Hair is timeless, eternal and universal—a human attribute common to every culture and historical era. Precisely because it is so resonant of cultural identity—then as now—hair provides an exceptionally revealing link and accessible portal to the past, as this novel exhibition demonstrates. In the ancient Mediterranean world, the way that hair was styled and sported could signify wealth, social rank, and divinity. Tales about hair figure in mythology and in sacred texts. And the particular way of wearing hair in antiquity was often tied to rites of passage and religious rituals of the day. Hair in the Classical World explores these myriad channels of meaning By examining the treatment and depiction of hair in ancient Greece, Cyprus and Rome, Hair in the Classical World explores these myriad channels of meaning.
