Shaved
heads and Beards
In Egypt, many centuries before Christ, barbers
were prosperous and highly respected. The
ancient monuments and papyrus show that the
Egyptians shaved their beards and their heads.
The Egyptian priests even went so far as to
shave the entire body every third day. At
this time the barbers carried their tools
in open-mouthed baskets and their razors were
shaped like small hatchets and had curved
handles. The Bible tells us that when Joseph
was summoned to appear before Pharaoh, a barber
was sent for to shave Joseph, so that Pharaoh's
sight would not be offended by a dirty face.
In Greece, barbers came
into prominence as early as the fifth century,
BC. These wise men of Athens rivaled each
other in the excellence of their beards.
Beard trimming became an art and barbers
became leading citizens. Statesmen, poets
and philosophers, who came to have their
hair cut or their beards trimmed or curled
and scented with costly essences, frequented
their shops. And, incidentally, they came
to discuss the news of the day, because
the barber shops of ancient Greece were
the headquarters for social, political,
and sporting news. The importance of the
tonsorial art in Greece may be gathered
from the fact that a certain prominent Greek
was defeated for office because his opponent
had a more neatly trimmed beard.
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