THE full dress of the earliest Sumerians comprised nothing more elaborate than a skirt fastened round the waist and probably made of wool. But the taste for decoration shown by all primitive peoples is evinced by the Sumerians at a very early date, and they seek to relieve the dead monotony of the skirt by edging the bottom with a fringe (cf. Figs. 25, 52), the fringe on the earliest monuments being formed by a series of pointed tags. In the time of Ur-NinÂ, the archaically fringed skirt has given place to an elaborately flounced and pleated skirt—at least in the case of kings and magnates (cf. Figs. 26, 27), but the upper part of the body was left entirely bare; people of particularly high rank are however sometimes seen wearing a skirt with an upper part attached, which covered the left shoulder as is the case with the leader of the procession on Ur-NinÂ’s tablet (cf. Fig. 26), though it is noticeable that Ur-Nin himself here has no clothing on the upper part of his body. Later on the king of Lagash still wears the flounced skirt, but has another garment over it: this upper garment was also apparently made of wool, and passed over the left shoulder and under the right arm (cf. Pl. XII); as this is, however, a battle scene, the upper garment may be part of the king’s military insignia. This custom of leaving the right arm and shoulder free obtained right down to the time of Gudea (cf. Pl. XXIII) and Khammurabi (cf. Pl. XIV).

The heads of the majority of the figures on the early sculptures are hairless and beardless, though as we have seen (cf. p. 183) long hair and a pronounced beard were not infrequently worn, the hair on the head—possibly a wig—sometimes being allowed to hang down the neck (cf. Fig. 25, B, C), sometimes being gathered up behind and secured by a fillet (cf. Pl. XII). This seems to have been done by the king when on active service, doubtless with a view to making his helmet more comfortable and secure. As nearly all these early figures are without hats or head-gear of any kind, we are almost entirely in ignorance as to the nature of their head-coverings—if, indeed, they had any. Sometimes feathers were worn (cf. Fig. 25, A), while a figure resembling Gilgamesh on one of the most ancient Sumerian bas-reliefs (cf. DÉcouvertes, Pl. I, 1) in existence, has a flat head-gear of indeterminate character, the deity on the same archaic sculpture wearing what appears to be an early form of the horned head-dress of the gods in later times.

The dress of early Sumerian women is somewhat uncertain; if we might assume the form of dress shown on the little stone statuette discovered by De Sarzec at TellÔ (cf. Fig. 33, p. 224) to be typical, the feminine dress of the period would appear to have consisted in a flounced woollen skirt hung from the left shoulder, the right arm and shoulder being exposed. The length of the fillet-bound hair in the statuette referred to removes all doubt as to the sex, and it is noteworthy that the dress of this Sumerian woman is exactly the same as that of the individual on Ur-NinÂ’s stele referred to above, and of course the personage there may conceivably be a woman also (cf. further p. 186). But the little copper statuettes of women belonging to the same period always show a nude bust, it is therefore probable that the women of the time generally wore an ordinary skirt like the men, the shoulder-suspended garments being reserved for the Élite.

The dress of royalties and grandees differed however from that of the commonalty in quality rather than in character: thus the skirts of all Ur-NinÂ’s courtiers—the distinguished leader of the procession alone being excepted—are much the same as that of their royal master; but the quality is very different, the one being entirely plain, the other extremely elaborate.

In later times what had been the exception seemingly becomes the rule, and in Gudea’s period the left shoulder was always covered by the folds of the mantle-like garment then in vogue; while the Semite NarÂm-Sin, of yet earlier date than Gudea, wears a plaid passing over his left shoulder and wrapped around his body, leaving the right arm similarly free. The pleated plaid worn by NarÂm-Sin finds a striking parallel in the garments worn by Nin-gish-zi-da and the accompanying deity on a Gudea stele in the Berlin Museum (cf. Sum. and Sem., Taf. VII). The royal head-gear of Gudea differs from that of later times, and probably from that worn by the earlier rulers of Lagash: it consists in an embroidered turban, differing entirely from the conical-shaped cap worn by NarÂm-Sin on the Pir-Hussein stele, and the similar shaped crowns of the later Assyrian kings, but bearing some resemblance to that worn by Khammurabi on his famous code-stele (cf. Plates, XXXIII, XIV; Fig. 31).

But while the Semite NarÂm-Sin wears a long beard, the Sumerian Gudea is still beardless. So too the Semite Khammurabi wears a long beard, but the mantle slung from his left shoulder is not unlike that of Gudea, while the vesture of the god Shamash on the same stele is pleated like that of NarÂm-Sin, though the material would appear to be different. In a later relief of the time of NabÛ-aplu-iddina, king of Babylon about 870 B.C., the god Shamash wears a striped robe with sleeves, and the practice of leaving the right arm and shoulder exposed seems to have by this time fallen into desuetude (cf. Pl. XIV).

