BARBA (pwgwn, geneion, uphnh, Aristoph. Lysist. 1072), the beard. The fashions which have prevailed at different times, and in different countries, with respect to the beard, have been very various. The most refined modern nations regard the beard as an encumbrance, without beauty or meaning; but the ancients generally cultivated its growth and form with special attention; and that the Greeks were not behind-hand in this, any more than in other arts, is sufficiently shown by the statues of their philosophers. The phrase pwgwnotrofein, which is applied to letting the beard grow, implies a positive culture. Generally speaking, a thick beard, pwgwn baqui, or dasui, was considered as a mark of manliness. The Greek philosophers were distinguished by their long beards as a sort of badge, and hence the term which Persius (Sat. iv.1) applies to Socrates magister barbatus. The Homeric heroes were bearded men. So Agamemnon, Ajax, Menelaus, Ulysses (Il. xxii.74, xxiv.516, Od. xvi.176). According to Chrysippus, cited by Athenaeus (xiii p565), the Greeks wore the beard till the time of Alexander the Great, and he adds that the first man who was shaven was called ever after korshn, "shaven" (from keirw). Plutarch (Thes. c.5) says that the reason for the shaving was that they might not be pulled by the beard in battle. The custom of shaving the beard continued among the Greeks till the time of Justinian, and during that period even the statues of the philosophers were without the beard. The philosophers, however, generally continued the old badge of their profession, and their ostentation in so doing gave rise to the saying that a long beard does not make the philosopher (pwgwnotropfia filosofwn ou poiei), and a man, whose wisdom stopped with his beard, was called ek pwgwnoi sofoi (compare Gell. ix.2; Quint. xi.1). The Romans in early times wore the beard uncut, as we learn from the insult offered by the Gaul to M. Papirius (Liv. v.41), and from Cicero (Pro Cael. 14); and according to Varro (De Re Rust. ii.11) and Pliny (vii.59), the Roman beards were not shaven till B.C. 300, when P. Ticinius Maenas brought over a barber from Sicily; and Pliny adds, that the first Roman who was shaved (rasus) every day was Scipio Africanus. His custom, however, was soon followed, and shaving became regular thing. The lower orders, then as now, were not always able to do the same, and hence the jeers of Martial (vii.95, xii.59). In the later times of the republic there were many who shaved the beard only partially, and trimmed it, so as to give it an ornamental form; to them the terms bene barbati (Cic. Catil. ii.10) and barbatuli (Cic. ad Att. i.14, 16, Pro Cael. 14) are applied. When in mourning all the higher as well as the lower orders let their beards grow.

In the general way in Rome at this time, a long beard barba promissa, (Liv. xxvii.34) 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, and to lay aside his dirty appearance (tonderi et squalorem deponere), and then, but not till then, to come into the senate, &c. (Liv. xxvii.34). The first time of shaving was regarded as the beginning of manhood, and the day on which this took place was celebrated as a festival (Juv. Sat. iii.186). There was no particular time fixed for this to be done. Usually, however, it was done when the young Roman assumed the toga virilis (Suet. Calig. 10). Augustus did it in his 24th year; Caligula in his 20th. The hair cut off on such occasions was consecrated to some god. Thus Nero put his up in a gold box, set with pearls, and dedicated it to Jupiter Capitolinus (Suet. Ner. 12).

With the emperor Hadrian the beard began to revive (Dion Cass. lxviii.15). Plutarch says that the emperor wore it to hide some scars on his face. The practice afterwards became common, and till the time of Constantine the Great, the emperors appear in busts and coins with beards. The Romans let their beards grow in times of mourning; so Augustus did (Suet. Aug. 23) for the death of Julius Caesar, and the time when he had it shaved off he made a season of festivity (Dion Cass. xlviii.34; comp. Cic. in Verr. ii.12). The Greeks, on the other hand, on such occasions shaved the beard close. Tacitus (Germ. c3) says that the Catti let their hair and beard grow, and would not have them cut till they had slain an enemy (compare Becker, Charikles, vol. ii, p387, &c.).

William Smith, A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (London: John Murray, 1875), 196-197.