(T. A. J.)
I. Ancient Costume
i. Ancient Oriental.—Although the numerous discoveries of monuments, sculptures, wall-paintings, seals, gems, &c., combine with the evidence from inscriptions and from biblical and classical writers to furnish a considerable accumulation of material, the methodical study of costume (in its widest sense) in the ancient oriental world (western Asia and Egypt) has several difficulties of its own. It is often difficult to obtain quite accurate or even adequate reproductions of scenes and subjects, and, when this is done, it is obviously necessary to refrain from treating the work of the old artists and sculptors as equivalent to photographic representations. Art tended to become schematic, artists were bound by certain limitations and conventions (Egypt under Amenophis IV. is a notable exception), and their work was apt to be stilted. In Egypt, too, the spirit of caricature occasionally shows itself. But when every allowance is made for the imperfections or the cunning of the workman, one need only examine any collection of antiquities to see that there was a distinct appreciation of foreign physical types (not so much for personal portraiture), costumes, toilet, armour and decoration, often markedly different from native forms, and that a single scene (e.g. war, tribute-bearers, captives) will represent varieties of dress which are consistently observed in other scenes or which can be substantiated from native sources.[2] Important evidence can thus be obtained on ethnological relations, foreign influences and the like. Speaking generally, it has been found that the East as opposed to the West has undergone relatively little alteration in the principal constituents of dress among the bulk of the population, and, although it is often difficult to interpret or explain some of the details as represented (one may contrast, for example, worn sculptures or seals with the vivid Egyptian paintings), comparison with later descriptions and even with modern usage is frequently suggestive. The vocabulary of old oriental costume is surprisingly large, and some perplexity is caused by the independent evolution both of the technical terms (where they are intelligible) and of the articles of dress themselves. In reality there were numerous minor variations in the cut and colour of ancient dress even as there are in the present day in or around Palestine. These differences have depended upon climate, occupation, occasion (e.g. marriage, worship, feasts), and especially upon individual status and taste. Rank has accounted for much, and ceremonial dress—the apparel of the gods, their representatives and their ministers—opens out several interesting lines of inquiry. The result of intercourse, whether with other Orientals, or (in later times) with Greeks and Romans, naturally left its mark, and there have been ages of increasing luxury followed by periods of reaction, with a general levelling and nationalization on religious grounds (Judaism, Islam). All in all the study of oriental costume down to the days of Hellenism proves to be something more than that of mere apparel, and any close survey of the evidence speedily raises questions which concern old oriental history and thought.
| Fig. 1.—Egyptian Loin-cloth. |
The simplest of all coverings is the loin-cloth characteristic of warm climates, and a necessary protection where there are trying extremes of temperature. Clothing did not originate in ideas of decency (Gen. ii. 25, iii. 7). Children Body-Covering. ran and still run about naked, the industrious workman upon the Egyptian monuments is often nude, and the worshipper would even appear before his deity in a state of absolute innocence.[3] The Hebrews held that the leaves of the fig-tree (the largest available tree in Palestine) served primitive man and that the Deity gave them skins for a covering—evidently after he had slain the animals (Gen. iii. 21). With this one may compare the Phoenician myth (now in a late source) which ascribed the novelty of the use of skins to the hero Usōos (cf. the biblical Esau, q.v.). The loin-or waist-cloth prevailed under a very great variety of minor differentiated forms. In Egypt it was the plain short linen cloth wrapped around the loins and tied in front (see fig. 1). It was the usual garb of scribes, servants and peasants, and in the earlier dynasties was worn even by men of rank. Sometimes, however, it was of matting or was seated with leather, or it would take the form of a narrow fringed girdle resembling that of many African tribes. The Semites who visited Egypt wore a larger and coloured cloth, ornamented with parallel stripes of patterns similar to those found upon some early specimens of Palestinian pottery. The border was fringed or was ornamented with bunches of tassels. But a close-fitting skirt or tunic was more usual, and the Semites on the famous Beni-Hasan tombs (about the 20th or 19th century B.C.) wear richly decorated cloth (pattern similar to the above), while the leader is arrayed in a magnificent wrapper in blue, red and white, with fringed edges, and a neck-ribbon to keep it in position (see fig. 2).