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Jesus Had Long Hair and a Beard

CHURCH POSITION

“…so that I was afraid and cried out, and he, turning about, appeared as a man of small stature…” (Acts of John, v. 90)
SCHOLARS

 “The now ubiquitous image of the bearded long-haired Jesus did not become established until the Eighth Century." (Freke & Gandy, 2001, p. 56).

"...judging from these wall paintings [Dura-Europos], which date from the 3rd Century but depict attire that had been used for centuries, men wore their hair fairly short, and had either shaven faces or short beards." (Allen, 1998, pp. 25-26)
THE REALITY

Everyone thinks they know what Jesus looked like. Go ahead - Sketch it out. Start with the long flowing white linen robe. Add the long hair and the beard. Give him the face of Max Van Sydow (Greatest Story Ever Told, 1965), or Jeffrey Hunter (King of Kings, 1961), or even James Caviezel (Passion of the Christ, 2004). Think you’ve got it? Not! The real Jesus looked nothing like that. What did he look like? 

 

More than 1500 years ago, St. Augustine (354-430 A.D.) lamented that: “we have absolutely no knowledge of His appearance” (quoted in Wheless, 1990, p.112). One of the problems is that most Jews in Jesus’ era shunned the practice of making images of their Gods, specifically forbidden by the Decalogue of Moses (v 2), and this, in turn, generalized to any kinds of images at all (Wilson, 1984). But the good Bishop was mistaken. We have lots of information.

Jesus was Small

One clue to Jesus’ appearance comes from the stories about his death. When Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and found it empty, she inquired of the “gardener”, where is Jesus? and promised to lift Jesus’ body up if he told her where he was. Obviously if Mary were capable of lifting Jesus up, he can’t have been very large. In fact, the average male at that time was 5’1” and weighed 110 pounds.

 

The Gospel of Luke (19:3) describes Zaccheus’ attempt to see Jesus while he preached in a crowd: “And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and he could not for the crowd, because he was low of stature.” Of course, Luke may be referring to Zaccheus rather than Jesus, but the idea that Jesus was slight can be seen again in the Acts of John: “…I was afraid and cried out, and he, turning about, appeared as a man of small stature…” (v. 90)

 

We have another clue to Jesus’ appearance in the Qur’an. One night, a winged snow-white beast takes the prophet Muhammad to Jerusalem to the Temple where he meets Moses and Jesus, and Jesus is the smaller of the two. 

 

The Slavonic copy of Josephus’s Capture of Jerusalem, contains the following description of a man wanted by Pontius Pilate for claiming that he was the King of the Jews: “a man of simply appearance, mature age, dark skin, small stature, three cubits high, hunchbacked with a long face, long nose, and meeting eyebrows…with scanty hair with a parting in the middle of his head, after the manner of the Nazarites, and with an undeveloped beard (Quoted in Knight & Lomas, 1996, p. 230).” This description is curiously like that of Paul in the Acts of Paul and Thecla: “…a man small in size, bald-headed…with eyebrows meeting, rather hook-nosed…” (v. 3)

 

Thus, from a variety of sources we see that Jesus was small in stature.

 

Jesus was Physically Unattractive

 

As noted above, the Slavonic copy of Josephus not only discussed Jesus’ stature, it also commented on his physical attractiveness. The picture of Jesus as relatively unattractive comes from many other sources as well. In the Acts of Peter, Peter quotes a prophet who described Jesus -  “And we saw him and he had no beauty nor comeliness (v. 24).”  In the Acts of John, John says: “And oft-times he [Jesus] would appear to me as a small man and uncomely (v. 89).” Celsus (whom we know through Origen’s works) described Jesus as “…small and ugly and undistinguished.” Justin Martyr in Trypho declared that Jesus was “made ugly by the sufferings and the humiliation that he endured (v. 88).” Tertullian said: “he would not have been spat upon by the Roman soldiers if his face had not been so ugly as to inspire spitting (v. ix).” The language here suggests that they may have been going back to the tradition in Isaiah (53:2-3) [2], which was prominent among the early Christians (Craveri, 1967; Fox 1989).

 

In any event, we have multiple and diverse attestations that Jesus was not attractive in a conventional sense.

