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[542] ὄπιθεν κομόωντες: “τὰ ὀπίσω μέρη τῆς κεφαλῆς κομῶντες ἀνδρείας χάριν. ἴδιον” “δὲ τοῦτο τῆς τῶν Εὐβοέων κουρᾶς, τὸ ὄπισθεν τὰς τρίχας βαθείας ἔχειν”, Schol. So A. of two Libyan tribes, “οἱ μὲν Μάχλυες τὰ ὀπίσω κομέουσι τῆς κεφαλῆς οἱ δὲ Αὐσέες τὰ ἔμπροσθε”, Herod.iv. 180.Compare “Θρήϊκες ἀκρόκομοι” 4.533; the Abantes themselves seem to have been a Thracian tribe, Strabo x. 445, Herod.i. 146.These seem all to indicate that part of the head was shaved according to a tribal fashion, such as is familiar to us in the case of the Chinese, whereas the usual Greek practice was to let the hair grow long all over; the “κάρη κομόωντες Ἀχαιοί” being thus distinguished from many or most of their barbarian neighbours. Compare Sir A. Lyall's description of the Rajput chief, ‘girt with sword and shield, and having the usual tail of clansmen with their whiskers knotted over the top of their heads .. as particular about his eponymous ancestor as if he were a Dorian Herakleid’ (Asiatic Studies p. 154).

The Iliad, edited, with apparatus criticus, prolegomena, notes, and appendices. Walter Leaf. London. Macmillan. 1900.

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