[4] In harmony with prevailing custom the women’s dress is rather longer than that of the men, but both sexes have the arms free and the right shoulder is exposed. Returning to Egypt we find that the loin-cloth developed downwards into a skirt falling below the knees. Among the upper classes it was unusually broad and was made to stand out in front in triangular form. In the Middle Kingdom an outer fine light skirt was worn over the loin-cloth; ordinary people, however, used thicker material. Egyptian women had a tight foldless tunic which exposed the breasts; it was generally kept up by means of braces over the shoulders. This plain diaphanous garment, without distinction of colour (white, red or yellow), and with perhaps only an embroidered hem at the top, was worn by the whole nation, princess and peasant, from the IVth to the XVIIIth Dynasties (Erman, Life in Ancient Egypt, p. 212). Variation, such as it was, consisted of a sleeveless dress covering the shoulders, the neck being cut in the shape of a V. Female servants and peasants when engaged at work, however, had a short skirt which left the legs free and the upper part of the body bare; a like simplicity was probably customary among female servants or captives throughout (cf. Isa. xlvii. 2). Even at the present day the wardrobe of the Sinaitic Bedouin is much more complicated than that of their female folk.
| Fig. 2.—Asiatics visiting Egypt (Beni-Hasan Tombs). |
| From Hilprecht’s Explorations in Bible Lands, by permission of
A. J. Holman & Co. and T. & T. Clark. Fig. 3.—Old Babylonian Costume. |
| Fig. 4.—Naram-Sin on the Stele of Victory. |
The earliest dress of Babylonia also covered only the lower half of the body. As worn by gods and men it was a long and rather loose kind of skirt suspended from a girdle. It is sometimes smooth; but sometimes it is a shaggy skin (or woollen) skirt with horizontal rows of vertically furrowed stuff. It allowed a certain freedom to the legs, but often it is not clear whether it was joined down the middle. An instructive development shows the upper part of the skirt hanging over the girdle so that an elementary mantle would be obtained by drawing the loose end up over the shoulders (Meyer, p. 93, cf. pp. 55, 76). The characteristic skirt is sometimes supplemented by a coarse cloth, perhaps a fleece, thrown over the shoulders; and in later times it is seen fastened outside a tunic by means of a girdle (see fig. 3).
The favourite attitude, one leg planted firmly before the other, shows the right leg fully exposed. A tunic or skirt is found as early as the time of Naram-Sin, son of the great Sargon; it reaches to his knees and appears to be held up by ornamental shoulder-bands (Meyer, pp. 11, 115; fig. 4). Egyptian monuments depict Semites with long bordered tunics reaching from neck to ankle; they have sleeves, which are sometimes curiously decorated, and are tied at the neck with tasselled cords; sometimes there is a peculiar design at the neck resembling a cross (Müller, Asien und Europa, pp. 298 seq.). The Hittite warriors upon north Syrian sculptures (Zenjīrli, perhaps 11th to 9th centuries) have a short-sleeved tunic which ends above the knees, and this type of garment recurs over a large area with numerous small variations (with or without girdle, slits at the neck, or bordering). An interesting example of the long plain variety is afforded by the prisoners of Lachish before Sennacherib (701 B.C.); the circumstances and a comparison of the details would point to its being essentially a simple dress indicative of mourning and humiliation. It may be compared in its general form with the woollen jubba of Arabia, which reached to the knees and was sewn down the front (except at the top and bottom). A modern Bedouin equivalent has long sleeves; it is common to both sexes, the chief difference lying in the colour—white for men, dyed with indigo for women.