Mary G. Houston - Ancient Egyptian, Mesopotamian & Persian Costume

Cambridge Ancient History , 1923 and following.

Encyclopaedia Brittanica , 14th Ed.

THE very simple costumes of the Old Kingdom consisted of a kilt of varying lengths for men, and for women a tight-fitting tunic reaching from breast to ankles and kept in place by braces passing over each shoulder. Both sexes are occasionally seen wearing a cloak of thick material.

Among the most ancient representations of Egyptian costume which are known to us is that of the figure of the pre-dynastic King Narmer (3407 B.C.). In he is seen wearing the tall white crown of Upper Egypt (the Het ), also a plain corselet held in place by one brace, and a short plain kilt with a belt from which ornamental pendants hang down in front. Each pendant has at the top a representation of the goddess Hathors head, and this is shewn at the side of the figure to a larger scale. At the back of the belt is fastened the ceremonial animals tail which persists as a part of the kings of Egypt until the end of their history. On the chin of Narmer we see the ceremonial artificial beard of a king, which is fastened by straps to his crown. The figure of this king is taken from that very ancient fragment decorated with figures in relief and called The Palette of Narmer, a memorial tablet shewing the king in battle. The beards of gods, kings and noblemen were each different in shape, each symbolic of their wearers. This symbolism, so intricate in its character and so predominantly a feature of the dress of the Egyptian gods, is often transferred to the royal costumes ; hence we see a king in the dress of a god, and frequently both gods and goddesses are represented as wearing the crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt ( see Plate I).

In the present volume the costumes are considered mainly as being examples of period and silhouette, and also from the constructive or technical viewpoint; but in the bibliography appended on pp. 188 there are given the names of books dcaling specially with Ancient Egyptian symbolism, and perhaps one of the most informative in connection with this aspect of costume is The Gods of the Egyptians, by Sir E. A. Wallis Budge (1904), which has numerous plates in colour of the gods in their symbolic costumes. In Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians by Sir J. Gardner Wilkinson (ed. 1878) there is also special information on symbolic costume.

.The Princess Sedet and Prince Nereb are shewn to be wearing the typical dress of persons of distinction at the period of the Old Kingdom, 4th Dynasty (2789 B.C.2715 B.C.). The figures are after Lepsius, who describes them as being from the Pyramid of Giseh. The tunic of the woman is red, her collar blue and white, her wig black and skin beige colour. The kilt of the man is white with the pleated part in gold, his wig is black and his skin is coloured reddish-brown. The early appearance of the characteristic ornamental-beaded collar in both figures is noteworthy, also the fact that wigs are worn even at this early period. The heads of the men were shaven or cut very close, probably for the sake of cleanliness and save in the case of persons of the lower social classes and the priesthood, wigs were worn. Among women, however, the custom of shaving the head was not universal. The hair was either allowed to grow or cut short, rather than shaved, though covered with a wig. At one period, indeed, during the 18th Dynasty, a fashion of shaving the heads of ladies does appear to have been the vogue for a short time. The well-known bust of Queen Nerfertiti and several other portraits shew shaven heads without wigs. The wigs of ladies of high rank were more elaborate and bulky than those of men, but with women mourners at funerals the natural hair, worn hanging simply down the back, was the rule.