Molly Forrest

Classics 114, Clara Hardy

February 28, 2002

Response to "The Beard Makes the Man" by Serena Newmark

Serena Newmark makes a very strong case in that what stands between being treated as a man or as a woman in ancient Grecian culture was very dependent on the presence of a beard. Her arguments naturally allude to the importance of the beard in homoerotic relationships among men.

The beard meant the difference between the young and old, the immature and the mature. In the male homoerotic relationships of ancient Greece, the older male was always the erastes (pursuer) and the younger the eromenos (the pursued), the distinction being only the existence of facial hair (Bing and Cohen, 72). The erastes actively sought after the eromenos to form a sexual bond, wishing to "penetrate" the younger man. But the beard meant a difference not only in physical roles, but emotional roles as well. The eromenos was supposed to be desirable to the erastes, which was seen as a compliment and honor, but for the eromenos to feel passion himself was not accepted and considered womanly (Bing and Cohen, 72). This was not only a social norm, but being "penetrated" as a young man had serious consequences later in life. It was not necessarily considered illegal to participate in the sexual association, but if it was proven that a man was "penetrated" before his beard appeared, he could not exercise Athenian citizen rights. In all, the beard, or lack thereof, determined the roles in the relationship: the eromenos played a passive role, not meant to enjoy the encounters, while the erastes openly released his passions.

Men of this time highly valued their beards–especially if they suddenly found themselves shaven. The literature (as Newmark claims, with an example about the Kinsman in Aristophanes) suggests that this was due to the anxiety of being laughed at by their peers. Perhaps these men were also afraid of being mistaken for a boy and attracting older men, thereby being pursued themselves. For example, Newmark describes Kleisthenes, in Aristophanes’ Women at the Thesmophoria, as a very effeminate man, specifically because he chose to shave his beard. While Newmark states that this showed his loyalty to women, as evidenced by his being allowed at the Thesmophoria, he may have also hoped to catch the attention of older men who believed he was a young man who had yet to mature, and therefore open to being pursued. The female Herald of the Thesmophoria said to the same effect, " ‘I may fittingly call you boy, since your jowls are not armored with a beard’"(Women at the Thesmophoria, 605-606). If being pursued as an older man was considered as disgraceful as feeling passion as a younger man, perhaps this would explain why having and keeping one’s beard as an adult was so incredibly important and mentioned so often in Grecian literature.

There is a mention of the beard in Roman literature, namely Longus’ Daphnis and Chloe. While it does not add anything to the notion of homoerotic relationships, it was used to make the distinction between young and old. The male character Dorcon tended his cows near to the fields that Chloe and Daphnis watched over their flocks–and found himself in love with the beautiful Chloe. Dorcon "was a youth whose beard had already begun to grow, and he knew what love was called and also what it meant" (Longus, Bk. I, 15). Here, having a beard is associated not only with age, but also with experience and knowledge. Longus mentions nothing about Dorcon asking questions or observing others to finally figure out what lave means–only that he has a beard and so must be educated on the subject. Later, Dorcon and Daphnis had a contest to see who would have the honor of kissing Chloe. While trying to put down Daphnis, Dorcon said, "[This] fellow’s quite short, and he’s as beardless as a woman…"(Longus, Bk. I, 16). At this point, Longus used the beard in order to show the preferred way for men to look. It is interesting that this trend of using the beard as an identifier of age, experience level, and good looks survived ancient Greece and in to the Roman Empire.

While it appears that the beard was primarily used for age determination and maturity, this difference between young and old ran over into other categories as well: to defend one’s masculinity (as Newmark noted), make a distinction between the erastes and eromenos in the homoerotic relationships, and an exterior signal of experience level. These distinctions crossed from the time of Athens to the Roman Empire, and even today facial hair is a clear sign of when a young man goes through puberty.

Works Cited

Aristophanes. Women at the Thesmophoria. Trans. Jeffrey Henderson. New York:

Routledge, 1996.

Bing, Peter, and Rip Cohen. Games of Venus. New York: Routledge, 1991.

Longus. Daphnis and Chloe. Trans. Paul Turner. New York: Penguin Books, 1989.