A beard is the hair that grows on the jaw, chin, upper lip, lower lip, cheeks, and neck of humans and some non-human animals. In humans, beards are most common among pubescent and adult males, though some women also develop them in a condition called hirsutism.
Attitudes toward beards have varied across history, shaped by cultural traditions and fashion trends. Several religions require or encourage the wearing of beards, and some societies have associated them with masculinity, virility, virtue, beauty, wisdom, strength, fertility, sexual prowess, and high social status. In contrast, in cultures where beards are uncommon or unfashionable, they may be linked with poor hygiene or eccentricity. Beards can also provide environmental benefits, including protection from cold weather and sun exposure.
Biology The beard develops in human males during puberty. Beard growth is linked to stimulation of hair follicles in the area by dihydrotestosterone, which continues to affect beard growth after puberty. Dihydrotestosterone also promotes balding. Dihydrotestosterone is produced from testosterone, the levels of which vary with season. Beard growth rate is also genetic.
Evolution
Biologists characterize beards as a secondary sexual characteristic because they are (mostly) unique to one sex,"The Battle of Stamford Bridge" 1066 Mosaic DVD, n.d. Accessed May 3, 2025. yet do not play a direct role in reproduction. Charles Darwin first suggested a possible evolutionary explanation of beards in his work The Descent of Man, which hypothesized that the process of sexual selection may have led to beards. Modern biologists have reaffirmed the role of sexual selection in the evolution of beards.
Evolutionary psychology explanations for the existence of beards include signalling sexual maturity and signalling dominance by the increasing perceived size of jaws; clean-shaved faces are rated less dominant than bearded. Some scholars assert that it is not yet established whether the sexual selection leading to beards is rooted in attractiveness (inter-sexual selection) or dominance (intra-sexual selection). A beard can be explained as an indicator of a male's overall condition. The rate of facial hairiness appears to influence male attractiveness. The presence of a beard makes the male vulnerable in hand-to-hand fights (it provides an easy way to grab and hold the opponent's head), which is costly, so biologists have speculated that there must be other evolutionary benefits that outweigh that drawback. Excess testosterone evidenced by the beard may indicate mild immunosuppression, which may support spermatogenesis.Folstad and Skarsein cited by
History
Ancient and classical world
Phoenicia
Phoenicia, the ancient Semitic civilization centered on the coastline of the Eastern Mediterranean (modern-day Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Israel), gave great attention to the hair and beard. It was arranged in three, four, or five rows of small tight curls, and extended from ear to ear around the cheeks and chin. Sometimes, however, in lieu of the many rows, we find one row only, the beard falling in tresses curled at the extremity.
Israelites
Israelite society placed a special importance on the beard. Many male religious figures mentioned in the Tanakh are recorded to have had facial hair. According to biblical scholars, the shaving of hair, particularly of the corners of the beard, was a mourning custom.Peake's commentary on the Bible The religious cultivation of beards by Israelites may have been done as a deliberate attempt to distinguish their behaviour in comparison to their neighbours, reducing the impact of foreign customs (and religion) as a result.Jewish Encyclopedia The Hittites and Elamites were clean-shaven, and the Sumerians were also frequently without a beard;Jewish Encyclopedia, Beard conversely, the Egyptians and Libyans shaved the beard into very stylised elongated goatees.
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamian civilizations (Sumerian, Assyrians, Babylonians, Chaldeans) devoted great care to oiling and dressing their beards, using tongs and curling irons to create elaborate ringlets and tiered patterns.
Egypt While generally ancient Egyptian fashion called for men to be clean-shaven, during at least some periods the highest ranking Ancient Egyptians grew hair on their chins which was often dyed a reddish orange with henna and sometimes plaited with an interwoven gold thread. A metal false beard, or postiche, which was a sign of sovereignty, was worn by kings and by queens regnant. This was held in place by a ribbon tied over the head and attached to a gold chin strap, a fashion existing from about .
Greece
The ancient Greeks regarded the beard as a badge or sign of virility; in the Homeric epics it had almost sanctified significance, so that a common form of entreaty was to touch the beard of the person addressed.See, for example, Homer Iliad 1:500–1 and 8:371. According to William Smith in these ancient times the moustache was shaven, leaving clear the space around the lips. It was only shaven as a sign of mourning, though in this case it was instead often left untrimmed. A smooth face was regarded as a sign of effeminacy. cites Athen. xiii. 565 The Spartans punished cowards by shaving off a portion of their beards. Greek beards were also frequently curled with tongs. Youngsters usually did not grow a beard, moreover wearing a beard became optional for adults in the .
