AHC: Beardless Ancient Near East

Ancient_Soul · Jul 18, 2019

As a fun thought experiment, I would like to know how it could be possible for the rather extravagant beards of the ancient mesopotamians and achaemenid persians to be replaced with a clean shaven face as the male standard of beauty!
Bonus points if body hair removal is included

The Pod must be 700 BC (BCE) or later

GO!

LostInNewDelhi · Jul 19, 2019

Ancient_Soul said:
As a fun thought experiment, I would like to know how it could be possible for the rather extravagant beards of the ancient mesopotamians and achaemenid persians to be replaced with a clean shaven face as the male standard of beauty!
Bonus points if body hair removal is included

The Pod must be 700 BC (BCE) or later

GO!

So... Egyptian beauty standards basically? Have Middle Kingdom Egypt become a pan-Middle East hegemon that sets the standard for diplomatic and court ritual. If the Assyrians catch on, the Medes and then Persians will too. The hard part is getting Egypt to project power that far, though this old Atenist Egypt TL features just such an outcome.

Ancient_Soul · Jul 19, 2019

LostInNewDelhi said:
So... Egyptian beauty standards basically? Have Middle Kingdom Egypt become a pan-Middle East hegemon that sets the standard for diplomatic and court ritual. If the Assyrians catch on, the Medes and then Persians will too. The hard part is getting Egypt to project power that far, though this old Atenist Egypt TL features just such an outcome.

Minus the bald heads

Tonifranz · Jul 19, 2019

Wait. Do we even have a shaving device that would make clean-shavenness reliable? So even peasants could reliably shave every day or at least every few days?

Revachah · Jul 19, 2019

Associate hairy bodies with primitivity, institute a cultural norm of epilation. Use shells as tweezers.

LostInNewDelhi · Jul 19, 2019

Tonifranz said:
Wait. Do we even have a shaving device that would make clean-shavenness reliable? So even peasants could reliably shave every day or at least every few days?

Tweezers, straight knives, etc-- it's going to take work but you can at least achieve beardlessness among the nobility. And while the title does imply a completely beardless population, the most "extravagant" beards would have been the ones immortalized in stone-- so even if only that segment of the population gets rid of their beards the challenge is basically fulfilled.

Revachah said:
Associate hairy bodies with primitivity, institute a cultural norm of epilation. Use shells as tweezers.

Doable, I believe Enkidu was depicted as very hairy in the Epic of Gilgamesh... but he was also a "noble savage" so this could go either way. Maybe Ur III could compel hairlessness as part of a cultural reaction against Gutian influence.

Ancient_Soul · Jul 19, 2019

Revachah said:
Associate hairy bodies with primitivity, institute a cultural norm of epilation. Use shells as tweezers.

How would could such an association be made?

Mort the Reaper · Jul 19, 2019

Ancient_Soul said:
How would could such an association be made?

Some particularly shaggy invaders viewed as barbaric, maybe?

BigDestiny · Jul 20, 2019

Ancient_Soul said:
How would could such an association be made?

Mort the Reaper said:
Some particularly shaggy invaders viewed as barbaric, maybe?

I have a cousin with a condition that made all his hair fall out as a child. It would have been seen as a bad omen initially, but could have driven a prince to be the best of the best. And if he conquered those shaggy invaders, hairlessness could be seen as a sign of the gods' favor.