Ancient Near Eastern Art: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v ...

Clothing in the Near East was commonly
made of goat's hair and sheep's wool. A
form of dress frequently represented in
Sumerian and Akkadian art is the calflength
skirt covered with tufts of wool
(see figs. 21, 70). Wrapped around the
lower body and occasionally draped over
one shoulder, this distinctive garment
was worn throughouthe third millennium
B.C. in Mesopotamia. In time, longer garments
(see figs. 2, 69) made of a single
piece of wool or linen fabric replaced the
earlier skirt. The robes had fringed borders
or several horizontal bands of fringes
(see figs. 20, 27). Sleeved garments and
shawls (see fig. 3, inside covers) of the
Neo-Assyrian period (883-612 B.C.) retained
this fringed border and were also
enriched with woven and embroidered
designs and metal appliques.
On a relief from the Achaemenid palace
at Persepolis (fig. 68), one figure is
in Persian dress and wears a long fullsleeved
tunic of a light textile. A second
figure is in Median dress, a knee-length
tunic and close-fitting trousers of thick
wool or leather-clothing appropriate for
a horseman. The folds of a similar tunic
and trousers worn by the Sasanian king
(see fig. 63) indicate that in this case the
fabric is thin, perhaps silk. Impractical as
this material was for hunting wear, it was
represented to symbolize the luxuriousness
of royal dress.
Through the millennia, in the art of the
Near East, a cap decorated with bull's
horns (see figs. 20, 27) signified that the
wearer was a god. Only rarely did human
rulers claim divinity and adopt this
headgear. A headdress worn by southern
Mesopotamian rulers in the late third
and early second millennia B.C. is a wool
cap (see figs. 2, 69). Later in the second
millennium B.C. and early in the first millennium
B.C. a high, fezlike cap (see fig. 3)
was worn in Mesopotamia by nobles and
kings. Under the Achaemenid Persians a
new crown with stepped crenellations
made its appearance. This
form, enriched by many
elements such as crescent
moons, sun rays, wings,
and globes, became the
royal crown of Sasanian
70 ^^^^9
kings (see fig. 5). P.O.H.
69
51