Hair and the Construction of Identity in Ancient Egypt JARCE 36-1999-Pp. 55-69

8/11/2019 Hair and the Construction of Identity in Ancient Egypt JARCE 36-1999-Pp. 55-69

1/16

Hair and the Construction of Identity in Ancient Egypt, c. 1480-1350 B.C.

Author(s): Gay RobinsSource: Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, Vol. 36 (1999), pp. 55-69Published by: American Research Center in EgyptStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40000202

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2/16

Hair and the Construction of Identity in

Ancient

Egypt,

c.

1480-1350 B.C.1

Gay Robins

Introduction

Beginning

at

birth,

the

identity

of

individuals,

an

amalgam

of

age, gender,

social

status and

role, has to be constructed in accordance with

the

norms of

the

social

system

they

inhabit.This

identity

changes

over

time not

only

in

the transi-

tions

from

one life

stage

to

the

next,

but

also

with the

various

roles a

person

may play

at

any

given

life

stage.

A

number of

means

may

be em-

ployed

to

construct

identity

and

mark the

shifts

between

life

stages

or

between

different roles.

These can

be

verbal,

as

in

modes of

address;

be-

havioral,

as in

the

way

individuals

interact;

or

displayed

on

the

body,

as

in

circumcision,

scari-

fication

or

dress.

In

many

societies human

hair too has

been

and still is

highly

charged

with

meaning.

Not

only

can it

carry

erotic,

religious

and

magical

significance,

but

the

way

in

which it is

worn of-

ten

encodes

information

about

gender, age,

and

social status.2

Since in

many

societies,

although

by

no

means

all,

the

body

is

usually

covered

by

clothes,

it is

normally

the head

hair and

the

beard

that have

been and

are

subject

to most at-

tention,

although

body

hair

may

be

considered

undesirable and

carefully

removed. Head hair

can

be allowed to

grow

unrestricted;

t can be

shaved

off;

it can be cut

to

any length

or

lengths

between these two extremes. It can

also be ar-

ranged in more or less elaboratestyles.Because

head

hair is so

visible,

what is done

with it can

be used to

display

information about the wear-

ers,

but the forms

these various

messages

take

will

vary

from

one

society

to

another,

because

they

are

culturally specific. People

will

readily

read the

meaning

of

different

hairstyles

within

their

own

cultures,

but will often

be at a loss to

interpret

correctly

he

hairstyles

worn

by people

of other

cultures. It

follows, then,

that

anyone

studying

an

unfamiliar

society

will have to set

out

consciously

o discover he

significance

of the

different

hairstylesemployed

in

that

society.

My

aim in this

paper

is to examine the

ways

n

which head

hair was

worn

in

ancient

Egypt,

and

to consider

how it

might

have

helped

construct

social

identity.

Because

ancient

Egyptiansociety,

despite

its more than

3000

years

of

culturalconti-

nuity,

was not

unchanging,

I shall

restrict

my

en-

quiry

to

a

period

of

approximately

one

hundred

and

thirtyyears

from c.

1480-1350

B.C.,

n

order

to

obtain a

relatively

coherent

body

of material.3

1

A

version of

this article

was

given

as a

paper

at the 1996

ARCE

annual

meeting

in St.

Louis. I would like to thank

Michelle

Marcus or

reading

an earlier

draft and for

useful

comments and

suggestions.

1

For hair

in

general,

see

Charles

Berg,

The

Unconscious

Significancef

Hair

(London:

Allen and

Unwin,

1951);

J.

D.

M.

Derrett,

Religious

Hair,

Man 8

(1973),

100-103;

Raymond

Firth,

Hair

as Private

Asset and Public

Symbol,

n:

Symbols

Public nd

Private

Ithaca,

New

York:Cornell

University

Press,

1975),

262-98;

Christopher

Hallpike,

Social

Hair,

Man

4

(1969),

256-64;

idem,

Hair,

n: Mircea

Eliade

(ed.),

The

Encyclopediaf

Religion

New

York:

Macmillan,

1987),

154-57;

P.

Hershman, Hair,

Sex

and

Dirt,

Man 9

(1974),

274-98;

Edmund

Leach,

Magical

Hair,

ournalof

the

Royal

Anthro-

pological

nstitute 8

(1958), 147-64;

Gananath

Obeyesekere,

Medusa s Head. An

Essay

on Personal

Symbols

and

Religious

Ex-

perience

Chicago: Chicago University

Press,

1981);

Marcia

Pointon,

The

Case of the

Dirty

Beau:

Symmetry,

Disorder

and

the

Politics

of

Masculinity,

n:

KathleenAdler and Mar-

cia Pointon

(eds.),

The

Body maged Cambridge:

Cambridge

University

Press,

1993),

175-89.

3

For

aspects

of hair in ancient

Egypt,

see

Philippe

Der-

chain,

La

perruque

et

le

cristal,

Studien

ur

altdgyptischen

Kultur2

1975),

55-74;

Joann

Fletcher,

ATaleof

Hair,

Wigs

55


3/16

56

JARCE

XXXVI

(1999)

The

structure of ancient

Egyptian society

was

organized

by

status,

gender

and,

almost cer-

tainly, age. Broadly

speaking

the social

hierarchy

divided nto

the

king,

the

elite,

and the

non-elite

who formed

the greatest part of the popula-

tion.

The elite

group

consisted of the

literate,

male

officials who formed

the

administration,

together

with their families. The

non-elite

com-

prised

the

semi-literate and non-literate

pro-

fessionals,

who

provided

goods

and

services for

the

elite;

and the

farmers,

tenant

farmers,

and

laborers who worked

the fields and harvested

the abundance of the marshes.

Organizationbygender

dictateddifferent roles

for men

and women within

society. Among

the

elite,

only

men

could hold

government

office,

whereas

women ran the

household,

bore and

rearedchildren, made music to accompanytem-

ple

ritual,

and sometimesheld

positions

at

court.4

Non-elite men and

women were both

employed

by

the elite

as household servantsand

musicians,

but

women

ideally played

a far

smaller role

in

outdoor labor.5

Organization by age

divided the

population

into different

age groups through

which indi-

viduals would

pass

as

they

moved from one life

stage

to the next.

The most obviousof such

stages

in

anysociety

are

birth,

puberty,

adulthood,

mar-

riage, parenthood

and death.

Unfortunately,

ex-

cept

for

the

passage through

death to the next

life, there is little evidence of how the ancient

Egyptians

marked the transference romone life

stage

to the next. Textual and

representational

evidence

suggests

hat circumcision

may

have

sig-

nified the transitionfrom childhood for at least

some

boys.6

Evidence for an

equivalent

opera-

tion performedon girls, such as clitoridectomy,

is

lacking

in

texts

and,

if

it had been

performed,

unlike

circumcision,

t would not be

apparent

n

the art.7For

both

sexes,

the

biological

effects of

puberty

in

themselves denote the

passage

from

childhood.

Physical

evidence

of

hair,

both natural and

in

the form of

wigs

made of human

hair,

survives

from ancient

Egypt.

It shows that elite women

could wear either their

own

long

hair,

sometimes

supplemented

by

additional

tresses,8

or a

wig

placed

over their

long

hair,9

whereas men

kept

their hair short or

shaven,10

so that

complex

malehairstyleshad to be achievedthroughwigs.11

Nevertheless,

such material fails to show the full

range

of

hairstyles

found in

art;

relates

only

to

the elite

group;

and does not

help

us understand

the

way hairstyles

were correlated with different

social roles.

