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Costume
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(through the Fr. costume, from Ital. costume, Late Lat. costuma, a contracted form of Lat. consuetudinem, acc. of consuetudo, custom, habit, manner, &c.), dress or clothing, especially the distinctive clothing worn at different periods by different peoples or different classes of people. The word appears in English in the 18th century, and was first applied to the correct representation, in literature and art, of the manners, dress, furniture and general surroundings of the scene represented. By the early part of the 19th century it became restricted to the fashion or style of personal apparel, including the headdresses, jewelry and the like.
The subject of clothing is far wider than appears at first sight. To the average man there is a distinction between clothing and ornament, the first being regarded as that covering which satisfies the claims of modesty, the second as those appendages which satisfy the aesthetic sense. This distinction, however, does not exist for science, and indeed the first definition involves a fallacy of which it will be as well to dispose forthwith.
Modesty is not innate in man, and its conventional nature is easily seen from a consideration of the different ideas held by different races on this subject. With Mahommedan peoples it is sufficient for a woman to cover her face; the Chinese women would think it extremely indecent to show their artificially compressed feet, and it is even improper to mention them to a woman; in Sumatra and Celebes the wild tribes consider the exposure of the knee immodest; in central Asia the finger-tips, and in Samoa the navel are similarly regarded. In Tahiti and Tonga clothing might be discarded without offence, provided the individual were tattooed; and among the Caribs a woman might leave the hut without her girdle but not unpainted. Similarly, in Alaska, women felt great shame when seen without the plugs they carried in their lips. Europeans are considered indelicate in many ways by other races, and a remark of Peschel l is to the point: " Were a pious Mussulman of Ferghana to be present at our balls and see the bare shoulders of our wives and daughters, and the semi-embraces of our round dances, he would silently wonder at the long-suffering of Allah who had not long 1 The Races of Man. ago poured fire and brimstone on this sinful and shameless generation." Another point of interest lies in the difference of outlook with which nudity is regarded by the English and Japanese. Among the latter it has been common for the sexes to take baths together without clothing, while in England mixed bathing, even in full costume, is even now by no means universal. Yet in England the representation of the nude in art meets with no reproach, though considered improper by the Japanese. Even more striking is the fact that in civilized countries what is permitted at certain times is forbidden at others; a woman will expose far more of her person at night, in the ballroom or theatre, than would be considered seemly by day in the street; and a bathing costume which would be thought modest on the beach would meet with reprobation in a town.
Modesty therefore is highly conventional, and to discover its origin the most primitive tribes must be observed. Among these, in Africa, South America, Australia and so forth, where clothing is at a minimum, the men are always more elaborately ornamented than the women. At the same time it is noticeable that no cases of spinsterhood are found; celibacy, rare as it is, is confined to the male sex. It is reasonable, therefore, to conclude that ornament is a stimulus to sexual selection, and this conclusion is enforced by the fact that among many comparatively nude peoples clothing is assumed at certain dances which have as their confessed object the excitation of the passions of the opposite sex. Many forms of clothing, moreover, seem to call attention to those parts of the body of which, under the conditions of Western civilization at the present day, it aims at the concealment; certain articles of dress worn by the New Hebrideans, the Zulu-Xosa tribes, certain tribes of Brazil and others, are cases in point. Clothing, moreover - and this is true also of the present day - almost always tends to accentuate rather than to conceal the difference between the sexes. Looking at the question then from the point of view of sexual selection it would seem that a stage in the progress of human society is marked by the discovery that concealment affords a greater stimulus than revelation; that the fact is true is obvious, - even to modern eyes a figure partially clad appears far more indecent than a nude. That the stimulus is real is seen in the fact that among nude races flagrant immorality is far less common than among the more clothed; the contrast between the Polynesians and Melanesians, living as neighbours under similar conditions, is striking evidence on this point. Later, when the novelty of clothing has spent its force, the stimulus is supplied by nudity complete or partial.
One more point must be considered: there is the evidence of competent observers to show that members of a tribe accustomed to nudity, when made to assume clothing for the first time, exhibit as much confusion as would a European compelled to strip in public. This fact, considered together with what has been said above, compels the conclusion that modesty is a feeling merely of acute self-consciousness due to appearing unusual, and is the result of clothing rather than the cause. In the words of Westermarck: " The facts appear to prove that the feeling of shame, far from being the cause of man's covering his body, is, on the contrary, a result of this custom; and that the covering, if not used as a protection from the climate, owes its origin, at least in a great many cases, to the desire of men and women to make themselves mutually attractive." Primitive adornment in its earliest stages may be divided into three classes; first the moulding of the body itself to certain local standards of beauty. In this category may be placed head-deformation, which reached its extreme development among the Indians of North-West America and the ancient Peruvians; foot-constriction as practised by the Chinese; tooth-chipping among many African tribes; and waist-compression common in Europe at the present day. Many forms of deformation, it may be remarked in passing, emphasize some natural physical characteristic of the people who practise them. Secondly, the application of extraneous matter to the body, as painting and tattooing, and the raising of ornamental scars often by the introduction of foreign matter into flesh-wounds (this practice belongs partly to the first category also). Thirdly, the suspension of foreign bodies from, or their attachment to, convenient portions of the body. This category, by far the largest, includes ear-, nosearid lip-ornaments, head-dresses, necklets, armlets, wristlets, leglets, anklets, fingerand toe-rings and girdles. The last are important, as it is from the waistornaments chiefly that what is commonly considered clothing at the present day has been developed.
Setting aside for the moment the less important, historically, of these, nearly all of which exist in Western civilization of the present day, it will be as well to consider that form of dress which is marked by the greatest evolution. It is generally supposed that man originated in tropical or subtropical latitudes, and spread gradually towards the poles. Naturally, as the temperature became lower, a new function was gradually acquired by his clothing, that of protecting the body of the wearer. Climate then is one of the forces which play an important part in the evolution of dress; at the same time care must be taken not to attribute too much influence to it. It must be remembered that the Arabs, who inhabit an extremely hot country, are very fully clothed, while the Fuegians at the extremity ,of Cape Horn, exposed to all the rigours of an antarctic climate, have, as sole protection, a skin attached to the body by cords, so that it can be shifted to either side according to the direction of the wind.
Dr. C. H. Stratz divides clothing climatically into two classes: tropical, which is based on the girdle (or, when the attachment is fastened round the neck, the cloak), and the arctic, based on the trouser. This classification is ingenious and convenient as far as it goes, but it seems probable that the trouser, which also has the waist as its point of attachment, may itself be a further development of the girdle. Certainly, however, in historical times the division holds good, and it is worthy of remark that one of the points about the northern barbarians which struck the ancient Greeks and Romans most forcibly was the fact that they wore trousers. Amongst the most northerly races the latter garb is worn by both sexes alike; farther south by the men, the women retaining the tropical form; farther south still the latter reigns supreme. No distinct latitude can be assigned as a boundary between the two forms, from the simple fact that where migration in comparatively recent times has taken place a natural conservatism has prevented the more familiar garb from being discarded; at the same time the two forms can often be seen within the limits of the same country; as, for instance, in China, where the women of Shanghai commonly wear trousers, those of Hong-Kong skirts. The retention by women in Europe of the tropical garb can be explained by the fact that her sphere has been mainly confined to the house, and her life has been less active than that of man; consequently the adoption of the arctic dress has been in her case less necessary. But it is noticeable that where women engage in occupations of a more than usually strenuous nature, they frequently don male costume while at their work; as, for instance, women who work in mines (Belgium) and who tend cattle (Switzerland, Tirol). The retention of the tropical pattern by the Highlanders is due directly to environment, since the kilt is better suited than trousers for walking over wet heather.
Another factor besides climate which has exerted a powerful influence on dress - more perhaps on what is commonly regarded as " jewelry " as distinct from " clothing " - is superstition. Doubtless many of the smaller objects with which primitive man adorned himself, especially trophies from the animal world, were supposed to exert some beneficial or protective influence on the wearer, or to produce in him the distinguishing characteristics attributed to the object, or to the whole of which the object was a part. Such objects might be imitated in other materials and by successive copying lose their identity, or their first meaning might be otherwise forgotten, and they would ultimately exercise a purely decorative function. Though this factor may be responsible for much, or even the greater part, of primitive " jewelry," yet it does not seem likely that it is the cause of all forms of ornament; much must be attributed to the desire to satisfy an innate aesthetic sense, which is seen in children VII. 8 and of which some glimmerings appear among the lower animals also.
See Ed. Westermarck, The History of Human Marriage (London, 1901); Racinet, Le Costume historique (Paris, 1888); C. H. Stratz, Frauenkleidung (Stuttgart). (T. A. J.) I. Ancient Costume 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.' 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 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.
