http://www.jstor.orgGreek and Roman BarbersAuthor(s): Frank W. NicolsonSource: Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, Vol. 2, (1891), pp. 41-56Published by: Department of the Classics, Harvard UniversityStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/310326Accessed: 24/05/2008 19:51Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available athttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unlessyou have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and youmay use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained athttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=dchu.Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printedpage of such transmission.JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1995 to build trusted digital archives for scholarship. We enable thescholarly community to preserve their work and the materials they rely upon, and to build a common research platform thatpromotes the discovery and use of these resources. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.GREEKANDROMANBARBERS. BY FRANKW.NICOLSON. THE barber's profession wasamore important one among the GreeksandRomansthan itisinmodem days. Thebarber's implements werethen comparativelyscarce, andmenas arulemade their morning toilet in the barber-shop, because they had not at home the necessarycombs,razors, andmirrors. Moreover, therazors and shears weresorudeand unwieldy thatitnodoubt required askilful handtousethem.The original andchief occupation ofthebarber was probably thatof cutting thehair;thatof shaving camelater. Inthe very earliesttimeswemust suppose that every man was his ownbarber. Wecannot sayexactly whenthe profession ofbarberfirstarose in Greece, but weknowthatitwasata veryearly date.Wehave severalreferencestobarbersintheOld Comedy.Aristophanes, though hedoesnotusetheword Kovpc1, hasseveralreferencesto shaving and hair-cutting.Eupolis refers distinctly tothe Kovpw (Eup.Xp.yevos VI.). Cf.also Philyllius IIoX. V.andCratinus Awov. II. Astothe Romans,however, thecaseisdifferent.WVeknowex- actly whenthefirst barber appeared inRome.Varro (R.R. II.II. IO)saysthatbarbersfirstcametoItalyfromSicily,A.U.c.454, undertheleadershipofP.TiciniusMena.Thesebarbersbrought overfromSicilymayhavebeenGreeks. Theprofessionofthebarber was mostflourishing inRomeinthe timeoftheEmpire.Totheirshopstheyoungnoblesusedtoflock tohavetheirlockstrimmedandcurled.Cf. Seneca,DeBrev.Vitae, XII. 3. Theprofessionbecamesopopularatlastthatthebarbers occupiedelegantshops,finely fittedupwithlargemirrors, andgrew tobearich class.AtlasttheEmperorinterfered.Ammian(XXII. 4),describingtheluxurioushabitsofthetime(A.D.361),tellsus thatonedaytheEmperorJuliansentforabarbertocuthishair. Heentered," ambitiosevestitus."TheEmperor,astonishedathis 4' FrankW.Nicolson. magnificentappearance,said, " ego nonrationalemiussisedtonso- remacciri."Hethenwentontoask thebarber howmuchhemade by the practice ofhis profession; thelatter replied thathemade enougheveryday to keeptwentypersons andas manyhorses, be- sides enjoying a large annual incomeand many sourcesofincidental gain. The Emperor,indignant at hearingthis,expelled fromthe kingdom allthemenofthis trade,together withthecooksandall whomadesimilar profits. Inthisconnectionitis interesting tonote thatPlato (Rep. 373 c) classesbothbarbersandcookswiththose personal servants (8laKovoL) whicharenot necessary toanideal state, butwhichwouldbe required inaluxurious city. Wehaveno description ofa barber-shop, asa whole, inGreekor Latin literature; butwecan get anideaof whatitmusthavecon- tainedfrom thereferencesto implements usedinit.Thesewillbe describedlater.In general, it may besaidthatthe barber-shop did notdifferin appearance, externally, from thevariousother shops of AthensorRome.Horace (Ep. I. 7. 