Page 26 - July1998

168 NN|NONAN, BU]I]ION B{IN,N,ETNN July i998

MelLWitfL Besrds-

Alttrsutc Cftattenge

By O"nn rron, a beard is a heavy growth of hair
on the chin, checks and adjacent parts ofthe face of
the human adult male. The amount of hair vanes
greatly among the people of the world. As an
example. North American caucasians spon quite
heavv beards, whereas the Native Americans
have markedly thinner beards.
Jesus, as an adult, is always
pictured with a beard as are
Thor
the mythological Zeus and
Bacchus.
Beards were considered a symbol of manhood
and strength among the ancients. The early
E,gyptians were usually clean shaven except in times
of nrourning. Greek men wore beards until the 4th
Rubens
century BC when soldiers of
Alexander the Great were ordered to shave so they
could not be grabbed by the beard in battle. The
Romans also took up shaving about this time.
Scipio Africanus, the Roman general who finally
destroyed Carthage, was the first Roman to shave
every day. Then in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD,
the beard became popular again. Early Germans
Sir ll/crlter Rateigh considered a clean-shaven look to be fashionable. A
law passed in 1705 by Peter the Great made shaving
compulsory for Russians and those who refused to shave where heavily taxed.