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 cBover g. ran and still run about naked, the industrious work man upon the Egyptian monuments is often nude, and the worshipper would even appear before his deity in a state of absolute innocence. 2 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 Usoos (cf. the biblical Esau, q.v.). The loinor 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. I). 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 10th or 10th century B.C.) wear richly decorated cloth FIG. 1. - Egyptian Loin-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 FIG. 2. - Asiatics visiting Egypt (Beni-Hasan Tombs).
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 ' The comprehensive description by Herodotus (vii. 61 sqq.) of the costumes of the mercenaries of Xerxes is classical (see Rawlinson's edition, iv. 56 sqq.). For archaeological parallels one may compare the tombs of Rekhmire (15th cent. B c.) and Harmhab (14th cent.) in Egypt, the " Black Obelisk " of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser II.;91h cent.) or his famous gates at Balawat (ed. W. Birch and T. G. Pinches, and with critical description and plates by A. Billerbeck and F. Delitzsch., Beitrdge z. Assyriologie, vi. i; Leipzig, 1908).
it in position (see fig. 2). 3 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 2 Old Babylonian sculptors who represent the enemy as naked (Meyer [see bibliography below], pp. 12, 70 seq., 116), conventionally anticipate the usual treatment of the slain and wounded warriors.
Edited P. C. Newberry (Archaeol. Survey of Egypt, 1893). Cf. also the Palestinian short coloured skirt with black tassels of the 14th century (Zeit. f. Agypt. Sprache, 1898, pp. 126 sqq.).
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 From Hilprecht's Explorations in Bible Lands, by permission of A. and T. & T. Clark.
3
Old Babylonian Costume.
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.
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 fI ti . g a l often it is not clear whether it was joined down the middle. An w'? ??ul l ', II, joine instructive development shows 1l 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 J, 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.
s ' ` '` t 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 shoulderbands (Meyer, pp. II, 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; some times there is a peculiar design at the neck resembling a cross (Muller, Asien and Europa, pp. 298 seq.). The Hittite warriors upon north Syrian sculptures (Zenjirli, perhaps ' all 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.
.
{ N'; I' I i ? ' ,?? 4 ' ' N i¦'??, 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 izar, though now a large outer wrapper, was once a loin-cloth (like the Hebrew ezor), which, however, was long enough to be trodden upon. At the present day male and female pilgrims at Mecca wear such a cloth (the ihram); 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, i?iiii iiu?i u?i?!N???iiii? i' ..,.,,.... ?.... ?? ? i?? ? ? ?'?'?' i ^?' ??? ? g l I?? u illir??l gg llN 'I ??I ' Nt??p?ll';h.. I?II??? ? 4 E I u 4. - Naram-Sin on the Stele of Victory.
one could sometimes suppose that the flounced dress with volants, well known in the Aegean area, had its parallel in Babylonia.' 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 FIG. 6. - An Egyptian scene depicts the. chiefs of Lebanon thus Officer. arrayed submissively felling cedars for Seti I. (about 1300 B.C.).
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 clases 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).
Quite distinct from the spiral is the old Babylonian cloak, which was thrown over the left shoulder, passed under the right 1 See e.g. Ball, Light from the East, p. 36. On the Aegean dress (whether a development from spiral swathes or perhaps rather from a series of skirts one above the other), see the discussion of the Aegean loin-cloth by D. Mackenzie, Annual of the British School at Athens, xii. 233-249 (esp. 242 seq.).
armpit, and hung down, leaving sufficient freedom for the legs. It is often decorated with a fringed border from top to bottom. In time this mantle covered both shoulders and assumed sleeves, and in one form or another it is frequently represented. So FIG. 8. - Assyrian Officers.
Jehu's tribute-bearers wear short sleeves, trimmed border, and the general effect could even suggest an Assyrian dress (see fig. 9). Not unlike this is the style on the bilingual Hittite boss of Tarkudimme, where the skirt ends in a point nearly to the ground and one leg stands out bare to the front - the very favourite attitude. Long fringed robes were worn by Hittites of both sexes, and the women represented at Mar`ash and Zenjirli wear FIG. 9. - Israelite Tribute-bearers introduced by two Assyrian Officers.
it hung over the characteristic Hittite cylindrical head-dress (fig. ro). On the other hand, the unhappy females of Lachish have a long plain mantle which covers the head and forehead (fig. II), and the same principle recurs in modern usage, where the tunic will be supplemented by a veil or shawl which (generally bound to the head by a band) frames the face and falls back to the waist. A large mantle could thus serve as a veil, and Rebekah covered her face with her square or oblong wrapper on meeting Isaac (Gen. xxiv. 65). Veiling was ceremonial (1 Cor. xi. 5), and customary on meeting a future bridegroom or at marriage (see Gen. xxix. 23-25). Nevertheless veils were not usually worn out of doors, the countrywoman of to-day is not veiled, and it is uncertain whether there is any early parallel for the yashmak, the narrow strip which covers the face below the eyes and hangs down to the feet.
Before passing to the special covering for the feet and head some further reference to the Old Testament usage may be made. Among the Hebrews the outer garment, as distinct from the inner loin wrapper (ezor) or tunic, evidently took many forms.
Drawn from a photo by Giraudon.
FIG. 7. Sargon and his Commander-in-Chief.
The tunic (kuttoneth, cf. Xc-reev, tunica), like its Greek counterpart, was apparently of two kinds, for, although essentially a simple and probably sleeveless garment, there was a special variety worn by royal maidens and men of distinction, explicitly described as a tunic of palms or soles (passim), that is, one presumably reaching to the hands and feet (Gen. xxxvii. 3; 2 Sam. xiii. 18 sq.). 1 The kuttoneth could be removed at night (Cant. v. 3). For the outer garments the most distinctive term From Der alte Or'ent, by permission of J. C. Hinrichs'sche Buchhandlung.
FIG. io. - Hittite Women.
is the simlah. This was worn by both sexes, though obviously there was some difference as regards length, &c. (Deut. xxii. 5). Ruth put one on before going out of doors, and its folds could be used for carrying small loads (Ruth iii. 9; Ex. xii. 34). The law forbade the creditor to retain it over-night as a pledge (Ex. xxii. 26 sq.), and consequently we may assume that it was a large outer wrapper which could be dispensed with out of doors by men, or indoors by women. The simlah of the warrior (Isa. ix. 5) can be illustrated from the Assyrian sculptures (Ency. Bib., art. " Siege "); according to Herodotus (vii. 69) the Arabs under Xerxes wore a long cloak fastened by a girdle. The outer girdle (Heb. hagorah; the Arabic equivalent term is a kilt from thigh to knee) varied, as the monuments show, in richness and design, and could be used as a sword-belt or pocket much in the same way as the modern native uses the long cloth twined twice or thrice around his body. The more ornate variety, called abnet, was worn by prominent officials (Isa. xxii. 21) and by the high priest. The modern oriental open waistcoat finds its fellow in the jacket or bolero from ancient Crete, and seems to have been distinctively Aegean. The same may also be true of breeches. The pantaloons worn by modern females, with short tunic and waistcoat, are not found among the Bedouin (e.g. of Sinai), trousers being considered undignified even for men. But a baggy kind of knickerbockers is represented in old 1 Joseph's familiar " coat of many colours," which we owe to the Septuagint, can perhaps be justified: R. Eisler, Orient. Lit. Zeitung, August, 1908 Aegean scenes, and it is noteworthy that the Arab mi'zar (drawers such as were worn by wrestlers or sailors) takes its name from the izar or loin-cloth (Ency. Bib. 1734). Such a cloth may once have passed between the legs, being kept in position by the waistband (examples in Perrot and Chipiez, Greece, ii. 198 sq., 456). On the other hand, among the Africans of Punt the waistcloth passes from each knee to the opposite thigh, and two sashes hang down to conceal the parts where they intersect (Miller, r08). The people of Keft (Aegeans) wore a similar arrangement which is a step in the direction of the proper drawers. The latter are found exceptionally upon Semitic Bedouin with an upper covering of bands wound round the body (Miller, 140). However, the woven decorated drawers in Cyprus do not appear to be of Semitic origin (J. L. Myres, Classical Review, x. 355), and it is not until later that they were prescribed to the Israelite priests (Ezek. xliv. 18). But the garment as explained by Josephus (Ant. iii. 7. 1) was properly a lion-cloth (cf. the examples from Punt), and the reason given for its use (Ex. xxviii. 42) points to a later date than the law which enforced the same regard for decency by forbidding the priests to ascend altars with steps (ib. xx. 26). As trousers were distinctively Persian - though the Persians had the reputation for borrowing Median and foreign dress (Herod. i. 71, vii. 6r) - they were no doubt familiar in Palestine in the post-exilic age, and in the Roman period the braccae and feminalia were certainly known. On supposed references to breeches in Dan. iii. 21, see Journ. of Philology, xxvi. 307-313.
