Tresses and Distresses: Literary and Social Aspects of Women’s Hair in Second Temple Jewish Literature

What is it about?

This paper discusses representations of feminine unveiling and hair disheveling/cutting in Jewish literature from the Hellenistic and early-Roman periods. Exploration of these depictions in their broader literary context reveals their social meanings, all three practices being typical of female mourners. Tearing/disarranging the hair is also a feature of suppliants who, drawing attention to themselves, evoke pity and thus a favorable response. While some hair descriptions are drawn from the biblical texts, the supplication scenes clearly reflect Greek and Roman motifs ‒ women wearing their hair wild and addressing the troops, for example. Outside these two contexts, women rarely unveil/cut/disorder their hair of their own accord, the majority of those who do so being slaves, captives or prisoners subject to the whims of authority figures ‒ masters/mistresses or priests. Long, bound and covered hair constituting a sign of feminine propriety, the enforced unveiling/shaving/disheveling of women humiliates them by impugning their honor and impinging on their dignity.

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