Grelber | 10 Jul 2015 9:37 p.m. PST |
I was looking at some of the ancient Egyptian wall paintings, hoping to paint some Egyptians in the coming months, and I noticed not everybody had dark brown/black hair. Nor were all the folks with lighter hair necessarily engaged in activities that made them look like slaves. So I looked for articles on hair color. This seems to be one of those highly politicized areas, with one side arguing everybody had black hair and the other side arguing for everything short of Jean Harlow platinum blonde hair. Would somebody care to explain what's going on here (hopefully without being dawg housed)or share the latest consensus as to the actual hair colors of ancient Egyptians (say 1500 B.C to 1000 B.C.). Grelber |
bsrlee | 10 Jul 2015 9:44 p.m. PST |
Egyptians were very fond of wigs (as were the Romans). If you are looking at 'important' people's portraits you are likely looking at a highly fashioned wig in the style of the day, regardless of what the subjects real hair color was. |
IGWARG1 | 10 Jul 2015 9:45 p.m. PST |
Never heard of anything but black hair for Egyptians. I went to Metropolitan Museum of Art many times and do not remember any blond or light colored hair for the Egyptians. My guess is that "debate" is for the sake of debate, something like evolution is just a "theory". |
Huscarle | 11 Jul 2015 2:11 a.m. PST |
Pharaohs Seti I and Rameses II are supposed to have had red hair, as the god Set did (Set was also supposed to be white-skinned). They all came from Upper Egypt. With so many invasions, such as that of the Hyksos, I would imagine that you could have just about any complexion, although dark hair would be the most common. A lot of people shaved their heads (and coloured wigs were worn by those that could afford them); and beards were very rare. |
HarryHotspurEsq | 11 Jul 2015 2:57 a.m. PST |
Huscarle – are you sure there are any ancient sources that mention the red hair of living Pharaohs? I have often seen/heard people being astounded by the red hair on mummies, but that is a result of the mummification process and most Egyptian mummies have red hair as a result. |
Crumple | 11 Jul 2015 4:03 a.m. PST |
I don't think there are any ancient sources, the hair has been analyised and natural red pigment was found in the roots. |
Renaud S | 11 Jul 2015 5:14 a.m. PST |
Hair colour in Ancient Egypt is well documented. The norm was as today, black. It was sometime dyed red, as it can still be now in North Africa or even for the Masai. There were also very few occasional natural reddish hairs, but no indigenous fair hairs. Whigs could be black, red, white or blue-black (for the gods and kings). |
LEGION 1950 | 12 Jul 2015 10:26 a.m. PST |
I have heard that they wore whigs and shaved their heads because of head lice ? Mike Adams |
miniMo | 12 Jul 2015 2:27 p.m. PST |
You're on pretty safe ground painting them in the same skin and hair tones as modern day Egyptians. Upper Nile folk have been Egyptians of residence for the last 24,000 years: link Red hair may well be dyed, and also natural through Macedonian bloodlines in the Ptolemies. |
JimSelzer | 12 Jul 2015 7:35 p.m. PST |
remember that modern Egyptians are not necessarily the same ethnically as ancient ones |
Grelber | 13 Jul 2015 9:51 p.m. PST |
Many thanks for all the comments! No blonde Egyptians, then, but maybe a few with brown hair. Grelber |