A higher branch of building was the use of glazed bricks. In Egypt the use of glazed tiles for coating walls was boldly carried out in the earliest dynasties, before 5000 B.C.; but there was no glazing of the bricks, because in so dry a climate the Egyptian was never induced to burn his bricks. In the wet and damp of Babylonia, on the contrary, burnt bricks were usual, and all the facings and main divisions of structure were in the indissoluble material, which held together and protected the mass of crude brickwork within it. It was, however, mainly, or only, in the later times—from the ninth century onwards—that bricks glazed on the outer face were used for building. It seems that this was done not so much for utility—like our modern use of glazed bricks—as for the artistic effect of colours and designs. The grandest example of such work that is known is the façade of coloured glazed brick in relief, representing the royal archers, from Susa of the Persian age, now in Paris, restored from the fragments.
Beside baked brick, pottery was used on a large scale. Great jars occur in the earliest times, and cylindrical drains of large size, sufficiently wide for a man to descend in them for repair. In later times coffins of baked pottery of the Parthian age, and glazed coffins of slipper shape, dating from the Sassanian period, are very common on most of the city ruins. Unfortunately, sufficient attention has not yet been given to the pottery of any age.
A KING’S EMBROIDERIES
This illustrates the richness of the decoration on the breast of an Assyrian king, whose complete attire is seen in the [other picture] on this page.
Wood was largely used in the more wealthy ages, but it was always valuable, as large timber had to be brought from a distance. The great halls of the palaces were all roofed with timber beams, and panels of cedar lined the walls where stone was not used. Probably palm trunks and palm leaves served for ordinary roofing, as in Egypt at present.
CLOTHING. Clothing became far more elaborate than in earlier ages, and the dominance of the more northern people brought a fuller dress into customary use. The Assyrian covered the whole body with a tunic down to the knees, and the upper classes wore a robe to the feet. Rich embroideries were usual among both Babylonians and Assyrians, and the splendour of Babylonian garments was spread far in other lands by trade. The cap was either cylindrical or conical, and the royal head-dress in Assyria was practically the modern tarbush, which has again been imposed on the East by the Turk. Sandals were used in Assyria, and the boot so characteristic of the Hittite was also brought in from the cold mountainous country. Women wore a long, thin robe to the feet, covered sometimes by a tunic and a cape. But Ishtar is always shown in a ribbed dress flounced from top to bottom. This is the regular women’s dress of the western Semites; and its use, like that of the beard for the male deities, points to the strong Semitic influence on the appearance and character of the divinities.
DRESS IN ASSYRIA’S GOLDEN AGE
Rich embroideries were usual among Babylonians and Assyrians, and the splendour of Babylonian garments was spread far in other lands by trade. The royal head-dress in Assyria was practically the modern tarbush, which has again been imposed on the East by the Turk.