Of the dress of the women in the days of Gudea we have a good illustration in Pl. XXIII. She wears a gracefully fringed mantle, which was apparently161 first pressed over the breasts and carried under the arms, after which it was crossed at the back, the two ends being brought over the shoulders and made to hang symmetrically in front.

The grave-deposits have afforded abundant evidence of the extensive use of jewellery even in the earliest Sumerian times, thus at FÂra necklaces of amethyst, coral, lapis lazuli, mother of pearl and agate were found, while other early sites yield similar testimony.

For information regarding the military accoutrements of the early Sumerians we are mainly dependent on the bas-reliefs of the period, of which the Vulture Stele is the most important. The long lance or spear, which was apparently grasped by both hands (cf. Pl. XII), was clearly the principal weapon of offence, while the axe, the dart, a club or mace, a curved weapon—generally hitherto regarded as a throwing-stick or boomerang—and a lance were also in use. Very few Sumerian weapons have been brought to light, but in addition to those enumerated in the chapter on Metals, mention may be made of an archaic axe-head made of agate, now in the American Museum of Natural History;162 the characters with which it is inscribed are somewhat more wedge-shaped than those found on the monuments of Gudea, and it may accordingly be assigned to a rather later date. Another axe-head, also made of agate, and inscribed with early line characters, is in the Metropolitan Museum, New York,163 while a number of baked clay balls and some small stone eggs, as well as copper arrows, spears, axes and stone clubs were discovered in the pre-Sargonic strata at Nippur. The discovery of arrows belonging to such an early date is of considerable interest, as it has been contended that the bow and arrow were introduced by the Semites chiefly owing to the fact that it has been thought that these weapons were not represented in early Sumerian art. But a very early example of the bow in Babylonian art is afforded by an archaic shell cylinder-seal published by Ward.164 The human beings and gods on this seal are clad in the Sumerian short skirt and not in the Semitic plaid, while the occurrence of a bison on the top of a mountain, an animal which is only represented on very early seals, further argues the antiquity of the cylinder-seal in question, and therefore of the use of the bow and arrow depicted upon it. The discovery of clay balls and stone missiles similarly appear to afford evidence of the use of the sling at a very much earlier period than was hitherto supposed.

It is interesting to trace the history of the boomerang-shaped weapon shouldered by one of the figures on the archaic fragment of the circular bas-relief reproduced in Fig. 25, B. The curved weapon165 may have originally been a throwing-stick or boomerang, though its shape is the only argument in support of this theory. But whatever its original use may have been, there is evidence that a weapon of this shape was wielded as a club or primitive sword at a very early period. In a sculpture belonging to a slightly later period than the above-mentioned bas-relief, the weapon in question has lost its simplicity and is no longer made in one piece but is composed of three narrow pieces held together by a number of rings. Were this curiously shaped implement only found in the hands of rulers or dignitaries, the rings might merely be decorative accessories, but its occurrence in the hand of a huntsman attacking a lion, (cf. Fig. 78) makes it incumbent that we should seek for some more adequate and practical reason for the existence of these rings. Doubtless this later form was adopted with a view to increasing the efficiency of the weapon. The weapon is here used at close quarters, and was clearly not used as a throwing-stick at this period, but rather as a kind of sabre. At an early date the Sumerian must have sought for some means of rendering his weapon more serviceable, and have conceived the idea of substituting a blade of flint or obsidian, and in point of fact numerous edged pieces of flint and obsidian as well as primitive saw-blades with teeth have actually been found in early Babylonian ruins. The problem of affixing this blade to the handle or shaft, would find its natural solution in fashioning the latter, of two or more pieces between which the obsidian or flint blade might be inserted, both wood and blade being kept in place by rings; of its early use as a club or sabre we have evidence on the archaic shell reproduced in Fig. 78, where the huntsman is seen holding a curved implement which is composed of three pieces of wood bound together by rings, as on the Vulture Stele, it is obviously not employed here as a throwing-stick but as a weapon for use at close quarters (cf. also Fig. 94, A. B).