 

Jesus Had Short Hair and was Clean Shaven

 

Imagine Jesus as your prototypical Marine - short hair, clean-shaven. Hard to imagine, yet that seems to be our best evidence. Freke and Gandy (2001) note: “the earliest representations of Jesus actually portray him beardless, with short hair….(p. 56).” We can see this in our survey of the earliest Christian art…

 

Location

Time

Portrait

Fresco, Catacomb of Priscilla (Jesus Preaching)

Rome, mid 2nd Century

Clean shaven, short hair

Fresco, Catacomb of San Callisto, Crypt of Lucina, Fresco (Shepherd)

Rome, 2nd century

Clean shaven, short hair

Fresco, Catacomb of Priscilla (Last supper; Shepherd)

Rome, 3rd Century

Clean shaven, short hair

Ivory statuette (Shepherd)

Rome, c 300 A.D.

Clean shaven, short hair

Ring seal

3rd Century

Clean shaven

Fresco, Mausoleum of the Julii (Sol Invictus)

Rome, late 3rd Century

Bearded, short hair

Mosaic portrait of Jesus

Hinton St Mary 4th Century

Clean shaven

Catacomb of Sts Peter & Marcellinus (Shepherd; Multiplication of the loaves)

Rome, early 4th  Century

Clean shaven, short hair

Fresco, Catacomb Via Latina (Raising Lazarus; at Jacob’s Well; Sermon)

Rome, 4th Century

Clean shaven, short hair

Fresco, Catacomb of Domitilla (12 Apostles)

Rome, 4th Century

Clean shaven, short hair

Sarcophagus (Jesus with Adam & Eve)

Rome, 4th Century

Clean shaven, short hair

Santa Costanza (Portrait)

Rome, c 350 A.D.

Clean shaven, short hair

Via Latina Catacomb (Raising Lazarus)

Rome, c 350-400 A.D.

Clean shaven, short hair

Sarcophagus (Jesus rides a Donkey)

Rome, c 359 A.D.

Clean shaven, short hair

Tomb (Resurrection)

Rome, c 400 A.D.

Clean shaven, short hair

Fresco, Catacomb of Praetextatus (Shepherd)

Rome 350 – 450 A.D.

Clean shaven, short hair

Sarcophagus, Catacomb of Praetextatus (Shepherd)

Rome 350 – 450 A.D.

Bearded, short hair

Ivory panel (Death of Jesus and Judas)

Early 5th Century

Clean shaven, short hair

Ivory panel (Healing the Leper)

Palermo, 5th Century

Clean shaven, long hair

Sarcophagus (Raising Lazarus)

Istanbul, 5th Century

Clean shaven, short hair

Mausoleum of Galla Placida (Shepherd)

Ravena, Italy, c 425 A.D.

Clean shaven, short hair

Baptism by John the Baptist

Ravenna, Italy, 5th Century

Clean shaven, long hair

Bapistry of the Orthodox (Baptism)

Ravenna, Italy, c 500 A.D.

Bearded, long hair

Ivory diptych, cover of Gospels

Italy, 6th Century

Bearded, long hair

Mosaic in St Apollinare Nuovo church

Ravenna, Italy, 6th Century

Clean shaven, short hair

Catacomb of Comodilla

Rome, 6th Century

Bearded, long hair

St Catherine’s Monastery (Transfiguration)

Sinai, c 565 A.D.

Bearded, long hair

Front cover of Lindau Gospels

Switzerland, c 880 A.D.

Clean shaven, long hair

Illustrated poem by Hrabanus Maurus

Vienna, 9th Century

Clean shaven, short hair

 
As can be seen, almost all of the early artifacts concerning Jesus picture him as clean-shaven and with short hair.  That should come as no surprise to anyone who has looked at coins, busts or statues of the early Roman emperors. Virtually every one of them had short hair and are clean shaven. The first emperor to sport a beard was Hadrian (117-138 A.D.) and even he had relatively short hair. Long hair would not appear for centuries, until the rise of Byzantium. Among Jesus’ contemporaries, there are very few contemporaneous visages, but what we do have supports the findings among the Roman emperors. For example, coins struck with the faces of Herod the Great’s son, King Philip (ruled 4 B.C. to 34 A.D.), Herod’s grandson King Agrippa I (ruled 37 to 44 A.D.), and Herod’s great grandson, Agrippa II (ruled 44 to 100 A.D.) show them all clean-shaven and with short hair. A Roma bust of Flavius Josephus, the Jewish author, shows him clean-shaven with short hair.

