Dress and Personal Adornment

DRESS

Ideas of what constitutes dress or costume are as old and as varied as

civilized humankind, The original impulse to don some sort of clothing can be
explained in three ways: as the desire for protection of the body, o satisfy a
developing sense of modesty, or as a need to display various kinds of social
distinctions. So the special types of costume and dress can provide the visual
clues that differentiate social class and rank. The special costumes that are
appropriate to different social positions and levels of authority utilize
distinctive patterns and kinds of clothing for the male and female, and still
other variations suitable for the young and old. Much of our information about
dress and costume comes from the representations in sculpture and wall
decoration,

Aspects of protection
that might have determined the type of garments chosen include the
need to combat the effects of climate, of heat and cold. The need
for protection also includes the safeguarding of sensitive parts of the
body, particularly the genital area. By contrast to the considerations
of protection, a sense of modesty is a learned habit that demands
concealment of various body parts, depending on the requirements
or the traditions of the particular culture. In addition to the elements
of protection and modesty,
Costume among the ancient Egyptians fulfilled these
various requirements of protection, modesty, and social distinction
in a variety of ways that can he studied in the sources preserved
for us.
Much of our information about dress and costume comes from the

representations in sculpture and wall decoration, hut any attempt to

Understand Egyptian dress from these illustrations must take into
Consideration the conventions observed in Egyptian art. Egyptian
;artists worked within a tradition that was in essence conservative,

Dress and Personal Adornment

meaning that they tended to look to accepted forms from the past.
They had an ingrained tendency to repeat earlier and respected
standards of representation. The primary religious intention of the
depictions in a tomb demanded that the participants he shown in
formal attire and in a reserved pose, and it is not at all certain that
they dressed that way normally when carrying out ordinary a firs.
There was no attempt to show the differences of dress for ditThrent
seasons, effects of climate, or even different times of day. There is,
however, strict attention paid to the representation of differences in
class and rank.
In the symbolic language of Egyptian art things were lot rep
resented as they were seen but as they were best described and as
they were meant to be understood (br eternity, k has even been
suggested that the depictions of attire we take to he typical of a
historical period might more properly he read and recognized as
representing the individual in a particular way for religious reasons.
Taking these explanations into consideration, the lasting Images of
the ancient Egyptians are not to be seen as snapshots filled with
easily decipherable information but are something closer to posed
studio portraits in elaborate formal dress attired for a specific pur

pose. One of the best modern comparisons that can be made is with
typical formal wedding photographs. where the bride and groom
are shown in a specially chosen gown and a tuxedo, costumes that
they would seldom wear in ordinary activities.
From what can he deduced based on evidence described iii the
following paragraphs, the daily costume of the ancient Egyptians
seems to have been simple n the extreme (Fig. 17). The principal
fabric employed throughout history was linen, processed from the
flax plant. It is thought that flax was not originally native to Egypt
hut imported at an early date from the area of Syria. However, gar
ments of linen are known from as early as the Predynastic Period.
Flax was an important commodity in Egyptian culture not only fbr
its tise in clothing material: flax was also used as thread, rope, and
woven matting. Wool was also used in the production of garments,
more often than popularly believed, but cotton was unknown until
about the first century CE. Animal hide, leather, and fur were also
employed for some kinds of clothing, but there is less evidence for
these materials, probably because they were more susceptible to
damage fr0111 insects or humidity and fewer examples have been
preserved. The belief that Egyptian clothing was always colorless,
white, or offwhite lias been often overstated. In the past it as
often thought that almost all Egyptian clothing svas the color of the
The Material World of Ancient Egypt
FIGURE 17 Typical Old Kingdom costume of the elite. Dynasties Five and Six
The male wears a short pleated kilt with a wig and beaded collar. The female
wears
a close-fitting sheath dress and a wig and beaded collar as well,

Drawing by Duane Stapp

natural linen, demanding turther embellishment with colored acces
sories. especially colored jewelry. From a range of preserved finds
it is clear that there were some colored fabrics or cloth with special
dyed parts, such as borders and fringes.
Spinning and weaving are well documented in tomb decora
(ion and are also documented in great detail in niodels made for the
on b. In che Middle Kingdom it had become a custom to represent
sottie of the activities ireviously shown on tomb walls by substitut
ing elaborare models. These small tableaus of various crafts, made
of wood and painted plaster. are often remarkably detailed, so much
so that they furnish information that would otherwise be lost. in
Dress and Personal Adornment
the model of a weavers shop from the tomb of a nobleman named
Meketre, ligures are presented carrying out the basic stages of mak
ing cloth: preparing the fibers, spinning thread, and finally weaving.
This model includes an example of a horizontal loom, a possible
answer to the question of whether Egyptian looms were horizontal
or vertical.
Woven materials were produced in temple workshops, hut there
was also a household industry that was mainly carried out by women.
Linen cloth was very important in Egyptian society and had multiple
uses. In addition to clothing, linen was employed as a commodity
chat could be used in barter/trading and even to pay wages. A letter
of a priest named I lekanakhc illustrates the usefulness of cloth as an
article of trade. He wrote:

