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).
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--Naram-Sin on the Stele of Victory.]
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
(Muller, _Asien und Europa_, pp. 298 seq.). The Hittite warriors upon
north Syrian sculptures (Zenj[=i]rli, 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.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.--Asiatic Envoys in Egypt.]
Another very characteristic garment suggests an original loin-cloth
considerably longer than the elementary article which was noticed above.
The Arab _iz[=a]r_, though now a large outer wrapper, was once a
loin-cloth (like the Hebrew _[)e]z[=o]r_), which, however, was long
enough to be trodden upon. At the present day male and female pilgrims
at Mecca wear such a cloth (the _ihr[=a]m_); it covers the knees and
one end of it may be cast over the shoulder. In Egyptian tombs have been
found linen bands no less than 30 ft. in length and 3 ft. in width. The
distinctive feature is the spiral arrangement of the garment, the body
being wrapped to a greater or less extent with a bandage of varying
length in more or less parallel stripes. In old Babylonia both the arms
and the whole of the right shoulder were originally uncovered, and one
end of the garment was allowed to hang loose over the left arm. It is
frequently found upon deities, kings and magnates, and appears to have
been composed of some thick furrowed or fluted material, sometimes of
bright and variegated design. Not seldom it is difficult to distinguish
between the true spiral garment and a dress with parallel horizontal
stripes, and one could sometimes suppose that the flounced dress with
volants, well known in the Aegean area, had its parallel in
Babylonia.[5] Egypt furnishes admirable painted and sculptured
representations of the forms taken by the Semitic spiral dress in the
XVIIIth and XIXth Dynasties; the highly-coloured and gay apparel of
Palestine and Syria standing in the strongest contrast to the plain,
simple and often scanty garments of the Egyptians (fig. 5). While the
common Semite wore a short skirt, often with tassels and sometimes with
an upper tunic, the more important had an elaborate scarf (extending
from waist to knee) wound over the long tunic, or a longer and
close-fitting variety coloured blue and red and generally adorned with
rich embroidery. A significant feature is the kind of cape which covers
the shoulders, it would not and no doubt was not intended to leave play
for the arms; it was the dress of the leisured classes, and a typical
scene depicts the chiefs of Lebanon thus arrayed submissively felling
cedars for Seti I. (about 1300 B.C.).
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--An Egyptian Officer.]
Not until the XVIIIth and XIXth Dynasties does a change come over
Egyptian costume. The Asiatic conquests made Egypt politically supreme,
the centre of life and intercourse, and the tendency arose to pay some
attention to outward appearance. From the highest to the lowest--with
the important exception of the priests--the new age of luxury wiped out
the earlier simplicity. The upper part of the body was covered with a
tunic fastened over the girdle. Often the left arm had a short sleeve
while the right was bare, but flowing sleeves came into use and various
pleated skirts became customary. Garments were multiplied, and the cape
and long mantle, which had previously been uncommon, were now usual.
Fashions changed in quick succession; upper classes were successively
copied by those beneath them and were forced to ensure their dignity by
assuming new styles. Whether for ordinary or for special occasions a
great variety of costume prevailed, and several types can be
distinguished among both sexes (Erman, pp. 207 seq., 213 sqq.; see fig.
6). The fashionable material was linen, and although, according to
Herodotus (ii. 81), a woollen mantle was worn over the fringed linen
skirt, wool was forbidden to the priests in the temple. The preference
for fine white linen, quite in keeping with the exaggerated Egyptian
ideas of cleanliness, brought the art of spinning and weaving to a
singularly high level; in embroidery, as in tapestry, however, it is
probable that western Asia more than held its own (see figs. 7 and 8).
[Illustration: Drawn from a photo by Giraudon.