Bob Brier observed that "While in temple service, priests purified themselves before they came in contact with the deity. To be pure, or clean in a religious sense, even the most common order of priest, the wab priest, had to shave off all the hair on his body. On temple reliefs and tomb paintings, priests are always depicted as shaven-headed." (Ancient Egyptian Magic, pg. 37)
Plutarch explained the custom as follows, "Most people have failed to notice this very common and small point, why it is that the priests cut off their hair ... some say that they shave their heads as a mark of sorrow, but the real reason is as Plato says, 'It is not right for the impure to touch the pure' (Phaedo, 67B); no surplus matter from food and no dung is holy or pure, and it is from surplus matter that wool, fur, hair and claws arise and grow." (On Isis and Osiris 4)
According to Herodotus, some priests of Dionysos also practiced ritual shaving. "And they say that they wear their hair as Dionysos does his, cutting it round the head and shaving the temples." (3.8)
Copyright 2005 Sannion
All rights reserved
Posted with permission
Warning: include() [function.include]: URL file-access is disabled in the server configuration in /home/wargod/public_html/greek/rel/diosiris/skin.php on line 64
Warning: include(http://www.wargoddess.net/includes/back.php) [function.include]: failed to open stream: no suitable wrapper could be found in /home/wargod/public_html/greek/rel/diosiris/skin.php on line 64
Warning: include() [function.include]: Failed opening 'http://www.wargoddess.net/includes/back.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/wargod/public_html/greek/rel/diosiris/skin.php on line 64