Special protection for the feet was chiefly necessary in rocky districts or upon long journeys. In early Egypt men of rank would be followed by a servant carrying a pair of sandals in case of need; but in the New Kingdom they were in common use, although a typical difference is observed when princes appear unshod in the presence of the Pharaoh, who wears sandals him self. The simplest kind was a pad or sole of leather or papyrus bound to the foot by two straps, one passing over the instep, the other between the toes. 2 A third was sometimes fastened behind the heel, and the front is often turned up to protect the toe (Egypt and elsewhere). The Semites of the XIIth Dynasty wore on their journeys sandals of black leather, those of the FIG. 12. Assyrian Warriors with women and children captured Idols.
being more serviceable, and, in the case of women, particoloured. Practically the same simple sandal came into use everywhere when required. But the warrior had something stouter, and the Hittites wore a turned - up shoe bound round the legs with thongs. Among the latter is also found a piece of protecting leather reaching halfway up the shin, and similar developments with tight-fitting bandages, buskins or laced garters were worn in Assyria and Asia Minor (see fig. 12). Such coverings find their analogies among the peasants of modern Cilicia and Cappadocia. Stockings, it may be added, do not appear, and are quite exceptional at the present day.
The treatment of the hair, moustache and beard is extremely interesting in the study of oriental archaeology (see Muller, Meyer, opp. citt.). A special covering for the head was not indispensable. The Semites often bound their bushy locks with a fillet, which varies from a single band (so often, e.g. Palestinian captives, 10th century) to a fourfold 2 Erman, 226 sqq., cf. the modern Bedouin shoe, JenningsBramley, Quart. Stat. of Palest. Explor. Fund (1908), p. 115 sq. (on dress of Sinaitic Bedouin generally).
FIG. 1 1. - Prisoners of Lachish.
one, from a plain band to highly decorated diadems. The Ethiopians of Tirhakah's army (7th cent.) stuck a single feather in the front of their fillet, and a feathered ornament recurs from the old Babylonian goddess with two large feathers on her head to the feathered crown common from Assur-bani-pal's Arabians to Ararat, and is familiar from the later distinctive Persian headdress.' But the ordinary Semitic head covering was a cloth which sometimes appears with two ends tied in front, the third falling behind. Or it falls over the nape of the neck and is kept in position with a band; or again as a cloth cap has lappets to protect the ears. Sometimes it has a more bulky appearance. In general, the use of a square or rectangular cloth (whether folded diagonally or not) corresponds to the modern keffiyeh woven with long fringes which are plaited into cords knitted at the ends or worked into little balls sewn over with coloured silks and golden From Palestine Exploration Fund threads. 2 The keffiyeh covering Quarterly Statement, Oct., 1907. cheek, neck and throat, is worn FIG. 13. - Sacrificial Scene over a small skull-cap and will on a Seal from Gezer. be accompanied with the relatively modern fez (tarbush) and a woollen cloth. Probably the oldest head-dress is the circular close-fitting cap (plain or braided), which, according to Meyer, is of Sumerian (non-Semitic) origin. But it has a long history. Palestinian captives in the Assyrian age wear it with a plain close-fitting tunic, and it appears upon the god Hadad in north Syria (cf. also the Gezer seal, fig. 1 3). With some deities (e.g. the moon-god Sin) it has a kind of straight brim which gives it a certain resemblance to a low-crowned " bowler." Very characteristic is the conical cap which, like the Persian hat (Gr. kurbasia), resembled a cock's comb. It is worn by gods and men, and with the latter sometimes has ear-flaps (at Lachish, with other varieties, Ball, 190) or is surmounted by a feather or crest. It was probably made of plaited leather or felt. Veritable helmets of metal, such as Herodotus ascribes to Assyrians and Chalybians (vii. 63, 76), and metal armour, though known farther west, scarcely appear in old oriental costume, and the passage which attributes bronze helmets and coats of mail to the Philistine Goliath and the Israelite il Saul cannot be held (on other grounds) to be necessarily reliable for the middle or close of the Iith century (1 Sam. xvii.). A loftier head-covering was sometimes spherical at the top and narrowed in the middle; with a brim or border turned up back and front it is worn by Hittite warriors of Zenjirli and by their god of storm and war (fig. 14). Elongated and more pointed it is the archaic crown of the Pharaohs (symbolical of upper Egypt), is worn by a Hittite god of the 14th century, and finds parallels upon old FIG. 14. - Hittite cultus images from Asia Minor, Crete and Weather-god. Cyprus. Later, Herodotus describes it as distinctively Scythian (vii. 64). Finally the cylindrical hat of Hittite kings and queens reappears with lappets in Phoenicia (Perrot and Chipiez, Phoen. ii. 77); without the brim it resembles the crown of the Babylonian Merodach-nadin-akhi, with afeathered top it distinguishes Adad (god of storm, &c.) at Babylonia. Narrower at the top and surmounted by a spike it distinguishes the Assyrian kings.
1 Meyer, 97, see F. Hommel, Aufsatze u. Abhandlungen (Munich, 3900), 160 sqq., 214 sqq. For other feathered head-dresses in western Asia, see Muller, 361 sqq.
a Such tasselled or fringed caps were used by the Syrians in the Christian era, see W. Budge, Book of Governors, ii. 339, 367.
When the deities were regarded as anthropomorphic they naturally wore clothing which, on the whole, was less subject to change of fashion and was apt to be symbolical of their attributes. The old Babylonian hero Gilgamesh and the Egyptian Bes (perhaps of foreign extraction) are nude, and so in general are the figurines of the Ishtar-Astarte type. Numerous bronze images of a kneeling god at Telloh give him only a loin-cloth, and often the deity, like the monarch, has only a skirt. In course of time various plaids or mantles are assumed, and in Babylonia the goddesses were the first to have both shoulders covered. Distinctive features are found in the head-dress, e.g. crowns (cf. the Ammonite god, 2 Sam. xii. 30) or horns (a single pair or an arrangement of four pairs), and in Babylonia symbolical emblems are attached to the shoulders (e.g. the rays of the sun-god, stalks, running water). Long garments ornamented with symbolical designs (stars, &c.) are worn by Marduk and Adad. The custom of clothing images is well known in the ancient world, and at the restoration of an Egyptian temple care was taken to anoint the divine limbs and to prepare the royal linen for the god. The ceremonial clothing of the god on the occasion of festal processions, undertaken in Egypt by the `` master of secret things," may be compared with the well-known Babylonian representations of such promenades. The Babylonian temples received garments as payment in kind, and the Egyptian lists in the Papyrus Harris (Rameses III.) enumerate an enormous number of skirts, tunics and mantles, dyed and undyed, for the various deities. A priest, " master of the wardrobe," is named as early as the VIth Dynasty, and later texts refer to the weavers and laundry servants of the temple. It is probable that 2 Kings xxiii. 7 originally referred to the women who wove garments for the goddess in the temple at Jerusalem.
In Egypt the king was regarded as the incarnation of the deity, his son and earthly likeness. The underlying conception shows itself under differing though not unrelated forms over western Asia, and in their light the question of religious and ceremonial dress is of great interest. Throughout Egyptian history the official costume was conventionalized, and the latest kings and even the Roman emperors are arrayed like their predecessors of the IVth Dynasty. The crook which figures among royal and divine insignia may go back to the boomeranglike object which was a prominent weapon in antiquity (Muller, 123 sq.). It appears in old Babylonia as a curved stick, and, like the club, is a distinctive symbol of god and king. It resembles the sceptre curved at the end, which was carried by old Hittite gods. The Pharaoh's characteristic crown (or crowns) symbolized his royal domains, the sacred uraeus marked his divine ancestry, and he sometimes appeared in the costume of the gods with their fillets adorned with double feathers and horns. In Babylonia Naram-Sin in the guise of a god wears the pointed helmet and two great horns distinctive of the deities.3 This relationship between the gods and their human representatives is variously expressed. Khammurabi and the sun-god Shamash, on the former's famous code of laws, have the same features and almost the same frizzled beard, and, according to Meyer, the king in claiming supremacy over Sumer and Akkad wears the costume of the lands. 4 Ordinary folk could not claim these honours, and in Egypt, where shaving was practically universal, artificial beards were worn upon solemn occasions as a peculiar duty. But the appendage of the official was shorter than that of the king, and the gods had a distinctive shape for themselves; if it appears upon the dead it is because they in their death had become identified with the god Osiris (Erman, 59, 225 sq.). Young Egyptian princes and youthful kings had 3 Comp. the horns of Bau (" mother of the gods "), Samas (Shamash), (H)adad, and (in Egypt) of the Asiatic god assimilated to Set (so, too, Rameses III. is styled " strong-horned " like Baal). With the band dependent from the conical hat of Marduk-bal-iddin II. (Meyer, 8) and other kings, cf. the tail on the head-dress of this foreign Set (e.g. Proc. Soc. of Bibl. Arch. xvi. 87 sq.). The consort of the Pharaoh, in turn, wore the sacred vulture head-dress.
