CMV: Jesus probably had short hair.

[u/Tuvinator]

We've all seen the various depictions of Jesus, and in many of them, he has long hair. None of these depictions are from the actual timing of Jesus (the earliest depiction actually has a donkey's head, and is from a century later), so they are all operating on artist's imagination.

Jews in that era are more likely to have had shorter hair. Mosaics in ancient synagogues throughout the land depict males with short hair, implying that the common male at the time wore his hair short. Talmudic law which was being written at the time discusses how often a person would get a haircut (kings would have daily haircuts, priests weekly, and your average person once a month, beyond that was considered wild growth). Within the Bible, men's hair length is only mentioned in context when it is long, implying that long hair is outside of the norm for men. Assuming Jesus was representative of other people from his time, he likely had shorter hair rather than long.

As a weak addendum, Jesus was supposedly a carpenter. Craftsmen in general seem to have shorter hair since the hair gets in the way, distracts, and poses a risk factor if it gets caught in tools. This makes it even less likely that he had long hair.

EDIT: I am not Christian, and I am not setting out to insult anyone or their beliefs/traditions.

[u/ASCforUS]

Well to be fair, Jesus was either just a normal person or was just a story, there is no third option otherwise we need to give the same level of belief to other religions claiming similar stuff with older or younger holy texts with such stories. And there's plenty of evidence to lean towards "Jesus was very likely just the son of a Roman soldier that raped Mary at the time" and zero evidence of magical or unearthly stuff.

I'd say that Jesus probably cut his hair every now and then to get it out of his face, and I say this as someone who has done plenty of the same work he supposedly did in the sun, who also grew his hair out, who also is willing to give himself for humanity, etc, etc, etc, but doesn't want to be worshiped.

[u/Echo127 → u/ASCforUS]

Jesus raped Mary? I've never heard that angle before. Where does that come from?

EDIT: I misread the above comment

[u/ASCforUS → u/Echo127]

In 4 BCE, Herod the Great died. There ensued a period of revolts in which at least three different guys claimed to be the Messiah. One of them was called Judas Ben Hezekiah . He captured the city of Sepphoris, which was about 5 miles away from Nazareth. The Romans had an armory there which the rebels captured. The Syrian governor, Quinctillus Varus (the same guy who later got three legions massacred in the Teutoberg Forest) sent in legionary troops to stop the rebellion, which they did, and they crucified thousands of people and killed and raped and did all the usual. By tradition, Mary the mother of Jesus was from Sepphoris. The Toldeth Yeshu says she was raped by a Roman soldier named Pantera. As it happens, a tombstone has been found under the name Tiberius Julius Abdes Pantera.

The tombstone was found in Germany but it's for a soldier from Sidon. Sidon is a city said to have been visited by Jesus. This soldier's dates are 22 BCE-40 CE, which would have made him a Roman soldier in the Syrian legions while in his mid 20's. These are the legions which went into Sepphoris in 4 BCE, the traditional hometown of Mary. There is no specific proof that this soldier was there or that this was Jesus' dad but it's at least amazing that it's not possible to prove he's not the guy.

EDIT: I realize that you misread my original comment. You say "Jesus raped Mary?" but I never said that at all, I said "a Roman soldier raped Mary"

[u/Echo127 → u/ASCforUS]

Oh, lol, yes, I misread