Fortunately,

ar more information is

provided by representational

evidence,

which

shows interactions

among figures

of different

age, gender,

and social status. Our main

visual

and Lice

Egyptian

rchaeology

(1994),

31-33;

Joyce Haynes,

The

Development

of

Women's

Hairstyles

n

DynastyEigh-

teen,

ournal f

the

Societyor

the

Study fEgyptian ntiquities

(1977),

18-24;

C.

Miiller, Friseur,

exikon

er

Agyptologie

(Wiesbaden:

Otto

Harrassowitz,

977),

331-32; idem, Haar,

Lexikon er

Agyptologie

, 924; idem,

Kahlkopfigkeit,

exikon

der

Agyptologie

(1980),

291-92; idem, Periicke,

exikon er

Agyptologie

(1982),

988-90;

Saphinaz-Amal

aguib,

Hair n

Ancient

Egypt,

Acta Orientalia 1

(1990),

7-26;

Georges

Posener,

La

legende

de la tresse

d'Hathor,

n: Leonard

Lesko

(ed.),

Egyptological

tudies n Honor

of

RichardA. Parker

(1986), 111-17; ElizabethRiefstahl, AnAncient Egyptian

Hairdresser,

rooklyn

Museum ulletin 3

(1952),

7-16,

Two

Hairdressersof the Eleventh

Dynasty, ournalof

Near

East-

ern Studies15

(1956),

10-17;

Elisabeth

Staehelin,

Bart,

Lexikon er

Agyptologie

(1975),

627-28.

For a

wig workshop,

see Ewa

Laskowska-Kusztal,

Unatelier der

perruquier

a

Deir

el-Bahari,

tudes t Travaux 0

(1978),

83-120.

4

Gay

Robins,

Womenn Ancient

Egypt Cambridge:

Har-

vard

University

Press,

1993).

5

Ibid.,

120-24.

6

Constant de

Wit,

La circoncision chez

les anciens

Egyptiens, Zeitschriftur dgyptische

prache

und Altertums-

kunde99

(1972),

41-48;

Wolfhart

Westendorf,

Beschnei-

dung,

LA 1 (1975), 727-29 with

bibliography;

Rosalind

and

Jac. Janssen,

Growing p

in Ancient

Egypt

London:

The

Rubicon

Press,

1990),

90-97.

1

For the

possibility

of such an

operation

in Ptolemaic

Egypt,

see

John

Baines,

Society, Morality,

and

Religious

Practice,

n:

Byron

E. Shafer

(ed.),

Religion

n Ancient

Egypt,

Gods,

Myths,

and

personal

ractice

Ithaca

and London: Cor-

nell

UniversityPress),

144 n. 59.

8

E.g.,

H. E.

Winlock,

The Tomb

f

Queen

Meryet-Amun

t

Thebes

New

York:

Metropolitan

Museumof

Art,

1932),

9-10,

pls.

13, 33;

G. Elliot

Smith,

The

Royal

Mummies

Cairo:

Insti-

tut

Francais

d'Archeologie

Orientale,

1912),

nos.

60153-54,

61061, 61088, 61095;

Iwataro

Morimoto,

TheHumanMummies

from

he1983 Excavationst

Qurna,

Egypt,

tudies n

Egyptian

CultureNo.

2

(Tokyo:

Waseda

University, 985),

heads

B,

D-F.

9 Female mummies with wigs: e.g., Smith, RoyalMum-

mies,

nos.

61062, 61087,

61090.

10

Shaven heads:

e.g.,

Smith,

Royal

Mummies,

o.

61065;

Morimoto,

Human

Mummies,

ead

A;

short

hair:

e.g.,

Smith,

Royal

Mummies,

os.

61066-67, 61069, 61073;

IwataroMori-

moto et

al.,

Ancient

Egyptian

Mummies

from

Qurna,

Egypt

I,

Studies

n

Egyptian

Cultureno. 7

(Tokyo:

Waseda

University,

1988),

2,

fiffs.1-5.

11

Surviving

male

wigs:e.g.,

Fletcher,

EgyptianArchaeology

5

(1994),

32.


4/16

HAIR AND

THE

CONSTRUCTION

OF IDENTITY N ANCIENT

EGYPT

57

sources are the

monuments

produced

for the

elite: their tomb

chapels,

stelae,

and statues.

In

this

paper,

I

shall concentrate

mainly

on

rep-

resentations from tomb

chapels.

Although

built

only by high-rankingmale officials, such tomb

chapels incorporated

images

of

both male and

female

family

members,

as well as

images

of non-

elite

individuals,

who

left no monuments

of their

own;

the scenes feature

agricultural

activities,

animal

husbandry,

work

in the

marshes,

work-

shops,

and some household activities.

Since the

images

on these monuments were

manipulated

to fit the elite world

view,

they may

not

always

have coincided with

actual

practice.

They

should,

nevertheless,

conform to

prevailing

deals about

social identities

and hierarchies.

Children

Severalvisual

indicators,

not all

of

which

need

be

present

at

once,

distinguishprepubescent

chil-

dren from adults.12Childrenare

depicted

on

a

smaller

scale;

they

are

usually

nude;

they

suck

their index

fingers;

and most

important

for the

purposes

of this

paper,

their heads are shaved

apart

rom

a lock of hair that falls

from the

right-

hand side. This

sidelock,

worn

by

both

girls

and

boys,

occurs

in

several

styles,

either

as a

single

braid or as a series of braids

or curls.13

Since

children are

conventionallyrepresented

asnaked,

boys

and

girls

ack the differentiation n

dress that

distinguishesgender

in

adults.

Never-

theless,

boys

are

usuallydepicted

with

the darker

skin that is the

markerof adult male

status,

and

girls

with

the

lighter

skin of adult

females.

In

some

images,

however,

boys

wear

earrings

and

below-the-elbow circlets

that

among

adults are

only

worn

by

women,14

so that

the construction

of

gender

for

boys

s somewhatambivalent.

Thus,

male

gender

seems to become

fully

constructed

only with

the transition to

adulthood,

when

nu-

dity

and female

ewelry

are

abandoned,

and hair-

styles

and clothes become

gender specific.

Since

images

of male

children show them to be

uncir-

cumcised,

circumcision

may

also have occurred

as

part

of this same

symbolic system

to mark the

transitionfrom

one life

stage

to another.15

Although girls

share

nudity

and

hairstyles

with

boys, they

are

represented

with certain

other

traitsthat are

characteristicof adult

female

gen-

der,

such as

earrings,

below-the-elbow

circlets,

hip girdles

and

light

skin color. It seems to be

the

adoption

of

specific

female

hairstyles

and

dress that marksthe transitionfrom girlhood to

womanhood.

Statusdifferentiation s also less

marked

among

children than

among

adults.

Although

the

king

and his female relatives

are

clearlydistinguished

from members of the elite

class

by

the

wearing

of

royal insignia,

their

offspring,

when

shown as

prepubescent

children,

appear

to be

represented

little

differently

from the

offspring

of the elite.

Although

children of the non-elite

are

usually

shown with

a shaven head

only,

without

a side-

lock,

royal

and elite children can also be shown

in

this

way,

so

they

are not

clearlydistinguished

from the non-elite. Although non-elite children

12

Because scale

indicates

importance,

adult

offspring

and other

figures

of less

importance

than

the tomb owner

may

be shown on

a

small scale.

However,

as

adults,

these

figures

are clothed

and wear adult

hairstyles.

16

Braid with curled end:

tomb of

Nebamun,

Arpag

Makhitarian,

La misere es tombeshebains

Brussels:

Fonda-

tion egyptologiquereine Elisabeth,1994), pl. 8 (boy);tomb

of

Paheri,

J. J. Tylor

and F. LI.

