Sisoe

SISOE. This Term is found in the Text of the Septuagint, in Leviticus xix. 27. where we read in the Vulgate; Neque in rotundum attondebitis comam; You shall not cut your Hair round, or in a Circle. The Septuagint says; a You shall make no Sisoe of the Hairs of your Head. The Hebrew Text; You shall not cut round the Corner of your Head. ‘Tis inquired, what is this Sisoe? The antient Scholiast upon Leviticus says,¹ it was a Lock of Hair that was consecrated to Saturn. Bochart affirms it to be a Tress of Hair permitted to grow behind the Head, when all the rest was shaved round. The Arabians still wear a Tuft of Hair upon their Heads, and this Custom is very antient in that Country, and in Syria. Lucian mentions it in his Treatise of the Pestilence of Syria. Moses therefore would forbid the Hebrews to imitate the Fashions of these People in cutting the Hair; which was doubtless to avoid some Superstition common among the People of Arabia, in the midst of whom the Israelites then were. See HAIR.

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