# Did Jesus really have long hair? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 14, 2007, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013 "2007-06-14T17:21:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Belrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed655f/32.png) [@Belrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belrix)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2007, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013/1 "2007-06-14T17:21:29Z")
We’ve all seen the pictures of Jesus. The fine european features, blue eyes, long wavy brown hair. If it’s the picture from my youth, he has a glowing heart you can see through his tunic, too. (My mother grew up Catholic). We all know that there’s no driver’s license picture of the man. But, culturally, for 1st century Jersuelem, is the long hair right? Busts of various Ceasars usually have carefully coifed, short hair. What was vogue for the Jews? Is there any written clues to his appearance? Maybe he was a short, bald, tubby guy. Perhaps he was just a 1st century [Jason Alexander](http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465/1d/media.canada.com/67bc2623-9886-4c71-9f03-edf992a0aa3a/jalexander_375x375.jpg?size=l). ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2007, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013/2 "2007-06-14T17:46:04Z")
I think this is unknowable. They only thing we know is that we have no idea what Jesus of Nazareth looked like. You are right, he could have been like Jason Alexander. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2007, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013/3 "2007-06-14T17:45:48Z")
I don’t have an answer but I wanted to share [this tract](http://www.tbaptist.com/aab/jesuslonghair.htm) that says He didn’t. Hee. “Kids today” and their long hair imitating the Beatles. ETA: To the extent that they purport to chare archeological evidence, I hope this is not a completely unfactual GQ post. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2007, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013/4 "2007-06-14T18:15:29Z")
[QUOTE=Mahaloth] I think this is unknowable. They only thing we know is that we have no idea what Jesus of Nazareth looked like. You are right, he could have been like Jason Alexander. [/QUOTE] While we may not have an 8x10 glossy picture of him, is there no representative art from the region and the time that exists? No mosaics, murals, or vases that show “Typical Mid-Eastern Man 30 A.D.?” I find that kind of hard to believe. ---
**Author:** ![mjg6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cdc98d/32.png) [@mjg6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mjg6)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2007, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013/5 "2007-06-14T18:18:16Z")
Poetic justice would be a face like Mel Gibson’s ;-0 ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2007, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013/6 "2007-06-14T18:21:04Z")
The earliest representation of the man that I know of has him with a donkey’s head, but that’s from a couple of hundred years later. I’ll ponder plnnr’s point meanwhile and have a look today. Meanwhile, kids, remember that the “Letter to Lentulus” is a late forgery (just in case anyone comes in here with that as evidence). ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2007, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013/7 "2007-06-14T18:28:39Z")
[QUOTE=plnnr] While we may not have an 8x10 glossy picture of him, is there no representative art from the region and the time that exists? No mosaics, murals, or vases that show “Typical Mid-Eastern Man 30 A.D.?” I find that kind of hard to believe. [/QUOTE] You have to be careful, though. What you usually see in those representations are not typical folks but upper-class people. Some of the murals in Egypt give us an idea of what the working class looked like in that place\*, but are there similar pieces from Israel around the time of Christ? \*even then you have to be careful-- is that a representation of how people looked, or just a convention of how to depict them? ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2007, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013/8 "2007-06-14T18:29:36Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] I don’t have an answer but I wanted to share [this tract](http://www.tbaptist.com/aab/jesuslonghair.htm) that says He didn’t. Hee. “Kids today” and their long hair imitating the Beatles. ETA: To the extent that they purport to chare archeological evidence, I hope this is not a completely unfactual GQ post. :eek: [/QUOTE] What, he didn’t look like [this](http://www.sunspace.org/swb.jpg)? (I shaved the beard off when people started telling me I looked like Jesus. As I was verging on neo-pagan status then, that made me decidedly uncomfortable.) ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2007, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013/9 "2007-06-14T18:30:23Z")
Other early representations show him as clean shaven, but after about the 4th century he was always shown with a beard. (Part of this may have been so that people would not make eunuch jokes about him. An oft heard commentary is that the beard was a Byzantine symbol of power and this is repeated in the excellent film [Jesus of Montreal](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_of_Montreal), but I can’t put too much stock in that since first Christian Emperor [Constantine the Great](http://www.usask.ca/antiquities/Collection/Constantine_1.JPG) was clean shaven as was his predecessor [Diocletian](http://www.bibletoday.com/Alys/0_Images/Diocletian.jpg) and his sucessor/son [Constantius](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e5/Constantius_II_-_solidus_-_antioch_RIC_viii_025.jpg) were all clean shaven (and in fact his first successor to have a beard, [Julian (the Apostate)](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/JulianusII-antioch%28360-363%29-CNG.jpg), was anti-Christian and returned the empire to paganism. The Shroud of Turin has probably done more to standardize the image of Jesus than anything since, though it was clearly inspired by the already notion that he was bearded and slim (though in Gore Vidal’s _Live at Golgotha_ he’s depicted as obese, but then Gore’s an ass). [What Did Jesus Look Like? (from Religious Tolerance)](http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_jcfa.htm) ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2007, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013/10 "2007-06-14T18:31:31Z")