In the later period of Gudea we find the same style of weapon in use. Upon a bas-relief recovered by Commandant Cros from TellÔ, and belonging to Gudea, we see a curved weapon (cf. Fig. 94, C)166 terminating in a lion’s head and having a blade which was apparently inserted in a longitudinal slit made in the wood. Sometimes these curved weapons were made of one piece of metal, as was the case with the two examples discovered by Commandant Cros in an early Babylonian grave, one of which is reproduced in Fig. 94, D. Both of these weapons are made of copper and were found in a coffin consisting of two bell-shaped pots cemented together by bitumen. The one in the figure is the more elaborate of the two, and unlike its companion, has the handle still preserved while its total length is about sixteen inches. The edge of the blade was of course on the outside of the curve, the instrument thus resembling a scimitar or short curved sword. It is thus possible that the scimitar, or at least the archetype of the scimitar owes its origin to the Sumerians.167 The other weapon is of a more primitive character and recalls the earlier examples afforded by the bas-reliefs more vividly, while its blade is double edged. In Assyrian times the curved end becomes quasi-circular in form and the outer edge is furnished with teeth, as is the case with the sceptre which Ashur-na?ir-pal holds in his hand (Pl. XXIV). The arms borne by Eannatum himself as represented on the Vulture Stele are the curved weapon already alluded to, a number of darts some of which are double pointed, and a long lance. Eannatum is in the act of piercing the head of a vanquished foe with his lance, which he holds horizontally over his head at the extreme end. According to Commandant Cros, the lance is used in exactly the same way by the Arabs of Irak to-day. It is first held loosely in the middle, while the action consists in throwing it forcibly through the hand till the lower end of it is reached, but it is not allowed to escape from the hand altogether; the weapon is therefore used in part as a spear, and in part as a javelin.

For information regarding the military accoutrements in use at the time of Shar-GÂni-sharri and NarÂm-Sin we are mainly dependent on the stele of the last-named monarch (cf. Pl. XIII), and the bas-relief fragments reproduced in Fig. 28, B, C. The bow and arrow would appear to be the principal weapons used by the Semites, though the spear and the axe also occur on early Semitic monuments. One noticeable feature in these two sculptures is the absence of any kind of shield.

The cylinder-seals contribute little towards the solution of the manifold problems incidental to a study of early military affairs, as those seals which are engraved with battle-scenes are for the most part Persian in origin.

To attempt to describe the complete wardrobe of the Assyrians would be almost as difficult as to give a full and comprehensive account of English dress to-day. The costumes are so various, and often so finely-wrought, that even a brief review of the different “modes” would far exceed the bounds of a single chapter. The king’s robes are, of course, the most magnificent and most elaborate both in arrangement and decoration. In Pl. XV we see Ashur-na?ir-pal, king of Assyria (885-860 B.C.) arrayed in his ceremonial robes. In comparison with the festive garments of his successors, they are simple and inornate, and are merely a replica of those worn by the mythical being behind, the only difference being that those of the king are arranged so as to conceal both his legs, the exposure of the royal leg being apparently out of accord with kingly dignity. The under-garment seems to be a fringed robe or chasuble, over which a long, deeply-fringed mantle is arranged; both the king and his divine attendant wear a broad waist-band into which two daggers are thrust; but the mantle itself was apparently fastened by means of cords ending in tassels. The king’s head-dress, however, is entirely different from that of his follower; it is shaped somewhat like a mitre, two tails being similarly attached to the back. The royal tiara worn by the later kings of Assyria conforms to the same type, only it is more richly decorated and exhibits some variation in regard to its shape. It would appear to have been coloured, if we may trust the evidence afforded by the enamelled bricks from Khorsabad,168 the colours being red, white and yellow, the latter perhaps being intended to represent gold braid. Judging from its general appearance, the head-dress itself must have been made of cloth.

Both figures here (Pl. XV) wear a bracelet on either wrist and two armlets on their sinewy arms, while a necklace encircles their bull-like necks. Ashur-na?ir-pal, like all Assyrian kings, has a thick crop of hair and a very strong beard. Shalmaneser II, his son and successor, wears much the same dress as his father and the same conical head-gear (cf. Fig. 44), but Sennacherib one hundred and twenty years later is no longer content with the simple yet dignified dress of Ashur-na?ir-pal and Shalmaneser, but assumes a far richer and costlier set of robes (cf. Fig. 31). The royal mantle is not merely decorated with a fringe but is most elaborately embroidered throughout, while his crown is also far more ornate than those worn by his NimrÛd predecessors, but his attitude is precisely the same as that of Ashur-na?ir-pal in Pl. XV. Both kings are holding a bow in their left hand and two arrows in their right. The regal and ceremonial costume of Ashur-bani-pal contrasts similarly with that of Ashur-na?ir-pal and his immediate successors—his dress resembling that of Sennacherib in its general ornateness (cf. Pl. XX) while even the costume which he wears while reclining at meat in his garden is far more elaborate than that worn by Ashur-na?ir-pal on the highest ceremonial occasions (cf. Pl. XXI).

