Dress.—Ancient authors agree in the statement that the dress of the Teutons was very scant. They went naked until the age of puberty. Caesar speaks of their being clad in skins. According to Tacitus, all wore a short cloak fastened on the right shoulder, which usage accounts for the bronze clasps (1b1. 33, fig-s. 42-51) that have been found in their ancient tombs. Wealthier individuals wore beneath the cloak a close fitting garment reaching almost to the knees and having long or short sleeves. Trousers, for which the term hose occurs quite early, were adopted from the Romans, and by the Goths, who lived in Eastern Europe, from the Scythians. Furs were used as a protection against the cold, the better sort being even brought from the East.
The women wore dresses which left the arms and shoulders bare; prob ably they also wore an over-garment corresponding to the cloak of the men. Tacitus mentions that they preferred purple-colored garments. The material was everywhere of wool or linen. Men as well as women bestowed great attention upon the care of their bodies, especially by the use of baths. We have only lately been enlightened upon the subject of coverings for the feet. Shoes (Jig. 105) found in the Alemannic tombs near Oberflacht in Swabia, as shown in the illustration, consisted of a single piece of leather fastened to the foot by means of straps. A similar shoe, probably belonging to a much later period, was recently found in a swamp at Auricle.
Ornaments.—Articles of ornamentation were highly prized. In their tombs we find combs of bone and bronze (fig. 65), tweezers 7o), ear picks, and similar objects, often united by means of a ring (fig. 64). Of jewelry proper we find necklaces, bracelets, and armlets (figs. 52, 53, 56, 72, So-82, 87, 88), as well as finger- and ear-rings (figs. 6o-63, 89). Head bands (fig-. 59) were often widened into diadems (Jigs. 57, 58), but were not necessarily signs of princely dignity. Pendants (figs. 41, 54, 55, 71) of various styles were occasionally worn, and were arranged according to individual tastes. The jewelry was principally made of bronze. Tacitus relates that the Teutons looked with indifference upon the costly silver ware which was often part of their booty, and prized it less than their rude earthen vessels; but they soon became very susceptible to the glitter of gold. Spiral rings (figs. 9o, 94) seem to have been worn, and bits broken off from these served as money.
sexes bestowed the greatest care upon the beau tiful hair with which Nature had endowed them, and often anointed it with grease or simple pomades prepared by themselves. The Sueyi wore it combed forward and bound into a coil on the top of the head. The long pins with decorated heads (fig-s. 69, 92, 93) so frequently found were
probably hair-ornaments. Slaves were compelled to wear the hair cut close. A freeman who allowed his hair to be cut was looked upon as dis honored and unworthy of freedom. Among the Franks, in the course of time, the kings alone retained the privilege of wearing a full beard and curled hair; others wore the hair moderately short, with only a moustache 34, fig. 12). When Arechis (fig. i), duke of the Lombards, was elevated to the rank of a Roman patrician by the Greek emperor, he was presented, together with the purple mantle, with a comb and scissors with which to trim his hair after the Greco-Roman fashion.
should hardly be able to represent to ourselves the ancient dwelling-house of these peoples did we not have a tolerably accu rate model of it in an earthen urn 40, figs. 1, 2) which is preserved in the museum of Berlin. Strabo the geographer relates that the Teu tons transported their possessions on wagons, and merely erected huts intended to serve as temporary abodes. This, of course, was true only for the migratory period. When they began to dwell in permanent abodes they were compelled to construct more substantial dwellings. The urn referred to above shows the simplest style of house, consisting of low walls and a lofty straw roof. Tacitus speaks of more substantial dwellings built without stones or tiles, but yet according to fixed cus tom. They were, no doubt, log houses made of unhewn trunks of trees, the chinks being stuffed with moss and plastered with ordinary clay. Conspicuous parts, such as the front or the gable, were plastered with a glossy kind of clay. These huts no doubt contained but one apartment; a hearth upon the level earth and perhaps a few elevated sleeping-berths probably constituted the entire interior arrangement. If more room was needed, a second hut was built near the first.
The Roman manner of building gradually gained ground in German countries; but in the North, in the Scandinavian regions and in Iceland, where the ancient customs were longer retained, it underwent a peculiar development. Even in late centuries the palaces of the kings were con structed of wood, but the joists were finished, and even ornamented with carved work in appropriate places. Instead of straw, the roofs were covered with shingles, through the openings between which the smoke passed out. A division of the interior space was as yet unknown. The main building served as a place of sojourn for the family, for the recep tion of guests, and as a drinking and feasting hall. The women and the servants occupied separate dwellings. Barns and stables completed the collection of buildings which formed the abode of a nobleman or a rich land-owner.