# When did Jesus start to be depicted with a beard? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 23, 2009, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-jesus-start-to-be-depicted-with-a-beard/500677 "2009-06-23T02:48:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-jesus-start-to-be-depicted-with-a-beard/500677/1 "2009-06-23T02:48:23Z")
Early Christian art depicted a clean-shaven Christ. When did that change? Did the addition of a beard have a specific iconographical meaning, or was it just a fashion that has stuck? ---
**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 23, 2009, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-jesus-start-to-be-depicted-with-a-beard/500677/2 "2009-06-23T02:55:42Z")
Here is one from the 6th Century AD. [Christ with Beard](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Spas_vsederzhitel_sinay.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-jesus-start-to-be-depicted-with-a-beard/500677/3 "2009-06-23T03:12:29Z")
I can’t vouch for the reliability of this, but [here’s](http://www.religionfacts.com/jesus/image_gallery/4C_bust_of_christ_beard_commodilla.htm) a site claiming that a 4th century fresco is the earliest known image of Jesus with a beard. ETA: the [gallery](http://www.religionfacts.com/jesus/image_gallery.htm) page on that site is pretty cool. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-jesus-start-to-be-depicted-with-a-beard/500677/4 "2009-06-23T04:17:31Z")
It probably depended on the culture/background of the artist doing the work, but it looks as if it was around the fourth century. But that doesn’t mean all the portraits went to bearded then. Images of Christ as the Good Shepherd often showed him as a beardless youth. One here: [http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Good\_shepherd\_m2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Good\_shepherd\_m2.jpg&usg=\_\_4ItNx9E3CmRa5jQjfwH-r7zl6qo=&h=868&w=900&sz=333&hl=en&start=18&tbnid=owZ\_V2mHsrgGfM:&tbnh=141&tbnw=146&prev=/images%3Fq%3D4th%2Bcentury%2BChrist%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den](http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Good_shepherd_m2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Good_shepherd_m2.jpg&usg=__4ItNx9E3CmRa5jQjfwH-r7zl6qo=&h=868&w=900&sz=333&hl=en&start=18&tbnid=owZ_V2mHsrgGfM:&tbnh=141&tbnw=146&prev=/images%3Fq%3D4th%2Bcentury%2BChrist%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den) I have a picture in a book that I can’t find online, an early mosaic, that has Christ depicted as a beardless warrior figure, it’s supposed to be from the fourth century. A lot of the early artwork I’ve seen was from Roman sites, the catacombs and such. There’s one really fascinating one I saw which depicts Christ with His apostles, a fresco work, thathas them all in what looks like togas, or similar Roman garments. ---
**Author:** ![Gotterfunken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/58956e/32.png) [@Gotterfunken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gotterfunken)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-jesus-start-to-be-depicted-with-a-beard/500677/5 "2009-06-23T05:51:34Z")
The bearded Christ starts to get pretty popular by the 6th century, and shortly afterward becomes the standardized form of portrayal. Like **Blake** points out, there was a period when both bearded and beardless Christs were being depicted. One of the later beardless Christs appears in [the apse mosaic at San Vitale](http://www.flickr.com/photos/copetan/2248775411/) in Ravenna (c. 526-547). The bearded Christ first becomes standardized in Byzantine art (in fact, Western European artists were probably influenced by Byzantine prototypes in adopting this format). This could be due simply to Byzantine fashion–men generally wore beards in the East, in contrast to the clean-shaven look of the Romans (up until Hadrian, anyway, who himself began wearing a beard due to his enthusiasm for Greek culture). But the beard might have symbolic value, too. The bearded Christ has also been described as looking more authoritarian in appearance–unlike the simple shepherd of the beardless images, the bearded Christ in Byzantine art often wears purple robes (imperial colors). In other words, he just looks more like an emperor (and considering the interwoven nature of the church and state in the Byzantine Empire, this may not be mere coincidence)–certainly this is the case in the [Pantocrator](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_Pantocrator) (literally, “Ruler of All”) images that become all the rage in Byzantine churches from the 9th century onward. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-jesus-start-to-be-depicted-with-a-beard/500677/6 "2009-06-23T09:53:43Z")