50) referstothe"vacuaton- sorisumbra," onwhich passage Orellihasthisnote: "Finge tibi tonstrinamRomanamafronte prorsus apertam, superne eta postica parteatque alateribuscentonibusvel sipariis adversussolemtec- tam."Theword"vacua"inthispassageimpliesthattheshop wasfreefrom idlers,thosewhohadcomeforbusinessbeinggone, whiletheloungers hadnotyetcome. BoththeGreekandRomanbarber-shops werecelebratedlounging places.Itwas tothebarber-shop thatthe Greekor Romanresorted tohearthegossipand thenewsoftheday.Thebarber-shop was to themwhat thedailynewspaperistous.Allusionstothiscustomof gatheringattheKOVpLOVare tobefoundintheliteratureasearly as theOldComedy.Cf.EupolisMar.III.;AristophanesAv. I439, andP/ut.338.Forlaterreferences,cf.AthenaeusXII.520e;Ly- siasXXIII.3;DemosthenesinArist.786;TheophrastusChar.XI. Plutarch(Symp.V.5)quotesasayingofTheophrastusconcerning thesegatherings:aoLva(rv.L7roorLawa7tawvcKGa(LTaLKOVpCLZaGau\V XiXa?Lv 'Toy7rpoTKae9UovTOv. These"winelesssymposia"existedalsoamongtheRomans,and wereequally wellpatronized.For referencescf.Martial Epig.II.I7; HoraceSat.I.7. 3; PlautusAmph.1013;andTerencePhor.89. Theancientbarbers, likethoseofour ownday,hadagreatrepu- 42 GreekandRomanBarbers. tationfor garrulity. Itis easy tounderstandhow theygradually developed thisfault.Fromtheearliesttimescrowdsusedtoflock totheir shops, aswehave seen, atfirstfrom necessity,afterwards, perhaps, becauseitwasthefashion. Being thus compelled, even against his will, tohear all the news, thebarber wouldinturn be led, perhaps alsosometimes against his will, to impart thenewstoothers. Inthis way ahabitofexcessive talking would easily beformed. Plutarch (De Gar. 508) tellsananecdoteof King Archelaus who, whenasked by thebarber 7rTs a-e K(pw';respondeda-conrjv. Cf.also PlutarchNic. 3o. Theworkofthemodernbarberisconfinedto cutting thehair and caring forthebeard.GreekandRomanbarbersinaddition cleansedand pared the finger-nails oftheir patrons, besides cutting their corns,pluckingstray hairsfromtheir bodies, and removing wartsandother corporealdisfigurements. Theirchief work, how- ever, consistedin caring for the finger-nails, beard, andhair. BothinGreeceandRomeitwasconsidered veryunseemly to appear withthenails unpared.Theophrastus(Char.XIX.) de- scribes the" offensive" man (o8voXEcprs) asrOLOJTOS TnL O?OSJXWv TOVSo ovvxaspsyaXovs. The Oligarch, ontheother hand, who pays much attentiontohispersonalappearance,isaKpL/3?Jsa7rcovvXLcT,Levog. Barber-shopswereprovidedwithsmallsharpknives (ovVXWrrTpPa X7TTLa)for useinparing nails.The" cultellumtonsorium " ismen- tionedbyValerius Maximus(III.2.15).Tothebarber-shop there- foremenwouldnaturally resorttohavetheirnailspared,notbeing suppliedwiththenecessaryimplementsthemselves.TheGreeks, however,seemnottohavepatronizedthebarbersomuchfor this purposeasdidtheRomans,andprobably intheearliesttimesmen paredtheirown nails.Cf. XenophonMem.I.2.54,HesiodOp. 742. AmongtheRomans,ontheotherhand,itwasthecommoncus- tomtogotothebarber's tohavethenailspared.Cf.HoraceEp. I.7. 