 
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MOST COMMON ERRORS
     
READER'S FORUM    
Date:     2006-05-23 Username:   drj Helpful:   2 of 3
Exactly. We have to use the earliest literature and art work, which is exactly what is done here.
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Date:     2006-08-04 Username:   drj Helpful:   1 of 3
Hi Ti. Good comment. And of course you're right that no one knows for sure. It is possible that Jesus was depicted as looking Roman, but that I think would apply more to 3rd and 4th century portraits. The very earliest ones were probably done by people who were being persecuted by the Romans, and hence their desire to make him look more Roman may not have been so great as it would be later. As far as the Essenes, I believe the evidence suggests strongly that he was originally an Essene but they broke away from them and joined John the Baptist (himself, probably a one-time Essene member). Since one of the major differences between Jesus and the Essenes was the purity issues (they were a lot more finicky), it's not inconceivable that he abandoned their aesthetic Nazarite look and adopted a more congenial look. But again, your points are well taken and we don't know for sure, although I would say the evidence favors the clean cut look.
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Date:     2006-10-06 Username:   hipgnostic Helpful:   1 of 4
Overwhelming evidence indicates that Jesus was a purely mythical character. I believe this fact should account for the reason that no one can accurately picture his image. Hipgnostic.
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Date:     2006-10-07 Username:   drj Helpful:   0 of 1
Hi Hip. I agree that there's lot of evidence to support the theory that Jesus was mythical, but there's also evidence to suggest that a number of people named Jesus (Joshua) lived at that time and did some of the things attributed to Jesus. I prefer to think of him as a composite person rather than a purely mythical one. In any event, Jews did not produce portraits because of the prohibition against images, hence there are very few images of anyone from that period. But what we do have is pretty consistent (e.g., short hair, no beard, short, not conventionally attractive) although you could argue that some of the early portraits are adopted from mythical characters (e.g., Mithra), however, these were usually macho males and not short unattractive ones.
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Date:     2006-12-25 Username:   inca Helpful:   3 of 4
Fearful group of Christians who developed a large amount of followers who defied Roman torture in circus weren't the result of a mythical person. It would require a fantastic miracle for an impostor to create Christ teachings and the whole life of that person. Jews were forbidden to shave off their beards (Leviticus 19:27; Ezekiel 44:20) so Josephus who was more akin to Romans is not reliable to think Christ was beardless neither paintings done 3 or 4 centuries later and even drawing anacronyc clothes. Long hair was forbidden too and yet the Nazareans (Nazareth was not even a city in those times , people should think more in lake Ge'Nezareth, the place where you could find the followers of the Nazir/Christ meaning little fishes". People who did the vow of nazir like Samson or Samuel were the exception of the rule, yet they didn't drink wine or touch dead people, nor ate meat and Christ himself said he was different from John the Baptist because unlike him he ate and drank and was accused because of that. Judas could've betrayed him by just saying "behold the tall guy with long hair" but he didn't unless he was himself an Essenian or Ebionite but it doesn't seem to be the case. Undeveloped beard is not the same thing as beardless but not too grown beard. Christ couldn't be confused with a Roman or Eunuch.
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Date:     2007-02-18 Username:   rabbiray1 Helpful:   3 of 3
Were not the Israelites told not to let a razzer come on their head or not cut the cornors of their beards? also an average Israelite's heighth was about 5' 9" in the time of Yahwehshuah.............
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Date:     2007-07-06 Username:   light Helpful:   0 of 1
The sudarium of oviedo matches the shroud of turin's markings,EXACTLY,making the 2 items at THE SAME PLACE AT THE SAME TIME,AND ON THE SAME CRUCIFIED PERSON.Then the shrouds image is of a person with SHOULDER LENGHT HAIR,AND A BEARD.The sudarium is mentioned in the scriptures as THE CLOTH THAT COVERED CHRIST'S FACE.Only the blood,real blood, from scientific studies;is UNCONFIRMED as AB bloodgroup.
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Date:     2007-09-17 Username:   mr_hanzo Helpful:   0 of 2
Please remember the verse that stated that Jesus often "lent him self to the face plucker's". He also said that long hair was to cover a womans beauty and for a man to have long hair was shameful. He also told his deciples not to act as the priests on the corner streets in long robes etc. Im sure he was a man to lead by example
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Date:     2007-11-25 Username:   horseman Helpful:   0 of 1
All this talk and surface research. The images that you speak of were made by early Christians in the area of Rome. They were gentiles that converted to Christianity. They dressed, wore cloths, and shaved for the most part, just like the Romans. They made those images. We should accept those images no more than the images of Jesus from Europeans of the Middle Ages. I say we should accept the images from Byzantium. Those were made by Christians that were in the same geographic area as Jesus. Their images have a beard. Further, Isaiah indicates he had a beard (as someone has already pointed out). Finally, even if Jesus had short hair, he had side locks - as did all Jewish men of that time. They were obeying the law set forth in Leviticus. I made some art that suggests what Jesus may have looked like if he had short hair and side locks. We should not expect Him to look like a Roman. www.saythatiam.blogspot.com I have done much research on this. For a few details, see: www.onthemount.blogspot.com Brothers in Christ we all are, if you are His.