4 On the resemblance between divine and royal figures in costume, &c., see further Meyer, 9, 14 sq., 17, 2 3, 53 sq., 67, 79, 102, 105 sq.
a long plaited lock (or later a lappet) on the side of their head in imitation of the youthful Horus, and the peculiar tonsure adopted by the later Arabs of Sinai was inspired by the desire to copy their god Orotal-Dionysus.' Thus we perceive that ancient costume and toilet involves the relations between the gods and men, and also, what is extremely important, the political conditions among the latter. When the king symbolizes both the god and the extent of his kingdom, ceremonies which could appear commonplace often acquire a new significance, any discussion of which belongs to the intricacies of the history of religion and pre-monarchical society. It must suffice, therefore, to record the Pharaoh's simple girdle (with or without a tunic) from which hangs the lion's tail, or the tail-like band suspended from the extremity of his head-dress (above), or the panther or leopard skin worn over the shoulders by the high priest at Memphis, subsequently a ceremonial dress of men of rank. That the Pharaoh's skirt, sometimes decorated with a pleated golden material, should become an honorific garment, the right of wearing which was proudly recorded among the bearer's titles, is quite intelligible, but many difficulties arise when one attempts to identify the individuals represented, or to trace the evolution of ideas.2 The well-known conservatism of religious practice manifests itself in ceremonial festivals (where there is a tendency for the original religious meaning to be obscured) and among cere= the priests, and it is interesting to observe that despite the great changes in Egyptian costume in the New Kingdom the priests still kept to the simple linen skirt of earlier days (Erman, 206). Religious dress (whether of priests or worshippers) was regulated by certain fundamental ideas concerning access to the deity and its consequences. That it was proper to wear special garments (or at least to rearrange one's weekday clothes) on the Jewish sabbath was recognized in the Talmud, and Mahommedans, after discussing at length the most suitable raiment for prayer, favoured the use of a single simple garment (Bukhari, viii.). It was a deep-seated belief that those who took part in religious functions were liable to communicate this " holiness " to others (compare the complex ideas associated with the Polynesian taboo). Hence priests would remove their ceremonial dress before leaving the sanctuary " that they sanctify not the people with their garments " (Ezek. xliv. 19; cf. xlii. 14), and every precaution was taken on religious occasions to ensure purity by special ablutions and by cleansing the clothes. 3 In the old ritual at Mecca, the man who wore his own garments must leave them in the sanctuary, as they had become " taboo "; hence the sacred circumambulation of the Ka`ba was performed naked (prohibited by Mahomet), or in clothes provided for the occasion. The old archaic waist-cloth was used, and at the present day both male and female pilgrims enter bare-footed and clad in the scanty ihram (C. M. Doughty, Arabia Deserta, ii. 479, 481, 537). In several old Babylonian representations the priests or worshippers appear before the deity in a state of nature.' It is known that laymen were required to wear special garments, and the priests (who wore dark-red or purple) were sometimes called upon to change their garments in the course of a ceremony. Thus the temples required clothing not merely for the gods but also for the attendants (so at Samaria, 2 Kings x. 22).
In the late usage at Harran the worshipper, after purifying his garments and his heart, was advised to put on the clothing of the particular god he addressed (de Goeje, Oriental Congress, Leiden, 1 Herod. iii. 8. If the bald Sumerians wore wigs in time of war (Meyer, 81, 86), war itself from beginning to end was essentially a religious rite; see W. R. Smith, Rel. of Semites, pp. 401 sqq., 491 sq.; F. Schwally, Semitische Kriegsaltertilmer, i. On the importance attached to the beard, see Ency. Bib., s.v. 2 A typical example is afforded by the solitary representation of a Moabite (Perrot and Chipiez, Phoen. ii. 45) whose helmet and dress suggest a god or king. Equally perplexing is the Egyptian style on the Phoenician statue, ib. 28.
Cf. Lev. xvi. 23 sq.; Ex. xix. to; Herod. ii. 37 (ed. Wiedemann); Lagrange, Etudes sur les relig. sem. 239.
4 M. Jastrow, Relig. of Bab. and Ass. p. 666; cf. Rev. biblique, 1908, p. 466 sq., and Meyer, 59, 86, 97, 'or. According to the latter Sumerian priests served naked (p. 112).
1883, pp. 34 1 sqq.). The reason is obvious, and the principle could be variously expressed. But we are not told whether the prophetess who wore bands on her arm and drew a mantle over her head (so read in Ezek. xiii. 17-23) actually used the clothing peculiar to some deity, nor is it quite clear what is meant when a Babylonian ritual text refers to the magical use of the linen garment of Eridu (seat of the cult of Ea). The Bishop Gregentius denounced as heathenish the rites in which the Arabs wore masks (W. R. Smith, 438), and one is tempted to compare the use of masks elsewhere in animal worship. Next, one may observe upon old Babylonian seals, eagle-headed deities with short feathered skirts attended by human beings similarly arrayed (Ball, 151) or figures draped in a fish skin (Menant, Rev. de l'hist. des relig. xi. 295-301) or a worshipper arrayed somewhat like a cock (Meyer, 63; cf. Lucian's De Dea Syria, § 48; for " bees," &c., as titles of sacred attendants, see J. G. Frazer, Pausanias, iv. 223, v. 621). Although there is much that is obscure in this line of research, it is a natural assumption that, in those ritual functions where the gods were supposed to participate, the role was taken by men, and the general idea of assimilating oneself to the god (and the reverse process) manifests itself in too many ways to be ignored (cf. W. R. Smith, 2 93, 437 sq., 474; C. J. Ball, Ency. Bib., art. " Cuttings "). But the deities were not originally anthropomorphic, and it is with the earlier stages in their development that some of the more remarkable costumes are apparently concerned.
Of all priestly costumes 5 the most interesting is undoubtedly that of the Jewish Levitical high-priest. In addition to a tunic (kuttoneth) and a seamless mantle or robe (meil), he wore the breastplate (hoshen), the ephod, and a rich outer girdle. Breeches were assumed on the Day of Atonement. His head-dress was as distinctive as that of the high priest at Hierapolis, who wore a golden tiara and a purple dress, while the ordinary priests had a pilos (conical cap, also worn in Israel, Ex. xxviii. 40) and white garments. But the various descriptions cannot be easily reconciled. 6 The robe had pomegranates and golden bells that the sound might give warning as he went in and out of the sanctuary, and " that he died not " (Ex. xxviii. 35). According to Josephus they symbolized the lightning and thunder respectively. The " ephod of prophecy " (so Test. of Levi, viii. 2) was essentially once an object of divination (see Ephod). The " breastplate of judgment " was set with twelve jewels engraved with the names of the tribes; the foreordained covering of the semidivine being in the garden of the gods bore the same number of stones (Ezek. xxviii. 13, Septuagint). This breast ornament finds analogies in the royal and high priestly dress of Egypt, and in the six jewels of the Babylonian king. ? The sacred lots which gave " judgment " in accordance with the divine oracle (Num. xxvii. 21) have been plausibly compared with the Babylonian tablets of destiny worn by the gods and the mystic lots upon the bosom of Noah. 8 The two jewels also engraved with the names of the tribes in a suitable setting, worn upon the shoulder (see p. 102, c.), served, like the twelve mentioned, for a memorial before the Deity, effectively bringing them to remembrance, without any action on the part of the bearer, and thus tacitly involving supernatural intervention as amulets are regularly expected to do. The golden plate inscribed " holy to Yahweh " placed over the head (the details are discrepant) had a mystic atoning force (Ex. xxviii. 38), and in general writers recognized the peculiar efficacy of the costume and its symbolical meaning (Philo, Vita Mosis, iii. 14; Jos. Ant. iii. 7.7; Talm. Zeb. 88b). Although Jewish tradition ascribed this gorgeous and significant array to the Mosaic age (if not to the pre-Mosaic days of Levi, so the Test. of Levi), its very character, in common with the high priest's status, combines kingly and priestly powers in a manner which is impossible for the period (about 15th-13th cent.). Where the king is the human representative of the Deity he is theoretically and officially the priesthood, although the priests carry on the ordinary subordinate functions. The Hebrew 5 For the conspicuous dress of Syrian and Phrygian priests in Rome and for other incidental references, see D. Chwolsohn, Die Ssabier (1856), ii. 655, 712 sq.
s Ex. xxviii., xxix. 5; Lev. viii. 6-9, xvi.; Ecclus. xlv.; Joseph. Ant. iii. 7, Wars, v. 5, 7; see commentaries and special dictionaries of the Bible.
