2,000 Year-Old Razor That Shaved Ancient Romans Is Unearthed And Up For Auction

2,000 Year-Old Razor That Shaved Ancient Romans Is Unearthed And Up For Auction

A 2,000-year-old razor used to keep Romans looking sharp is set to go up for auction in England, where the catalogue included a fascinating history on the Romans’ grooming habits.

The 3.5 inch-long (9 cm) iron blade had a hole for the shaver to put their finger in so they could drag it across their face to remove stubble, or attach it to their belt for easy access when a client was on the barber’s chair.

“I’m not sure how close a shave you would get, but imagine if it could talk,” said Charles Hanson, the auctioneer that will be handling the sale. “Think of all the ancient chins it was used on and the stories their owners could tell. It truly is a remarkable piece of ancient history.”

For wealthy Romans, being clean shaven was considered part of a collection of civilized urban manners called urbanitas. While some Romans are depicted in marble with beards, many more are clean shaven—a testament to the popularity of this trend.

The early emperors Augustus, Tiberius, Trajan, Nero, Vespasian, Nerva, and Domitian, were all depicted without beards; as were other famous, Republican-era figures like Julius Caesar, Pompey, Sulla, Gaius Marius, Scipio Africanus, Cato the Elder and Younger, Crassus, Marcus Antonius, Cicero, Cassius, and many, many more.

Virtually every famous Roman depicted on a coin or with a bust to live before Emperor Hadrian was clean shaven. After Hadrian, many emperors who followed sported a beard, including Antoninus Pious, Marcus Aurelius, and Commodus.

But for the assassination-wary Roman elite, putting yourself in the hands of a razor-wielding stranger was perilous in the extreme, even before the average tenure of an emperor dropped into the single digits of months.

“Dionysus was so afraid of trusting a barber he made his daughters learn how to shave him,” said Hansons Auctioneers historical consultant, Simon Bartley. “Emperor Domitian banned razors from being drawn in the middle of a dense crowd, and barbers from practicing in public places.”

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“Roman razors were known as novacilae, and this is a stunning example in beautiful condition which isn’t often seen outside a private collection.”

The first shaving of the beard, usually done at the age of 21, marked a solemn ceremony called depositio barbae signifying the transition from adolescence into manhood. Prior to this, downy facial hair was allowed to grow unshaven until something resembling a beard appeared.

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Sometimes celebrated with small ceremonies, the freshly shaved hair was then offered to the gods, an act recorded in Nero’s autobiography.

Such razor blades were the precursor to a scissor-like contraption called a forfex, consisting of two blades connected in a horseshoe-shape of iron, an early example of the implement we know today.