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Date:     2007-11-29 Username:   drj Helpful:   1 of 1
Hi Horseman. Thanks for the input and the link, but many of your assumptions are false. It's not true that the earliest artefacts were from "gentiles that converted to Christianity." The simple fact is that we don't know who these people were. They may have been Jews, or "god fearers", or "gentiles." Nor do we know that they were "Romans." We know that they were in Rome, since this is where the artefacts were found, but Rome was an international city and most of the people who were in Rome were not Romans. It's also not true that the Byzantine images come from people "in the same geographic area as Jesus." While the distance between Constantinople and Jerusalem is relatively short today with air travel and highways, in the 5th and later centuries these were very distinct and separate areas. Indeed, from a comparative viewpoint, the culture that evolved in mid millenium Byzantium was much less like 1st century Israel than the 2nd century Roman culture where our first artefacts are found. Looking at your website, you project that Jesus had red hair because it's possible that David had red hair. Forgetting for a moment the problems inherent in that assumption and the 1000 years between Jesus and David, there is some evidence that "son of David" is a title and has nothing to do with any biological link. Moreover, one of the gospels distinctly states that Jesus was not of the house of David. Putting aside the red hair, the idea that he had "green eyes" is just plain silly. We have no idea what color his eyes were. If you like to think of him as red headed with green eyes, that's ok - it even has a nice Christmas ring to it, but you shouldn't present this as history.
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Date:     2007-12-10 Username:   lithian Helpful:   2 of 3
"Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?" (l Corinthians 11:14). I don't think Jesus would have had long hair, considering the bible said it brought shame.
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Date:     2007-12-10 Username:   horseman Helpful:   2 of 2
The point that I make at the blogspot is that "artistic expressions of scripture" make their way into images of Christ. The beautiful eyes (be they blue, green, or brown) is an example of this. And so is "ruddy" hair. These things are not meant to be "history" as you say. Indeed, we do not know who those people were in the area of Rome that made those images of Christ. But the images of Jesus that they made look like the images of other people in art at that time and place. Artists use reference that is available to them when they make art - and it is usually local reference. The artists in the area of Rome did the same thing. To take those images at face value is not advisable. By the way, Byzantium covered a large geographic area outside of what you mention. It included... Jerusalem. But I do recognize that there was a Hellenistic influence on the art. Even so, I think the reference was superior to what was available in Rome, or later Europe. But, at the end of this debate we both will have to admit that we do not know. p.s. I could not find the gospel scripture that mentions that Jesus was not of the House of David. In fact, everything I found indicated that Jesus was indeed of the House of David - maybe I did not look in the right place.
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Date:     2007-12-22 Username:   rabbiray1 Helpful:   2 of 2
The Bible never said it brings shame just Paul. Show me three places in the holy writ that says long hair is a shame. besides what Paul says..............
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Date:     2008-01-06 Username:   Pantera Helpful:   2 of 2
lithian: Paul said that. I don't think it appears anywhere in Torah or Halacha. Paul wasn't a Palestinian Jew and being a Turkish Roman, likely wore his own hair short. Nazerites grew their hair and beards long, as a sign they were dedicated or "set apart" for a specific time. If Jesus was a Nazerite (Nazarene) like his brother James haTzaddik, he would have also have gone unshorn. Sampson was a Nazerite "from birth," hence, his strength resided in his long hair.
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Date:     2008-01-07 Username:   rabbiray1 Helpful:   1 of 3
yeshuah lived by jewish law so every thing He did was by the law.
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Date:     2009-01-21 Username:   Pantera Helpful:   1 of 1
Beard, certainly. Long hair, probably not. Look at the first century mummy portraits from Fayum in Roman Egypt to get an idea of what the backwater colonials like Jesus looked like. Eusebius says that Yeshua's (Jesus') brother Ya'akov ("James") ha-Tzaddik wore his hair long because he took the vows of a Nazarene. Ergo, calling Yeshua "the Nazerene" would imply long hair, although the title and the notion of unshorn hair may have simply been transferred from his brother Yaakov. Yaakov haTzaddik was quite popular among the first century Evionim ("Jewish-Christians"); so much that Rav Saulus consistently tried to discredit him and may have helped kill him. Yahudym has a good point; touching a corpse makes any Jew toevah, but it's worse for a Nazarene, who must begin the period of his vow all over again.
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