Exploring the history of early Christianity in it's original Jewish context. This is an exegesis which delves deep into archaeology and ancient texts in order to uncover the colorful and richly cultural world of the Gospels. What were times like in...
As the frescoes in the Dura-Europos synagogue show, the hair of most young men was well-trimmed, curly, and dark. Others, however, have a long curly head-of-hair. It's possible that Jesus may have worn this style, and it later changed into the long locks we see in depictions today.
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In any case, Joan E. Taylor states that "People kept their hair and beards short and well-combed, probably to keep out lice, a big problem at that time." The Mosaic Law regulated how Jewish men were supposed to maintain their appearance. This involves growing the famous sidelocks (payot), as we can see outlined in the Torah:
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This could suggest that Jesus, in observance of the law, might have followed these commandments and also grow long sidelocks like many Orthodox Jews do today. However, none of the Judeans in the Euro-Duropos murals seem to follow this practice.
1st century Judaea was under the influence of Greco-Roman culture, as is typical when a nation is conquered by another people, the Jews appear to have assimilated certain aspects of western culture into their society. This does not mean, however, that growing sidelocks was no longer in practice, but depending on the particular group they may have been grown much shorter.
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Appearance in antiquity was about group identification. Similar to today's Jewish groups, there surely were debates on the godliest way of growing temples. Different sects and classes probably had different hairstyle traditions just to stick it to their rivals.
