the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Dictionaries
Coat
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or (χιτών, Lat. tunica, both words probably related to the Eastern כֻּתֹּנָה; Assyrian Kitinnê, ‘linen’), or ‘tunic’ (John 19:23 Revised Version margin).-The word was used to designate the under-garment of all classes and both sexes, over which the cloak (שׂמְלָה, ἱμάτιον, pallium) was worn. On entering the upper-room in Joppa where the body of Dorcas lay, Peter was surrounded by widows showing the χιτῶνας καὶ ἱμάτις which her hands had made (Acts 9:39), Tunics naturally varied in material and shape according to the position, means, and taste of the wearer. Wool and flax were the native products of Syria; line linen (byssus) was largely imported from Egypt; the silk of the East was unknown till the beginning of our era, and its use was deemed an evidence of extreme luxury (Revelation 18:12; ‘silk’ in Ezekiel 16:10 is probably a mistake). The Jewish prisoners in Sennacherib’s marble reliefs, who are evidently carved from life, have tunics fitting fairly close to the body and reaching nearly to the ankles. This was the garment worn by free townsmen; that of peasants and slaves was no doubt shorter and looser. The coat of white linen with long skirts and sleeves (Genesis 37:3) was a mark of honour, wealth, and leisure. In later times even the poorer classes adopted a somewhat more elaborate toilet. Josephus mentions a slave in the time of Herod the Great who was found to have an incriminating letter of his master’s concealed in his inner tunic, or true shirt (Ant. XVII. v. 7). The χιτών was made of two pieces of cloth sewn together at the sides, or of one piece which required a single seam; or it was entirely seamless (ἄῤῥαφος, unsewed), being ‘woven from the top throughout’ (John 19:23), a process for which a special loom was needed.
The χιτών of the Greeks was of two sorts. The Ionian was a linen tunic with sleeves, reaching to the feet (τερμιόεις [Od. xix. 242]); the Dorian was a square woollen tunic with short sleeves or mere arm holes. Among the Romans a tunic with long sleeves was thought very effeminate; ‘et tunicae manicas habent’ are words uttered in scorn (Virg. aen. ix. 616). The proverb ‘Tunica proprior pallio est’ was like the English ‘Near is my shirt, but nearer is my skin.’ Cf. also article Clothes.
James Strahan.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Coat'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/c/coat.html. 1906-1918.
