TY - JOUR
T1 - Tresses and Distresses
T2 - Literary and Social Aspects of Women’s Hair in Second Temple Jewish Literature
AU - Livneh, Atar
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© Atar Livneh, 2023.
PY - 2023/1/1
Y1 - 2023/1/1
N2 - This article explores the literary context of three types of hair modification in Second Temple Jewish literature: disarranging, unveiling, and cutting, when they occur and the social categories they embody. All of these behaviors mark women as mourners, with the tearing/cutting and disheveling of hair further identifying them as suppliants. While some depictions are based on biblical models, the supplication scenes clearly reflect Greek and Roman motifs ‒ women wearing their hair wild and addressing the troops and defendants wearing mourning dress and engaging in keening gestures. Outside these contexts, female figures rarely cut/dishevel their hair of their own accord, the majority of those who do so being slaves/captives/prisoners subject to the whims of authority figures ‒ masters/mistresses or priests.
AB - This article explores the literary context of three types of hair modification in Second Temple Jewish literature: disarranging, unveiling, and cutting, when they occur and the social categories they embody. All of these behaviors mark women as mourners, with the tearing/cutting and disheveling of hair further identifying them as suppliants. While some depictions are based on biblical models, the supplication scenes clearly reflect Greek and Roman motifs ‒ women wearing their hair wild and addressing the troops and defendants wearing mourning dress and engaging in keening gestures. Outside these contexts, female figures rarely cut/dishevel their hair of their own accord, the majority of those who do so being slaves/captives/prisoners subject to the whims of authority figures ‒ masters/mistresses or priests.
KW - biblical exegesis
KW - hair- gender
KW - mourning
KW - supplication
KW - veiling
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85153720608&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.30965/21967954-bja10038
DO - 10.30965/21967954-bja10038
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85153720608
SN - 1869-3296
VL - 3
SP - 1
EP - 29
JO - Journal of Ancient Judaism
JF - Journal of Ancient Judaism
IS - 2
ER -