ritual significance in mycenaean hairstyles-florence sheng-chieh hsu

8/10/2019 Ritual Significance in Mycenaean Hairstyles-Florence Sheng-chieh Hsu

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Florence Sheng-chieh Hsu

Ritual Significance in Mycenaean Hairstyles


Although the frescoes excavated from Bronze Age sites on the Greek mainlandprovide evidence for female gures in the Mycenaean society, the hairstyles of thesegures have not been studied in detail. As in many other ancient cultures, hairstyleswere not only an exhibition of beauty and fashion, but they also represented certainage groups or a persons social status. The Mycenaeans inherited many of theirhairstyles from their Minoan predecessors, although differences existed as well.

It is also possible there may have been a shift in meaning for seemingly similarlooking hairstyles from the Minoan to the Mycenaean periods. Female gures,which compose most of the Mycenaean gures in frescoes known to date, arene examples for discussing the artistic representation and potential signicanceof Mycenaean hairstyles. By comparing with Minoan hairstyles, discussions ofMycenaean examples lead to conclusions in the relationship between hairstyles andritual activities in the Mycenaean society.


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93Institute for European and Mediterranean Archaeology


Minoan Hairstyles

Before looking into Mycenaean gures, it isnecessary to discuss the basics of Minoanhairstyles. The largest and best-preservedrepertoire of Minoan gures was excavatedat Akrotiri on Thera.1In her article Youthand Age in the Theran Frescoes, Ellen N.Davis suggested that hairstyle was closelyrelated to a persons age in Minoan society.She divided the gures in various Theranfrescoes into six age groups, includingfour stages of youth and two stages ofadulthood.2 In her opinion, shaved heads,

often represented with the color blue, andhair locks are indications of youth.3 Forexample, the saffron-gatherer in an ocher-colored garment from Room 3a in Xeste 3,a build ing at the southwest of the excavatedAkroti ri, represents the rst stage of youth(Fig. 1). Two locks grow from her head,one forehead lock and the other back lock.The rest of her head is painted blue withtraces of short black lines that representnewly grown hair. She further posits that aspeople grew to certain ages, they shed theirlocks and stopped shaving their heads.4

The double chins and the developedbreasts that appear on gures in laterstages of maturity support her argument.Although different opinions from Daviscategorization of the age groups have beenexpressed,5it is generally agreed that locksand shaved heads represent childhood inthe Minoan society.6

Based on the stages of maturity suggestedby Davis, an additional signicant featurecan be observed, which is the color of theeyes. The gures in all four stages of youth

have blue marks painted in the whites oftheir eyes, while red marks are applied tothe eyes of the gures in the last stage ofadulthood.7 Thus the eye-color of femalegures can also be an indication of age.8

The seated goddess in Xeste 3 (Fig. 2)provides an instructive comparison withthe Mycenaean gures discussed below.

She is identied as a goddess because sheappears to transcend all age groups, whichis visible in her hairstyle and other features.Her hair is long and voluminous, with the

upper part tied up into a bun, similar tothat of the woman holding a necklace fromthe Lustral Basin in the same building(Fig. 3), representing Davis fourth stage ofyouth.9Yet, separated from the other tressof hair at the very top of her head is a tiedup portion that appears comparable to thelocks from earlier stages of youth, such asthe saffron-gatherers in the same painting(Fig. 1).10The two forehead locks, the twotresses of hair curled up in a spiral shapeagainst the white background, and the bluearea representing a shaved portion next toher ear are all reminiscent of the hairstyleof the youths. She also wears a blue bandwith borders of red beads on her forehead.Similar beads decorate other parts of herhair, especially along the long tress on top.The hairstyle of the goddess seems to bea combination of hairstyles from all fourgroups of youth in Theran frescoes. Sincethe goddess has ful ly developed breasts, she

Figure 1: Saffron-gatherer from Xeste 3, Akrotiri(After Doumas 1992, 156)


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Figure 2: Seated goddess from Xeste 3, Akrotiri(After Doumas 1992, 162)

Figure 3: Woman holding a necklace from Xeste 3,Akrotir i (After Doumas 1992, 138)

Figure 4: The Mykenaia from Mycenae (After Immerwahr 1990, XX)


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cannot be in a stage of youth. Her hairstylethus indicates her connection with youth,which is reinforced by the blue paint in hereye.

