There is the same uncertainty as to the materials used in embroidery, but there is no doubt about the skill of the embroiderer, who must have been a veritable artist, if we may judge from the bas-relief representations of his work, a good example of which is reproduced in Layard, Pl. 9. He clearly did not confine himself to designs but aspired to artistic representations and scenic effects. Conventional palm-trees, and four-winged monsters are the most conspicuous features. One of these monsters is grasping one of the back legs of a lion in either hand, while the lions are making ruthless attacks on passively resisting bulls.
Women are seldom portrayed on the Assyrian bas-reliefs, but we at all events know that the lady who had the honour of being Ashur-bani-pal’s queen was quite as richly clad as her royal master (cf. Pl. [XXI]), while both wear ornamental fillets round their heads. Jewellery seems to have been prized and loved by the Assyrian king and his courtiers almost as much as by the women of to-day, and the demand for “novelties” must have taxed the jeweller’s inventive faculties to the utmost. Not only were armlets and bracelets in requisition, but also necklaces, ear-rings, and trinkets. The latter generally took the form of divine or astrological symbols, one of the most interesting ornaments worn by the king being exactly like a Maltese cross, and closely resembles the cross found on Kassite seals (cf. Fig. [71]). The trinkets were suspended on a cord which encircled the royal neck, above which the real necklace is seen. Both bracelets and ear-rings show great variety in design and no little skill in workmanship. Unfortunately but few articles of jewellery (apart from a number of bead-necklaces[169]) have been recovered, and of the majority of these it is impossible to tell the date, but thanks to the bas-reliefs we can gain a very fair idea of the proficiency to which the jeweller’s art had been brought at this period, though we cannot be sure of the metals used in each particular case. In Fig. [95] we have a group of bracelets of manifold shapes and designs, the rosette as usual playing the leading part in most of the decorative devices. In A we have an example of a royal necklace; it is simple and neat in design and presents a striking contrast to that worn by one of the winged figures from Nimrûd (cf. B) which is decorated at the opening with heads of animals. The ear-rings worn by kings, warriors, priests and mythical beings vary quite as much as the bracelets, though there is a certain similarity between most of them (cf. Fig. [95]). The drops are in nearly all cases long, and they frequently have a cross piece which gives them the general appearance of a “crux ansata.”
Fig. 95.
The toilet requisites of the Babylonians and Assyrians were doubtless much the same as those in use to-day, though but few articles from the dressing-table have been recovered, the most notable of which are the combs now preserved in the Louvre (cf. Figs. [96], [97]). They are made of ebony and measure about three and a half inches across, while they are elaborately decorated in the centre with the figures of sphinxes or lions, sometimes realized in open-work, sometimes in relief. The teeth on one side are large and few, those on the other being slender and numerous. A similar comb was discovered by Koldewey at Babylon, the centre of which is decorated with the figure of a winged bull.[170]
| Fig. 96. | Fig. 97. |
Sandals formed the principal footwear of civilians—royalties or commoners as the case may be—though the feet were often left bare. The ordinary sandal had a thin sole and a small cap for the heel, apparently made of strips of leather which were sometimes coloured red and blue alternately, though more frequently the entire sandal was of a reddish hue, while it was held in position by a loop round the great toe, and by a string which was laced across the instep and tied in a bow. This was the type of sandal worn by Sargon. There was, however, an entirely different sandal in vogue at the time of Ashur-bani-pal; the sole of this later sandal was of considerable thickness, especially at the heel, while the upper leather did not merely form a protecting cap to the heel but covered the whole side of the foot. But shoes were used as well as sandals as early as the time of Sennacherib; those represented on the bas-reliefs are of a clumsy make, though finely decorated with crescents and rosettes, and they were seemingly laced in front.
| Fig. 98. Foot-spearman (1st period, Nimrûd). | Fig. 99. Foot-archer (1st period, Nimrûd). |