Zimmern, Keilinschrift. u. Alte Test. 629, n. 5; cf. the Bab. priests' pectoral; Lagrange, op. cit., 236, n. 1. 8 Jubilees, viii. 11, see W. Muss-Arnolt, Amer. Journ. of Semit. Lang., 1900, pp. 207-212.
kings, at all events, undertook priestly duties, and not until after the fall of Jerusalem does the history allow that usurpation of monarchical rights upon which the prophet Ezekiel encroaches. The embodiment of political and religious supremacy displayed in the high priest's authority, clothing and symbols can only reflect exilic or rather post-exilic conditions.' (See further Priest.) In the Maccabaean age the high priest Jonathan received the purple robe and crown and the buckle of gold worn on the shoulder as a sign of priestly and secular rank (1 Macc. X. 20, 38, 89, xi. 58). His brother Simon received similar honours (xiv. 48 sq.), and Hyrcanus, the " second David," was supposed to have had two crowns, one royal and the other priestly (Talm. Kidd. 66a). The later Rabbis wore most sumptuous apparel, and were crowned until the death of Eliezer ben Azarya.
Thus there was a real significance in ceremonial investiture (cf. Num. xx. 26, 28) and in the transference of clothes (cf. Elisha and Elijah's mantle, 2 Kings ii. 13). Further the exchange of garments was not meaningless, and the prohibition in Deut. xxii. 5 points to religious or superstitious beliefs, on which see J. G. Frazer, Adonis, Attis and Osiris (2nd ed.), pp. 428-435. On the claim involved by the act of throwing a garment over another (Ruth iii. 9; cf. .1 Kings xix. 19), see W. R. Smith, Kinship and Marriage', 105 sq.; J. Wellhausen, Archiv f. Religionswiss. (1907), pp. 40 sqq.; and on some interesting ideas associated with sandals, see Ency. Bib., s.v." Shoes." As a sign of grief, or on any occasion when the individual felt himself brought into closer contact with his deity, the garments were rent (subsequently a conventional slit at the breast sufficed) and he donned the sak, a loin-cloth or wrapper which appears to be a survival of older and more primitive dress. 2 Later tradition (Mish., Kil. ix. 1) does not endorse Ezekiel's prohibition of woollen garments among the priests in the sanctuary (xliv. 17 sq.). Why the layman was forbidden a mixture of wool and linen (sha'atnez, Deut. xxii. I I) is difficult to explain, though Maimonides perhaps correctly regarded the law as a protest against heathenism (on the magical use of representatives of the animal and vegetable kingdom, in conjunction with a metal ring, see I. Goldziher, Zeit. f. alttest. Wissens. xx. 36 sq.).
Ancient oriental costume then cannot be severed from the history and development of thought. On the one side we may see the increase of rich apparel and the profusion of clothes by which people of rank indicated their position. On the other are such figures as the Hebrew prophets, distinguished by their hairy garment and by their denunciation of the luxury of both sexes. 3 Superfluous clothing was both weakening and deteriorating; this formed the point of the advice of Croesus to Cyrus (Herod. i. 155). But " foreign apparel " was only too apt to involve ideas of foreign worship (Zeph. i. 8. sq.), and the recognition that national costume, custom and morality were inseparable underlay the objection to the Greek cap (the7rTavos) introduced among the Jews under Antiochus Epiphanes (2 Macc. iv. 10-17, with the parallel i Macc. i 11-15). The Israelite distinctive costume and toilet as part of a distinctive national religion was in harmony with oriental thought, and, as a people chosen and possessed by Yahweh, " a kingdom of priests and an holy nation " (Ex. xix. 5 sq.; cf. Is. lxi. 6), certain outward signs assumed a new significance and continued to be cherished by orthodox Jews as tokens of their faith. The tassels attached by blue threads to the four corners of the outer garment were unique only as regards the special meaning attached to them (Num. xv. 37-41; Deut. xxii. 12), and when in the middle ages they marked out the Jew for persecution they were transferred to a small under-garment (the little talith), the proper talith being worn over the head in the synagogue. Similarly, sentences bound on the left arm or placed upon the forehead (Deut. xi.
' The relations between sacerdotal and civic authority may be seen in the vestments of the church (chasuble, alb, stole), which probably were once the official garments of magistrates.
See articles on mourning customs in the Bible Dictionaries, and, for special studies, Buchler, Zeit. f. alttest. Wissens., 1901, pp. 83-92; M. Jastrow, ib., 1907, 117 sqq.; and in Journ. Amer. Or. Soc. xx. 133 sqq., xxi. 23-39. For the Babylonian evidence see Zimmern, op. cit., 603. The sculptures of Sennacherib show the bare-headed and bare-footed suppliants of Lachish meanly clad before Sennacherib (Ball, p. 192, contrast the warriors with caps and helmets, ib. p. 190, and on the simple dress, cf. above).
Ezek. xvi. xxiii.; Isa. iii. 16 - iv. 1. For the hairy garb, cf. John the Baptist (Matt. iii. 4); it became the ascete's dress. The founder of the Jacobite Church in Asia owed his surname (Burdeana) to his rough horse-cloth. Here may be mentioned the archaic revival in Egypt in the 8th century B.C., which also extended to the costume.
18, cf. the high priest's plate) find analogies in the means taken elsewhere to ensure the protection of or to manifest one's adherence to a deity; the novelty lies in the part these sentences took in the religion (see Phylactery). While the particular prohibition regarding the beard and hair in Lev. xix. 27 (cf. Ezek. xliv. 20) was for the avoidance of heathen customs, the peyoth or long curls which became typical in the middle ages are reminiscent of the Horus-curl of Egypt and the Mahommedan " heaven lock " and evidently served as positive distinctive marks. Apart from these details later Jewish dress does not belong to this section. In the Greek and Roman period foreign influence shows itself very strongly in the introduction of novelties of costume and of classical terms, and the subject belongs rather to the Greek and Roman dress of the age. 4 Two' conflicting tendencies were constantly at work, and reached their climax in the middle ages. There was an anxiety to avoid articles of dress peculiar to other religions, especially when these were associated with religious practices; and there was a willingness to refrain from costume contrary to the customs of an unsympathetic land. On the one hand, there was a conservatism which is exemplified when the Jews in course of immigration took with them the characteristic dress of their former adopted home, or when they remained unmoved by the changes of the Renaissance. On the other hand, the prominent badge enforced by Pope Innocent III. in 1215 was intended to prevent Jews from being mistaken for Christians, and similarly in Mahommedan lands they were compelled to wear some distinctive indication of their sect. Thus the many quaint and interesting features of later Jewish costume have arisen from certain specific causes, any consideration of which concerns later and medieval costume _generally. See I. Abrahams, Jewish Life in the Middle Ages (1896), chap. xv. sq.; and especially the Jew. Encyc., s.v. " Dress " (with numerous illustrations).
