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κατακειράμενοι. The story is suspicious, as it looks like an attempt to explain a difference of custom between kindred peoples; the Greeks originally all wore long hair (κάρη κομόωντες Ἀχαιοί), and the conservative Spartans may have retained the custom, which died out elsewhere merely from motives of convenience. Certainly in fifth-century Athens κομᾶν was a sign of Laconizing (Arist. Av. 1281-2).

The custom of cutting the hair as a sign of grief (ii. 36. 1; Il. 23. 141), and of wearing it long as a sign of pride (cf. Absalom), is a well-authenticated one. Cutting the hair and the flesh for mourning (for the combination cf. iv. 71. 2) was forbidden to the Jews (Deut. xiv. 1). The hair was regarded as the symbol of the man; so a priest's tonsure is a sign of dedication. For the whole subject of hair cf. Tylor, P. C. ii. 400 f.; Robertson-Smith, Rel. Sem. p. 323; and Hastings' D. B., s. v. ‘Hair’.

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