# The long white beard as the standard attribute for "old man" in early 20th century media: Origin? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 7, 2017, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-long-white-beard-as-the-standard-attribute-for-old-man-in-early-20th-century-media-origin/800950 "2017-11-07T05:37:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**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:** [November 7, 2017, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-long-white-beard-as-the-standard-attribute-for-old-man-in-early-20th-century-media-origin/800950/1 "2017-11-07T05:37:29Z")
Think back to any of a number of old films, from early Three Stooges shorts to _Treasure Of The Sierra Madre_ (where a long-white-bearded Walter Huston does his famous dance); add to that the stereotypical image the Old Year seen in NYE decorations, old guys as depicted in numerous Westerns, etc. As it happens, I noticed that as I get older, I have to be a little more carefully when shaving myself, at least on certain parts of my face. Or that could be for some other reason that I don’t really know about. Either way, I can’t see myself giving up shaving in the foreseeable future. But what all this makes me wonder about is this: In the old days, did a lot of aging men tend to give up shaving, either because shaving was more difficult in the days of straight razors? Or did this come more from the fact that many young men wore full beards in Victorian times, and a lot of them would have simply decided to continue doing so as they reached an advanced age in the early 20th Century? ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-long-white-beard-as-the-standard-attribute-for-old-man-in-early-20th-century-media-origin/800950/2 "2017-11-07T05:49:36Z")
One Factual Answer is that for men growing a beard is a cultural or fashionable choice, but growing a nice _white_ beard, while not requiring extremely advanced age, is going to be easier after age 70 (let’s say). ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-long-white-beard-as-the-standard-attribute-for-old-man-in-early-20th-century-media-origin/800950/3 "2017-11-07T06:20:25Z")
Certainly a long white beard was associated with wise old men from the sages of Ancient Greece onwards — they didn’t have reliable hair dyes in the olden days — not to mention the Norse pantheon; but your mention of the Victorians brought to mind Julia Margaret Cameron, who photographed mid-Victorian worthies. Her [**Wiki**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Margaret_Cameron) has a couple, including her husband, and one of her most famous images was of the unbelievably young looking [**Ellen Terry,**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_Terry) who married briefly [**George Frederick Watts**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Frederic_Watts), 30 years her senior, who sported a natty white beard. [\*\* Julia Margaret Cameron beards\*\*](https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Julia+Margaret+Cameron+beards&num=100&dcr=0&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiRvoW25KvXAhWNUlAKHcktAwQQ_AUICigB&biw=1280&bih=830#imgrc=_) on Google instantly shows a number of wonderfully odd white beards, some of which were beyond imagination let alone understanding. Apart from your reasons, young men in Victorian times may simply have been returning to that which they grew up with as age caught them up. I doubt if straight razors were inefficient ( unlike the heated walnut shells of the Ancients ) although they required a good deal of stropping, if that task wasn’t handed to one’s manservant; _keeping_ such beards would have been a lot more work. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-long-white-beard-as-the-standard-attribute-for-old-man-in-early-20th-century-media-origin/800950/4 "2017-11-07T08:21:14Z")
Isn’t the long white beard a standard attribute in the Orient too? ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-long-white-beard-as-the-standard-attribute-for-old-man-in-early-20th-century-media-origin/800950/5 "2017-11-07T09:05:00Z")
How long has it been that God has been depicted as an old man with a long white beard? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-long-white-beard-as-the-standard-attribute-for-old-man-in-early-20th-century-media-origin/800950/6 "2017-11-07T10:09:47Z")
Since before He was called God. If we go to polytheistic religions, the long white beard was a standard attribute for Father-Gods throughout at least Europe (I’m even less familiar with art from other areas). I think this falls smack into **Cal Meacham** ’s area of expertise, I’ll give him a ping. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-long-white-beard-as-the-standard-attribute-for-old-man-in-early-20th-century-media-origin/800950/7 "2017-11-07T11:29:52Z")