After it [a quantity of cloth] has been evaluated in the village of

Nebseyet. they should take it and relit riiilaiid fur what it is worth.
(Wente. Lecrsfrrri .lncie,,t Eypi. p. 68, l)vnastv Eleven)
The possession of quantities of linen cloth seems to have been an
indication of rank, status, arid wealth, to judge ironi the amounts
found in some tombs. Stores of linen were often included in the
tomb goods, and the amounts of cloth were listed in great quantities
in the prayers for the spirit. Cloths, as a valued commodity, were
routinely repaired and recycled. This is well illustrated in a letter
from a man to his son:
And you shall he attentive to take this rag ola kilt and this rag ola loin
cloth in order to rework the kilt into a red sash and the loincloth into an
apron. (Vencc, Lrthrs fniii 4?ukrf1 Liypt, p. 218, I)ynasty Nineteen)
Clothing is mentioned in other letters .ic being recycled when it was
beyond repair to be used as lamp wicks and as bandages for the liv
ing An important evidence for this extended use of thrics was the
employment of worn and repaired material as mummy wrapping.
Often the wrapping and padding material found on mummies shows
signs of darning and patching, indicating that it had a long, useful
life before being used as a par t of the preparation of the dead. The
niummv bandages are often clearly ripped from larger pieces and
sometimes include the fringe or the selvage edges of the original. In
sonic cases nnimniy wrappings have obvious signs of wear indicat
ing reuse as well as what appear to be ownership marks or laundry
marks. further attesting to the practice of recycling.
The technology of weaving developed rapidly from Predynast ic

times co satisfy the demands of a growing population. I lowever,

EMPIRE OF ANCIENT EGYPT

place and growing fast. The government employed legions of scribes, tax
collectors, accountants, engineers, and architects. Specialists oversaw
trade, irrigation, and drainage, and the distribution and storage of food.
Scribes, whose job was to write down all important records, quick
ly converted from cumbersome hieroglyphics, based on pictures, to speed
ier hieratic script (a kind of hieroglyphic shorthand). They wrote on
sheets or rolls of papyrus, made from the fiber of the papyrus plant, which
was already in wide use by Narmers time. Accountants and engineers had
all the basic mathematical and surveying skills they needed to determine
property boundaries and calculate crop yields. The 365-day calendar
was in place. A system of weights and measures simplified trade and tax
collection.
Artists and craftsmen started using standardized proportion grids for
depicting objects and people. Before beginning to paint or carve, the artist
drew a grid of horizontal and vertical lines of predetermined size and
spacing on his work surface (a tomb wall, for example). Depending upon
the rank and social position of the person being depicted, he or she was
made a specific size in relation to the other figures in the composition.
Also, each figure had to be structured in a specific waya person was a cer
tain number of heads tall, the legs were a certain length in relation to
the torso, and so on. These very specific relationships were established
early on and artisans seldom deviated from them. These conventions and

proportions had deep religious, magical, cultural, and social significance.

(There is more information about artistic conventions in chapter 6.)
The arts of pottery and stonework were highly advanced. There is
evidence of roof beams, joists, and large doors made of cedar wood, in
dicating ongoing trade with Lebanon, which is on the Mediterranean
coast more than 200 miles northeast of Egypt. Articles of ebony and ivory
show that trade with Nubia, in north-central Africa south of Egypt, was
well-established. Trade goods that came through the southerly routes
from Nubia originated in Nubia itself, and from the peoples of the Sudan
and of equatorial and sub-Saharan Africa. Lapis lazuli ornaments show
that Egyptian traders were also benefitting from a long-distance trade
network that brought in gemstones and other luxury goods from as far
as central Asia. The stage was set for a spectacular flowering of culture.
Early Third Dynasty kings faced serious internal political problems
and could not yet afford to concentrate on tomb-building. They granted
large estates, herds, and rich gifts to trusted nobles who promised to keep
the provinces quiet. These nobles enjoyed enornious local power and pres
22

Egyptian Archaeology
: Willeke Wendrich

Images of Class in Archaeology

In general, for a study on social classes, archaeology seems more
helpful than the written sources, as houses. Burials, and objects from
many social levels have been found, presenhng the researcher with a much
wider range of source material than only texts. The most important
archaeological resource for receiving information on social
stratification in Egypt is the excavated, well-recorded, and publkshed
cemeteries. Multrvarlate analyses of tomb size, tomb structure, and the
number of vessels found in single burials are common methods not only
for Egyptian cemeteries (a general overview for Egypt: Richards 2005:69
74). More Qualitative approaches take into account the value of objects
placed in the tombs, calculated from the value of the material or the
time spent on producing objects such as pottery (Hendrickx 1994:217224:
Meskell 1999; Richards 2005)
In relation to this approach, t Is important lo note that a statistical
Analysis requires a certain number of tombs, wtiich should represent,
ideally, a well -balanced average population. These factors never really
apply In most cemeterles a part of the population seems to be missing,
most often the youngest children, or th sex balance does not conform to
our expectations (cf me discussion in Richards 2005:5758). However,
there are many cemeteries of the time of Egyptian state fomiation,
providing at least a rough database, although we
should note themethodological problems related to each cemetery The
cemeteries of the Firstlntermediate Period, for instance the burials in
the region of
QauiMatmar(Seidlmayer 1987) and at Sedment (Seidlmayer 1990:247341),
provide anotherrich data set. For other periods, this enterprise seems
more
problematic at themoment. Many cemeteries of the classical Old Kingdom,
with
the exception ofthose of the capital (Gizeh, Saqqara), have not been
located, or
have received littleattention from excavators. Presumably,
archaeologists whose
endeavors werefinanced by museums were under pressure to produce
interesting
finds, whilethe burial equipment of lower-class bunals was very limited
in
comparison toboth earlier and later periods. There are many cemeteries
of the

MiddleKingdom known and excavated, but the standard of publication

varies, and
onlya few investigations use the results for gaining information on
social
history(Richards 2005).
There are also astonishingly few well-excavated burial grounds of the
NewKingdom perlod The social stratum which we can surmise to have
existed
underthe high state officials is in archaeological ternis still
inadequately
researdiedExcavations targeting New Kingdom sites have been mainly
focused