The materials were probably linen or cotton and wool, being changed according to the seasons of the year, whose differences were perceptibly felt in some regions of Central Asia. It is scarcely to be doubted that the highly-developed manufacturing skill of the Assyrians and Babylonians utilized the fine hair of the Cashmere goat and the wool of their native sheep. It is even probable that silk had then been imported from China; but the silks as well as the famous laces and the dyed fabrics, particularly the costly purple textures, belonged, as we may well assume, only to people of the higher classes, among whom also the custom of decorating the garment with tassels and fringes was universal.
The distinguishing mark of the court costume was a fringed scarf, which, narrow at first, was widened with the increase of luxury, and was thrown about the shoulders in either single or double folds (figs. 3, 4). It may furthermore be presumed that different degrees of rank were denoted by the more or less costly decorations and by the single or double folds of the scarf, as well as by the ornamentation of the gown, which reached to the feet and was edged with broad, bright-colored borders.
Among the officers of the court we recognize a prime minister (fig. 3), the vizier of later Oriental monarchs, the overseer of the royal servants (fig. 4), the cup-bearer (fig. 9), the armor-bearer (fig. 7), and the umbrella and fan-bearer (fig. 6). The royal scribes were more limited in the orna mentation of their attire, and the right of wearing the scarf was denied to those of the lower grades. Many officials and servants of the Assyrian court were eunuchs, as is shown by their beardless faces, but we neverthe less find them bearing arms. The scarf was also the foundation of the ceremonial attires of the priests and kings, but it was often enlarged into a mantle-like over-garment.
The king (fig. 5; pl. i6, fig. 2), wore an under-garment which was doubtless of the richest material and color. In some representations he wears also a girdle with tassels falling as low as the feet; the scarf is sometimes worn outside the over-garment. Besides the under-garment, the head-dress was a distinguishing mark of Assyrian royalty (p1. .16, figs.
4-7). It consisted of a cylindrical cap with projecting point encircled with a golden diadem and adorned with flowing ribbons. It occurs in various shapes, but we are unable to determine whether the differences had any reference to different functions. The king's sceptre was a long staff, probably plated with gold.
The Assyrian king also filled the office of chief priest, and as such wore priestly robes marked with the emblems of his royal rank (p1. 15,
fig. 8). The priestly vesture in general had been developed somewhat differently from the ordinary attire. In place of the cloak, and the long gown which was probably worn as an nnder-garment, we find in the older representations a garment which is wrapped in diagonal folds around the entire body; this was the extreme development of the scarf costume.
The distinguishing marks of the high priest and of the king as high priest consisted of a necklace decorated with symbolical figures (p1. 16, fig. To), probably representations of constellations; a short club-shaped sceptre (fig. it); a hook-shaped instrument (p1. 15, fig. 8); and a peculiar cap decorated with slightly projecting horns (p1. i6, figs. 8, 9). The sceptre and the hook-shaped instrument are perhaps only ornamental forms of sacrificial implements. The festival robes varied with the cha racter of each ceremony: sometimes a cloak was worn, and also a deco rated apron, probably adopted when bloody sacrifices were to be offered. Perhaps the priests, like those of Egypt, wore on certain occasions the emblems of the animals which represented their gods (p1. 17, fig. r).
Already in those early times the Assyrian and Babylonian women were kept strictly secluded in harems, and they are rarely represented on the monuments; we therefore possess no detailed knowledge of their attire, and, apart from the statements of later writers, must rely on conjectures. In general, the cut of the female dress differed little from that of the men, but it is likely that the women used finer materials. According to the few representations we have, when they appeared occasionally in public or performed the by no means absolutely moral functions of priest esses, they wore over the long under-garment a veil hanging clown from the head. That they were more addicted to finery than the men needs no assurance or confirmation.
is manifest from the illustrations, the nations in question were abundantly supplied with the natural adornment of hair, to the care of which they gave great attention. The hair of the head was parted in the middle, brushed back, and arranged in several rows of small curls; the beard was curled about the cheeks and chin, cut square beneath, if we may trust the conventional illustrations, and then twisted into cords or braided and curled in rows (p1. i6, fig. 3). But this fashion also, if indeed it is anything else than a slight variation of the Egyptian wig, was the high prerogative of the kings and of the nobility.