was worn by kings and by [[queen regnant|queens regnant]]. This was held in place by a ribbon tied over the head and attached to a gold chin strap, a fashion existing from about {{BCE|3000 to 1580|link=y}}.<ref name="Motamedi"/>

====Greece====
[[File:Aristotle Altemps Inv8575.jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[Aristotle]] with a beard]]
The [[ancient Greeks]] regarded the beard as a badge or sign of virility; in the [[Homeric epics]] it had almost sanctified significance, so that a common form of entreaty was to touch the beard of the person addressed.<ref>See, for example, Homer ''Iliad'' 1:500–1 and 8:371.</ref> According to [[William Smith (lexicographer)|William Smith]] in these ancient times the moustache was shaven, leaving clear the space around the lips.<ref name=smith/> It was only shaven as a sign of mourning, though in this case it was instead often left untrimmed.<ref name=smith>{{cite book|last=Smith |first=W. |date=1890 |title= A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities |publisher=William Wayte |url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:entry=barba-cn}}</ref> A smooth face was regarded as a sign of effeminacy.<ref>{{harvnb|Peck|1898}} cites Athen. xiii. 565</ref> The [[Sparta]]ns punished cowards by shaving off a portion of their beards.<ref>{{cite book| last=Ephraim |first=D. |author-link= |date=1989 |title=Classical Sparta. Techniques behind her success |location=London |publisher=Routledge |page=14 |isbn=0-415-00339-3}}</ref> Greek beards were also frequently curled with [[tongs]]. Youngsters usually did not grow a beard, moreover wearing a beard became optional for adults in the {{BCE|5th and 4th century}}.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Adkins |first1=L. |last2=Adkins |first2=Roy A. |author-link= |date=2005 |title=Handbook to Life in Ancient Greece |location=New York |publisher=Facts on file |page=453 |isbn=0-8160-5659-5}}</ref>

====Macedon====
In Ancient Macedonia, during the time of [[Alexander the Great]] (r. 336–323 BCE) the custom of smooth shaving was introduced. Alexander strongly promoted shaving during his reign because he believed it looked tidier. Reportedly, Alexander ordered his soldiers to be clean-shaven, fearing that their beards would serve as handles for their enemies to grab and hold onto. The practice of shaving spread from the Macedonians, whose kings are represented on coins, statues, etc. with smooth faces, throughout the whole known world of the Macedonian Empire. Laws were passed against it, without effect, at Rhodes and Byzantium; even [[Aristotle]] conformed to the new custom, unlike the other philosophers, who retained the beard as a badge of their profession. Due to this, a man with a beard, after the Macedonian period, implied a philosopher; there are many allusions to this custom of the later philosophers in such proverbs as: "The beard does not make the sage." Due to this association with philosophers, who lost reputation over time, the beard acquired more and more a negative connotation, as in Theodore Prodromos, Lucian of Samosata and Julian the apostate (who wrote the Misopogon, i. e. "beard hater")

====Rome====
Shaving seems to have not been known to the [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] during their early history (under the kings of Rome and the early Republic). Pliny tells us that P. Ticinius was the first who brought a barber to Rome, which was in the 454th year from the founding of the city (that is, around {{BCE|299|link=y}}). [[Scipio Africanus]] ({{BCE|236–183}}) was apparently the first among the Romans who shaved his beard. However, after that point, shaving seems to have caught on very quickly, and soon almost all Roman men were clean-shaven; being clean-shaven became a sign of being Roman and not Greek. Only in the later times of the Republic did the Roman youth begin shaving their beards only partially, trimming it into an ornamental form; prepubescent boys oiled their chins in hopes of forcing premature growth of a beard.<ref>{{harvnb|Peck|1898}} cites Petron. 75, 10</ref>