How would one have shaved back in those days, anyways? Just a blade on rough skin? I could see why someone would grow a beard. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-jesus-start-to-be-depicted-with-a-beard/500677/7 "2009-06-23T10:55:23Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > I can’t vouch for the reliability of this, but [here’s](http://www.religionfacts.com/jesus/image_gallery/4C_bust_of_christ_beard_commodilla.htm) a site claiming that a 4th century fresco is the earliest known image of Jesus with a beard. > > ETA: the [gallery](http://www.religionfacts.com/jesus/image_gallery.htm) page on that site is pretty cool. It’s a bit sad that the “religion facts” website is claiming that the Shroud of Turin is as old as they claim. Since 1988, it’s been discovered that the cloth was made [in the middle ages based on carbon dating (1300s).](http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v337/n6208/abs/337611a0.html) ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-jesus-start-to-be-depicted-with-a-beard/500677/8 "2009-06-23T11:20:56Z")
I have a vague memory of reading that it would be common for unmarried Jews from that time to wear a beard. Can anyone verify that? ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-jesus-start-to-be-depicted-with-a-beard/500677/9 "2009-06-23T14:38:02Z")
As far as I know, it was common for all religious male Jews to wear a beard. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-jesus-start-to-be-depicted-with-a-beard/500677/10 "2009-06-24T12:50:46Z")
Thanks everyone. So was it a Roman cultural conceit to depict Christ clean-shaven? ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-jesus-start-to-be-depicted-with-a-beard/500677/11 "2009-06-24T12:58:38Z")
> [@Gotterfunken](#): > > In other words, he just looks more like an emperor (and considering the interwoven nature of the church and state in the Byzantine Empire, this may not be mere coincidence)–certainly this is the case in the [Pantocrator](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_Pantocrator) (literally, “Ruler of All”) images that become all the rage in Byzantine churches from the 9th century onward. That’s the creepiest looking picture of Jesus I’ve ever seen. They made him look like Rasputin. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-jesus-start-to-be-depicted-with-a-beard/500677/12 "2009-06-26T14:27:15Z")
More likely, they were trying to make him look like Zeus. > [@](#): > > from the Wikipedia article > > scholars (Latourette 1975: 572) consider the Pantocrator a Christian adaptation of images of Zeus, such as the great statue of Zeus enthroned at Olympia. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-jesus-start-to-be-depicted-with-a-beard/500677/13 "2009-06-26T14:41:24Z")
Did everyone back then also have long hair? ---
**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:** [June 27, 2009, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-jesus-start-to-be-depicted-with-a-beard/500677/14 "2009-06-27T00:36:40Z")
I keep hearing that the Romans depicted Chist as clean-shaven, but I’ve never seen convincing proof of it. The carving that’s dragged out to make the case is, as even its proponents admit, supposed to be illustrating the parable of The Good Shepherd. It’s not evident to me that they also intended it to represent Jesus. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-jesus-start-to-be-depicted-with-a-beard/500677/15 "2009-06-27T02:05:03Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > How would one have shaved back in those days, anyways? Just a blade on rough skin? I could see why someone would grow a beard. I think they used olive oil or goose grease or something. Anyway, Roman men usually shaved; just look at any bust of Julius or Augustus Caesar. Greeks and Jews wore beards. Greeks in most periods, anyway; I think Alexander the Great started a fashion for shaving. (He said it was so no enemy could grab him by the beard, but more likely he didn’t want to lose his boyish beauty.) ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-jesus-start-to-be-depicted-with-a-beard/500677/16 "2009-06-27T09:49:08Z")
One of the most reproduced images of Jesus- and apparently the one on which most modern interpretations are based- is a 1940 painting by Walter Sallman called [The Head of Christ](http://www.anderson.edu/sallman/headofchrist.html).