The Mykenaia

The Minoan female gures offer necomparisons to those in the Mycenaeanfrescoes. The Mykenaia, excavated at thecult area of Mycenae in 1970,11is one of themost complete Mycenaean human guresuncovered so far (Fig. 4). Measuring 71cm wide and 47 cm high, the fragmentpreserves the gure from the chest upto the lower part of the hair. Set againsta blue background, the Mykenaia has afrontal torso with her head in prole facingto her right. A thin, black outline denesher. Her brow and eye are long and thin,and it appears that she has red marksinside her eye. Her ear is rendered withred lines. Her hair is detailed with thin,white lines. The original appearance of thevery top of her coiffure is unknown due tothe missing upper part of the fresco. Herbangs form spirals. She has a forehead lock

and a side lock that comes down the leftside of her face and mistakenly along herright shoulder instead of her left shoulderand left arm, as it should be in naturalcircumstances.12 Although the lower halfof the fresco is missing, it is still apparentthat the tress coming down along her leftshoulder separated into at least two tressesnear her elbow. It is uncertain whether thetress represents the other side lock, whichwould again be a confusion of left andright, or the hair at her back. She wears anelongated hair bun bound up into a loop

with a red-white-red band that matches thebands of her short-sleeved, saffron-yellowbodice. The cut of her outer bodice exposesher breasts, which are covered with aV-shaped diaphanous garment of the samesaffron yellow. She holds in her right handa beaded necklace, which is similar to theone she wears and resembles the braceletson both her arms.

Figure 5: Lady with a pyxis from Tiryns (AfterRodenwaldt 1912, pl. VIII)

The depict ion of the Mykenaias hai r bunis reminiscent of the woman holdinga necklace from Xeste 3 (Fig. 3). Thegure from Xeste 3 possesses back hair,separated into two tresses at the end, whichis long and voluminous. The back lock ispreserved in the form of a bun, or a loop.She has a long hair band that wraps aroundher forehead and continues to her back

hair, which is also present on the Mykenaia.One of the major differences between thegure from Xeste 3 and the Mykenaia isthe absence of forehead locks from thewoman holding a necklace. This absenceprobably results from the cutting of thelocks as a representation of transformationfrom youth to adulthood. Instead, a smallloop of a band is knotted at her forehead,


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likely replacing the forehead locks from theprevious periods.13

A gure that has an even closer overallhairstyle to the Mykenaia is the seatedgoddess in Xeste 3 (Fig. 2). They both haveforehead locks and spiral-shaped curls.If the hair bun of the woman holding anecklace is a variation of back locks fromthe previous stage of life, the hair bun ofthe Mykenaia can also be assumed to carrythe same meaning. As discussed above,locks were specic features for youths

in the Minoan society. The Mykenaia,however, more closely resembles an adultwith her double chin and ful l breasts. Thered paint in her eye is yet another indicationof her age, which only appears on thegures of the oldest group in the Theranfrescoes. This combination of featuresbrings up two possibilities. First, becauseof her similarity to the seated goddess, theMykenaia could be a goddess or a womanimpersonating a goddess; and second, locksthat indicate youth in the Minoan societymight have gained a different meaning

in the Mycenaean society, which will bediscussed later in this art icle.

Mycenaean Processional Figures

The lady with a pyxis from Tiryns is oneof the most widely known Mycenaeanprocessional gures (Fig. 5), butinterpreting this gure is complicated by

the fact that E. Gilliron reconstructedit on paper from a number of differentgures, including fragments of threefemale heads.14 Still, it provides valuableinformation on the hairstyle of Mycenaeanfemale gures, since the fragments thatdenitely come from the same gure showa signicant portion of the ladys hair. Herhair is highly stylized with large curls as thefront upper part of her hair and small curlsas the bangs. A distinctive forehead lockis curled in a way that is more complicatedthan all those previously mentioned.

Two side tresses fal l on her shoulder andseparate in two directions, the longer onetowards the front and the shorter onetowards the back. Some side tresses, whichappear to be from the opposite side of herface, come down along her shoulder andbreast and end up in several tresses. Thedepiction of the tresses on her shoulder andpart of her back is intriguing; they seem tobe bound by some kind of rings or loops.She has a bun and ponytail-like tresses onthe back of her head. Her hair is decoratedwith a red band with white dots. Unlikethe Mykenaia, whose hair is detailed withthin white lines, the lady with a pyxis hashair that is depicted by leaving some of theparts blank, which reveals the backgroundcolor. The highly stylized hair with equallyspaced tresses contrasts greatly to the hairof the Mykenaia that hangs down morenaturally. The rest of the body of the ladywith a pyxis is as stiff and exaggerated as

Figure 6: Female procession from Thebes (After Reusch, 1956, pl. 15)


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her hair. Judging from her breasts, herchin, and the red paint in her eye, she isa mature woman. The lady with a pyxisthus has features similar to the Mykenaiadespite their difference in artistic styles.

