CLOTHING.
The Babylonians and Assyrians were very fond of dress. There were three
essentials to Mesopotamian dress, and accessories depended upon the
taste and purse of the wearer. A head-dress, a tunic and a robe were the
main features of one's apparel, although all were not of necessity worn
by the lower classes. The head-dress was frequently of felt and was some
times quilted; the tunic was generally made of linen when worn in
Babylonia and of wool in Assyria; the robe was long, falling to the
ankles; it was often of wool and was finished with a deep fringe. The
tunic and some times the robe as well were belted at the waist by a wide
and elaborate girdle. Women's garments were similar to those worn by
men, but their robes fell in more ample folds. Naturally fashions
changed and a garment worn in the days of the Semitic invasion would
have appeared odd and out of date in the age of Asshurbanipal.
Early portraits of kings show them clad in thick quilted skirts falling
to the ankles, while quilted turbans covered their heads. Later robes
took the place of the skirt. Parasols were carried in Babylonia as
protection against the heat, but in Assyria they gradually became the
privilege of the royal family. In portraits of later Assyrian kings, the
parasol is frequently shown. This custom may have been borrowed from
Persia.
Ordinarily no head-dress was worn by the lower classes in Babylonia
unless, perhaps, to denote some special calling. Certain musicians
appear with caps. The devotees of fashion probably donned head-dresses
at pleasure.
Jewelry was popular with both men and women, even the poor being adorned
with necklaces, bracelets, anklets. Shoes and sandals were seldom worn
in the southern kingdom. In Assyria, naturally a colder climate brought
about some variations of dress. High boots and leather breeches were
worn by the soldiers of later periods; shoes were needed to protect the
feet from frosty ground, and cloaks were required in addition to the
usual robe.
Embroidered and imported robes, smart hats and other details of wearing
apparel were characteristic of later periods when wealth and leisure
gave opportunity for such indulgences. Certain it is that the simple
tunic sufficed in early days, and rank was indicated by its greater or
abbreviated length.
The ancient Chaldeans or Sumerians always shaved their heads and faces.
Influenced by this custom, the Babylonians did not wear long beards. The
Assyrians, more purely Semitic, wore long ones and had hair dressers
largely in the place of barbers, who curled both their beards and hair.
A word should be said of the costumes of the priests. They may always be
distinguished on the monuments by their long, flounced robes, reaching
nearly to the ground. Because the goat was an animal of special
sanctity, a goat-skin was invariably thrown over the shoulder--quite as
the Egyptian priest wore the skin of a leopard.
In connection with the jewelry worn by men, we may consider the little
cylinders which served as seals. In Babylonia, because of the scarcity
of stone, even tiny pebbles were valued, and it came to be the custom to
have these cut in cylindrical shapes by expert stone-cutters. An opening
was made throughout their length to allow a cord or chain to pass
through. This attached the cylinder to the owner's wrist. Upon the round
surface of the cylinder were engraved various designs and figures, and a
few words explaining the identity of the wearer, name of his father and
other noteworthy facts regarding him. His name was affixed, and with
this he stamped his letters and all documents. To be without a cylinder
was almost as inconvenient as to be without a name. The very poor, who
could not afford such a seal, were obliged to make a nail-mark in the
soft clay, while some one wrote the name of the person to whom that
particular mark belonged. The possessor of a cylinder had only to pass
it over the clay and his signature was made. Many of these little
cylinders have been recovered, and some lack the name of an owner,
showing that they had been made by a gem-cutter, but had not yet found a
buyer.
FOOD.
Food was easily obtained in Mesopotamia, and consisted mainly of grains
and dried fish. Cereals were made into little cakes and seasoned with
dates or some other fruit. Fish and fowl were plentiful; many kinds of
fruits and vegetables were grown, and wine and beer were universally
used. Lacking the tomb-pictures of Egypt, we know less about the food
and its preparation in the Euphrates valley.
SPORTS AND PASTIMES.
