Remember that a crown is nothing but a hat with a hole in it!
My parting words after telling the Greek myth of King Midas and the golden touch. It’s been a long time since I told that story and even longer since I told the lesser known tale of his continuing foolishness, King Midas has donkey’s ears. However, visiting the ruins of the ancient Greek city of Ephesus (Efes), in combination with an invitation to cross the threshold and enter the hallowed male domain of a Turkish barber to photograph his work, I am reminded of the importance of the second story.
In ancient times King Midas of Phrygia, now a region in western Turkey, narrowly escaped an ignominious death after realising that his wish to turn everything he touched to gold meant that he would die of thirst and starvation. The God Dionysius expunged the wish and commanded Midas to wash himself in the river Pactolus in Lydia, also in western Turkey. Subsequently the river which rises from Mount Tmolus and eventually flows into the Aegean sea was said to run with gold as a result of Midas’s divestment.
Like all myths and legends there are discussions around whether characters, events and places have their origins in reality or fiction. There are usually varying degrees of both. The river Pactolus did contain electrum, a naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver and the story of King Midas and the golden touch conveniently explains the reason for its presence in the river bed. King Midas himself may have been based on Mit-ta-a, the king of Muški, possibly identified later as Phrygia, in 700 BCE. Although debates rage about the intersection of myth and ‘fact’ in ancient mythology, there are cultural values, human traits and social mores that give credence to the deeper truths residing in these stories. An example I wish to explore is the relationship between a barber and his customers.
The aforementioned story King Midas has donkey ears, sees him afflicted with the protuberances as a punishment for offending the God Apollo. Humiliated, he hides his ears under a turban so that no-one knows about them. Only his barber is privy to his misfortune. On pain of death, Midas has extracted a promise of secrecy, but the responsibility of carrying such a terrible confidence weighs like a millstone around the barber’s neck. One night, in desperation he sneaks down to the river bank where he digs a hole and shouts into it, “King Midas has donkey’s ears.”He then fills it in and returns home, having unburdened himself yet believing he has maintained the secret. In time reeds grew over the hole, and as the wind wafts through them, it picks up the barber’s words and whispers them. In a short time eager ears in tandem with flapping tongues carry them far and wide. Soon the whole world knows that King Midas has donkeys ears.
One of the enduring beliefs in this story is that a barber shop is a place where secrets are divulged and gossip exchanged. For some time Roman had wanted to visit a barber and on our host’s recommendation we went to see Gökhan. I stood outside the shop, reluctant to enter, but was welcomed inside to take photographs. While I knew there would be little exchange of spoken intimacies between the two men because of language barriers, I was able to see how a Turkish barbershop was an environment conducive to male intimacy. It was sensual, dangerous, comical and congenial. Gökhan employed flames, foam, fingers, cologne and a cut throat razor to achieve his desired outcomes. Roman received the experience with a mixture of trepidation, fascination and exhilaration.
After an intense fifteen minutes we left Efes Berber Salonu. Me with a sense of curiosity satisfied and Roman with his ears burning! He’d never had them waxed before. But his skin was smooth and scented, his muscles kneaded and his eyes opened as to why Turkish men still embrace the traditional weekly visit to the barber.
Gökhan wielding a lightning fast blade.
Brothers Görkhan and Erhan applying wax and razor respectively.
What the wax doesn’t destroy the flames will.
Finishing off with a vigorous massage.
A close shave!