The reconstruct ion of the processionalscene from Kadmeia at Thebes (Fig. 6)is similar to the lady with the pyxis fromTiryns, except that the Theban women are

rendered with greater naturalism and morevariation.15Both prole and frontal view areapplied to their upper bodies. Their handsdisplay different poses in accordance tothe objects they are holding, and they wearjewelry of different kinds. Such variationis not present in their unied hairstyle,which seems the same as the Tirynthianhairstyle that has curls, locks, and tresses.

Figure 7: Female processional gures from Pylos

(After Lang 1969, pl. O)

Figure 8: Bull-leaper from Pylos (After Lang 1969,pl. C)

Even the art istic manner is highly stylizedwith the same number of t resses and curls.The uniformity seems to indicate that this

hairstyle carries certain signicance.

Processional gures have also beenexcavated at the site of Pylos. Two life-size female gures were reconstructed onpaper from more than a hundred joiningand non-joining fragments (Fig. 7).16Thesepieces present parts of their faces, breasts,arms, hands, clothing, and feet outlined inblack against a white background. Similarto some of the gures in the Thebanprocession, the upper bodies of the Pyloswomen are rendered in an almost frontal

view while the rest of their bodies are inprole. Unfortunately, only a small portionof their hair has survived. In observingthe fragments, the presence of thick andcurved side tresses that separate intotwo or more tresses is certain. None ofthe womens upper heads survived. Yet,fragments of another female gure foundin the same plaster dump provide evidence


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for curls on the forehead and a foreheadlock.17The very top and the back of theirhair, nevertheless, were reconstructed fromthe processions of Tiryns and Thebes due

to the lack of nds.18

Further evidence isneeded to acquire a whole picture of thefemale hairstyle in Pylos.

Among the three sites considered in thisarticle, the Theban procession is dated theearliest while the Tiryns procession is thelatest.19 Over the span of two centuries,the artistic style changed from a morenaturalistic rendering to a highly stylizedone. The background consisting of blue,yellow, and white horizontal zones inthe Theban procession is replaced by

monochromatic backgrounds in the latterprocessions. The variety and elaboration ofthe jewelry, the patterns on clothing, andthe objects carried in the Theban processionhave decreased in the Pylos procession.Until the Tiryns procession, the guresare shown with exaggerated proles andstylized poses. Despite the different artisticrenderings, the hairstyles of the gures

appear to remain the same. Forehead locks,curls, buns, and tresses seem to be essentialparts of proper hairstyles for Mycenaeanprocessions.

The forehead lock in particular deservesspecial attention. Like the Mykenaia, allof the other female gures discussedabove have forehead locks, even thoughthey appear to depict mature women. Theassociation of locks with youth in theMinoan society, then, cannot be the casein Mycenaean society. Other than beingfemale, the gures are all participating in

some kind of ritual activity. By examininggures of the opposite sex and outsideritual contexts, the possible signicance ofthe forehead lock can be observed. Pyloshas the largest repertoire of male guresand the only male procession in Mycenaeanwal l paintings. Most male gures appearin hunting and ghting scenes, wherenone of the gures, wearing a helmet ornot, have a forehead lock.20 Fragmentsfrom the male procession scene are badlyburned, which makes the details difcult tosee.21Yet, fragments of a male bull-leaper

show a forehead lock (Fig. 8). Since bull-leaping is a key ritual sport in the Aegean,the fragments strengthen the connectionbetween forehead locks and ritual activ ities.

Headdress

The Mycenaeans, like the Minoans,decorated their hair with bands and jewelryas shown by the female gures fromthe Mycenaean sites. Other than thoseornaments, what seems more popularamong the Mycenaeans than the Minoans

are crown-like hats, which are tight aroundthe forehead and wide at top, often withtassels. The White Goddess from Pyloswears a hat of this kind (Fig. 9). Threeparts make up the hat. The lowest part is awide band with alternat ing red and yellowvert ical double-S curves on white. Aboveit is another band with red and whitehorizontal lines, decorated with patterns

Figure 9: White goddess from Pylos (After Lang1969, pl. D)


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in blue. The upper and main part of thehat is of the color saffron-yellow with redvert ical curved lines. In the reconstructeddrawing, it has a at top with a slight knobin the center.22Whether there is anythingattaching to the top is uncertain. It coversmost of the goddess hair, but the foreheadlock can still be recognized. A hat of similarshape is seen on the female gure holdingsheaths of grain from the Cult Center atMycenae.23The red and blue hat is plumed

at the top. Examples are not limited to wallpaintings. Signet rings from the sites ofMycenae and Tiryns depict sphinxes andgoddesses wearing such hats, sometimeswith tassels attaching to the top.24Paintedon a clay larnax found from a chambertomb of Tanagra are mourning women thatwear similar hats with tassels.25

