Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/491

Rh JEWISH.] COSTUME 459 simplicity, and to protect them from the hurtful effects of Oriental luxury and extravagance, forbade the use of mixed textures such as would be produced by wool and flax in combination. The particular garments of the Israelites, of which express mention is made, include the following : I. Under Garments. (1.) The sadin, a light wrapper, worn next to the person. (2.) The cetoneth, or under-tunic, either sleeveless or having open sleeves, moderately loose, varying in length, and adjusted about the waist in such a manner as to form a pocket from an overlapping fold. Corresponding with the modern kaftan, the cetoneth was habitually in use, worn either with or without the sadin, by both sexes, and by persons of all ranks. (3.) The mid, or over-tunic, made with sleeves, longer and somewhat thicker in substance than the cetoneth, and, like it, in general use. To both these garments the term &quot;coat &quot; is applied in our version of the ancient Scriptures. II. Outer Garments. To all these garments, alike in being designed only for occasional use or for use under exceptional conditions and circumstances, in their generic character the term &quot;cloak,&quot; as understood by ourselves, appears to have been appli cable. Of these cloaks, robes, mantles, or wrappers there were several varieties, which differed from each other as well in form as in material, substance, and ornamentation; fringes, however, seem to have been generally attached to them ; and they were worn with various modes of adjustment. The word malbush distinguished a robe of state. Express mention is made, but unattended with any precise descriptive notices, of more than one variety of shawl, worn by women, which might be so adjusted as to form a head-covering in addition to enveloping the person. To very light female robes also, which were long and flowing, occasional references are made. Of the male head-dresses worn by Israelites, distinct from such coverings for the head as might act as hoods formed by wrapping the mantle or cloak about the head, we have no exact knowledge. Though no such relics are known to be still in existence, goldsmiths work and jewellery certainly enjoyed a high degree of estimation in ancient Israel, as always has been the case with all Eastern races ; and they constituted important elements in the decoration of Jewish costume. The passages of chief importance in the Old Testament, in which the vestments of the priesthood are enumerated and described, occur in Exodus xxviii,, xxix., and xxxix., and in Leviticus viii. and xvi. In the Apocryphal books also reference may be made to Ecclesiasticus xlv., and to 1 Maccabees x. 21, in which last passage the entire investi ture of the high priest is designed to be understood. Very full descriptive notices of the sacerdotal vestments of the Jewish priesthood are given by Josephus, in his Antiquities, iii. 7, and in his Wars, v. v. 7. Further illustration on the same subject is given in his Epistle to Fabiola, ii. 574, written at Bethlehem by St Jerome, 396 A.D. An &quot; order &quot; or &quot; change of garments,&quot; for a man always in the East highly esteemed as both an honourable and a valuable present among the Israelites consisted of a cenoneth and a miel, with perhaps a sadin, and certainly one or more of the occasional outer robes, mantles, or cloaks. In presents of this kind, the number of the &quot; changes of garments,&quot; which from their loose and flowing character would not fail to adapt themselves to general use, was studiously adjusted to the degree of estimation in which the recipient was held, and not without an indirect and yet significant reference to the dignity of the giver. The expression &quot; naked,&quot; when applied to an Israelite, denoted, not a condition of actual nudity, but the fact of being attired only in a single under garment, and con sequently implied the being in readiness for active exercise or violent exertion, The strongly marked and comprehensive distinction between the East and the West receives a characteristic illustration in the Oriental usage of uncovering the feet and covering the head, in token of respect and even of adoration. The &quot; rending the garments,&quot; generally the outer garment only, an act so strange to us in the West, to the Israelites, in common with other Orientals, was peculiarly significant of grief, indignation, humiliation, and despair. Among the figures painted in the very ancient tomb at Beni Hassan, in Egypt, occurs a group of figures from which the annexed woodcut has been drawn (fig. 11), con jectured to represent the arrival of Joseph s brethren when they went to pur chase corn in the land of the Pha raohs. Again, con siderably later, but as early as the days of the Pha raoh - Necho by whom Josiah was defeated and slain * at Megiddo, among Fio. 11. From Beni Hassan. FIG. 12. From tombs near Thebes. some figures sculptured in one of the tombs discovered by Belzonij near Thebes, which represent captives of different nations brought before their Egyptian conqueror, four Jews are supposed to have been introduced after the manner shown in fig. 12. The fringe commanded by Moses, Num. xv. 38, to be worn by his people, and which probably was a relic of a still more ancient usage in the family of Jacob, may be considered to have been shown in both these groups. In the almost total absence of other not less improbable ancient examples, these figures may be accepted as contemporary representations of persons whose attire, such as it is shown to have been, at any rate may be considered to represent corresponding articles of dress in use in ancient Israel. Captive Jews, once more, are undoubtedly re presented in the fine series of Assy rian bas-reliefs com memorating the capture of Lachish by Sennacherib, dis covered and de scribed by Mr- Layard (Nineveh and Babylon, p. 152; and 2d series of Monuments of( Nineveh, plates xx. toxxiv.) The phy siognomy of these Jewish captives is Strikinglyindicated FlG &quot; ^.-Indoor Coshtme of modern Syrian in the sculptures in question, but of their national costume but very little is shown ; for &quot; they had been stripped of their orna ments and their fine raiment, and were left barefooted and half-clothed. From the women, too, had been removed the splendor of the foot ornaments, and the caps of net work, and the crescents ; the ear pendents, and the bracelets, and the thin veils; the head-dresses, and the ornaments of the legs, and the girdles, and the perfume boxes, and the amulets ; the rings and the jewels of the nose ; the embroidered robes, and the tunics, and the cloaks, and the satchels ; the transparent garments, and the fine linen vests, and the turbans, and the mantles ; for they wore, instead of a girdle, a rope ; and, instead of a stomacher, a girding of sackcloth. &quot; (See Isa. iii. 18, &c. ; and Kzek. xvi. 10, &c.) Upon the exceedingly interesting description of the dress worn in ancient times by the women of Israel, as given by the two great prophets, Mr Layard remarks that