Authorities
- Much useful material will be found in popular illustrated books (especially C. J. Ball, Light from the East, London, 1899) and in the magnificent volumes on the history of ancient art by G. Perrot and C. Chipiez. On Egyptian costume see especially J. G. Wilkinson, Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians (ed. by S. Birch, 1878), and A. Erman Life in Ancient Egypt (1894, especially pp. 200-233); for Egyptian evidence, see W. M. Muller, Asien and Europa nach altagypt. Denkmaler (Leipzig, 1893), Mitteil. d. vorderasiat. Gesellschaft (1904), ii. (and elsewhere). The most important study on old Babylonian dress is that of E. Meyer, " Sumerier and Semiten in Babylonien," in the Abhandlungen of the Berlin University (1906). For Hittite material, see the collection by L. Messerschmidt, Mitteil. d. vorderas. Ges. (1900 and 1902). For special discussions, see H. Weiss, Kostiimkunde, i. (Stuttgart, 1881), articles in Diet. Bible (Hastings), Ency. Biblica, and Jewish Encyc., and I. Benzinger, Hebr. Archeiologie (Tubingen, 1907), pp. 73 sqq. See also the general bibliography at the end. (S. A. C.) ii. Aegean Costume. - The discoveries made at Mycenae and other centres of "Mycenaean" civilization, and those of more recent date due to the excavations of Dr A. J. Evans and others in Crete, have shown that Hellenic culture was preceded in the Aegean by a civilization differing from it in many respects (see Aegean Civilization), and not least in costume. The essential feature both of male and female dress during the "Minoan " and " Mycenaean " periods was the loin-cloth, which is best represented by the votive terra-cotta statuettes from Petsofa in Crete discovered by Professor J. L. Myres and published in the ninth volume of the Annual of the British School at Athens (fig. 15). J. L. Myres shows that the costume consists of three parts - the loin-cloth itself, a white wrapper or kilt worn over it, and a knotted girdle which secured the whole and perhaps played its part in producing and maintaining the wasp waists characteristic of the Aegean race. The loin-cloth was the only costume (except for high boots, probably made of pale leather, since they are represented 4 See for details, A. Brull, Trachten d. Juden (1873).
From Petsofa (Annual of the Brit. School at Athens). FIG. 15. - Terracotta Statuette.
with white paint) regularly worn by the male sex, though we sometimes find a hood or wrapper, as on a lead statuette found in Laconia (fig. 16), but the Aegean women developed it into a bodice-and-skirt costume, well represented by the frescoes of Cnossus and the statuettes of the snake-goddess and her votaries there discovered. This transformation of the loincloth has been illustrated by Mr D. Mackenzie(see below) from Cretan sealimpressions. In place of the belted kilt of the men we find a belted panier or polonaise, considerably elongated in front, worn by Aegean women; and Mackenzie shows that this was repeated several times until it formed the compound skirt with a number of flounces which is represented on many Mycenaean gems. On a fresco discovered at Phaestus (Hagia Triada) (fig. 17) and a sealing from the same place this multiple skirt is clearly shown as divided; but this does not seem to have been the general rule. On other sealings we find a single overskirt with a pleated underskirt. The skirts were held in place by a thick rolled belt, and the upper part of the body remained quite nude in the earliest times; but from the middle Minoan period onward we often find an important addition in the shape of a low-cut bodice, which sometimes has sleeves, either tight-fitting or puffed, and ultimately develops into a laced corsage. A figurine from Petsofa (fig. 18) shows the bodice-and-skirt costume, together with a high pointed head-dress, in one of its most From Monunzenti antichi (Acad. Lincei).
FIG. 17. - Part of a Fresco discovered at Phaestus.
elaborate forms. The bodice has a high peaked collar at the back. Other forms of head-dress are seen on the great signet from Mycenae. The fact that both male and female costume amongst the primitive Aegean peoples is derivable from the simple loin-cloth with additions is rightly used by Mackenzie as a proof that their original home is not to be sought in the colder regions of central Europe, but in a warm climate such as that of North Africa. It is not until the latest Mycenaean period that we find brooches, such as were used in historical Greece, to fasten woollen garments, and their presence in the tombs of the lower city of Mycenae indicates the coming of a northern race.
See Annual of the British School at Athens, ix. 356 sqq. (Myres); xii. 233 sqq. (Mackenzie); Tsountas and Manatt, The Mycenaean Age, ch. vii.
iii. Greek Costume. - All articles of Greek costume belong either to the class of vhuµara, more or less close-fitting, sewn garments, or of irepc/3MhuaTa, loose pieces of stuff draped round the body in various ways and fastened with pins or brooches. For the former class the generic name is Xgtwv, a word of Semitic origin, which denotes the Eastern origin of the garment; for the latter we find in Homer and early poetry irbrXos, in later times ij tnnov. The ?rbrXos (also called kvos and Oapos in Homer) was the sole indispensable article of dress in early Greece, and, as it was always retained as such by the women in Dorian states, is often called the " Doric dress " (&)Oils &opts). It was a square piece of woollen stuff about a foot longer than the height of the wearer, and equal in breadth to twice the span of the arms measured from wrist to wrist. The upper edge was folded over for a distance equal to the space from neck to waist - this folded portion was called Ior67rTV^y ua or &71-XotS, - and the whole garment was then doubled and wrapped round the body below the armpits, the left side being closed and the right open. The back and front were then pulled up over the shoulders and fastened together with brooches like safety-pins (irepovat). This was the Doric costume, which left the right side of the body exposed and provoked the censure of Euripides (Andr. 598). It was usual, however, to hold the front and back of the ir6rXos together by a girdle q'c'ovr7), passed round the waist below the airO rrv'ypa; the superfluous length of the garment was pulled up through the girdle and allowed to fall over in a baggy fold (KOA7ros) (see Greek Art, fig. 75). Sometimes the 6,7r67rT y yµa was made long enough to fall below the waist, and the girdle passed outside it (cf. the figure of Artemis on the vase shown in Greek Art, fig. 29); this was the fashion in which the Athena Parthenos of Pheidias was draped. The " Attic " or " Corinthian " 7rErrAos was sewn together on the right side from below the arm, and thus became an nlvµa. The i-Eir)os was worn in a variety of colours and often decorated with bands of ornament, both horizontal and vertical; Homer uses the epithets KpoK61ren-Aos and Kvav01r€7rXos, which show that yellow and dark blue 7r41rAot were worn, and speaks of embroidered 717rXoc (roctcLRoc). Such embroideries are indicated by painting on the statues from the Acropolis and are often shown on vase paintings.
The chiton, xcrcww, was formed by sewing together at the sides two pieces of linen, or a double piece folded together, leaving spaces at the top for the arms and neck, and fastening the top edges together over the shoulders and upper arm with buttons or brooches; more rarely we find a plain sleeveless chiton. The length of the garment varied considerably. The XfTwviaKOS, worn in active exercise, as by the so-called " Atalanta " of the Vatican, or the well-known Amazon statues (Greek Art, fig. 40), reached only to the knee; the xcTav rroh7' 7 p71s covered the feet. This long, trailing garment was especially characteristic of Ionia; in the Homeric poems (Il. xiii. 685) we read of the 'Iaoves EAKExLTwvES. If worn without a girdle it went by the name of XeTWV 6pOour6. &os. The long chiton was regularly used by musicians (e.g. Apollo the lyre-player) and charioteers. In ordinary life it was generally pulled up through the girdle and formed a KC)R?ros (Greek Art, fig. 2). Herodotus (v. 82-88) tells a story (cf. Aegina), the details of which are to all appearance legendary, in order to account for a change in the fashion of female dress which took place at Athens in the course of the 6th century B.C. Up to that time the " Dorian dress " had been universal, but the Athenians now gave up the use of garments fastened with pins or brooches, and adopted the linen chiton of the Ionians. The statement of Herodotus is illustrated both by Attic vase-paintings and also by the series of archaic female statues from the Acropolis of Athens, which (with the exception of one clothed in the Doric irk-Nos) wear the Ionic chiton, together with an outer garment, sometimes laid over both shoulders like a cloak (Greek Art,, fig. 3), but more usually fastened on the right shoulder only, and. passed diagonally across the body so as to leave the left arm VII. 8 a Perrot et Chipiez's Art in Primitive Greece, by permission of Chapman & Hall.
FIG. 16. - Lead Statuette from Kampos.
From Annual of the Brit. School at Athens. FIG. 18. - Terra-cotta Statuette from Petsofa.
free. The garment (which resembles the Doric irbirXos, but seems to have been rectangular rather than square) is folded over at the top, and the central part is drawn up towards the right shoulder to produce an elaborate system of zigzag folds (Greek Art, fig. 22). The borders of the garment are painted with geometrical patterns in vivid colours; a broad stripe of ornament runs down the centre of the skirt.' This fashion of dress was only temporary. Thucydides (i. 6) tells us that in his own time the linen chiton of Ionia had again been discarded in favour of the Doric dress, and the monuments show that after the Persian wars a reaction against Orientalism showed itself in a return to simpler fashions. The long linen chiton, which had been worn by men as well as women, was now only retained by the male sex on religious and festival occasions; a short chiton was, however, worn at work or in active exercise (Greek Art, fig. 3) and often fastened on the left shoulder only, when it was called or EWµis. But the garment usually worn by men of mature age was the iµaTCov, which was (like the rbrXos) a plain square of woollen stuff. One corner of this was pulled over the left shoulder from the back and tucked in under the left arm; the rest of the garment was brought round the right side of the body and either carried under the right shoulder, across the chest and over the left shoulder, if it was desired that the right arm should be free, or wrapped round the right arm as well as the body, leaving the right hand in a fold like a sling (Greek Art, fig. 2). The iµaTCov was also worn by women over the linen chiton, and draped in a great variety of ways, which may be illustrated by the terracotta figurines from Tanagra (4th-3rd cent. B.C.) and the numerous types of female statues, largely represented by copies of Roman date, made to serve as grave-monuments. The upper part of the was often drawn over the head as in the example here shown (Plate, fig. 21), a statue formerly in the duke of Sutherland's collection at Trentham and now in the British Museum.
