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.
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| Fig. 2.—Asiatics visiting Egypt (Beni-Hasan Tombs). |
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| From Hilprecht’s Explorations in Bible Lands, by permission of
A. J. Holman & Co. and T. & T. Clark. Fig. 3.—Old Babylonian Costume. |
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| 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.
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| Fig. 5.—Asiatic Envoys in Egypt. |
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| Fig. 6.—An Egyptian Officer. |
Another very characteristic garment suggests an original loin-cloth considerably longer than the elementary article which was noticed above. The Arab izār, though now a large outer wrapper, was once a loin-cloth (like the Hebrew ĕzōr), which, however, was long enough to be trodden upon. At the present day male and female pilgrims at Mecca wear such a cloth (the iḥrām); 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
