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I have been wondering about what ancient warriors had long hair. I know the ancient Greek soldiers did, but I know no other examples. Any information is appreciated!
Cheers,
Peter
The celts?
The British Royal Navy's officers had long hair from the late 1600 until the early 1800s, Lord Nelson being a prime example. These guys wore their hair tied back in a ponytail known as a "queue".
Alot of the native tribes of the Americas, north, south and central, the Merovingians, the Chinese at certain times (maybe not ancient times), I know here in Ireland long hair was outlawed by Queen Elizabeth the first, so that suggests we had long hair I assume, haha!
Cant forget the vikings!
How about this guy?
Really though. I think all the Ancient people had long hair. Until the bronze age or so was there any real way to cut effectively. The rest is cultural/religious influence that pushed it so it was different depending o where you lived.
I read somewhere that in early Medieval times for the Goths, long hair and beards were the rule.
Besides the Celts and Ancient Greeks I believe the Mongul hordes had longhish hair. During Roman times however short hair was the norm. If you had longhair you were most likely a slave or barbarian. As a slave of course your owner would cut your hair if he/she wanted to.
Good thing the empire fell.
Kevin
The old Norse did.
Leif Erikson and Erik the Red are examples. The first Europeans who "discovered" America :D.
I agree, I think pretty much every ancient culture had longhaired warriors, except for maybe some like Rome if Kevin C says so. I was surprised when he said the slaves would be the longhaired ones there, I thought in most cultures the slaves had their head shaved to dishonor them. I know some Asian warriors were big on that.
The most drastic example I know is more biblical than historic, but if anyone knows anything about Samson, he was basically Hercules and ruled everything and his hair was the source of his power, then his lover cut it off and he lost everything (maybe there's a modern lesson in there for guys with girlfriends here? haha)
We have had a similar thread to this one several times before, so you might want to check the archive because I remember we had several good responses to the thread.
If you look back though through lots of historical stuff, you will find a good bit of long hair. The Spartan soldiers had long hair, and really it's thought that it was rather the norm in the late Bronze Age. In a book I've been trying to read, The Trojan War by Barry Strauss, he often describes the various players physically when they are introduced, and it's always "had long hair tied back" or something similar. Hittite warriors had long hair; there are Egyptian records which call the Hittites "women warriors" or something similar because of their locks. The Egyptians customarily had shaved heads, but interestingly enough wore long hair wigs. The Persians too are often depicted with long hair in rock carvings at Susa, Persepolis, etc. In Roman literature, I have found that Numa, the second king of Rome, was referred to as "intonsus" which means "unshorn" suggesting that he might have had longer hair, though that was not the norm amongst later soldiery in Rome's empire days, though Roman youth and teenagers did have long hair according to some stuff I've read. The Etruscans in ancient Italy are very often depicted with long hair in tomb paintings. The Chinese did customarily wear the long queues up until the very early part of the last century, although this is not quite the boon it seems since the hairstyle was basically enforced as a part of Manchu submission for the Han (check this fact; I may have it not just right). Further the samurai in Japan are depicted with the top knot styles which imply long hair inasmuch as to do the style, one needs long hair. The Vikings, Celts and Scots have already been mentioned. The Saxons in England before the Normans came in were reported to have had long hair, and sadly the Normans in their eradication of lots of the old Saxon thanes did away with that. Sad story, but true. But I also have read that the Norman youth started growing long hair to their elders' chagrin on the example of the Saxon/English youth. Long hair was also popular in the early seventeenth century in England with the Cavaliers during the Cromwell era as a sort of rebellion against the Puritanical regime in power then. Charles I of England had long hair although it was interesting that James I wrote in his Basilkon Doron not to let one's hair get to long when speaking about kingly behavioral models, though past mid-back must mean too long. This is a huge topic and one not exhaustible; I am sure there is much more to look up or a book about it somewhere.
MB
Thank you everyone for replying. I will check out the archive and also see if I can find a book on the subject.
Cheers,
Peter