[QUOTE=plnnr] While we may not have an 8x10 glossy picture of him [/QUOTE] Speak for yourself, slick. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2007, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013/11 "2007-06-14T18:31:48Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] What, he didn’t look like [this](http://www.sunspace.org/swb.jpg)? (I shaved the beard off when people started telling me I looked like Jesus. As I was verging on neo-pagan status then, that made me decidedly uncomfortable.) [/QUOTE] Hmm. Interesting resemblance. Very [Lothaire Bluteau as Jesus](http://www.moviecitynews.com/reviews/DVD/images/2004/jesus_montreal.jpg). Eunuchs— have him scrubbed and sent to my chambers. Give him a ruby anklet. And some type of musky fragrance but not too bold. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2007, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013/12 "2007-06-14T18:55:03Z")
[QUOTE=KneadToKnow] Speak for yourself, slick. [/QUOTE] Did you write his agent or were you able to find his home address? Is it autographed? I suspect you could get a pretty good dollar for it on eBay. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2007, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013/13 "2007-06-14T19:14:35Z")
[QUOTE=plnnr] Did you write his agent or were you able to find his home address? Is it autographed? I suspect you could get a pretty good dollar for it on eBay. [/QUOTE] I have one, but it’s a band-promo photo when he was with The Apostles. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2007, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013/14 "2007-06-14T19:26:05Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] What, he didn’t look like [this](http://www.sunspace.org/swb.jpg)? [/QUOTE] yum ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Lance_Murdoch)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2007, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013/15 "2007-06-14T19:30:55Z")
He had long hair. He was also tall, athletic, had six pack abs, light-colored skin and perfect teeth. Don’t you ever look at pictures of him? Seriously, every depiction I’ve seen from that place and time show men with short hair. Not proof, but there is no reason I can think of to support the long hair idea. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2007, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013/16 "2007-06-14T19:37:41Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Lance Murdoch] He had long hair. He was also tall, athletic, had six pack abs, light-colored skin and perfect teeth. Don’t you ever look at pictures of him? Seriously, every depiction I’ve seen from that place and time show men with short hair. Not proof, but there is no reason I can think of to support the long hair idea. [/QUOTE] One thing I would expect is that the long wavy hair (a la Albrecht Durer) pretty much has to be out of the question. Given the type of hair most commonly seen on people who live in that part of the world, I would expect it to be fairly curly, and, if allowed to grow out, would tend to do so in all directions, rather than mostly downwards. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2007, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013/17 "2007-06-14T19:40:32Z")
I looked at the tract, and I’m amazed anyone is still this worked up about long hair. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2007, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013/18 "2007-06-14T19:44:42Z")
Jesus could have looked however he wanted to. Who’s to say he didn’t change his appearance from time to time, when it would help his ministry? Anyway, here’s the obligatory Wiki article: [Depiction of Jesus - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Images_of_Jesus) ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2007, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013/19 "2007-06-14T19:46:09Z")
[QUOTE=Spectre of Pithecanthropus] I looked at the tract, and I’m amazed anyone is still this worked up about long hair. [/QUOTE] They’ve made a connection with something else: [QUOTE=the tract] God is thus associating the “SHAME” of long hair with the “VILE” affections of the sodomites and homosexuals. Our generation has made long hair acceptable and is seeking to legalize and popularize homosexuality. Now, we have homosexual churches and other churches that gladly welcome them into their membership. Long hair and homosexuality do not always go together, but they are very compatible. They both represent a revolt against God given nature, and against His precious Word. [/QUOTE] So Jesus could not have had long hair because he was straight, and not gay – that’s why he never married, and why he hung out with 12 other young men all the time. Really very simple when you think about it. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2007, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013/20 "2007-06-14T19:46:52Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] What, he didn’t look like [this](http://www.sunspace.org/swb.jpg)? (I shaved the beard off when people started telling me I looked like Jesus. As I was verging on neo-pagan status then, that made me decidedly uncomfortable.) [/QUOTE] Are you kidding? Looking like Jesus is practically a \*prerequisite \*to being a neo-pagan male. [Take my husband (please!)](http://new.photos.yahoo.com/rhiannon_dreamsnake/album/576460762347124853/photo/294928803711587629/9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013.md?page=2)