History/Religion
Among the ancient Egyptians, it was customary among the pharaohs to wear a ceremonial beard, which represented a sign of power. This beard, however, was artificial and the natural hair was removed. Also among the Ancient Greeks it was for a long time more a sign of power or wisdom to wear a beard, it was only shaved in special cases such as punishment or expression of grief.
Later, however, they started to shave beards at least up to a certain point, as this proved to be advantageous in battle. Based on certain passages of the Old Testament, Orthodox Jews believe that men should not trim their beard hair, which is why they often wear long full beards and also temple curls. In some fundamentalist groups of Islam, there is a view, based on the traditions of certain prophets, that upper lip beards should be trimmed and the length of the beard below the chin should be one fist length. In Christianity, on the other hand, there is no clear, generally accepted rule on beard style.