Facial hair

[Uhrisa]

Is there anything known about rules concerning facial hair in the legions? Was it allowed to have beards? Where there beard or moustache styles connected to certain ranks?

Regards

[M. Demetrius]

There have been several threads about this topic already on RAT. Short answer is "it depends on the century you're talking about: some were clean shaven times, others were Greek beard times, some were others." To which century are you referring?

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Apparently, Marcus Antonius wore one....

[PhilusEstilius]

I do think that I would have to go along with David on this one for it does indeed depend upon the period one wishes to consider, however having said that there is a very fine cavalry sports face mask type C in a museum in Belgrade that shows a very fine moustache but then we may be looking at an auxiliary piece of equipment.
There is also that the Emperor Nero on some of his coins tends to show what may have been a moustache and long sideburns.

[M. CVRIVS ALEXANDER]

I believe the customs in the area where a particular legion was stationed, as well as the native customs of the soldier, would have their influence.

[Uhrisa]

There have been several threads about this topic already on RAT. Short answer is "it depends on the century you're talking about: some were clean shaven times, others were Greek beard times, some were others." To which century are you referring?

I was expeting this would have been covered already. I am interested in the look of legionairs in the first half of the first century A.D.

[M. Demetrius]

Well, then, I'd say for Romans, clean shaven was the norm. For auxilia from beard-wearing countries, or those who sported moustaches like some of the Gaulish or Germanic tribes, they might wear their normal facial hair. I've read, though, that even "barbarian auxilia" adopted the Roman clean shaven faces.

[Marcus Mummius]

Well, then, I'd say for Romans, clean shaven was the norm. For auxilia from beard-wearing countries, or those who sported moustaches like some of the Gaulish or Germanic tribes, they might wear their normal facial hair. I've read, though, that even "barbarian auxilia" adopted the Roman clean shaven faces.

Hi David, do you remember where you read this?

Vale,

[M. Demetrius]

Not offhand. I'll scratch the bald head and see if I can come up with a better answer. Trajan's Column isn't the best source for info on that, but I don't recall the soldiers or aux wearing beards...and some of the troops are said to be auxilia. Not 1st Cent, so maybe that's not a good ref for this thread.

[Doc]

Normally, here on RAT, we have discussed that legionaries might want to emulate the emperor by wearing a beard, if the emperor had one; Hadrianic etc.

So from past discussions, I recall the consensus being 1st C AD to Trajan (early 2nd C AD) clean shaven. Afterwards, beards were in.

However, at the same time, using the logic of the first sentence, I would have to agree with Brian since Nero had a beard begining with the side-burns and going around the chin and up the other side.
Maybe this is not a beard in the traditional sense but it is facial hair. There is a bust in the Capitoline museum showing this as well as coins I have see (as Brian also stated). Thus it is possible that during the time of Nero, maybe some legionary(s) had some facial hair in reverence to the emperor?????

[M. CVRIVS ALEXANDER]

Augustus and Marcus Antonius had beards at some point, and there is a cameo of Germanicus wearing goatee and mustache. That says nothing definite though about the appearance of a common soldier. We do know however that according to Tacitus, Hist. 2.74 and 2.88 (69 CE), the soldiers of Vitellius stationed in Germany had shockingly "savage" appearance, hence my post above in this thread.

[Doc]

Alexander,

Good point. That is what I was trying to suggest. We could use the criteria of the emperor had a beard so the legionary......... But as you pointed out and I agree, we really do not know the WHOLE of what went on especially after the statement by Tacitus. We all know that the statues of Vitellius show no beard and yet his men were scruffy.

[Caivs Marivs Scipio]

I've understood that facial hair was allowed (socially accepted) when the emperor himself had facial hair.
So it looks like the 1st century AD was a clean shaven time.
About auxiliary units, I think it depends on the romanization. Romanized areas and units would probably look as Roman as possible.

Also something to remember is that the Romans didn't shave themselves; the barber shaved. So in the absence of a barber (war (?) or maybe short campaigns) there would be a possibility not to shave, but try to keep the hair as short as possible.

[M. CVRIVS ALEXANDER]

I've understood that facial hair was allowed (socially accepted) when the emperor himself had facial hair.
So it looks like the 1st century AD was a clean shaven time.
About auxiliary units, I think it depends on the romanization. Romanized areas and units would probably look as Roman as possible.

What was socially accepted varied greatly throughout the empire, as well as what did it mean to be/look Roman. The above references from Tacitus, just to give an example, make it very obvious.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

My point about Marcus Antonius was that the soldiers would more than likely followed the trends set
by popular leaders. Mark Antony was popular with his men, so the possibility of the wearing of beards on the campaigns could be feasible.