Some uncertainty exists regarding the dress-materials used by the Assyrians. Many garments were doubtless made of wool or woollen stuffs as in the other period, but a kind of cotton was also used, for Sennacherib states that he imported trees that bore wool or hair, from the south, and that the wool or hair was subsequently clipped and utilized for the manufacture of garments.

There is the same uncertainty as to the materials used in embroidery, but there is no doubt about the skill of the embroiderer, who must have been a veritable artist, if we may judge from the bas-relief representations of his work, a good example of which is reproduced in Layard, Pl. 9. He clearly did not confine himself to designs but aspired to artistic representations and scenic effects. Conventional palm-trees, and four-winged monsters are the most conspicuous features. One of these monsters is grasping one of the back legs of a lion in either hand, while the lions are making ruthless attacks on passively resisting bulls.

Women are seldom portrayed on the Assyrian bas-reliefs, but we at all events know that the lady who had the honour of being Ashur-bani-pal’s queen was quite as richly clad as her royal master (cf. Pl. XXI), while both wear ornamental fillets round their heads. Jewellery seems to have been prized and loved by the Assyrian king and his courtiers almost as much as by the women of to-day, and the demand for “novelties” must have taxed the jeweller’s inventive faculties to the utmost. Not only were armlets and bracelets in requisition, but also necklaces, ear-rings, and trinkets. The latter generally took the form of divine or astrological symbols, one of the most interesting ornaments worn by the king being exactly like a Maltese cross, and closely resembles the cross found on Kassite seals (cf. Fig. 71). The trinkets were suspended on a cord which encircled the royal neck, above which the real necklace is seen. Both bracelets and ear-rings show great variety in design and no little skill in workmanship. Unfortunately but few articles of jewellery (apart from a number of bead-necklaces169) have been recovered, and of the majority of these it is impossible to tell the date, but thanks to the bas-reliefs we can gain a very fair idea of the proficiency to which the jeweller’s art had been brought at this period, though we cannot be sure of the metals used in each particular case. In Fig. 95 we have a group of bracelets of manifold shapes and designs, the rosette as usual playing the leading part in most of the decorative devices. In A we have an example of a royal necklace; it is simple and neat in design and presents a striking contrast to that worn by one of the winged figures from NimrÛd (cf. B) which is decorated at the opening with heads of animals. The ear-rings worn by kings, warriors, priests and mythical beings vary quite as much as the bracelets, though there is a certain similarity between most of them (cf. Fig. 95). The drops are in nearly all cases long, and they frequently have a cross piece which gives them the general appearance of a “crux ansata.”

The toilet requisites of the Babylonians and Assyrians were doubtless much the same as those in use to-day, though but few articles from the dressing-table have been recovered, the most notable of which are the combs now preserved in the Louvre (cf. Figs. 96, 97). They are made of ebony and measure about three and a half inches across, while they are elaborately decorated in the centre with the figures of sphinxes or lions, sometimes realized in open-work, sometimes in relief. The teeth on one side are large and few, those on the other being slender and numerous. A similar comb was discovered by Koldewey at Babylon, the centre of which is decorated with the figure of a winged bull.170

Sandals formed the principal footwear of civilians—royalties or commoners as the case may be—though the feet were often left bare. The ordinary sandal had a thin sole and a small cap for the heel, apparently made of strips of leather which were sometimes coloured red and blue alternately, though more frequently the entire sandal was of a reddish hue, while it was held in position by a loop round the great toe, and by a string which was laced across the instep and tied in a bow. This was the type of sandal worn by Sargon. There was, however, an entirely different sandal in vogue at the time of Ashur-bani-pal; the sole of this later sandal was of considerable thickness, especially at the heel, while the upper leather did not merely form a protecting cap to the heel but covered the whole side of the foot. But shoes were used as well as sandals as early as the time of Sennacherib; those represented on the bas-reliefs are of a clumsy make, though finely decorated with crescents and rosettes, and they were seemingly laced in front.