Still, beards remained rare among the Romans throughout the Late Republic and the early Principate. In a general way, in Rome at this time, a long beard was considered a mark of slovenliness and squalor. The censors [[L. Veturius]] and [[P. Licinius]] compelled [[M. Livius]], who had been banished, on his restoration to the city, to be shaved, to lay aside his dirty appearance, and then, but not until then, to come into the [[Roman Senate|Senate]].<ref>{{harvnb|Peck|1898}} cites Liv.xxvii. 34</ref> The first occasion of shaving was regarded as the beginning of manhood, and the day on which this took place was celebrated as a festival.<ref>{{harvnb|Peck|1898}} cites Juv.iii. 186</ref> Usually, this was done when the young Roman assumed the ''[[toga virilis]]''. [[Augustus]] did it in his twenty-fourth year, [[Caligula]] in his twentieth. The hair cut off on such occasions was consecrated to a god. Thus [[Nero]] put his into a golden box set with pearls, and dedicated it to [[Jupiter Capitolinus]].<ref>{{harvnb|Peck|1898}} cites Suet. Ner.12</ref> The Romans, unlike the Greeks, let their beards grow in time of mourning; so did Augustus for the death of [[Julius Caesar]].<ref>{{harvnb|Peck|1898}} cites Dio Cass. xlviii. 34</ref> Other occasions of mourning on which the beard was allowed to grow were, appearance as a ''reus'', condemnation, or some public calamity. On the other hand, men of the country areas around Rome in the time of [[Marcus Terentius Varro|Varro]] seem not to have shaved except when they came to market every eighth day, so that their usual appearance was most likely a short stubble.<ref>Varro asked rhetorically how often the tradesmen of the country shaved between market days, implying (in chronologist E. J. Bickerman's opinion) that this did not happen at all: "quoties priscus homo ac rusticus Romanus inter nundinum barbam radebat?",[http://archimedes.fas.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/dict?name=ls&lang=la&word=nundinus&filter=CUTF8 Varr. ap. Non. 214, 30; 32] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304051754/http://archimedes.fas.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/dict?name=ls&lang=la&word=nundinus&filter=CUTF8 |date=2016-03-04 }}: see also E J Bickerman, ''Chronology of the Ancient World'', London (Thames & Hudson) 1968, at p. 59.</ref>

In the {{CE|second century|link=y}} the Emperor [[Hadrian]] (r. 117 - 138), according to [[Dio Cassius]], was the first emperor to grow a full beard; [[Plutarch]] says that he did it to hide scars on his face. This was a period in Rome of widespread imitation of Greek culture, and many other men grew beards in imitation of Hadrian and the Greek fashion. After Hadrian until the reign of [[Constantine the Great]] (r. 306–337) all adult emperors appear in busts and coins with beards; but Constantine and his successors until the reign of [[Phocas]] (r. 602 - 610), with the exception of [[Julian the Apostate]] (r. 361 - 363), are represented as beardless.<ref name=smith/> The wearing of the  beard as an imperial fashion was subsequently revived by Phocas at the beginning of the 7th century and this fashion lasted until the end of the Byzantine Empire.

====The "philosopher's beard"====
In Greco-Roman antiquity the beard was "seen as the defining characteristic of the philosopher; philosophers had to have beards, and anyone with a beard was assumed to be a philosopher."<ref>Citing Lucian's Demonax 13, Cynicus 1 – {{cite book|title=The art of living: the Stoics on the nature and function of philosophy|first=John|last=Sellars|year=1988|publisher=Ashgate Publishing Limited|location=Burlington, VT}}</ref> While one may be tempted to think that [[Socrates]] and [[Plato]] sported "philosopher's beards", such is not the case. 
Shaving was not widespread in Athens during fifth and fourth-century BCE and so they would not be distinguished from the general populace for having a beard. The popularity of shaving did not rise in the region until the example of Alexander the Great near the end of the fourth century BCE. The popularity of shaving did not spread to Rome until the end of the third century BCE following its acceptance by [[Scipio Africanus]]. In Rome shaving's popularity grew to the point that for a respectable Roman citizen, it was seen almost as compulsory.

The idea of the philosopher's beard gained traction when in 155 BCE three philosophers arrived in Rome as Greek diplomats: [[Carneades]], head of the [[Platonic Academy]]; [[Critolaus]] of [[Aristotle]]'s [[Lyceum (classical)|Lyceum]]; and the head of the [[Stoicism|Stoics]], [[Diogenes of Babylon]]. "In contrast to their beautifully clean-shaven Italian audience, these three intellectuals all sported magnificent beards."<ref name="Sellars">{{cite book |title=The art of living: the Stoics on the nature and function of philosophy |first=John |last=Sellars |year=1988 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing Limited |location=Burlington, VT}}</ref> Thus the connection of beards and philosophy caught hold of the Roman public imagination.

