Roman soldiers do business with a Germanic trader outside a Roman fort on the Germanic frontier. Among the goods the merchant offers is the fair hair of women of his tribe, to be made into blond wigs which were extremely popular with elite Roman women. (Art by Samson Goetze).
Included is a detail of the Roman soldier and German trader arranging a price for the women’s blond hair. Ovid wrote of Roman ladies with thinning hair being saved by the braids of German captives being sent to Rome! (Amores 1.14.45)