But the military uniforms of the Assyrians show far greater variation than the apparel of kings, eunuchs and attendants. In the early Assyrian period the foot-soldiers wore a short tunic and a fringed girdle, their heads being protected by a pointed helmet; the arms, legs, neck and feet were generally bare, though the latter were occasionally shod with plain sandals. The infantry included archers, spearmen and swordsmen, while the archers were often further armed with swords and sometimes with maces, and appear to have formed the pick of the foot-soldiers. All three divisions were protected by small hand-shields, the bowmen often being attended by another warrior armed with a spear, who acted as shield-bearer. In the reign of Shalmaneser II we frequently see the bowmen clad in a long coat of mail reaching from the neck to the ankles (cf. Fig. 44), but in the Sargon period the difference in the equipment of the foot-soldiers becomes more pronounced. There are at least three different kinds of archer. First of all there was the light-armed bowman, who was practically naked but for a loin-cloth, which supported a quiver, and a head fillet (cf. Fig. 100). Next came the more simply equipped of the heavy-armed (cf. Fig. 101), who was clad in a coat of mail reaching from the neck to the waist, beneath which was a fringed tunic extending to the knees, while their feet were generally protected by sandals, and the head covered by a pointed helmet. The principal feature which differentiated the appearance of the most heavily armed archers from that of the foregoing was the long deeply fringed tunic (cf. Fig. 102), over which a coat of mail was worn similar to that worn by the archers of the second class.

The spearmen of the period are clad in much the same way as the medium-armed archers, the most noticeable point about them being their helmets, which are surmounted by a crest of one kind or another (cf. Fig. 29), while another frequent peculiarity in their equipment is the arrangement of their belts which cross each other on the chest and back. Their feet are generally bare, though sometimes they are shod in sandals, and occasionally in a low boot.171

Sargon’s son, Sennacherib, appears to have largely reorganized the infantry and instituted fresh corps. The slingers seemingly make their first appearance in this king’s reign, though the sling was known in Babylonia even before the time of Shar-GÂni-sharri (cf. above, p. 341). On the bas-reliefs of Sennacherib we see him fully armed with helmet, coat of mail, tunic reaching to the knees, close-fitting hose and a short boot, none of which can have added to the efficiency of his services. There were four types of archer, two heavy-armed and two light-armed. The most heavily armed (cf. Fig. 103) wore a tunic, a coat of mail reaching to the waist, hose, short boots, and a conical helmet, and are protected by long shields carried by a shield-bearer. The next class have no shield protection, and their legs and feet are entirely bare (cf. Fig. 104). The better equipped of the light-armed are clad in a short tunic, wear a peculiar kind of fillet round their heads, and sandals on their feet, while they carry short swords at their sides and quivers on their backs. Last come the lightest equipped archers of all, who wear a striped tunic172 reaching down to the knees and somewhat longer behind than in front (cf. Fig. 105). Their feet, arms and legs are bare, and fillets form their sole head-gear, while they are seldom armed with short swords like the preceding.

There were apparently two classes of spearmen in Sennacherib’s army; the better equipped wear a coat of mail over their tunics, a conical helmet, hose on their legs, and boots on their feet, while they are generally armed with a comparatively short spear, a rather large convex shield, and the usual short sword. The second division are equipped in much the same way as the light-armed spearmen of Sargon, and wear plain tunics, cross belts, and crested helmets, but unlike the spearmen of Sargon they usually have sleeves to their tunics, wear hose on their legs, boots on their feet, and sometimes carry a long convex shield arched at the top instead of a round one. Yet another class of foot-soldiers deserve a mention; these are armed with double-headed axes which they use to cut down trees and clear the road for the passage of troops. Their equipment closely resembles that of the better-armed spearmen. The army in Ashur-bani-pal’s time is much the same as it was in the time of Sennacherib; it comprised bowmen, spearmen, mace-bearers, warriors armed with battle-axes and slingers. In regard to the latter it is interesting to note that the heavy armour of the slingers has been exchanged for a lighter and more serviceable garb.173

The principal weapon of the cavalry in the early period was the bow, though sword and shield both occur, but were apparently not much used. It was customary for the mounted archers to be accompanied by another mounted soldier whose office it was to hold the bridle of the archer’s horse while the archer was aiming his arrow at the enemy. The attendant wears a plain tunic and an ordinary cap, while the archer has a pointed helmet, an embroidered tunic and a sword belt. Their legs and feet are bare to enable them to sit their horses firmly—the latter being without saddles. In the time of Sargon the cavalry consisted partly of spearmen, partly of archers. Saddles or saddle-cloths somewhat resembling those worn by European cavalry horses to-day were in regular use, while the unarmed attendants were no longer required, both archers and spearmen being able to manage their own steeds. The uniforms worn by the cavalry were similarly much more elaborate than those worn by the mounted archers of the earlier period. Their tunics are close-fitting, but expand below the waist into a kind of fringed kilt, they wear hose on their legs and long boots on their feet, which sometimes reached nearly up to the knee; the principal weapons borne by the horsemen are bows and spears, but they are frequently armed with a short sword as well, while the spearmen occasionally carry a bow and quiver as well as a spear and a sword (cf. Fig. 106).

Fig. 106.