The "Great"-est Haircut in the Ancient World

There are two men from the Ancient world with the suffix "Great". Alexander, the King of Macedon, scourge of Darius and general conqueror of pretty much whatever he put his mind too; and Pompey, Roman statesman who circumvented the normal Cursus Honorum, to become the top man in Rome, as well as being one of their greatest generals and conqueror of pretty much whatever he put his mind too.

These were two very different men, operating in very different political systems. One was the king of his country and later the leader of an empire stretching from Greece to India, the other a young man who raised his own army during a civil war and rose to the pre-eminent position of leadership, a Consul of the Roman republic.

Both Alexander and Pompey won smashing victories and were esteemed for their abilities as generals. Alexander three famous battles at Issus, Granicus and Gaugamela saw Persian power defeated and their empire open for Alexander's conquering. Likewise Pompey; won battles in Spain, rightly or wrongly claimed the final victory over Sparticus's slave rebellion, swept the Mediterranean free of piracy in a few short months and most famously campaigned and annexed Asia Minor into the Roman fold. Both clearly superior conquerors and generals, supreme on the battle field.

Coin from the British Museum
Collections

Similarly there are cases of neither one of them being particularly brilliant politicians. In fact both are recorded as sulking and with-drawing from the army or public stage when things didn't go their way. When Alexander's army refused to go any further into India, we are told that Alexander, "Shut himself up in his tent from displeasure and wrath and lay there" (Plutarch Life of Alexander Book 62). Equally, when being harassed by the tribune Clodius, rather than fight, Pompey, argubly at the height of his power, "Came no more into the forum as long as Clodius was tribune, but kept himself at home" (Plutarch Life of Pompey Book 49).

But one of the most interesting and bizarre similarities between these two "great" men is their haircut.

Alexander is depicted in his portraiture, his statues and his coins as having a distinctive flick, quiff or curl of hair on the front of his head. A lot of the surviving images that we have of Alexander come from after his death, during the time when many of the "successor" kings splitting up his empire, tried to legitimise their rule by linking themselves back to the great Alexander. A silver tetradrachm printed by the general Lysimachus, who ruled over Thrace (305BC to 281BC) shows Alexander with his distinctive Horns or Ammon (an Egyptian god equivalent to that of the Greek Zeus and of whom Alexander was alleged to be the son of) and quiff haircut.

Alexander the Great from
British Museum Collections

Similarly, a marble portrait of Alexander dating from around the 2nd to the 1st century BC and probably from Alexandria in Eygpt, shows Alexander in the popular image of a young man, flowing hair with distinctive flicks and a slight tilt of the head. This was clearly the image that had evolved over time of what the greatest conqueror of history had looked like. An idealised image no doubt, but clearly one that had been agreed upon.

Pompey was born in northern Italy in 106BC, roughly two hundred years after the death of Alexander the Great. The son of a Novus Homo (a new man to the Roman senate) he first crashed onto the stage of history during the civil war between Marius and Sulla, when he raised his own legions in support of the Sullan cause. In fact we are told that it was Sulla whom gave him his cognomen of Magnus.

"Giving him the warmest welcome, saluted him in a loud voice as 'Magnus' and ordered those who were by to give him this surname"

Plutarch Life of Pompey Book 13

Pompey the Great from NY Carlsberg
Glyptoteque

The most often used marble bust of Pompey, is actually the best for proving the point of a shared and distinctive haircut. On display in the Ny Carlsbery Glyptotek in Copenhagen, shows a middle aged Pompey, in all his commanding glory with an unmistakable raised quiff at the top of his head. Even in his middle Pompey was highlighting the comparison. Equally Plutarch in his Life of Pompey, writes that in his youth,

"His hair was inclined to lift itself slightly from his forehead, and this, with a graceful contour of face about the eyes, produced a resemblance, more talked about than actually apparent, to the portrait statues of King Alexander".

Life of Pompey Book 2

In fact, as Pompey was not inclined to disagree with people who pointed out the resemblance (and why would you?) he was often called Alexander in derision.

The advantages of having the same haircut as the greatest conqueror and leader known to the Mediterranean, a man lauded and idealised throughout the ancient world, are obvious. In a political system like the Roman republics, based on prestige and raising through designated ranks, any sort of advantage that could be gained was an important one and as Plutarch tell us Pompey was not one for denying the similarity when mentioned, you can almost imagine the man standing in front of his mirror, teasing the front of his hair into the perfect Alexandrian quiff.

Pompey completely circumnavigated the complex and structured set of offices of the Roman Republic (a topic for another day) to end up in the top job of the consulship, without holding any of the previous and necessary magistracies. Who knows, maybe his haircut helped?


Thanks for Reading
James