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.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Egyptian Loin-cloth.]
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Asiatics visiting Egypt (Beni-Hasan Tombs).]
Body-Covering.
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 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 Us[=o]os (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.
[Illustration: From Hilprecht's _Explorations in Bible Lands_, by
permission of A. J. Holman & Co. and T. & T. Clark.