However, there are cases when loans for establishing perfum-
eries by men are discussed by orators in court.
Th e length of hair varied from area to area. Spartan men
wore their hair short, while Athenian men wore their hair
long when they were young. Written and pictorial evidence
attests to a tendency to curl hair—men did it too. Athenian
women parted their hair in the middle and drew it back into a
chignon. Th ey never let it loose, except on the occasion of spe-
cial celebrations and festivals. Th ey cut their hair only when
they were mourning, but slave women and hetaera wore their
hair short.
Curling was so popular for men that they frequented pro-
fessional hairdressers. One terra-cotta statuette from Boeotia
from around 550 b.c.e. shows a man sitting on a hairdresser’s
chair, covered in a long towel that protects his clothes from
falling hairs, while the hairdresser stands behind him hold-
ing scissors over his head. Not only women but men also used
to lift and hold their hair in a kind of pug held by golden hair-
pins that either looked like cicadas or sounded like cicadas as
t he y wa l ke d. D yei ng of ha i r wa s not u n k now n. Fac ia l ha i r wa s
common for grown men in Athens, though they preferred to
be clean shaven, especially in the years aft er Alexander the
Great (356–323 b.c.e.), who was famously clean shaven. His
successors continued the fashion.
Women cared much about smooth skin. Depilation with
the aid of a blade and special creams or the burning of hairs
with the aid of a lamp was very common. Women of the up-
per classes oft en wore a kind of hairnet or tight scarf called
kekrýfalos. From vase paintings we infer that this scarf pulled
the hair from the forehead to the back of the neck and then
pushed it forward. An ornament called a diadema added
height to the forehead.
Golden and silver earrings, necklaces, rings, and brace-
lets have been made since the beginning of civilization. Many
such fi ndings come from the Minoan Period (2600–1450
b.c.e.) and the Archaic Period (680–480 b.c.e.). Stone inlay
was rare, but men wore stone rings to be used as seals. Wom-
en oft en wore jewelry around their calves too. Heavy chains
and pendants, popular in the Archaic Period, gave their place
to thin coils and chains of linked wire and thin foil formed
into petals and rosettes in the Classical Period. Bracelets were
worn not only around the wrist but also between the elbow
and shoulder, when that part of the arm was bare. Women
pierced their ears for earrings, which were heavy and com-
plex in the Mycenaean Period (1600–1100 b.c.e.) and took
the form of light metal disks with a hole in the middle in the
Classical Period.
ROME
BY ALAIN TOUWAIDE
Perfumes and cosmetics, which were much used in Greece,
were not so common in the early Roman world. As time
passed, their use spread, such that as early as 189 b.c.e., ac-
cording to the Roman writer Pliny, a law banned so-called
Gold coin of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, set in a gold ring,
dating to 167 c.e. (© Th e Trustees of the British Museum)12 adornment: Romeunguenta exotica (“luxury unguents”), as they were seen as a
corrupting infl uence causing Roman citizens to deviate from
the traditional “mos romanum” (“Roman way”) of a more
austere character. Nevertheless, the use of cosmetics and
perfumes became more common with the transfer of Greek
culture to Rome, particularly aft er the defeat of Greek troops
in Pydna in 168 b.c.e., the presence of Greek hostages in the
capital, and the arrival in a constantly increasing number of
Greek physicians, technicians and others.
Perfumes in the Roman world reached their zenith under
the empire (from 27 b.c.e. onward) with an extensive body of
specialized literature on medicine and hygiene in general and
also specifi cally on cosmetics. Among the writings focusing
on cosmetics is a small booklet, Medicamina faciei feminae
(Women’s Facial Cosmetics) by Ovid (43 b.c.e.–17 c.e.). Th e
most famous and most specialized work on the topic was a
volume by a disciple of Socrates, Criton (ca. 100 c.e.), now
lost but which supposedly contained four books; it is known
to the modern world only in fragments.
Perfumes were made of rare vegetal essences from the
Near East, such as balsam, cardamom, and canella, as well as
strongly odoriferous Mediterranean species, such as iris, saf-
fron, and violet, together with gums and resins and, in some
cases, such animal substances as musk and beaver glands.
All such substances were soaked in olive oil, which had been
treated to condense and separate out the fat component. Th ey
also included a fi xative (moss, for example) and, for some,
such colorants as saff ron or ocher. Th e process of their produc-
tion is described in De odoribus (On Per f ume) by Th eophrast
(ca. 372–ca. 286 b.c.e.). One of the most famous perfumes
was the so-called koufi , from Egypt, made of a wide range of
substances. Because of the rarity of the ingredients, these
perfumes were extremely costly and very much sought aft er.
Th ey were contained in small glass vials in the shape of fruits.