Griffith,

TheTomb

ofPaheri

at

ElKab

London:

EgyptExploration

Fund,

1894),

pl.

4

(boy),

pl.

10

(sex

unclear,

no

inscription);

Boston MFA

1981.2,

Sue

D'Auria

t

al.,

Mummiesnd

Magic

Boston:

Museumof

Fine

Arts,

1988),

no. 80

(boy);

Bologna

KS

1917,

Silvio

Curtoet

al.,

II Senso

elVArteelVantico

Egitto

Milan:

Electa,

1990),

103,

105

no.

52

(boy);

statueof Senenmut

and

Neferura,

Janssen

and

Janssen,

Growing p

in Ancient

Egypt,

27

fig.

45

(girl);

statue

of Benermerut

and

Meritamun,

Georges Legrain,

Statues t

statuettes e rois et de

particuliers

I

(Cairo:

Institut Francais

d'Archeologie

Orientale,

1909),

no.

42171

(girl);

series of

braids/curls: TT

52,

Abdel Ghaffar Shedid

and Matthias

Seidel,

Das Grab es

Nacht

Mainz

am Rhein:

Philipp

von Za-

bern,

1991),

60

(boy),

61

(girl);

tomb of

Nebamun,

Nina

M.

Davies,

Ancient

Egyptian

aintings Chicago:

University

of

Chicago

Press,

1936),

pl.

65

(girl?);

Pierre

Lacau,

Stelesdu

Nouv

l

Empire

Cairo:

nstitut Francais

d'Archeologie

Orien-

tale,

1909),

no. 34095

(two

girls);

Ludwig

Borchardt,

Statuen

und Statuetten

on

Konigen

und Privatleuten

m Museumvon

Kairo

Berlin:

Reichsdruckerei,

930),

no. 800

(girl);

Arielle

Kozloff and

Betsy Bryan,Egypt'sDazzling

Sun:

Amenhotep

II

and his WorldCleveland:The Cleveland Museum of Art,

1992),

292

(boy).

For

he

mummy

of a

boy,

probably prince,

with a shaven head and

long flowing

sidelock,

see

Smith,

Royal

Mummies,

o. 61071.

14

E.g.,

TT

52,

Shedid

and

Seidel,

Das Grab es

Nacht,60;

TT

226,

Norman de Garis

Davies,

TheTombs

of Menkheperra-

sonb,

Amenmosend Another

London:

Egypt

Exploration

So-

ciety,

1933),

pl.

30E

(naked

with

earrings, boys);

tomb of

Nebamun, Mekhitarian,

La

misere,

l.

8.

15

See n. 6.


5/16


6/16

HAIR AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF IDENTITY IN ANCIENT EGYPT

59

Fig.

1. The tombowner

Djeserkaraseneb

makesa ritual

offering ollowed by

his

wife

and son. Threemoresons are shown in

the

upper register.

The other

figures

are not

labelled;

he two men in the middle

registermay

be

servants,

and

the threewomen

in the bottom

register

are

probably

daughters.

TT

38, Davies,

Scenes

from Some Theban

Tombs,

pl.

1.

Reproducedby

kind

permission of

the

Griffith

Institute.

their fathers.20

Adult

sons,

who were not

only

members

of

a

younger generation

but who

were

also

likely

to be

junior

to their fathers in the

bureaucratic

hierarchy,

most

frequently appear

in

their fathers' tomb

chapels

with either

a

short,

round

wig

or a shaven head

(fig.

1).

One of the most common scene

types

from

tomb

chapels

shows the deceased

owner,

the

most

important figure

in

the decorative

program,

seated before

a table of

offerings;

one of his sons

or less often another male

relative

stands on the

other side of the

table,

performing

the

offering

ritual. This

figure

is

usually depicted

with

a

round

wig

or

shaven

head,

whereas

the

chapel

owner

frequently

wears the

shoulder-length wig

(fig.

2).21

This difference

in

hairstyle signifies

the relative status and roles of the

figures.

Be-

cause the

performer

of the ritual was

ideally

the

deceased's

son,

any

male

who

enacted the

part

also undertook

a

filial

(and

hence

junior)

role in

relationship

to the deceased. In other

words,

the

Egypt Exploration Society,

1915),

pls.

4, 14, 24, 27, 35;

TT

100,

Norman de G.

Davies,

The Tomb

of

Rekh-mi-ret Thebes

(New

York:

Metropolitan

Museum

of

Art,

1953),

pls.

51, 63,

70, 73, 75, 77, 85, 95, 97,

103

(all

surviving igures

of

tomb

owner);

TT

343,

Heike

Guksch,

Das Grab es

Benja,gen.

Pa-

heqamen.

heben

Nr.

343

(Mainz

am Rhein:

Philipp

von Za-

bern,

1978),

pls.

6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 21, 24,

25

(all

figures

of tomb

owner);

El

Kab,

Tylor

and

Griffith,

The Tomb

of

Paheriat El

Kab,

pls.

2, 4, 6, 9-10;

Kozloff and

Bryan,

Egypt'sDazzling

Sun, 38, 40,

41,43-44,

47.

20E.g., TT 82, Davies, The Tombof Amenemhet,l. 3 (vi-

zier),

pl.

7

(father,

father's

father,

father's

mother,

wife's

father(?),

father of

wife's

father(?),

brother of

wife's

fa-

ther(?));

TT

100, Davies,

TheTomb

of

Rekh-mi-re,

l.

109

(ban-

quet guests);

TT

181,

Norman de

Garis

Davies,

The Tomb

of

Two

Sculptors

t Thebes

New

York:The

Metropolitan

Museum

of

Art,

1925),

pl.

5

(banquetguests), pl.

17

(father);

TT

343,

Guksch,

Das Grabdes

Benja,

rontispiece

(father);

El

Kab,

Tylor

and

Griffith,

TheTomb

of

Paheri,

l.

7

(father,

mother's

father)

21

E.g.,

TT

38, Davies,

Scenes

from

SomeTheban

Tombs,

l.

3;

TT

45, Davies,

SevenPrivate

Tombs,

l.

2;

TT

82, Davies,

The Tomb

of

Amenemhet,

l.

35;

TT

100, Davies,

The Tomb

of

Rekh-mi-re,

l.

70;

TT

112, Davies,

The Tombs

of Menkheper-

rasonb,

l.

24;

TT

343, Guksch,

Das Grab es

Benja,pl.

12;

El

Kab,

Tylor

and

Griffith,

TheTomb

of

Paheri,

l.

6.


7/16

60

JARCE

XXXVI

(1999)

Fig.

2. The tombownerPaheri and his

wife

Henuterneheh it while their son

performs

he

offering

ritual

for

them.El

Kab,

Tylor

and

Griffith,

The

Tomb of

Paheri,

pl.

6.

Reproducedby

kind

permission

of

the

EgyptExploration

Society.

shoulder-length

wig

establishes

the senior status

of the

deceased,

while the round

wig

or shaven

head marks the

junior

status of the

performer

of the ritual. This

relationship

is

also

embodied

in

the

posture

of the

participants:

visual

and

textual evidence indicates that

sitting

(here the

position

of the

deceased)

was

more

prestigious

than

standing

when

it came to the conventions

of

hierarchy.22

The tomb

chapel

owner

may

not be the

only

recipient

of ritual

in

the

chapel.

Sometimes he

gives up

his

primary

status to honor his

parents,

in

which case

they

are the ones shown

sitting

before the table of

offering,

while he stands to

perform

the ritual before them.