Rome Shaving seems to have not been known to the Romans during their early history (under the kings of Rome and the early Republic). Pliny tells us that P. Ticinius was the first who brought a barber to Rome, which was in the 454th year from the founding of the city (that is, around ). Scipio Africanus () was apparently the first among the Romans who shaved his beard. However, after that point, shaving seems to have caught on very quickly, and soon almost all Roman men were clean-shaven; being clean-shaven became a sign of being Roman and not Greek. Only in the later times of the Republic did the Roman youth begin shaving their beards only partially, trimming it into an ornamental form; prepubescent boys oiled their chins in hopes of forcing premature growth of a beard. cites Petron. 75, 10
Still, beards remained rare among the Romans throughout the Late Republic and the early Principate. In Rome at this time, a long beard was considered a mark of slovenliness and squalor. The censors L. Veturius and P. Licinius compelled M. Livius, who had been banished, on his restoration to the city, to be shaved, to lay aside his dirty appearance, and then, but not until then, to come into the Senate. cites Liv.xxvii. 34 The first occasion of shaving was regarded as the beginning of manhood, and the day on which this took place was celebrated as a festival. cites Juv.iii. 186 Usually, this was done when the young Roman assumed the toga virilis. Augustus did it in his twenty-fourth year, Caligula in his twentieth. The hair cut off on such occasions was consecrated to a god. Thus Nero put his into a golden box set with pearls, and dedicated it to Jupiter Capitolinus. cites Suet. Ner.12 The Romans, unlike the Greeks, let their beards grow in time of mourning; so did Augustus for the death of Julius Caesar. cites Dio Cass. xlviii. 34 Other occasions of mourning on which the beard was allowed to grow were appearance as a reus, condemnation, or some public calamity. On the other hand, men of the country areas around Rome in the time of Varro seem not to have shaved except when they came to market every eighth day, so that their usual appearance was most likely a short stubble.Varro asked rhetorically how often the tradesmen of the country shaved between market days, implying (in chronologist E. J. Bickerman's opinion) that this did not happen at all: "quoties priscus homo ac rusticus Romanus inter nundinum barbam radebat?",Varr. ap. Non. 214, 30; 32 : see also E J Bickerman, Chronology of the Ancient World, London (Thames & Hudson) 1968, at p. 59.
In the the Emperor Hadrian (r. 117–138), according to Dio Cassius, was the first emperor to grow a full beard; Plutarch says that he did it to hide scars on his face. This was a period in Rome of widespread imitation of Greek culture, and many other men grew beards in imitation of Hadrian and the Greek fashion. After Hadrian until the reign of Constantine the Great (r. 306–337) all adult emperors appear in busts and coins with beards; but Constantine and his successors until the reign of Phocas (r. 602–610), with the exception of Julian the Apostate (r. 361–363), are represented as beardless. The wearing of the beard as an imperial fashion was subsequently revived by Phocas at the beginning of the 7th century and this fashion lasted until the end of the Byzantine Empire.
The "philosopher's beard" In Greco-Roman antiquity the beard was "seen as the defining characteristic of the philosopher; philosophers had to have beards, and anyone with a beard was assumed to be a philosopher."Citing Lucian's Demonax 13, Cynicus 1 – While one may be tempted to think that Socrates and Plato sported "philosopher's beards", such is not the case. Shaving was not widespread in Athens during fifth and fourth-century BCE and so they would not be distinguished from the general populace for having a beard. The popularity of shaving did not rise in the region until the example of Alexander the Great near the end of the fourth century BCE. The popularity of shaving did not spread to Rome until the end of the third century BCE following its acceptance by Scipio Africanus. In Rome shaving's popularity grew to the point that for a respectable Roman citizen, it was seen almost as compulsory.
The idea of the philosopher's beard gained traction when in 155 BCE three philosophers arrived in Rome as Greek diplomats: Carneades, head of the Platonic Academy; Critolaus of Aristotle's Lyceum; and the head of the Stoics, Diogenes of Babylon. "In contrast to their beautifully clean-shaven Italian audience, these three intellectuals all sported magnificent beards." Thus the connection of beards and philosophy caught hold of the Roman public imagination.
The importance of the beard to Roman philosophers is best seen by the extreme value that the Stoic philosopher Epictetus placed on it. As historian John Sellars puts it, Epictetus "affirmed the philosopher's beard as something almost sacred...to express the idea that philosophy is no mere intellectual hobby but rather a way of life that, by definition, transforms every aspect of one's behavior, including one's shaving habits. If someone continues to shave in order to look the part of a respectable Roman citizen, it is clear that they have not yet embraced philosophy conceived as a way of life and have not yet escaped the social customs of the majority...the true philosopher will only act according to reason or according to nature, rejecting the arbitrary conventions that guide the behavior of everyone else."
Epictetus saw his beard as an integral part of his identity and held that he would rather be executed than submit to any force demanding he remove it. In his Discourses 1.2.29, he puts forward such a hypothetical confrontation: Come now, Epictetus, shave your beard'. If I am a philosopher, I answer, I will not shave it off. 'Then I will have you beheaded'. If it will do you any good, behead me." The act of shaving "would be to compromise his philosophical ideal of living in accordance with nature and it would be to submit to the unjustified authority of another."