In the early 20th century, the old men were fellows who had been adults in the 1860s. This was an era in which facial hair was quite fashionable. (You’ve seen Civil War photos, yes?) Old men are not known for their tendency to adopt the fashions popular among the young; they tend to continue the styles they embraces when they themselves were younger. By the mid-20th century, the depictions of old men often included tattoos. Young people didn’t have them as a general rule. Eventually that generation of old men died off and time went by and tattoos weren’t associated with old men any more and they came back on the scene as a young-person thing (for both sexes this time). ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-long-white-beard-as-the-standard-attribute-for-old-man-in-early-20th-century-media-origin/800950/8 "2017-11-07T12:35:16Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Since before He was called God. If we go to polytheistic religions, the long white beard was a standard attribute for Father-Gods throughout at least Europe (I’m even less familiar with art from other areas). > > I think this falls smack into **Cal Meacham** ’s area of expertise, I’ll give him a ping. Thanks for the Vote of Confidence, but I haven’t made a special study of this. I think the image \*\*Spectre/B] is looking for is the “Ancient of Days” image, often associated with God the Father in artwork, like this one by William Blake: > **[Ancient of Days](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_of_Days#/media/File:Europe_a_Prophecy,_copy_D,_object_1_(Bentley_1,_Erdman_i,_Keynes_i)_British_Museum.jpg)** > > Ancient of Days (Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: עַתִּיק יֹומִין, romanized: ʿatīq yōmīn or עַתִּ֤יק יֽוֹמַיָּא֙, ʿatīq yomaya; Koinē Greek: παλαιὸς ἡμερῶν, romanized: palaiòs hēmerôn or ὁ παλαιὸς τῶν ἡμερῶν, ho palaiòs tôn hēmerôn; Latin: antiquus dierum) is a name for God in the Book of Daniel. > The title "Ancient of Days" has been used as a source of inspiration in art and music, denoting the creator's aspects of eternity combined with perfection. William Blake's watercolour and relief etching ent... Or the guy in the Glass Coffin on the right here: [![](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/ab/ff/f243024128a048839b46d010.L.jpg) ](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/ab/ff/f243024128a048839b46d010.L.jpg) Or God as depicted in the 13th century: > **[Patriarchs (Bible)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriarchs_(Bible)#/media/File:Hortus_Deliciarum,_Der_Scho%C3%9F_Abrahams.JPG)** > > The patriarchs (Hebrew: .mw-parser-output .script-hebrew,.mw-parser-output .script-Hebr{font-family:"SBL Hebrew","SBL BibLit","Taamey Ashkenaz","Taamey Frank CLM","Frank Ruehl CLM","Ezra SIL","Ezra SIL SR","Keter Aram Tsova","Taamey David CLM","Keter YG","Shofar","David CLM","Hadasim CLM","Simple CLM","Nachlieli",Cardo,Alef,"Noto Serif Hebrew","Noto Sans Hebrew","David Libre",David,"Times New Roman",Gisha,Arial,FreeSerif,FreeSans}אבות‎ ʾAvot, "fathers") of the Bible, when narrowly defined, are Ab... You might almost add Santa Claus to the list, but I think of longer, straighter white beards when I think of the trope (Incidentally, I wouldn’t include Walter Huston in _Treasure of the Sierra Madre_ in the list – his beard is downright short: [http://www.movingimage.us/visit/calendar/2016/06/26/detail/the-treasure-of-the-sierra-madre](http://www.movingimage.us/visit/calendar/2016/06/26/detail/the-treasure-of-the-sierra-madre) A good thing, too, a long patriarchal beard would get snagged in the cactus.) Judge Dee, both the historial figure and the fictional one as depicted by Robert van Gulik, gets the full beard: [https://www.pinterest.co.uk/lim\_soonkheng/robert-van-gulik-judge-dee/](https://www.pinterest.co.uk/lim_soonkheng/robert-van-gulik-judge-dee/) As, of course, do a lot of Biblical Patriarchs in Renaissance and later artwork. > **[������ + ������������ ��������� ��������� в 2024 г | Православные...](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/283586107756673071/)** > > 08.02.2024 - Автор пина:Вера Дьяченко. Находите и прикалывайте свои пины в Pinterest! Zeus has a beard, of course, but it’s more Walter Huston-ish in the Greek and Roman art I’ve seen. In fact, I can’t recall a really long beard in Graeco-Roman art. One of the Taoist Eight Immortals, _Zhang Guolao_ (The “-lao” means “the old”) is depicted with a long and flowing beard: > **[Zhang Guolao](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_Guolao)** > > Zhang Guo, better known as Zhang Guolao, is a Chinese mythological figure and one of the Eight Immortals in the Taoist pantheon. Among the Eight Immortals, Zhang Guolao, Zhongli Quan and Lü Yan were real historical figures.