Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 1.djvu/390

 j6o A History of Art in Sardinia and Jud/EA. India and Central Africa. We have instances of the diffusion of ivory as a means of enrichment, in the strictures of the Prophet Amos two centuries later, when he inveighs against the rich because of their effeminacy, their ivory couches, and ivory halls (vi. 4), i.e. encrusted with pieces of ivory. Ivory wardrobes are specified in the 45th Psalm, but of what form or size we cannot determine. Penally we read that Ahab "had built him an ivory house in Samaria" (1 Kings xxii. 39). Musical instru- ments, whether for religious or festive purposes, were doubtless richly ornamented with ivory. Elaborate sculpture, bronze vessels and utensils, coverlets of dyed wools, tapestries, and countless other instances of tinted and showy furniture, employed sometimes upon the decoration of domestic apartments, were especially reserved for temples and other public buildings or objects of some public use. For if we except the monarch and his immediate surroundings, who aped Asiatic manners and Asiatic dress, the bulk of the people had retained much of their primitive simplicity. 1 Thus the Shunammite woman was a person of wealth, yet when she wished to show hospitality to the prophet Elias, she had to build " a little chamber on the wall," and the only objects she set therein were a bed, a table, a stool and a candlestick (2 Kings iv. 10). The materials for dress were the flax or hemp of native growth and the fleeces of sheep, which the women prepared, spun and wove in primi- tive hand looms, even as they do at the present day in rural districts ; and garments of a delicate and costly description did not obtain until the latter part of the monarchy. The woollen cloak, probably dyed brown or black, as the modern 'abba, was a great protection against the scorching rays of the sun, of cold and rain. A tunic {kuttonetJi), covered the body down to the ankles, with long sleeves reaching to the knees, drawn in at the waist by a broad leather belt. 2 The cloak [simla), like the Greek I^cltiov, the Roman toga, was reserved for outdoor wear, travelling, or on public 1 The "purple garments" specified in Judg. viii. 26 as worn by the Midianite kings, seem to be antedated ; interpolated without rhyme or reason among the spoils made by Gideon (Stade, Geschic/ite, p. 372). 2 When the Greeks and Graeco-Italians left off sheeps' skins and adopted the woven tissues of the Semites, they likewise borrowed the names by which they were known among Asiatics ; thus kuttôneth came to be known as xitojv, tunica, respectively. Jeremiah mentions "a linen belt" folded round the wai<:t (xiii. 1).