Listen to a conversation between a student and her Ancient History professor

(woman) Hi, Professor Jones, how was the conference in Athens?

(man) Remarkable, it’s my favorite conference, The Art of Ancient Greece. And it’s always a thrill to present in front of one’s colleagues. In fact, you’ll be seeing my presentation during our next class.

(woman) Sounds great, anyway, our last exam, you said you were planning to grade them on the plane?

(man) Planning being the operative word, unfortunately, my computer crashed, so I had to redo my entire slide presentation on the plane to Athens using a borrowed laptop. The computer’s been fixed, so, hopefully, I’ll get the exams graded over the weekend and back to you on Monday.

(woman) Oh, OK, um, it’s just that I’ve been anxious to find out how I did on the essay section.

(man) Where you’ve chosen ancient Greek sculpture and critique it?

(woman) Yeah, um, I picked the Caryatid.

(man) Ah, sculpted female figure.

(woman) Yeah, one of the ones holding up the roof of that temple at the Acropolis, but, maybe they’re considered architecture not sculpture?

(man) Um, I’d call them sculptures with an architectural function, to support a section of a temple’s roof instead of the usual types of columns.

(woman) Hoof, that’s good, cause writing that critique gave me an idea for a research project, actually.

(man) Really? What specifically did you want to research?

(woman) Uh, the caryatid hairstyles. How ornate they are with all those curls, braids, and twists?

(man) They’re certainly intricate. And they have a specific function as well. Without those stunning hairstyles distributing the roof’s weight, the caryatids might have broken at the neck, which the weakest part of the statues.

(woman) I never thought of that. What interested me was did Greek women really wear the hair like that in the sixth century B.C.E.? Were those hairstyles even possible?

And how I want to research this is by trying to recreate one of the hairstyles and write about the experience.

(man) Interesting idea! Creative! But do you think it’s scholarly enough for a research project?

(woman) Hmm, OK then, what if I research the hairstyles worn by the Greek women at the time? I could use the experience of recreating a hairstyle to support my conclusions, because I’m sure the statues are based on how women appeared back then. I can’t imagine hairstyles like that coming strictly from a sculptor’s imagination.

(man) You know, similar hairstyles also appeared in paintings and on coins from ancient Greece. And if all these images were indeed modeled after real women, what does that say about ancient Greek society? I mean, who had the time to sit for hours while the hair was braided and curled?

(woman) I guess the noble women, women from the ruling class. And they probably had reasons to dress up like for feasts and stuff.