[[File:Epicteti Enchiridion Latinis versibus adumbratum (Oxford 1715) frontispiece.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Epictetus]] stated he would embrace death before shaving.]]

The importance of the beard to Roman [[philosopher]]s is best seen by the extreme value that the Stoic philosopher [[Epictetus]] placed on it. As historian John Sellars puts it, Epictetus "affirmed the philosopher's beard as something almost sacred...to express the idea that philosophy is no mere intellectual hobby but rather a way of life that, by definition, transforms every aspect of one's behavior, including one's shaving habits. If someone continues to shave in order to look the part of a respectable Roman citizen, it is clear that they have not yet embraced philosophy conceived as a way of life and have not yet escaped the social customs of the majority...the true philosopher will only act according to reason or according to nature, rejecting the arbitrary conventions that guide the behavior of everyone else."<ref name="Sellars"/>

Epictetus saw his beard as an integral part of his identity and held that he would rather be executed than submit to any force demanding he remove it. In his [[Discourses of Epictetus|Discourses]] 1.2.29, he puts forward such a hypothetical confrontation: {{"'}}Come now, Epictetus, shave your beard'. If I am a philosopher, I answer, I will not shave it off. 'Then I will have you beheaded'. If it will do you any good, behead me."<ref name="Sellars"/> The act of shaving "would be to compromise his philosophical ideal of living in accordance with nature and it would be to submit to the unjustified authority of another."<ref name="Sellars"/>

This was not theoretical in the age of Epictetus, for the Emperor [[Domitian]] had the hair and beard forcibly shaven off of the philosopher [[Apollonius of Tyana]] "as punishment for anti-State activities."<ref name="Sellars"/> This disgraced Apollonius while avoiding making him a martyr like Socrates. Well before his declaration of "death before shaving" Epictetus had been forced to flee Rome when Domitian banished all philosophers from Italy under threat of execution.

Roman philosophers sported different styles of beards to distinguish which school they belonged to. [[Cynicism (philosophy)|Cynics]] with long dirty beards to indicate their "strict indifference to all external goods and social customs";<ref name="Sellars"/> Stoics occasionally trimming and washing their beards in accordance with their view "that it is acceptable to prefer certain external goods so long as they are never valued above virtue";<ref name="Sellars"/> [[Peripatetic school|Peripatetics]] took great care of their beards believing in accordance with Aristotle that "external goods and social status were necessary for the good life together with virtue".<ref name="Sellars"/> To a Roman philosopher in this era, having a beard and its condition indicated their commitment to live in accordance with their philosophy.

====Celts and Germanic tribes====
[[File:Charles IV-John Ocko votive picture-fragment.jpg|upright|thumb|[[Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor]]]]

Late Hellenistic sculptures of [[Celts]]<ref>Examples (both in Roman copies): ''[[Dying Gaul]]'', ''[[Ludovisi Gaul]]''</ref> portray them with long hair and mustaches but beardless. [[Julius Caesar|Caesar]] reported the [[Celtic Britons|Britons]] wore no beard except upon the upper lip.

The [[Anglo-Saxons]] on arrival in Great Britain wore beards and continued to do so for a considerable time after.<ref>''The National Cyclopedia of Useful Knowledge'', Vol III, (1847) Charles Knight, London, p. 46.</ref> Among the [[Gaels|Gaelic]] Celts of Scotland and Ireland, men typically let their facial hair grow into a full beard, and it was often seen as dishonourable for a Gaelic man to have no facial hair.<ref name="Connolly-prologue">{{cite book |title=Contested island: Ireland 1460–1630 |last=Connolly |first=Sean J |year=2007 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=7 |chapter=Prologue}}</ref><ref name="Gerald">[http://www.yorku.ca/inpar/topography_ireland.pdf ''The Topography of Ireland'' by Giraldus Cambrensis] (English translation)</ref><ref>Macleod, John, ''Highlanders: A History of the Gaels'' (Hodder and Stoughton, 1997) p. 43</ref>

[[Tacitus]] states that among the Catti, a [[Germanic people|Germanic]] tribe (perhaps the [[Chatten]]), a young man was not allowed to shave or cut his hair until he had slain an enemy. The [[Lombards]] derived their name from the great length of their beards (Longobards – Long Beards). When [[Otto the Great]] said anything serious, he swore by his beard, which covered his breast.