Beards
Western Asiatics have always cherished the beard as the badge of the dignity of manhood, and attached to it the importance of a feature e.g. the eye or the nose. Egyptians on the contrary shaved the head and the beard and compelled their slaves to do the same. [380, BD]
The Hebrews regarded a thin, scanty beard as a great deformity; while a long, full, flowing beard was esteemed the noblest ornament of personal beauty and dignity. A man's honor was lodged as it were in his beard. To insult it by word or act was the grossest indignity; to take it respectfully in the right hand and kiss it, was a mode of expressing high esteem and love permitted only to the nearest friends. It was cherished with great care. To neglect, tear, or cut it, indicated the deepest grief, while to be deprived of it was a mark of servility and infamy. Many would prefer death to such a mutilation.
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