The

identity

of

the tomb

owner

has therefore shifted from

being

the

recipient

to the enactor of

the ritual. Inter-

estingly,

this new

identity

is often

accompanied

by

a

change

in

wig style:

while the seated father

wears the

shoulder-length wig,

the tomb owner

may

be

represented

with the short

wig

or shaven

head to mark his

now

junior,

ritual role

in

rela-

tion to

the senior

figure

of

his father.23

n

other

words,

ritual

context,

relative

status,

and hair are

all

highly

interrelated

n

this

performance.

The

so-called round

wig,

which has

a

long

his-

tory

in ancient

Egyptian

art, is less restrictedin

its use than the

shoulder-length wig

(see

fig.

2

right),

and

in

many ways

it

appears

to be an

all-purpose

adult male

wig.

Sometimes it is worn

by

the tomb

chapel

owner

(instead

of the shoul-

der-length

wig),24

as

well

as

by

his adult sons25

11

Miriam

Lichtheim,

Ancient

Egyptian

Literature I

(Berke-

ley,

Los

Angeles,

London:

University

of California

Press,

1976),

139.

23

E.g.,

TT

39, Davies,

The Tomb

of Puyemre,pl.

6;

TT

82,

Davies,

The Tomb

of

Amenemhet,

pl.

7

(owner

offers to se-

nior

family

members

including

father,

father's father and

mother's

father);

TT

112,

Davies,

The Tombs

of Menkheperra-

sonb,

pl.

26;

TT

C4,

Lise

Manniche,

Los Tombs:A

Study of

Certain

EighteenthDynasty

Monuments in the Theban

Necropolis

(London

and New York:

KPI,

1988),

pl.

27

no.

45;

Tylor

and

Griffith,

The Tomb

of

Paheri,

pl.

10.

^

E.g.,

TT

52,

Shedid and

Seidel,

Das Grab des

Nacht,

60

(1

example only);

TT

81,

E.

Dziobek,

Das Grabdes Ineni

The-

benNr. 81

(Mainz:

Philipp

von

Zabern,

1992),

pls.

2-3, 7, 17;

El

Kab,

Tylor

and

Griffith,

The Tomb

of

Paheri,

pls.

1,3-4,

8.

1

E.g.,

TT

181, Davies,

The Tomb

of

Two

Sculptors,

pl.

5;

El

Kab,

Tylor

and

Griffith,

The Tomb

of

Paheri,

pls.

6,

10

upper.


8/16

HAIR

AND

THE

CONSTRUCTIONOF IDENTITY N ANCIENT

EGYPT 61

Fig.

3.

The tomb owner Rekhmira

and his

wife

Merit are

offered

istra and menit- necklaces

by

their

daughters.

TT

100, Davies,

The Tomb of

Rekh-mi-re,

pl.

63.

Reproducedby

kind

per-

mission

of

the

Metropolitan

Museum

of

Art,

New York.

and other

male relatives.

In

the first half

of the

eighteenth dynasty

it is

depicted

on

figures

of

offering

bearers andvarious kinds of

priests.

By

the end

of our

period,

however,

the

rep-

resentation of

priests changed

so that

we find

them more often

with a shaven head.

Shaving

the head solves the

problem

of

keeping

the hair

clean

and free from

headlice and their

eggs

(nits),

for

lice do not infest

wigs.27

Therefore,

a

shaven head

guaranteed

cleanliness and

per-

haps

became

associated with ritual

purity,

so

that for a

priest

it

may

have encoded a

message

of ritual

purity

rather than strict social hierar-

chy.

Since

priests

were

government

officials and

part

of

the bureaucratic

hierarchy,

heir identi-

ties could shift

between an official and a

priestly

one.

High-rankingpriests,

therefore,

could com-

mission

images

with the

shoulder-length wig

to

indicate their

status,

or with a shaven head to

emphasize

their

priestly

function.28

Similarly,

when the tomb

chapel

owner is

shown

per-

forming

a ritual

action,

the ritual context

-

and

26

E.g.,

TT

343, Guksch,

Das Grabdes

Benja,pl.

13

(ban-

quet

guests);

TT

100,

Davies,

TheTomb

of

Rekh-mi-re,

ls.

66-

67

(banquetguests).

11

Fletcher,

Egyptian rchaeology

(1994),

31-33.

Compare,

or

instance,

the statuesof

Taitai,

high priest

of Hebenu

with a shavenhead and

Anen,

second

prophet

of

Amun with a

shoulder-lengthwig,

Kozloffand

Bryan,

Egypt's

Dazzling'

Sun,

nos.

42-43.


9/16

62

JARCE

XXXVI

(1999)

hence his

proper

role vis-d-vishis

parents

and

deities could be reinforced

by showing

him

with a shaven head.29

As

already

mentioned,

shaven heads are not

confined to the elite. In fact, it is the only style

depicted

for indoor male servants and musi-

cians,

who are never shown

wearing

wigs.30

This

may

relate to their

sphere

of work inside the

house,

since

they

would not need

protection

against

the

sun,

a

practical

benefit from

wearing

a

wig,

or it

may

indicate

a

concern with cleanli-

ness. It is even

tempting

to

suggest

a linkbetween

the shaven

heads of male household servants

who served the

elite,

and those of elite

priests

who served the

gods

and the dead.

In some

tombs,

male

guests

at

banquets

are

shownwithout

wigs

and

with shaven

heads,

some-

times alternatingwithguestswearingwigs.Since

these

guests

must

belong

to the

elite

class,

it is

possible

that we

should understand them as

rep-

resenting

holders

of

priestly

office,

or

simply

as

being

marked as inferior

in

status to the tomb

chapel

owner who wears

a

wig.

However,

other

explanations

are

possible.

It

may

have been ac-

ceptable

to remove one's

wig

when indoors and

out of the sun.

Further,

he

artist

may

havewished

to

introduce

variation

among

the male

guests by

mixing wigs

and shaven heads.

Two

particular types

of

priest,

the Iunmutef

priest31

and the

high priest

of Ptah at Mem-

phis,32

are associatedwith a unique typeof hair-

style:

a

round

wig

with the braided sidelock of a

child. The Iunmutef

priest

performed

the ritual

in

the

funerary

cults of the

king

and members of

the

royalfamily,

and sometimesin

private

uner-

ary

cults,

where

he

played

the

part

of the de-

ceased's eldest son.

Thus,

the attachedsidelock

identifies the

filial role

adopted

for the

perfor-

mance

of the

ritual,

whereas the

wig

denotes the

wearer's actual adult status. It is less clear

why

the

high priest

of Ptah should

have worn

a

braided

sidelock,

but he

may

likewise have been

regarded

as

playing

a filial

role toward the

god

that he served.

It is

interesting

that the

only

male

figures

shown

wearing

their own hair are of non-elite

status:

mostly

laborers

working

outdoors

in

the

fields or

marshes,

and

occasionallyworkshopper-

sonnel.

In

some cases

they

are

shown with

heads

of

thick,

black

hair,33

but often

they appear

bald-

ing,

with

short,

unkempt

hair at the back.34Un-

like the

wigs

of the

elite,

which

are almost

always

black,35

this natural hair

may

be rendered as

reddish-brown36r as

graying.37

n

addition,

non-

29

E.g,

TT

139,

Cyril

Aldred

et

al.,

L'Empire

des

Conquerants

(Paris:

Editions

Gallimard,

1979),

fig.

68.