\[contradictory\] His existence is said to have begun around the middle or end of the 7th century, and ended approximately in the middle of the 8th. The epithet "Lao" added at the end of his name means "old". > Zhang was a Taoist fangshi (translated as "occultist-alchemist") who l... Noah almost always gets a beard, but not always the long type. Huge full beards were a feature of Babylonian art: [https://www.google.com/search?q=Babylonian+art+beards&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjTjdWUu6zXAhWDNiYKHd7JBbgQ\_AUICigB&biw=1440&bih=680](https://www.google.com/search?q=Babylonian+art+beards&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjTjdWUu6zXAhWDNiYKHd7JBbgQ_AUICigB&biw=1440&bih=680) Ancient Egyptian art often features long beards, but they’re stiff and formal and wrapped up and, pretty often, false: > **[Facial Hair (specifically beards) in Ancient Egypt](https://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/beards.htm)** > > Egypt: Hair (specifically beards) in Ancient Egypt I’ve read that one reason for false beards (in Egypt and Mesopotamia) was that they shaved off the real ones to defeat lice and other vermin. It’s possible, but I wouldn’t assert it without looking into it more. Some people say it was just to imitate the Gods. In any event, Egyptian beards aren’t always of the iconic length. > **[Why Did Egyptian Pharaohs Wear False Beards?](https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/50076/why-did-egyptian-pharaohs-wear-false-beards)** > > Pharaohs were normally meticulous shavers, according to most archaeologists and historians. So why did they wear false beards while eliminating real ones? To sum up : from what I recall and from this quick survey, you have some impressive beards in Mesopotamia and Egypt, but not ancient Greece or Rome. Whether such long beards were a feature of everyday life or an indication by art, I don’t recall seeing any in either East or WEst until, say, the 10th century (even when depicting characters much older, like the Biblical patriarchs), but it became a pretty standard image after that for Old and Respected people. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-long-white-beard-as-the-standard-attribute-for-old-man-in-early-20th-century-media-origin/800950/9 "2017-11-07T12:47:51Z")
The Wikipedia article on Beards ( [Beard - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beard) ) indicates that Confucius held that beards ought not to be cut. The logical extrapolation is that Confucius ought to be depicted with a long beard. And his is, in much later Eastern and Western art. But I note that the early art shows both him and Lao Tse (founder of Taoism, also usually depicted in later art with a long beard) with pretty small beards, not the long flowing type.: [![](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucius#/media/File:Confucius_and_Laozi,_fresco_from_a_Western_Han_tomb_of_Dongping_County,_Shandong_province,_China.jpg) ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucius#/media/File:Confucius_and_Laozi,_fresco_from_a_Western_Han_tomb_of_Dongping_County,_Shandong_province,_China.jpg) It also emphasizes the beard in Phoenician art, but the example they show doesn’t look like the “long flowing” type, to me. I’m think more Dumbledore or Gandalf [https://www.google.com/search?q=Dumbledore&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiO-KHMv6zXAhUFYiYKHfU9AM4Q\_AUICigB&biw=1440&bih=680](https://www.google.com/search?q=Dumbledore&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiO-KHMv6zXAhUFYiYKHfU9AM4Q_AUICigB&biw=1440&bih=680) as for Persian beards, I already pointed out the antiquity of long beasrds in Mesopotamia. The long (black) beard they point out is pretty late, from the 18th century: > **[Fath-Ali Shah Qajar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fath-Ali_Shah_Qajar)** > > Fath-Ali Shah Qajar (Persian: فتحعلى‌شاه قاجار, romanized: Fatḥ-ʻAli Šâh Qâjâr; May 1769 – 24 October 1834) was the second Shah (king) of Qajar Iran. He reigned from 17 June 1797 until his death on 24 October 1834. His reign saw the irrevocable ceding of Iran's northern territories in the Caucasus, comprising what is nowadays Georgia, Dagestan, Azerbaijan, and Armenia, to the Russian Empire following the Russo-Persian Wars of 1804–1813 and 1826–1828 and the resulting treaties of Gulistan and Tu... ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-long-white-beard-as-the-standard-attribute-for-old-man-in-early-20th-century-media-origin/800950/10 "2017-11-07T13:44:57Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Zeus has a beard, of course, but it’s more Walter Huston-ish in the Greek and Roman art I’ve seen. In fact, I can’t recall a really long beard in Graeco-Roman art. Some of the beards I’ve seen on Greek pottery were pretty long - not “ZZ-top long” but longer than most. Let’s say mid-neck or a bit more. And quite a few of the people and myths you mention, I hadn’t even heard of beforehand 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-long-white-beard-as-the-standard-attribute-for-old-man-in-early-20th-century-media-origin/800950/11 "2017-11-07T13:56:25Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > Think back to any of a number of old films, from early Three Stooges shorts to _Treasure Of The Sierra Madre_ (where a long-white-bearded Walter Huston does his famous dance); add to that the stereotypical image the Old Year seen in NYE decorations, old guys as depicted in numerous Westerns, etc. > > As it happens, I noticed that as I get older, I have to be a little more carefully when shaving myself, at least on certain parts of my face. Or that could be for some other reason that I don’t really know about. Either way, I can’t see myself giving up shaving in the foreseeable future. But what all this makes me wonder about is this: In the old days, did a lot of aging men tend to give up shaving, either because shaving was more difficult in the days of straight razors? > > Or did this come more from the fact that many young men wore full beards in Victorian times, and a lot of them would have simply decided to continue doing so as they reached an advanced age in the early 20th Century? I would agree with many of the points you made. The fashion of the time in the middle of the 1800 was for beards, as these men aged, they retained their preferred fashion. Another point that you have observed for yourself is the difficulty in effective shaving as one gets older. I observed that my own grandfather, later in life, required someone else to shave him, as his eyesight and fine motor skills had both deteriorated. For some men in those circumstances, not shaving is just an easier option. It’s easier to neaten up a beard than to shave. This is true of modern shaving tools, not just the traditional straight razor. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-long-white-beard-as-the-standard-attribute-for-old-man-in-early-20th-century-media-origin/800950/12 "2017-11-07T15:07:25Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > In the early 20th century, the old men were fellows who had been adults in the 1860s. This was an era in which facial hair was quite fashionable. (You’ve seen Civil War photos, yes?) Old men are not known for their tendency to adopt the fashions popular among the young; they tend to continue the styles they embraces when they themselves were younger. > > By the mid-20th century, the depictions of old men often included tattoos. Young people didn’t have them as a general rule. Eventually that generation of old men died off and time went by and tattoos weren’t associated with old men any more and they came back on the scene as a young-person thing (for both sexes this time). I agree. Growing beards was a popular 19th century fashion. So in the 20th century, it became associated with older men. The big change was probably Gillette patenting a new type of cheap razor in 1901. Gillette was an astute businessman and heavily marketed the idea that men should be clean shaven (ie buy his product). ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-long-white-beard-as-the-standard-attribute-for-old-man-in-early-20th-century-media-origin/800950/13 "2017-11-07T15:24:49Z")
As \*\*Cal \*\*says, this trope goes back to ancient times. I doubt Gillete or 1850s fashion have had much impact on it. Here’s another factor no one has mentioned. … Many of the tropes of old wise men also have long flowing head hair, albeit with a receding hairline or full bore male pattern baldness. For example, see Santa and many depictions of the christian god. Which to me says it’s more a matter of “I’m out of hock to the System. I don’t have to groom myself for social acceptability, so I won’t.” Rather than someone seeking a fashion, they’re rejecting fashion and letting nature take its course. Which for men tends to be a longish hair & beard whose length is limited by how sturdy their hair is, not by how often they bump into scissors. When I was last out of hock to the system & let my beard grow untamed, it stopped being bushy at about nipple height & the last of it trailed down to halfway between nipple & navel. On a 20-something guy that only took a couple years to grow to its natural limit. For an elderly man that might be the work of a decade or more. But they have plenty of time. ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-long-white-beard-as-the-standard-attribute-for-old-man-in-early-20th-century-media-origin/800950/14 "2017-11-07T15:55:46Z")
