To trace the origin of the wig our investigations must be carried to far
distant times. It was worn in Egypt in remote days, and the Egyptians are
said to have invented it, not merely as a covering for baldness, but as a
means of adding to the attractiveness of the person wearing it. On the
mummies of Egypt wigs are found, and we give a picture of one now in the
British Museum. This particular wig probably belonged to a female, and was
found near the small temple of Isis, Thebes. "As the Egyptians always
shaved their heads," says Dr. T. Robinson, "they could scarcely devise a
better covering than the wig, which, while it protected them from the rays
of the sun, allowed, from the texture of the article, the transpiration
from the head to escape, which is not the case with the turban." Dr.
Robinson has devoted much study to this subject, and his conclusions merit
careful consideration. He also points out that in the examples of Egyptian
wigs in the British and Berlin Museums the upper portions are made of
curled hair, the plaited hair being confined to the lower part and the
sides. On the authority of Wilkinson, says Dr. Robinson, "these wigs were
worn both within the house and out of doors. At parties the head-dress of
the guests was bound with a chaplet of flowers, and ointment was put upon
the top of the wig, as if it had really been the hair of the head."
We find in Assyrian sculptures representations of the wig, and its use is
recorded amongst ancient nations, including Persians, Medes, Lydians,
Carians, Greeks, and Romans. Amongst the latter nation _galerus_, a round
cap, was the common name for a wig.
The early fathers of the Church denounced the wig as an invention of the
Evil One. St. Gregory of Nazianzus, as a proof of the virtue of his simple
sister Gorgonia, said, "she neither cared to curl her own hair, nor to
repair its lack of beauty by the aid of a wig." St. Jerome pronounced
these adornments as unworthy of Christianity. The matter received
consideration or perhaps, to put it more correctly, condemnation, at many
councils, commencing at Constantinople, and coming down to the Provincial
Council at Tours. The wig was not tolerated, even if worn as a joke.
"There is no joke in the matter," said the enraged St. Bernard: "the woman
who wears a wig commits a mortal sin." St. John Chrysostom pleaded
powerfully against this enormity; and others might be mentioned who spoke
with no uncertain sound against this fashion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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