30

E.g., TT 38, Davies, Scenesfrom SomeThebanTombs, l. 6;

TT

52,

Shedid and

Seidel,

Das Grabdes

Nacht, 46;

TT

79;

TT

80;

TT

82, Davies,

The Tomb

ofAmenemhet,pl.

15;

TT

85;

TT

100, Davies,

The Tomb

f Rekh-mi-re, ls.

66-67.

31

E.g.,

Kozloff and

Bryan, Egypt's Dazzling

Sun,

254

fig.

46b. For the

Iunmutef,

see Hermann Te

Velde, Iunmutef,

Lexikonder

Agyptologie

(1980),

212-13.

32

Kozloff

and

Bryan, Egypt'sDazzling

Sun,

241

no. 37.

33

E.g.,

TT 52, Shedid and Seidel, Das GrabdesNacht, 38-

39;

TT

38, Davies,

Scenes

from

SomeTheban

Tombs,

l.

2;

TT

69,

Davies,

Ancient

EgyptianPaintings,

pls.

50-51.

E.g.,

outdoor

laborers: TT

38, Davies,

Scenes

from

Some

Theban

Tombs,

l.

2;

TT

39, Davies,

The Tomb

ofPuyemre

,

pls.

12, 15;

TT

52,

Shedid and

Seidel,

Das Grabdes

Nacht, 35, 39,

41, 57, 68-69, 71;

TT

69, Davies,

Ancient

Egyptian Paintings,

pl.

51;

TT

78,

Annelies

and

Artur

Brack,

Das Grabdes Harem-

heb. Theben

Nr.

78

(Mainz

am Rhein:

Philipp

von

Zabern,

1980),

pl.

24;

TT

100, Davies,

The Tomb

of

Rekh-mi-re,

ls.

45-

46, 48,

50;

TT

261, Davies,

Ancient

Egyptian Paintings, pl.

28;

tomb of

Nebamun, ibid.,

pl.

68;

workshop personnel:

TT

39, Davies,

The Tomb

ofPuyemrel, pl.

23;

TT

100, Davies,

The

Tomb

of

Rekh-mi-re,

ls.

52, 54-55;

TT

181, Davies,

The Tomb

of

Two

Sculptors,pl.

13.

35 In the art, hair and wigs are almost always represented

as black.

Surviving

hair, however,

can be

black, Smith,

Royal

Mummies,

nos.

61063, 61067;

brown to dark

brown, ibid.,

nos.

61057, 61066, 61069-70; reddish-brown, Smith,

Royal

Mummies,

nos.

61080, 61097; Fletcher,

A Tale of

Hair,

Wigs

and

Lice, 32; or,

in

older

mummies,

gray,

Smith,

Royal

Mum-

mies,

nos.

61062, 61068-69, 61078-79,

61087. The embalm-

ing process may

have affected hair

color, Morimoto,

Ancient

Egyptian

Mummies,

2.

Wigs

could also be made of brown

rather than black

hair, Fletcher,

A Tale of

Hair,

Wigs

and

Lice,

32.

That brown hair

was

not

usually

shown

in the art

may

be

purely

a matter of convention. Since human skin was

represented by

various

shades

of

brown, black,

rather than

brown,

may

have been chosen as the conventional hair color

in order to

provide

a clear contrast between hair and skin.

The convention may have been deliberately ignored for

non-elite

figures

to

signal

their low

status.

E.g.,

TT

69, Davies,

Ancient

EgyptianPaintings, pl.

51;

TT

78,

Brack and

Brack,

Das Grab des

Haremheb,

pl.

24;

TT

82,

Arpag

Mekhitarian,

EgyptianPainting

(Geneva:

Editions d'Art

Albert

Skira, 1954,

reprinted

1978),

42;

TT

261, Davies,

An-

cient

EgyptianPaintings, pl.

28.

37

TT

52,

Shedid and

Seidel,

Das Grabdes

Nacht,

68-69.


10/16

HAIR AND THE CONSTRUCTIONOF IDENTITY N ANCIENT EGYPT

63

elite men sometimes

appear

with

straggly

beards

or

stubble

on their

cheeks

and

chins,38

n

con-

trast o the

clean-shaven aces of most male

Egyp-

tians or the

very

short,

square-cut

beard worn

on

the

point

of the chin

by

some elite

figures.

These non-elite fashions

are

dramatically

dif-

ferent from those

conferred

upon images

of elite

men,

who are almost

always

shown with their

natural hair

removed,

or with it

replaced

by

an

artificial

wig

constructed from the hair of an-

other

person.

Thus,

if

hairstyle

was

intimately

connected to

identity,

elite

males

may

have been

rebuilding

their

identities,

overlaying

nature

by

culture.

By shaving

their heads and

wearingwigs,

they

were able to

hide visible

signs

of

aging:

baldness or

gray

hair. The

wearing

of

wigs

also

indicates the

power

of the elite to command the

hair of others for their own use. The intricate

styling

of

the

wigs,

with their

carefullyarranged

strands,

curls and

braids,

shows that their wear-

ers had

the resources to

acquire

and maintain

them.

All

this is

in

contrast o

the

unkempt,

bald-

ing

and

sometimes

graying

natural hair of the

non-elite laborerwho

worked closer to nature

in

the fields and marshesand had

none of the arti-

ficial

overlay

of

high

culture or elite status.

Although

household servants

were

not

part

of the elite

group, they

lived

in

the same homes

as the

elite and hence shared the same

space.

Thus,

their

working

context removed them from

the natural world and brought them into elite

spheres. Although

their natural hair was re-

moved,

it

was

not

artificially

eplaced

by

a

wig;

hence,

their

participation

n

elite behavioral

pat-

ternswent

only

so far.It

is

more

difficult o

explain

why

some

workshoppersonnel

and

peasant

abor-

ers seem to have had

shavenheads or round

wigs.

Possibly,

heir heads were not

deliberately

haven,

but were

naturally

bald,

while the structureof the

wigs

is not clear from the availablevisual

depic-

tions;

they may

perhaps

have

been

distinguished

from the

skilfully

made

wigs

of human

hair

worn

by

the elite

by poorer craftsmanship

or

by

the

materials

used,

such

as animal hair or

vegetable

fiber.

Women

Female

hairstyles

differed

fundamentally

rom

those

of

men;

as

already

seen,

women wore

their

hair

longer,

and are never shown with shaved

heads. Even when a

wig

was

worn,

the natural

hair remained

underneath,

as is demonstrated

by

some

female statues on which the naturalhair

is

represented

emerging

from under the

wig

at

the

forehead.39

Elitewomen wearhairstylesequallyelaborate

as those of

men,

but

they

are

totally

different in

style

from male

wigs, reinforcing

the

gender

dis-

tinction inherent

in

Egyptian

society.

The most

striking

difference is in

length,

for while male

styles

at this

period rarely

reach below the shoul-

der,

women's hair

usually

falls to the level of the

breasts.

Further,

although

elite men

may

be

shown without their

wigs,

revealing

their shaven

heads,

it is not clear how elite women wore their

hair under their

wigs.

Since a number of female

mummieshave been found with

long

hair under-

neath

wigs,

while others were buried with their

own hairelaboratelydressed, t maybe thatin life

some

women wore

wigs

over their own

long

hair,

whereas others wore their own hair

arranged

n

the

required style.

In

either

case,

women

would

not have been

protected against

ice.

Although

texts

provide relatively

ittle infor-

mation about

hair,

the availablereferences

sug-

gest

that women's hair had erotic

significance,

helping

to markwomen as icons of

sexuality

and

fertility.40

There are no

comparable

references

to

suggest

that male

sexuality

was linked to hair.