A lighter garment was the XXaµus, chlamys, a mantle worn by young men, usually over a short chiton girt at the waist, and fastened on the right shoulder (cf. the figure of Hermes in Greek Art, fig. 2). The XXaiva was a heavy woollen cloak worn in cold weather. Peasants wore sheepskins or garments of hide called /3aLTn or criavpa; slaves, who were required by custom to conceal their limbs as much as possible, wore a sleeved chiton and long hose.
A woman's head was usually covered by drawing up the iµaTCov (see above), but sometimes instead of this, a separate piece of cloth was made to perform this service, the end of it falling over the himation. This was the KaXinrTpa, or veil called Kpr t &Eµvov in Homer. A cap merely intended to cover in the hair and hold it together was called KEKpu¢aaos. When the object was only to hold up the hair from the neck, the o-¢Evbovn was used, which, as its name implies, was in the form of a sling; but in this case it was called more particularly 67reQBov¢EVbovrt, as a distinction from the sphendone when worn in front of the head. The head ornaments include the bcabrtµa, a narrow band bound round the hair a little way back from the brow and temples, and fastened in the knot of the hair behind; the ciµ7ry a variety of the diadem; the QTE¢avrt, a crown worn over the forehead, its highest point being in the centre, and narrowing at each side into a thin band which is tied at the back of the head. It is doubtful whether this should be distinguished from the o-TE¢avos, a crown of the same breadth and design all round, as on the coins of Argos with the head of Hera, who is expressly said by Pausanias to wear a stephanos. This word is also employed for crowns of laurel, olive or other plant. High crowns made of wicker-work (rr6Xoc, K6.XaBot) were also worn (see Gerhard, Antike Bildwerke, pls. 303-305). When the hair, as was most usual, was gathered back from the temples and fastened in a knot behind, hair-pins were required, and these were mostly of bone or ivory, mounted with gold or plain; so also when the hair was ' These ornamental bands are carefully described and reproduced in colour by A. Lermann, Altgriechische Plastik (1907), pp. 85 ff., pls. i.-xx. Some authorities hold that the skirt forms part of the over-garment, but it seems clear that it belongs to the XI.Tthv.
tied in a large knot above the forehead, as in the case of Artemis, or of Apollo as leader of the Muses. The early Athenians wore their hair in the fashion termed Kpc. f3uXos, with fastenings called " grasshoppers " (TET'r Es), in allusion to their claim of having originally sprung from the soil (Thuc. i. 6). The have been identified by Helbig with small spirals of gold wire, such as are found in early Etruscan tombs lying near the head of the skeleton. Such spirals were used in early Athens to confine the back hair, and this fashion may therefore be identified as the Kpc f3vXos. In archaic figures the hair is most frequently arranged over the brow and temples in parallel rows of small curls which must have been kept in their places by artificial means. Ear-rings (Evwrta, X¦o13ta, Exckt'7pES) of gold, silver, or bronze plated with gold, and frequently ornamented with pearls, precious stones, or enamel, were worn attached to the lobes of the ear. For necklaces (ip,uoc), bracelets Was), brooches (irEpovac), and fingerrings (baKTUAtm. or o a ¢paryTEs) the same variety and preciousness of material was employed. For the feet the sandal (o-avbaXov, Ti&Xov) was the usual wear; for hunting and travelling high boots were worn. The hunting-boot (EVbpoµis) was laced up the front, and reached to the calves; the K60opvos (cothurnus) was a high boot reaching to the middle of the leg, and as worn by tragic actors had high soles. Slippers (irepauKai) were adopted from the East by women; shoes (E e13a&ES) were worn by the poorer classes. Gloves (XECpCbEs) were worn by the Persians, but apparently never by the Greeks unless to protect the hands when working (Odyssey, xxiv. 230). Hats, which were as a rule worn only by youths, workmen and slaves, were of circular shape, and either of some stiff material, as the Boeotian hat observed in terra-cottas from Tanagra, or of pliant material which could be bent down at the sides like the irETaaos worn by Hermes and sometimes even by women. The Kauo r ia, or Macedonian hat, seems to have been similar to this. The Kvp3a61a, or Kibapts, was a high-pointed hat of Persian origin, as was also the ncipa, which served the double purpose of an ornament and a covering for the head. Workmen wore a close-fitting felt cap (Taos).
See F. Studniczka, " Beitrage zur Geschichte der altgriechischen Traeht " (Abhandlungen des arch.-epigr. Seminars in Wien, vii. 1886); Lady Evans, Chapters on Greek Dress (1893); W. Kalkmann, " Zur Tracht archaischer Gewandfiguren " (Jahrb. des k. deutschen arch. Instituts, 1896, pp. 19 ff.); S. Cybulski, Tabulae quibus antiquitates Graecae et Romanae illustrantur, Nos. 16 -18 (1903), with text by W. Amelung; Ethel B. Abrahams, Greek Dress (1908).
iv. Etruscan Costume. - The female dress of the Etruscans did not differ in any important respect from that of the Greeks; it consisted of the chiton and himation, which was in earlier times usually worn as a shawl, not after the fashion of the Doric7r7rXos. Two articles of costume, however, were peculiar to the Etruscans - the high conical hat known as the tutulus, 2 and the shoes with turned-up points (Latin calcei repandi). These have oriental analogies, and lend support to the tradition that the Etruscans came from Asia. Both are represented on a small bronze figure in the British Museum (fig. 10). On a celebrated terracotta sarcophagus in the British Museum of much later date (fig. 20), the female figure reclining on the lid wears a Greek chiton of a thin white material, with short sleeves fastened on the outside of the arm, by means of buttons and loops; a himation of dark purple thick stuff is wrapped round her hips and legs; on her feet are sandals, consisting of a sole apparently of leather, and attached to the foot and leg with leather straps; under the straps are thin socks which do not cover the toes; she wears a necklace of heavy pendants; her ears are pierced for ear-rings; her hair is partly gathered together with a ribbon at the roots behind, and partly hangs in long tresses before and behind; a flat diadem is bound round her head a little way back from the brow and 2 The tutulus was worn at Rome by the flaminica. FIG. 19.
temples. Purple, pale green and white, richly embroidered, are favourite colours in the dresses represented on the painted tombs.
The chief article of male dress was called the tebenna. We are told by ancient writers that the toga praetexta, with its purple border (lreplirop4wpos n'i13evva), as worn by Roman magistrates and priests, had been derived from the Etruscans (Pliny, N.H. ix. 63, " praetextae apud Etruscos originem invenere "); and the famous statue of the orator in Florence (Plate, fig. 22), an Etruscan work of the 3rd century B.C., represents a man clothed in this garment, which will be described below. Under the tebenna, or toga, which was necessary only for public appearance, the Etruscans wore a short tunic similar to the Greek chiton. For workmen and others of inferior occupation this appears to have been the only dress. Youths, when engaged in horsemanship and other exercises, wore a chlamys round the shoulders, which, however, was semicircular in cut, and was fastened on the breast by buttons and a loop, or tied in a knot, whereas the Greek chlamys was oblong and fastened on the shoulder by a brooch. On public or festal occasions the Etruscan noble wore, besides the tebenna, a bulla, or necklace of bullae, and a wreath, corona Etrusca. The bulla was a circular gold locket containing a charm of some kind against evil.' On the later sarcophagi the Redrawn from photo (Mansell).
FIG. 20.
male figures wear not only a wreath or corona proper, but also a garland of flowers hung round the neck. The male head-dress was the galerus, a hat of leather, said to have been worn by the Lucumos in early times, or the apex, a pointed hat corresponding to the tutulus worn by females. The fashion of shoes worn by Roman senators was said to have been derived from Etruria. Etruscan shoes were prized both in Greece and in Rome.
Helbig's articles, referred to at the close of the next section, should be consulted. J. Martha, L' Art etrusque, gives reproductions of the most important monuments. See also the works on Etruscan civilization named in the art. Etruria.