For our knowledge of ancient Babylonian and Assyrian life, we are
dependent largely upon scenes depicted on palace walls, especially the
walls of royal dwellings. These scenes commemorate the doings of the
king particularly, and where laborers, slaves and the common people are
shown at all, they are seen at work, building palaces and temples,
marching to battle, swelling the triumphal processions, or they are
cultivating the fields, storing away the grain--all to the glory of the
realm and consequently to the king. Naturally then, we know little about
the pastimes of the masses. They no doubt thronged the streets on
festivals, for then they were free from work. Even labor on royal
palaces--always pushed with all possible speed--was then suspended.
Every day in the year had its own significance, but five days each month
were of particular importance, being sacred to the gods, and were duly
observed. Worship and merry-making were in a measure mingled. Other days
for popular observance were those in which the king and the army
returned from successful wars. A triumphal procession passed slowly
through the streets on its way to the temple, where thanksgiving was
rendered the gods who had made victory possible. Such occasions were
always holidays, and the people in gay attire, gathered to witness the
home-coming of their sovereign, and to gaze in wonder at the booty and
the captives.
Two recreations pictured on the palace walls were enjoyed only by the
nobles and the wealthy classes--the hunt and the banquet. In modern
times, when those in high position have occasionally laid down important
matters for a brief while to seek recreation in hunting, fishing and out
of door life, they have taken opportunity to throw off much of the
conventionality surrounding their every-day life and have found some
diversion in "roughing it,"--in sharing the varying fortune likely to
befall those who leave the certain comforts of home for the uncertain
conditions to be met away from the centers of civilization. Such was not
at all the case with the kings of Assyria when they left their capitals
to hunt the lion in its distant jungles and marshes. In the palace of
Sennacherib and Asshurbanipal, hunts have been depicted throughout their
progress. We may see the king marching out of the city in his state
chariot, his charioteer at his side, while behind him an attendant holds
high an embroidered parasol over his kingly head to protect him from the
rays of the sun. Nobles accompany him on horses and they, together with
the guards and retinue of servants, make up a small army. Goats and
cattle are driven along, that his majesty and his nobles may have fresh
milk and meat throughout their absence; a sumptuous tent shelters the
king when the procession stops for the night, while each noble tries to
pitch his tent near the more splendid one of his king. Maspero has
graphically described the hunt. Some wild oxen have been discovered, and
the king gives chase:
"In less time than we can speak, three of the bulls are rolling on the
ground, pierced with several arrows; the four others but slightly
wounded, turn round and gallop towards the river. Asshurbanipal follows
the largest of them, which he is almost sure is wounded in the shoulder;
then gradually he overtakes it, skillfully drives his chariot beside it
without checking speed, and laying aside his bow, grasps one of the
poignards he wears in his belt. With one hand he seizes one of the
animal's horns, with the other he plunges his weapon into his neck; the
short, wide blade divides the spine, between the neck and shoulder, the
bull falls like a stone. A flight of arrows arrests the fugitives before
they can reach the water; the whole herd is killed, except the old bull
that escaped at first.
"The return to the camp is a triumphal march. As soon as the sentinels
signal the arrival of the party, soldiers, slaves, women, all who are
not bound by etiquette or military duty, hurry to meet it, and form two
lines, watching the procession. The sight of the seven bulls, each
carried by five or six men, almost causes them to forget the respect
due to royalty. They exclaim upon the size of the animals, the strength
of their horns, the savage aspect given by their manes; they praise
their master's skill, and loudly thank the gods who have favored him
with such rare and terrible game. Asshurbanipal has left his chariot in
front of his tent, and now prepares to return thanks for his success to
the lord Asshur and the lady Ishtar. Two priests with their harps are
waiting to commence the hymns of praise. The bearers place the oxen side
by side in a single line. The king, accompanied by his fly-flap and
sunshade-bearers, stands on the right, the bow in his left hand. He
takes the cup full of sacramental wine, which the vizier presents to
him, touches it with his lips, then partly empties it over the victims
whilst the musicians play. The same evening a messenger will start for
Nineveh to have the new exploit graven upon stone. The picture will
portray the departure, the chase, the death, the solemn entry, and an
inscription placed above the last scene will tell posterity the name of
the victor. 'I, Asshurbanipal, king of multitudes, king of Assyria,
whose power is secured by Asshur and Beltis, I have killed seven oxen; I
have strung the mighty bow of Ishtar, queen of battles, against them, I
have made an offering over them and poured wine upon them.'