One

might posit,

therefore,

that

women,

in

con-

trast to

men,

kept

their natural hair and

kept

it

long,

even if

they

wore a

wig

over

it,

because it

38

E.g.,

TT

39, Davies,

The

Tomb

ofPuyemre,

pls.

12,

15,

28;

TT

73,

Charles

Wilkinson, Egyptian

Wall

Paintings (New

York:

The

Metropolitan

Museum of

Art,

1983),

75;

TT

78,

Brack

and

Brack,

Das Grabdes

Haremheb,

pl.

24;

TT

100, Davies,

The

Tomb

of

Rekh-mi-re,

ls.

48, 58;

TT

181, Davies,

Tomb

of

Two

Sculptors,

pl.

12

=

Mekhitarian,

EgyptianPainting,

125;

TT

261,

Davies,

Ancient

Egyptian Paintings, pl.

28;

Karl-Heinz Preise

(ed.),

Agyptisches

Museum

(Mainz:

Philipp

von

Zabern,

1991),

85 no.

52.

39

Kozloff and

Bryan, Egypt's

Dazzling

Sun,

171.

40

Derchain,

La

perruque

et le

cristal,

Studien zur alt-

dgyptischen

Kultur2

(1975),

55-74.


11/16

64

JARCE

XXXVI

(1999)

more

directly

embodied their

sexuality

and hence

female

gender

identity.41

The

mothers,

wives and

daughters

of tomb

chapel

owners are

usually depicted

wearing

one

of

two

general hairstyles: he so-calledtripartite

style,

common

in

the first

part

of the

eighteenth

dynasty,

or the

enveloping style,

which

replaced

the

tripartite

n

the second half of

the

period.42

n

the first

style,

the hair is

divided into three bun-

dles,

two

falling

on either

side of the

face,

and

one

down the

back,

leaving

the

shoulders

exposed

(figs.

2-3).

In

the

enveloping

style,

the hair is ar-

ranged

in

a

single

mass,

covering

the shoulders

(fig.

1).

Detailed

renderings

show the hair ar-

ranged

in

masses of

braids or

ringlets.

Daughters

of the elite

may

also be

depicted

with an

alternative

ripartitestyle,

in

which thick

tresses or ringlets frame the face, while a thin

bunch of hair

at the

back,

like a

ponytail,

leaves

the rear

part

of the head

more

exposed (fig.

3).43

Since this

alternative

tripartite style

is not

gen-

erally

worn

by

wives,mothers,

or

those

daughters

who are

specifically

alled mistress f

the

house,

a title

that indicates a

married

woman,

one

might

imagine

that

the

style

marked a

particular

stage

in

a

young

woman's

ife,

when

she

was no

longer

a

child but still not

married. This

hy-

pothesis

is

strengthened by

representations

of

female household

servantswho share

similarhair-

styles.44

While servants with the

common tri-

partite

or

enveloping style

often wear

an

opaque

dress,

those with the alternative

tripartite style

are

frequently represented

nude,45

or

wearing

a

transparentgarment (figs.

4,

5).46

Although

we

know from indications of pubic hair that the lat-

ter

group

of

women

are

post-pubescent,47

heir

bodies, nevertheless,

still

appear

to havethe soft

flesh

and

plumpness

of extreme

youth.

This evi-

dence

suggests,

herefore,

that different

hairstyles

may

have

distinguished

adolescent

girls

from

fully

adult

women,

and unmarried or

marriageable

girls

from married women.

Interestingly,

corre-

sponding

life

stages

do not seem to have been

marked on the male head.

Younger

female servants and musicians

may

also be

shown with a

variety

of non-standard

hairstyles

that

are

usually fairly elaborately

arranged.48The erotic context of the banquet

scenes in which

they

occur

suggests

that the

pur-

pose

is to

heighten

the

sexuality

of the wearers.

Some servants

waiting

on

guests,

however,

wear

short,

round

wigs

that end

above

the shoulder

(figs.

4,

5).

This

type

of

wig

can be found

worn

by

elite women

in

the Old and Middle

Kingdoms

and

again

in

the Late

Period,

but at the time un-

der

study,

the

style

seems to be confined to ser-

vants;

ts

significance

s unclear.

In

contrast

to what

happens

with

men,

women's

hairstyles

and identities do not seem

to

change

from one social context to another.

Althoughelite women mostlywivesand

daugh-

ters

could,

like

men,

perform

rituals for the

deceased,

this

junior

role does not affect their

hairstyle.

Thus,

we

do not find

wives

wearing

the

more

junior

alternative

tripartite style,

in

con-

trast o the

way

n

which adult men took on

junior

hair

styles

in

this context. In other

words,

elite

41

A female

mummy

found in

the tomb of

Amenhotep

II

had hair that had been cut

very

short or had

perhaps

been

shaved, Smith,

Royal

Mummies,

no.

61072,

but this

seems

to

have been

exceptional.

Haynes,

The

Development

of Women's

Hairstyles,

18-24.

43

E.g.,

TT

38, Davies,

Scenes

from

SomeTheban

Tombs,

l.

6;

TT

75,

Norman de Garis

Davies,

The Tombs

of

Two

Officials

of

Tuthmosis heFourth

(Nos.

75 and

90) (London:

Egypt

Explora-

tion

Society,

1923),

pl.

14;

TT

100, Davies,

The Tomb

of

Rekh-

mi-re,

pls.

70-71;

Kozloff and

Bryan, Egypt's

Dazzling

Sun, 286,

296.

E.g.,

TT

75, Davies,

The Tombs

of

Two

Officials, pl.

14;

TT

100, Davies,

The Tomb

of

Rekh-mi-re,

l.

63.

E.g., tripartite:

TT

100, Davies,

The Tomb

ofRekhmire, ls.

64-67;

enveloping:

TT 38, Davies, Scenes

from

Some Theban

Tombs,

l.

6;

TT

75, Davies,

The Tombs

of

Two

Officials,pls.

5-6;

alternate

tripartite:

TT

22,

Davies,

Ancient

Egyptian Paintings,

pl.

26;

TT

38, Davies,

Scenes

from

SomeTheban

Tombs,

l.

6;

TT

45, Mekhitarian,

EgyptianPainting,

64;

TT

78,

Brack and

Brack,

Das Grabdes

Haremheb,

l.

3;

TT

100, Davies,

The Tomb

of

Rekh-

mi-re,

pls.

64-67;

tomb of

Nebamun, Davies,

Ancient

Egyptian

Paintings, pl.

70;

Manniche,

Lost

Tombs,

l.

46 nos. 65-66.

45

E.g.,

TT

38, Davies,

Scenes

from

SomeTheban

Tombs,

l.

6.

46

E.g.,

TT

22, Davies,

Ancient

Egyptian

Painting, pl.

26;

TT

100,

Kazimierz

Michalowski,

Art

of

Ancient

Egypt

(New

York:

H.

N.

Abrams,

1969),

93.

E.g.,

TT

38,

Mekhitarian,

Egyptian Painting,

67; idem,

La mis re,

pl.

9.

48

E.g.,

TT

52,

Shedid

and

Seidel,

Das

Grab

des

Nacht, 52;

tomb

of

Nebamun,

Miriam

Stead,

Egyptian Life

(London:

British

Museum

Publications,

1986),

fig.

82

(lower

register

and

upper register right;

the

figure

on the left in the

upper

register

wears a version of the alternative

tripartite style);

T. G. H.

James, Egyptian Painting

(London:

British Museum

Publications,

1985),

cover

(dancing girls).


12/16

HAIR

AND

THE

CONSTRUCTION OF IDENTITY

IN ANCIENT EGYPT 65

Fig.