V. Roman Costume. - We are told that the toga, the national garment of the Romans, was originally worn both by men and by women; and though the female dress of the Romans was in historical times essentially the same as that of the Greeks, young girls still wore the toga on festal occasions, as we see from the reliefs of the Ara Pacis Augustae. In early times no undergarment was worn save a loin-cloth (subliga c ulum), which seems to be a survival of early Mediterranean fashions (see above, sect. Aegean Costume), and candidates for office in historical times appeared in the toga and subligaculum only. In this period, however, the tunica, corresponding to the Greek chiton, was universally worn in ordinary life, and the toga gradually became a full-dress garment which was only worn over the tunica on important social occasions; Juvenal (iii. 171) tells us that in a great part of Italy no one wore the toga except at his burial!
The toga was a piece of woollen cloth in the form of a segment of a circle, 2 the chord of the arc being about three times the height of the wearer, and the height a little less than one-half of this length. One end of this garment was thrown over the left shoulder and allowed to hang down in front; the remainder 1 It was also worn by Roman children.
2 This seems more likely than the alternative view that it was of elliptical shape and was folded before being put on. Quintilian (xi. 3, 139, a locus classicus for the toga) speaks of it as " rotunda "; but this need not be taken literally.
was drawn round the body and disposed in various ways. In the cinctus Gabinus, which was the fashion adopted in early times when fighting was in prospect, the end of the toga was drawn tightly round the waist and formed a kind of girdle; this was retained in certain official functions, such as the opening of the emple of Janus in historical times. 3 In time of peace the toga was wrapped round the right arm, leaving the hand only free, much after the fashion of the Greek himation, and thrown over the left shoulder so as to fall down behind (see Roman Art, Plate II., fig. 11, male figure to r.); or, if greater freedom were desired, it was passed under the right arm-pit. In religious ceremonies, the magistrate presiding at the sacrifice drew the back of the toga over his head; see in the same illustration the priest with veiled head, rite Gabino, who also wears his toga with the cinctus Gabinus. Towards the end of the republic a new fashion was generally adopted. A considerable length of the toga was allowed to hang from the left shoulder; the remainder was passed round the body so as to rise like a baldric (balteus) from the right hip to the left shoulder, being folded over in front (the fold was called sinus), then brought round the back of the neck so that the end fell over the right shoulder; the hanging portion on the left side was drawn up through the sinus, and bulged out in an umbo (Plate, fig. 24). Later still, this portion, instead of forming a bundle of folds in the centre, was carefully folded over and carried up over the left shoulder, and in course of time these folds were carefully arranged in several thicknesses resembling boards, tabulae, hence called contabulatio (Plate, fig. 23). Yet another fashion was that adopted by the flamens, who passed the right-hand portion of the toga over the right shoulder and arm and back over the left shoulder, so that it hung down in a curve over the front of the body; the upper edge was folded over. The flamens are thus represented on the Ara Pacis Augustae.
The plain white toga (toga Pura) was the ordinary dress of the citizen, but the toga praetexta, which had a border of purple, was worn by boys till the age of sixteen, when they assumed the plain toga virilis, and also by curule magistrates and some priests. A purple toga with embroidery (toga pieta) was worn together with a gold-embroidered tunic (tunica palmata) by generals while celebrating a triumph and by magistrates presiding at games; it represented the traditional dress of the kings and was adopted by Julius Caesar as a permanent costume. The emperors wore it on occasions of special importance. The trabea, which in historical times was worn by the consuls when opening the temple of Janus, by the equites at their yearly inspection and on some other occasions, and by the Salii at their ritual dances, and had (according to tradition) formed the original costume of the augurs and flamens (who afterwards adopted the toga praetexta), was apparently a toga smaller in size than the ordinary civil dress, decorated with scarlet stripes (trabes). It was fastened with brooches (fibulae) anch appears to have been worn by the equites, e.g. at the funeral ceremony of Antoninus Pius.
The tunica was precisely like the Greek chiton; that of the senator had two broad stripes of purple (latus clavus) down the centre, that of the knight two narrow stripes (angustus clavus). A woollen undergarment (subucula) was often worn by men; the women's under-tunic was of linen (indusium). When women gave up the use of the toga, they adopted the stola, a long tunic with a border of a darker colour (instita) along the lower edge; the neck also sometimes had a. border (patagium) . The tunic with long sleeves (tunica manicata) was a later fashion. Over this the ricinium or ricer, a shawl covering the head and shoulders, was worn in early times, and retained by certain priestesses as an official costume; 4 but it gave place to the palla, the equivalent of the Greek himation, and the dress of the Roman women henceforward differed in no essential particular from that of the Greek.
3 The Lares are thus represented in art.
4 The suffibulum of the vestals, which was fastened on the breast by a brooch (fibula), was a garment of this sort. The marriage-veil (flammeum) derived its name from its bright orange colour. The palliolum was a kind of mantilla.
A variety of cloaks were worn by men during inclement weather; in general they resembled the Greek chlamys, but often had a hood (cucullus) which could be drawn over the head. Such were the birrus (so-called from its red colour), abolla and lacerna. The paenula, which was the garment most commonly worn, especially by soldiers when engaged on peace duties, was an oblong piece of cloth with a hole in the centre for the neck; a hood was usually attached to the back. It survives in the ritual chasuble of the Western Church. The Greek military chlamys appears in two forms - the paludamentum of the general (e.g. Trajan as represented on the Arch of Constantine, Roman Art, Plate III., fig. 16), and the sagum worn by the common soldier (e.g. by some of the horsemen on the base of the Antonine column, Roman Art, Plate V., fig. 21). When the toga went out of use as an article of everyday wear, the pallium, i.e. the Greek himation, was at first worn only by Romans addicted to Greek fashions, but from the time of Tiberius, who wore it in daily life, its use became general. Long robes bearing Greek names (synthesis, syrma, &c.) were worn at dinner-parties.
The Romans often wore sandals (soleae) or light shoes (socci), but in full dress (i.e. with the toga) it was necessary to wear the calceus, which had various forms by which classes were distinguished, e.g. the calceus patricius, mulleus (of red leather) and senatorius (of black leather). This was a shoe with slits at the sides and straps knotted in front; its forms may be seen on the relief from the Ara Pacis. The senators' calceus had four such straps (quattuor corrigiae), which were wound round the ankle (cf. the flamen on the Ara Pacis), and was also adorned with an ivory crescent (lunula). A leathern tongue (lingula) is often seen to project from beneath the straps.. The soldier's boot (caliga, from which the emperor Gaius derived his nickname, Caligula) was in reality a heavy hobnailed sandal with a number of straps wound round the ankle and lower leg. A high hunting boot was called compagus. Women at times wore the calceus, but are generally represented in art with soft shoes or sandals.
Hats were seldom worn except by those who affected Greek fashions, but the close-fitting leather pileus seems to have been an article of early wear in Italy, since its use survived in the ceremony of manumission, and the head-dress of the pontifices and flamines (cf. the relief of the Ara Pacis already referred to) consisted in such a cap (galerus) with an apex, or spike, of olive wood inserted in the crown.
For personal ornament finger-rings of great variety in the material and design were worn by men, sometimes to the extent of one or more on each finger, many persons possessing small cabinets of them. But at first the Roman citizen wore only an iron signet ring, and this continued to be used at marriages. The jus annuli aurei, or right of wearing a gold ring, originally a military distinction, became a senatorial privilege, which was afterwards extended to the knights and gradually to other classes. Women's ornaments consisted of brooches (fibulae), bracelets (armillae), armlets (armillae, bracchialia), ear-rings (inliures), necklaces (monilia), wreaths (coronae) and hair-pins (crinales). The tore (torques), or cord of gold worn round the neck, was introduced from Gaul. A profusion of precious stones, and absence of skill or refinement in workmanship, distinguish Roman from Greek or Etruscan jewelry; but in the character of the designs there is no real difference.
See Marquardt-Mau, Privatleben der Romer, pp. 550 seq. (gives a full collection of literary references); Cybulski, op. cit., pls. xix., xx., with Amelung's text; articles by W. Helbig, especially Sitzungsberichte der bayrischen Akademie (1880), pp. 487 seq. (on headgear); Hermes xxxix. 161 seq. (on toga and trabea), and Me'moires de l'Academie des inscriptions, xxxvii. (1905) (on the costume of the Salii); articles by L. Heuzey in Daremberg and Saglio's Dictionnaire des antiquites, also in Revue de l'art, i. 98 seq., 204 seq., ii. 193 seq., 295 seq. (on the toga). See also the general bibliography at the end. (H. S. J.)
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Bibliography Information
Chisholm, Hugh, General Editor. Entry for 'Costume'. 1911 Encyclopedia Britanica. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/bri/c/costume.html. 1910.