Depictions of such hats extend to outside

the Greek mainland, specically from sitesof the Late Minoan period, when therewas a Mycenaean presence on Crete. Oneexample, although male, is the crown of thePriest-King from Knossos (Fig. 10), whichhas decoration around its fringe and aconventionalized lily rising from above, towhich are attached long plumes. 26 Similarhats are also worn by female gures on theHagia Triada sarcophagus.27 The femalecarrying two buckets wears a hat of similarshape, except that it continues down to herneck. Three strings attached to the top of

the hat fall down over her waist. Anotherfemale gure in the bull-sacricing sceneon the other side of the sarcophagus wearsan almost identical hat. Since such a crown-like hat is not known from earlier Minoansites, it is most certainly a Mycenaeanfeature.

Ritual Signifcance

It is widely attested in cultures aroundthe world that specic costumes areworn during ritual activit ies and events.

It is likely that hairstyles and headdresseswould have served the same purpose. Byobserving the Mycenaean frescoes, someconclusions can be made. First, the useof jewelry and headdress, which is moreprevalent in Mycenaean society than inMinoan society, would have expressed morethan aesthetic value. The crown-like hat,in particular, is signicant in Mycenaeanreligion. Based on the frescoes uncoveredso far, this type of hat never appears inghting or hunting scenes but only in ritualcontexts. Whether they are humans, divine

gures, or mythological animals, they areall engaged in some kind of activity thatcarries religious connotation. The crown-like hats are thus very likely to hold ritualsignicance.

Second, certain hairstyles would have beenmore appropriate than others for ritualactivities. Despite the fact that the artistic

Figure 10: Priest-King from Knossos (After Evans1921-1935, II, pl. XIV)


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renderings vary widely among frescoesexcavated from different Mycenaean sites,common features can be observed on thehairstyles of female processional gures.Locks, tresses, buns, and curls all appearsimultaneously on the same gure, which isdenitely more elaborate than the Minoanhairstyles, where they usually have a lock,a bun, or some curls. Such an elaboratehairstyle could have been the hairstyle forMycenaean processions. The forehead lock,in particular, might have become moreassociated with religion in the Mycenaeansociety, rather than representing youth as it

is in the Minoan society.Due to the disappointing amount ofsurviving frescoes and some variablefactors, such as the size of the frescoesor the preservation of the colors, it is noteasy to reach denitive conclusions. Whilemore evidence is needed, the relationshipbetween hairstyle and ritual activitiesin the Mycenaean society cannot beoverlooked. Besides exhibiting aestheticvalue, certain hairstyles represent anindividuals status or position within the

society. Further examination of hairstylesholds great promise for shedding morelight on Mycenaean culture and society inthe future.

* I would like to thank my advisor, PhilipBetancourt, and the faculty and students atTemple University for their comments onthe paper.

Endnotes:

1 Thera shows strong Cretan inuence in manyaspects, including wall paintings (Immerwahr 1990,4), architecture (Rehak 2004, 86-87), and pottery(Rehak 2004, 94).2 Davis 1986, 399.3 Marinatos 1974, 6: 47; Davis 1986, 399. Anentirely shaved head with the sk in painted blue or

very short-cut and blue-dyed hair have a lso beensuggested as possible interpretations of the colorblue (Lafneur 200 0, 898).4 Davis 1986, 399.5 While Davis (1986, 399-401) placed the FisherBoys from the West House in the rst stage of youthand the Boxing Boys from House Beta the second,

Koehl (1986, 101) argued the other way round basedon the more developed biceps and shoulders of theFisher Boys.6 Evidence of Minoan children with shaved heads,and sometimes with locks, is represented in anumber of sculptures, wh ich include the bronzechild from the Psychro Cave (Hood 1978, g.98)and the terracotta heads from Mt. Juktas (Hiller1977, pl. 18d, e). For more examples, see Davis1986, 404, n. 31. The trad ition might have derivedfrom Egypt , where youths wore the Horus locksheld special religious positions. (Lurker 1980, 56-7;Koehl 1986, 101).7 Davis 1986, 401, 404.8 Rehak (2004, 92), on the other hand, argued thatthe blue marks in the eyes ind icate a saffron-rich

diet, which includes high concentrations of vitaminsA and B.9 Davis 1986, 402.10 For other examples, see Doumas 1992, 154 and160.11 Mylonas 1970, 123.12 Another example of hair that comes down the