Beards came back from their long hiatus around the Crimean War, and mayhap a decade before paving the way; up to 1670, beards aplenty, then virtually none during the 18th century ( minus a few eccentric peers \*, and some aristocrats’ pet hermits who lived in picturesque mock ruins etc. etc. ) and very few up to the 1830s. The Army establishment fought like blazes to prevent soldiers resuming beards ( and sailors too up to the 1870s ) because they were always very _very_ thick, but it was pointed out that a few beards would in no way make the Crimea that much worse, being a massive hellhole. It is interesting to note that Napoleon’s upper officers, mainly from the richer strata if non-aristocratic generally looked like dark, curly-haired clean-shaven latin clones with ‘strong’ features: how surprising to their survivors to watch their sons and grandsons buzz off under another Napoleon Crimea-Ho with exuberant whiskers… - Not typical of these was Lord Gearge Gordon the lunatic rabble-rouser, he grew a beard in decline, mainly I feel because he converted to Judaism; another lunatic was George III who had a very respectable length, since in his sad and lonely last decades he threatened to have the battle-axes used on those who would shave him, dreary little conformists as they were. Quite right too. Other Jews were Fagin, more of a scraggly affair, and one of my favourites as a child: Israel Zangwill’s **King of Schnorrers**. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2017, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-long-white-beard-as-the-standard-attribute-for-old-man-in-early-20th-century-media-origin/800950/15 "2017-11-08T22:25:39Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > To sum up : from what I recall and from this quick survey, you have some impressive beards in Mesopotamia and Egypt, but not ancient Greece or Rome. Whether such long beards were a feature of everyday life or an indication by art, I don’t recall seeing any in either East or WEst until, say, the 10th century (even when depicting characters much older, like the Biblical patriarchs), but it became a pretty standard image after that for Old and Respected people. But the modern US stereotype isn’t of a respected bearded wise old man giving out sage advice. It is the crotchety bearded old man shaking his walking stick. I think this is a US thing associating bearded old man with unsophisticated yokels. e.g. the Hatfeilds and Mccoys: [![](https://www.drinkhacker.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/hatfield-mccoy-cartoon.jpg) ](https://www.drinkhacker.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/hatfield-mccoy-cartoon.jpg) ---
**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:** [November 8, 2017, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-long-white-beard-as-the-standard-attribute-for-old-man-in-early-20th-century-media-origin/800950/16 "2017-11-08T22:52:19Z")
Babylonians, Assyrians, Norse gods…Just another example of what makes this MB so special. Thanks for all the responses so far! ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2017, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-long-white-beard-as-the-standard-attribute-for-old-man-in-early-20th-century-media-origin/800950/17 "2017-11-08T23:25:33Z")
One odd speculation that I read in an article about something else entirely - if you’re very old, and you lose all your teeth, a beard will somewhat mask the caved-in look that tooth loss gives your face. The article went on to speculate that this made very old women scarier looking than very old men. I could possibly see this making it slightly more likely that younger relatives would give shaving great-grandpa a miss. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2017, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-long-white-beard-as-the-standard-attribute-for-old-man-in-early-20th-century-media-origin/800950/18 "2017-11-08T23:54:52Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > But the modern US stereotype isn’t of a respected bearded wise old man giving out sage advice. It is the crotchety bearded old man shaking his walking stick. > > I think this is a US thing associating bearded old man with unsophisticated yokels. e.g. the Hatfeilds and Mccoys: > [https://www.drinkhacker.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/hatfield-mccoy-cartoon.jpg](https://www.drinkhacker.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/hatfield-mccoy-cartoon.jpg) There is also the related (and older) stereotype of the bearded gnarled old prospector: > **[Prospector - TV Tropes](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Prospector)** > > There's GOLD in them-there hills! Eheheheh! The profession of prospector is actually quite an old one, for as soon as humans understood that there were valuable minerals to be had, some of them spent their lives looking for new supplies. But it …