50, wherethefactthattheyoungmaninthebarber-shopis attendingtohis own nails, contrary totheusual custom, is emphasized by theuseoftheword"proprios."Butthecustomis bestillustrated by apassagefromPlautus(Au!.267),wherehedescribesthemiser who,thoughmeanenoughtogather togetherand savetheparingsof hisfinger-nails, doesnotthinkof trimmingthemhimself,butgoesto thebarber tohaveitdone. 43 FrankW Nicolson. Welearnfroma passage inPlautus (Cap. 266) thattheancient barbersusedeitherto clip the beard,making useofacomb (ion- dere perpectinem), orshaveclosetotheface (stri'ctimattondere or rader). Athirdmethodof getting ridofthehaironthe faceismentioned by Martial (Ep. VIII. 47),namely,plucking out thehairs by meansofthe rplXoXatPov (voase/la). Thiswasthemethod resortedto by effeminate youths. Cf.GelliusVI. I2. Stillother methodsof removing thehair from thefacewereresortedto.Some destroyed them by meansofsalves (psilothrum,dropax), ofwhich the ingredients are givenbyPliny(N. H.XXXII. 47). The tyrant Dionysiusbeing afraidtotrust himselfinthebarber's hands, made his daughters learn toshavehim.When theygrew up, hedarednot trusteventhemwitha razor, butmadethemburn off hisbeardand hair with red-hotnut-shells ("candentibusiuglandium putaminibus"). SeeCicero Tusc. V. 20, andcf.Plutarch Dio9. ThattheRomansdidnothaveto dependaltogether onthebar- ber, butsometimesshaved themselves, is provedby a passage in Plutarch (Ant. I). Withthe rough and unwieldy razorsofthe time, itwas butnaturalthattheancientsshouldhavemorereason to complain ofwoundsreceivedina barber-shop thanhavewe. Pliny(N.H.XXIX.36)recommendscob-websasexcellentto stop thebleedingofsuchwounds. Theancients,andparticularlytheRomans,werecarefultohave theirhair cutwhenitgrewtoolong.Pollux(II.33)gives the origin ofthe word KOvpLaV:KOVplav TO KOpav aV,rovToyt &atKOVpaS. Theo- phrastus usesthephrase 7TrAcTT-Kfall-roKeLpaacOatofthe"manof petty ambition"(Char.21).Theywerealsoparticularastothecutof theirhair, theessentialbeingthatthehairs becut evenly, sothatall beofthesamelength.ThusHorace(Ep.I.i. 94): "Sicuratus inaequalitonsorecapillosoccurri, rides."Soalsoaman isdescribed asridiculousinappearancewhois"rusticiustonsus"(Horace Sat. I.3.31).Howgreatwas thedependenceoftheancients upon the barber inthematterofhair-cuttingisshownbya passage inArtemi- dorus(On.I. 22), whosaysthat todreamofhaving thehair cut by abarberisagoodsign,sincenooneevercutshisownhairunless heisinpoorcircumstancesor suffering from some calamity. ?44 GreekandRomanBarbers. Therewere different modesof cutting the hair; hencethebarber's question(quotedabove), 7r&s ocr KEIpO. The principal varietiesare givenby Pollux (II. 29):K7TOS,oKIcaffov,iTpOKOTTa,TrEpLTpoXaAXa. (Cod. 7repLTpoXadArT and -T7)V; emended bySalmasius.) Thedistinctionbetween KfvTOS (orKvtriov) and o-KacOVf is givenby Suidas (s.v.KyTro) :TO /LJV OW OfKZL4OV TO(V p< 0 SE K/7TOSTOTpo E?TOj7rFKCKoO7fJfjaOL. Healsodefinesthe phrase kv Xpw as relating toaclose crop: 'v Xpwo KeKappjivoS9 7rpos avTOaT@? XPwTLOLOVCvvi/cEyyv Ka rTXr7crTlov TO OSep/jaTOS TaS TplXas $4pvp/pvoS. Thusthemaindis- tinctionbetweenK?7TOSand OfKc4tov seemstohavebeenthatinthe latterthehair wascut short, whileintheformer itwas worn moder- atelylong overtheforehead. I. KiTOS.Fromothersourceswelearn thattheabove explana- tionof K77rOv, whilecorrectasfar asit goes, is incomplete; thatthe hair according tothismodewasworn long, not only overthefore- head, butina ring aroundthe head, thatonthecrown ofthehead being cutshort.Schol.Eur. Tro.1175: K/7rOS KOVpaS c?SoS, fjV ol KELpO/LEVOLoLEPaAXovTO,KaTXtqlTraVOV SC TOS