4. Part

of

a

banquet

cene

showing emale guests,

musicians and servants. TT

100, Davies,

The Tomb of

Rekh-mi-re,

pl.

64.

Reproducedby

kind

permission of

the

Metropolitan

Museum

of

Art,

New York.

female

hairstyles

appear

to define absolute

age

or social

status,

rather

than relative hierarchies

that

may

shift with movement from one context

to another.

A scene in the tomb

chapel

of

Djeserkaraseneb

at Thebes illustrates this difference

in

style

and

significance

between male and female

hairstyles

(fig.

1).

The

owner,

Djeserkaraseneb,

makes a

ritual

offering together

with

his

wife

and son.

Behind this

group

are three

registers

of

figures

on a smaller scale: on

top,

three

more sons

bring-

ing offerings;

in

the

middle,

two servants run-

ning with offerings; and at the bottom, three

female

figures

(almost

certainly

daughters)

also

bringing offerings.

Most

important

here is the

uniformity

of

hairstyle among Djeserkaraseneb

's

four sons

and servants

(in

contrast to

Djeser-

karaseneb's shoulder

length wig)

compared

with

the differentiation

of

styles among

his

daughters.

Two

of his

daughters

wear

the

enveloping

hair-

style,

which

they

share with his

wife,

but the

third

daughter

wears the alternative

tripartite style.

This difference

in

hair

may

indicate a difference

in

age

and/ or marital status

among

the sisters.

A

similar

relationship

between

the female life

cycle

and

hairstyle may

be seen

in

a few tomb

chapels dating

to

the

reign

of

Amenhotep

III.

In these

cases,

we

find the mothers of the tomb

owners

wearing tripartite-style wigs,

which

oth-

erwise were

by

now out of fashion.49

Although

uncommon,

the intention

was

surely

to mark

these women as belonging to an older genera-

tion than that of the tomb owner.

49

yx

45, Davies,

SevenPrivate

Tombs,

l.

2;

TT

55,

Norman

de

Garis

Davies,

The Tomb

of

the VizierRamose

(London:

The

Egyptian Exploration Society,

1941),

pls.

10, 11, 16;

TT

181,

Davies,

The Tomb

of

Two

Sculptors,pl.

17.


13/16

66

JARCE

XXXVI

(1999)

Fig.

5. Part

of

a

banquet

cene

showing

emale guests,

musicians and servants. TT

38, Davies,

Scenes

from Some Theban

Tombs,

pl.

6.

Reproducedby

kind

permission of

the

Griffith

Institute.

As

already

discussed,

there is

in

the art a clear

distinction between the

hairstyles

of

high

male

officials and their male household servants.

By

contrast,

there is far less distinction

between

the

hairstyles

of elite women and their female house-

hold

servants,

although possibly

only

elite

women

wore

wigs

over their natural

hair.

Wigs

would

have

had the same social

significance

for

women

as for men: to hide

thinning

and

graying

hair,

and to

demonstrate the

ability

to

appropriate

the hair of others for one's

own

use.

When

elite

women wore their

own

hair

elaborately

dressed,

often with extensions to

give

extra

body,

this

added another level of

luxury:

it

implied

that

they

had the leisure to

expend

on

having

their

hair

groomed

and the resourcesto command an-

other's services for the task.

The

differences

in

the treatment of the hair

throw some

light

on

gender ideologies

and hier-

archies

current at this time. The

identity

and

statusof elite men

depended mainly

on their

po-

sition

in

the

government bureaucracy;

on their

monuments,

men constructed their

identity

tex-

tually by

listing

all their titles of office.

In

other

words,

men

looked outside the home to fulfil

their

ambitions,

their concerns

being

centered

on the social structureof

government

order and

control.

Women,

by

contrast,

had

few official ti-


14/16

HAIR

AND

THE

CONSTRUCTION

OF IDENTITY N ANCIENT

EGYPT 67

ties.

Instead,

their identities on monuments were

constructed

in

terms of their

kinship

to a man:

mwt.f

his

mother,

hmt.f

his

wife,

sBt.f

his

daughter

or

snt.f

his female relative. These

kinship

terms were often followed

by

the most

common title

given

to

women,

nbt

pr

mistress f

the

house,

signifying

a

married woman

and de-

noting

her main

sphere

of

activity. deologically,

the

concerns of women did not relate to

govern-

ment,

but to the natural

process

of

reproduc-

tion.50

In

art,

we find

generic images

of naked

women with

long

hair or

wigs being

used to en-

sure

conception

and safe birth into this

world,

and,

by

extension,

rebirth into the next.51 It

might

be that an

ideology

that stressed the role

of women

in

reproduction

also saw women as

being

closer to nature than men and that this

wasexpressed throughtheir unshaven heads and

long

hair.

Turning

now

to

non-elite women

working

out-

side the domestic

sphere,

we seldom find them

wearingany

of the

basic

hairstyles

associatedwith

elite

women

and their

servants.

Unfortunately

we

have

fewer

depictions

of such non-elite women

than

we do of

men,

since

women are not

in-

cluded

among

the

personnel

in

workshops

or as

laborers n the marshes.

Nevertheless,

women are

sometimes

present

in

agricultural

cenes,

mostly

at the harvest.

They

present

a

range

of unelabo-

rated,

often

unkempt,

hairstyles:

most

frequently,

tied back with the ends falling down the back;52

but also

loose;53

in a few thick

ringlets;54

n

straightish

strands

ending

at chin

level;55

or

in

a

solid black mass cut off at the shoulders.56

Al-

though

many

women no doubt

actually

worked

out of doors

in

the

fields,

the

prevailing

deology

seems to have held that outdoor workwas to be

performedmostlyby

men.

In this

context,

women

working

n the fieldsalmost

certainly

had

a

lower

status than household servants.

This

hierarchy

becomes

expressed

on the

head;

while

the house-

hold servantshave the

same

hairstyles

as the

elite

women

they

served,

the female

laborers are de-

picted

with their hair undressed and often un-

kempt.

Hair thus becomes a

way

to

distinguish

not

only

between rich and

poor,

but also between

different non-elite

groups.

Nevertheless,

basic

gender

distinctions are

generally

maintained at

all levels of

society through

differences

in

hair

length.

Although

women's roles were

more limited

than those of men, womendid sometimes havea

part

to

play

in

certain ritual contexts.

In

scenes

depicting

the funeral

procession

of the tomb

chapel

owner,

two women

regularly

ake on the

identities of the

goddesses

Isis and

Nephthys,

known as the two

kites,

who mourned the death

of their murdered brother

Osiris,

the

god

of the

dead,

and

brought

him

back to life.

In

many

de-

pictions

these women cover their head with

the

Ma-headdress,

made of

white

cloth,

that is not

normally

worn

by

women,

but which is a fre-

quent

accoutrementof the

goddesses;57

he head-

dress

was

thus used to

identify

the women with

the goddesses in this particularcontext. Else-

where,

the women

playing

he two kites are shown

with a

cap

of short black hair that leaves the ear

uncovered,

and with a white fillet tied round the

head

(fig.

6)

.58

There is no evidence

as to

whether

the women's natural hair was cut for this

occa-

sion or

whether it was concealed under

a

wig.

A

similar

hairstyle

is worn

by

the

god's

wife

of

50

Gay

Robins,

Women n Ancient

Egypt.

51

Gay

Robins,

Dress,

Undress and the

Representation

of

Fertility

and

Potency

in New

Kingdom Egyptian

Art,

in:

N.