wrong side of the gure is t he white-skinned acrobatin the Toreador Fresco from Knossos (Evans1930, 3: pl. XXI). Confusing left and right is notuncommon in Aegean art . For a discussion of handsand feet, see Immerwahr 2005.13 Davis 1986, 401.14 Immerwahr 1990, 114. See Rodenwaldt (1912, 81,82, IX) for images of fragments.15 The fragments were studied and reconstructedby Reusch (Reusch 1956, pl. 15; Immerwahr 1990,115).16 Lang 1969, 86.17 See Lang 1969, plate 128: 52 H nws, for thefragments.18 Lang 1969, 89.19 Thebes, dated to the LH II period, has theearliest example of the mainland procession(Rodenwa ldt 1912, 201; Immerwahr 1990, 115).Pylos is dated to the LH IIIB period (Blegen1966, 421). Destroyed at the end of the pal ace era,


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the Tiryns procession is dated among the latestexamples (Immerwahr 1990, 114).

20 See Lang 1969, plates M, N, for examples.21 In Langs reconstruction, the two male gures,

whose head was preserved, have no forehead locks(Lang 1969, plate N: 5H5).22 Lang 1969, plate 128: 49.23 Mylonas 1983, 144.24 See Mylonas 1983, 193 and 211, for examples.25 Mylonas 1983, 186.26 Evans 1928, II, 775.27 See Long 1974, pl. 15 and 31, for images.

Works Cited :

Blegen, C.W., and M. Rawson. 1968. The Palace ofNestor at Pylos in Western Messenia I: The Buildi ngs.Princeton: University Press.

Davis, E.N. 1986. Youth and Age in the TheraFrescoes. American Journal of Archaeology 90:399-406.

Doumas, C. 1992. The Wall-Paintings of Thera.Athens: Thera Foundation.

Evans, A. 1921-1935. The Palace of Minos at K nossos.London: Oxford University Press.

Hiller, S. 1977. Das minoische Kreta nach den

Ausgrabungen des letzten Jahrzehnts. Wien:sterreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften.

Hood, S. 1978. The Arts in Prehistoric Greece.Harmondsworth, New York: Penguin Books.

Immerwahr, S.A. 1990. Aegean Painting in theBronze Age. University Park: Pennsylvania StateUniversity Press.

-----. 2005. Left or right? A study of hands andfeet. In Aegean Wall Painting. A Tribute to MarkCameron, edited by L. Morgan, 173-183. Athens:British School at Athens.

Koehl, R.B. 1986. The Chieftain Cup and a MinoanRite of Passage. Journal of Hellenic Studies 106: 99-110.

Lafneur, R. 2000. Dress, Hairstyle and Jewelleryin the Thera Wall Paintings. In The Wall Paintingsof Thera: Proceedings of the First InternationalSymposium: Petros M. Nomikos Conference Centre,

Thera, Hellas , 30 August-4 September 1997, VolumeII, edited by S. Sheratt, 890-906. Athens: TheraFoundation.

Lang, M.L. 1969. The Palace of Nestor at Pylos inWestern Messen ia II: The Frescoes. Princeton:University Press.

Long, C.R. 1974. The Ayia Triadha Sarcophagus:A Study of Late Minoan and Mycenaean FuneraryPractices and Beliefs (SIMA 41). Gteborg: Paul

Astrms Frlag.

Lurker, M. 1980. An Illustrated Dictionary of theGods and Symbols of Ancient Egypt. London:

Thames and Hudson.


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Marinatos, S. 1968-1976. Excavations at Thera I-VII.Athens: Archaeological Societ y at Athens.

Mylonas, G.E. 1970. . Prakt,pp. 118-124.---- -. 1983. Mycenae: Rich in Gold. Athens: Ekdotike

Athenon S . A.

Rehak, P. 2004. Crocus Costumes in Aegean Art.In CHAR IS. Essays in Honor of Sara A. Immerwahr.Hesperia Supplement 33, edited by A. Chapin, 85-98.Princeton, N.J.: American School of Classical Studiesat Athens.

Reusch, H. 1949. Der Frauenfries von Theben. InArchologischer Anzeiger 63 -64: 240 -253.

-----. 1956. Die Zeichnerische Rekonstruktiondes Frauenfrieses im Botischen Theben. Berlin:

Akademie -Verlag.

Rodenwaldt, G. 1912. Tiryns: Die Fresken desPalastes. Berlin: Schoetz & Parrhysius.Content Page3,4

ritual significance in mycenaean hairstyles-florence sheng-chieh hsu

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