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After 2 years found the answer to my BURNing question
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<p>[QUOTE="Archilochus, post: 3409247, member: 96154"]A bit more googling turned up some possible answers. There is a paper by <a href="https://www.academia.edu/959661/Seleucid_Campaign_Beards_in_LAntiquit%C3%A9_Classique_78_2009_p._87-115" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.academia.edu/959661/Seleucid_Campaign_Beards_in_LAntiquit%C3%A9_Classique_78_2009_p._87-115" rel="nofollow">Lorber & Iossif 2009</a> called "Seleucid Campaign Beards." It is well worth a read. </p><p><br /></p><p>(aside: get an account with <a href="http://www.academia.edu" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.academia.edu" rel="nofollow">www.academia.edu</a> if you don't have one, it's well worth it!!!)</p><p><br /></p><p>The gist of the paper is that the Seleukid kings often grew beards during military campaigns, and then represented it on their coinage. The authors link a number of Seleukid beards to specific campaigns. They point out that many other ancients did this as well, for example, Mark Antony & Octavian in their pursuit of Caesar's assassins. </p><p><br /></p><p>Quoting from the paper:</p><p><br /></p><blockquote><p><i>Our inquiry involves a particular class of beards found on Seleucid coins – beards that suddenly appear on the face of a king who is normally portrayed clean shaven, and in most cases disappear with equal abruptness. These beards do not lend themselves to a classification according to neatness or neglect. They assume varying forms, sometimes close cropped, sometimes curly, sometimes long and full, and with some kings we can trace the growth of the beard from one form to another. In Seleucid Coins, Part II, such beards are called campaign beards and are explained, hypothetically, as the outward token of a vow to a god or gods to ensure the success of a particular military campaign. Queyrel approximated this idea when he identified the beard as the mark of a military commander on campaign. The full exposition of our hypothesis will reveal that Linfert captured another aspect when he interpreted the beard as a sign of mourning. But for us it is the assumed vow that can explain every instance of a temporary Seleucid beard.</i></p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>So the first possibility is that the longer sideburns are campaign beards.</p><ul> <li>action item: somebody <b>please</b> start a thread on campaign beards. That would be fascinating!</li> </ul><p><br /></p><p>However... footnote 28 on pg 90 of the paper may give an even better treatment of the sideburns:</p><p><br /></p><blockquote><p><i>28. N. HIMMELMANN, Herrscher und Athlet. Die Bronzen vom Quirinal. Exposition Bonn, Akademishes Kunstmuseum, June 20th-September 5th 1989, Milan, 1989, p. 181. Two categories of beard are identified: the long, curly sidelocks which are interpreted as signs of an assimilation to the young Heracles and the long, full beard which is associated with older heroes.</i></p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>This sounds to me like what we're looking at on the Antiochos X coins. He was a young ruler, dying at the age of ~23. He didn't launch any major campaigns per se; his time was spent trying to stabilize his rule.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Archilochus, post: 3409247, member: 96154"]A bit more googling turned up some possible answers. There is a paper by [URL='https://www.academia.edu/959661/Seleucid_Campaign_Beards_in_LAntiquit%C3%A9_Classique_78_2009_p._87-115']Lorber & Iossif 2009[/URL] called "Seleucid Campaign Beards." It is well worth a read. (aside: get an account with [url="http://www.academia.edu"]www.academia.edu[/url] if you don't have one, it's well worth it!!!) The gist of the paper is that the Seleukid kings often grew beards during military campaigns, and then represented it on their coinage. The authors link a number of Seleukid beards to specific campaigns. They point out that many other ancients did this as well, for example, Mark Antony & Octavian in their pursuit of Caesar's assassins. Quoting from the paper: [INDENT][I]Our inquiry involves a particular class of beards found on Seleucid coins – beards that suddenly appear on the face of a king who is normally portrayed clean shaven, and in most cases disappear with equal abruptness. These beards do not lend themselves to a classification according to neatness or neglect. They assume varying forms, sometimes close cropped, sometimes curly, sometimes long and full, and with some kings we can trace the growth of the beard from one form to another. In Seleucid Coins, Part II, such beards are called campaign beards and are explained, hypothetically, as the outward token of a vow to a god or gods to ensure the success of a particular military campaign. Queyrel approximated this idea when he identified the beard as the mark of a military commander on campaign. The full exposition of our hypothesis will reveal that Linfert captured another aspect when he interpreted the beard as a sign of mourning. But for us it is the assumed vow that can explain every instance of a temporary Seleucid beard.[/I][/INDENT] So the first possibility is that the longer sideburns are campaign beards. [LIST] [*]action item: somebody [B]please[/B] start a thread on campaign beards. That would be fascinating! [/LIST] However... footnote 28 on pg 90 of the paper may give an even better treatment of the sideburns: [INDENT][I]28. N. HIMMELMANN, Herrscher und Athlet. Die Bronzen vom Quirinal. Exposition Bonn, Akademishes Kunstmuseum, June 20th-September 5th 1989, Milan, 1989, p. 181. Two categories of beard are identified: the long, curly sidelocks which are interpreted as signs of an assimilation to the young Heracles and the long, full beard which is associated with older heroes.[/I][/INDENT] This sounds to me like what we're looking at on the Antiochos X coins. He was a young ruler, dying at the age of ~23. He didn't launch any major campaigns per se; his time was spent trying to stabilize his rule.[/QUOTE]
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