"On the following day the dogs rouse three lions from their jungle.
These are killed after having made a desperate resistance. The three
bodies are carried back to the camp, then presented to Ishtar with the
same ceremonies that had celebrated the triumph over the wild bulls, and
the sculptors were ordered to represent the hand-to-hand struggle of the
sovereign and his savage foe. 'I, Asshurbanipal, king of peoples, king
of Assyria, alone on foot, in my majesty, I seized a lion of the desert
by the ear; and by the mercy of Asshur and Ishtar, queen of battles, I
pierced its loins with my lance, with mine own hands.'"[1]
A banquet sometimes celebrated the return from a fine and successful
hunt, but it faded into insignificance when compared with the one held
after the return from a war of pillage and conquest. The entire
population of the capital became temporary guests of the king.
"After the procession, the day is passed in a perfect frenzy of joy by
the whole nation. It is customary for all the inhabitants of the city,
slaves and freemen, to eat and drink at the king's expense during the
festival; this is a method of giving them a share of the booty. For
seven days the palace gates are open to all comers. Many colored stuffs
suspended over the walls by means of ropes have transformed the courts
into immense banqueting halls. The crowd is coming and going from
morning till night; the people install themselves upon state-seats and
ask for whatever they like; the slaves have orders to give them anything
they wish for, and to bring each person whatever he desires as many
times as he asks for it. Women and children are admitted to these
festivals as well as men. The soldiers kept in barracks by their duty
are not forgotten; the king sends them the food and wine they cannot
fetch for themselves in so great profusion that they have nothing to
regret. The loaves disappear by thousands, by thousands also the oxen,
sheep, goats, and birds of all kinds are sacrificed to satisfy the
public appetite. But what they eat is nothing to what they drink. The
Assyrian is sober in ordinary life, but he does not know how to stop if
he once allows himself any excess. Wines of Assyria and Chaldea, wines
from Elam, wines from Syria and Phoenicia, wines from Egypt, the skins
are emptied as soon as opened, without visibly quenching the universal
thirst. After one or two days no brain is strong enough to resist it,
and Nineveh presents the extraordinary spectacle of a whole city in
different degrees of intoxication; when the festival is over, several
days are required before it resumes its usual aspect.
Whilst the people are becoming tipsy outside, Asshurbanipal feasts the
leading chiefs and the ministers of state within the palace. Unlike the
common people, the nobles eat but little, so that few dishes of meat are
set before them, but cakes and fruits of different kinds, grapes, dates,
apples, pears, and figs are brought in continual relays, by long lines
of slaves. On the other hand, they drink a great deal--with more
refinement, perhaps, than the common people, but with equal avidity.
The only persons who do not drink, or who drink little, through the
necessity of retaining their sobriety, are the guards, the servants and
the musicians. No festival is complete without the presence of singers,
and the king's musicians conscientiously perform their finest melodies.
Perhaps some one listened to them at the beginning of the feast, but now
that the great silver bowls have been filled and emptied several times,
their music is literally wasted. They may sing out of tune, or remain
silent, just as they please, no one will listen or care.
The court poet has placed the recital of the hero's life and exploits,
from the hour of his birth until the day of his triumph, in his own
mouth. He concluded by saying:
"'I am a strong warrior, beloved of Asshur and Ishtar, the child of
royalty. The gods have been gracious to me. The wheat has grown to five
cubits, and its ears of corn are always one cubit long; during my reign,
abundance has overflowed; during all the years of my reign, the divine
blessing has been poured out upon me like a heavy dew. The gods have
raised me higher than any king ever ascended before me. Whilst Asshur
and Ishtar support me, who can prevail against me? My power is
everlastingly founded by their hands, the duration of my race is
established; they shall reign for many days, and for everlasting
years.'"[2]
[Illustration: ASSYRIAN KING IN ROYAL ROBES.]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Maspero: Ancient Egypt and Assyria, 260.
[2] Maspero: Ancient Egypt and Assyria, 368, ff.