Kampen

(ed.),

Sexuality

in Ancient

Art;

Geraldine

Pinch,

Childbirth and female

figurines

at

Deir el-Medina

and el-

Amarna,

Orientaliab2

(1983),

405-14.

52

E.g.,

TT

52,

Shedid and

Seidel,

Das Grab des

Nacht, 35;

TT

57,

Walter

Wreszinski,

Atlas zur

AltaegyptischenKulturge-

schichtel

(Leipzig: J.

C. Hinrichs'sche

Buchhandlung,

1923),

pl. 192;

TT

C4, Manniche,

Lost

Tombs,pl.

34 no.

56;

tomb

of

Nebamun, ibid.,

pl.

49 no.

69; Mekhitarian,

La

misere,

pl.

24.

53

TT

69, Wilkinson,

Egyptian

Wall

Paintings,

50 no. 49.

54

TT

52,

Shedid and

Seidel,

Das Grab des

Nacht,

frontis-

piece.

55

TT

6g? Mekhitarian,

EgyptianPainting,

79.

56

TT

69>Wilkinson,

Egyptian

Wall

Paintings,

49 no. 46.

57

E.g.,

TT

82, Davies,

The Tomb

of

Amenemhet,

ls.

10-11;

TT

100, Davies,

The Tomb

of

Rekh-

mi-re,

pls.

83-84, 87-88,

92-93;

TT

C4, Manniche,

Lost

Tombs,

pl.

34 no.

56,

pl.

42

no.

62

[1];

El-Kab,

tomb of

Paheri,

Tylor

and

Griffith,

The

Tomb

ofPaheri,pl.

5.

58

E.g.,

TT

39, Davies,

Tomb

of Puyemre,

pl.

46;

TT

82,

Davies,

The Tomb

of

Amenemhat,

pls.

10, 12;

TT

96,

Christiane

Desroches

Noblecourt

et

al.,

Sennefer.

Die Grabkammeres

Biirg-

ermeisters on Theben

(Mainz

am Rhein:

Philipp

von

Zabern,

1986),

30;

TT

100,

Davies,

The Tomb

of

Rekh-mi-re,

ls.

79-80;

TT

139,

Aldred et

al.,

L'Empire

es

Conquerants,

ig.

68; Paheri,

Tylor

and

Griffith,

The Tomb

of

Paheri,

pl.

5.


15/16

68

TARCE

XXXVI

(1999)

Fig.

6. The two

kites

engaged

in a

ritual

performance

at

the tombowner's

funeral

TT

100, Davies,

The

Tomb

of

Rekh-mi-re,

pi

79.

Reproducedby

kind

permission

of

the

Metropolitan

Museum

of

Art,

New York.

Amun,

one of the

few female

priests

in

the cult

of Amun

at

Thebes,

when she is shown

per-

forming

temple

rituals.59Since

short hair is not

a

style

normally

associated

with

eighteenth

dy-

nastywomen, its use seems designed specifically

to mark the

performance

of a

cultic role

by

a

woman and to

shift her

identity

from a secular

to a

religious

one.

This shift is also

made visible

by

the

continued use of the

traditional,

tight-

fitting

sheath

dress,

after

depictions

of

women

in

more secular

contexts had

changed

to show

them

wearing

a

longer,

looser

wrap-around

ress.

Death

The final transformationof

the social

identity

of

both elite men and

women occurredat

death,

when theymade the dangerouspassage romthis

world to

the next and took

their

place

among

the

blessed dead

in

the afterlife.

Their new

identity

was

displayed

through

the

images

on

their cof-

fins. Once

again,

hair

plays

an

important

role

in

this

process

of

identity

formation. Both

men

andwomen are shownwearing,not the hairstyles

of the

living,

but a

striated,

breast-length,

tri-

partite wig specifically

associated with

images

of

male and

female deities.60

n

addition,

male

cof-

fins sometimes

incorporated

the

long,

braided

false beard

associatedwith Osiris as

well

as

other

male deities.61 This last shift in

identity

trans-

formed the deceased into an

idealized divine be-

ing

proper

to an

inhabitant of the next

world.62

Conclusions

Depicted

adult

hairstyles clearly

divide be-

tweenthoseappropriate o men andthoseappro-

priate

to

women,

thus

reinforcing

the division

59

A.

Gayet,

Le

Temple

e

Louxor

Paris:

Mission arche-

ologique

francaiseau

Caire,

1894),

pl.

35

fig.

100,

pl.

51

fig.

125;

PierreLacauand Henri

Chevrier,

ine

chapelle

'Hatshep-

souta Karnak

I

(Paris:

nstitutFranc

is

d'Archeologie

Orien-

tale,

1979),

pls.

18

top,

19 middle.

60

E.g.,

Kozloff and

Bryan, Egypt's

Dazzling

Sun,

fig.

X.2a-b,

nos. 61-64

(coffins),

nos. 17-19

(deities).

61

E.g.,

ibid.,

no.

62.

62

J.

Taylor, Egyptian

Coffins Aylesbury:

Shire

Publica-

tions,

1989),

39.


16/16

HAIR

AND THE

CONSTRUCTION

OF IDENTITY N

ANCIENT

EGYPT 69

of

society by

gender. Among

elite women who

have

passed

childhood,

hairstylesappear

to dif-

ferentiate

between

younger, possibly

adolescent,

women and

older,

possibly

married,

women.

These

hairstyles

are shared

with

non-elite female

household

servants,

suggesting

that

age

rather

than social status is the

primary

information

imparted.

Women

working

outside

the

house,

who are

certainly

of

lower

status,

rarely

wear

these same

hairstyles,

o

here social

statusrather

than

age may

be

important.

Among

elite

men,

increased social statuscame

with

promotion

in

the

government bureaucracy.

At a

certain

level,

officials seem to have become

eligible

to

wear

a form

of the

shoulder-length

wig.

Unlike the

tripartite

and

enveloping wigs

of elite

women,

the

shoulder-length wig

is not

shared with non-elite servants.Further,within

a

composition,

the different

hairstyles

worn

by

the

male

figures

often establish a relative hier-

archy

between

them,

with the

primary figure

wearing

the

shoulder-length wig

and

secondary

figures

the round

wig

or a

shaven

head. Such

relative

hierarchies do not

commonly

occur with

female

figures,

where instead senior and

junior

women often both wear either the

tripartite

or

enveloping hairstyles.

In

addition

to the use of

hair

to indicate social

status,

age,

and

gender

within

the

hierarchies

of ancient

Egyptian

soci-

ety,

different

styles

were also

employed

to mark

figures playing

certain

religious roles,

such as

the Iunmutef

priest

or the

god's

wife of Amun.

The

evidence

thus shows that the

hairstyles

depicted

in ancient

Egyptian

art were not

freely

selected

by

artists.Rather

they

formed

part

of a

visual

system

that

was

used to

help

construct

and

display

the social identities

of the

figures rep-

resented,

and

so

had

to

be

appropriate

to the

age, gender

and status of the wearers.

Although

scenes

in

tomb

chapels

were

not intended to

reproduce exactly

the real

world,

but rather

represented

an elite

ideal,

the

system

of

identity

constructed

in

the art must have

reflected a cor-

responding system n life that defined the iden-

tity

of individualsand their

place

within

society.

Its

incorporation

into visual

representation

not

only

served to

convey

information

to viewers

about the

figures depicted,

but

by

constant

rep-

etition reinforced what the elite

group

held to

be the

correct

social order.

Emory University

Documents

Hair and the Construction of Identity in Ancient Egypt JARCE 36-1999-Pp. 55-69