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Dress
of common men
The dress
of the Phoenician men, especially of those belonging to the lower orders,
consisted, for the most part, of a single close-fitting tunic, which
reached from the waist to a little above the knee.1 The material was
probably either linen or cotton, and the simple garment was perfectly
plain and unornamented, like the common shenti of the Egyptians. On
the head was generally worn a cap of one kind or another, sometimes
round, more often conical, occasionally shaped like a helmet. The conical
head-dresses seem to have often ended in a sort of top-knot or button,
which recalls the head-dress of a Chinese Mandarin.
 Dress of men of the upper
classes
Where the
men were of higher rank, the shenti was ornamented. It was patterned,
and parted towards the two sides, while a richly adorned lappet, terminating
in uræi, fell down in front.2 The girdle, from which it depended,
was also patterned, and the shenti thus arranged was sometimes a not
inelegant garment. In addition to the shenti, it was common among the
upper classes to wear over the bust and shoulders a close-fitting tunic
with short sleeves,3 like a modern "jersey;" and sometimes
two garments were worn, an inner robe descending to the feet, and an outer
blouse or shirt, with sleeves reaching to the elbow.4 Occasionally,
instead of this outer blouse, the man of rank has a mantle thrown over
the left shoulder, which falls about him in folds that are sufficiently
graceful.5 The conical cap with a top- knot is, with persons of this
class, the almost universal head-dress.
Treatment
of the hair and beard
Great attention
seems to have been paid to the hair and beard. Where no cap is worn, the
hair clings closely to the head in a wavy compact mass, escaping however
from below the wreath or diadem, which supplies the place of a cap, in
one or two rows of crisp, rounded curls.6 The beard has mostly a strong
resemblance to that affected by the Assyrians, and familiar to us from
their sculptures. It is arranged in three, four, or five rows of small
tight curls,7 and extends from ear to ear around the cheeks and chin.
Sometimes, however, in lieu of the many rows, we find one row only, the
beard falling in tresses, which are curled at the extremity.8 There
is no indication of the Phoenicians having cultivated mustachios.
Male
ornaments
For ornaments
the male Phoenicians wore collars, which were sometimes very elaborate,
armlets, bracelets, and probably finger-rings. The collars resembled
those of the Egyptians, being arranged in three rows, and falling far
over the breast.9 The armlets seem to have been plain, consisting
of a mere twist of metal, once, twice, or thrice around the limb.10 The royal armlets of Etyander, king of Paphos, are single twists of
gold, the ends of which only just overlap: they are plain, except for
the inscription, which reads /Eteadoro to Papo basileos/, or "The
property of Etyander, king of Paphos."11 Men's bracelets were
similar in character. The finger- rings were either of gold or silver,
and generally set with a stone, which bore a device, and which the wearer
used as a seal.12
Supposed
priestly costume
The most
elaborate male costume which has come down to us is that of a figure
found at Golgi, and believed to represent a high priest of Ashtoreth.
The conical head-dress is divided into partitions by narrow stripes,
which, beginning at its lower edge, converge to a point at top. This
point is crowned by the representation of a calf's or bull's head. The
main garment is a long robe reaching from the neck to the feet, "worn
in much the same manner as the peplos on early Greek female figures."
Round the neck of the robe are two rows of stars painted in red, probably
meant to represent embroidery. A little below the knee is another band
of embroidery, from which the robe falls in folds or pleats, which gather
closely around the legs. Above the long robe is worn a mantle, which
covers the right arm and shoulder, and thence hangs down below the right
knee, passing also in many folds from the shoulder across the breast,
and thence, after a twist around the left arm, falling down below the
left knee. The treatment of the hair is remarkable. Below the rim of
the cap is the usual row of crisp curls; but besides these, there depend
from behind the ears on either side of the neck three long tresses.
The feet of the figure are naked. The right hand holds a cup by its
foot between the middle and fore- fingers, while the left holds a dove
with wings outspread.13
Ordinary
dress of women
Women were,
for the most part, draped very carefully from head to foot. The nude
figures which are found abundantly in the Phoenician remains14 are
figures of goddesses, especially of Astarte, who were considered not
to need the ornament, or the concealment of dress. Human female figures
are in almost every case covered from the neck to the feet, generally
in garments with many folds, which, however, are arranged very variously.
Sometimes a single robe of the amplest dimensions seems to envelop the
whole form, which it completely conceals with heavy folds of drapery.15
The long petticoat is sleeved, and gathered into a sinus below the breasts,
about which it hangs loosely. Sometimes, on the contrary, the petticoat
is perfectly plain, and has no folds.16 Occasionally a second garment
is worn over the gown or robe, which covers the left shoulder and the
lap, descending to the knees, or somewhat lower.17 The waist is generally
confined by a girdle, which is knotted in front.18 There are a few
instances in which the feet are enclosed in sandals.19
 Arrangement of their hair
The hair
of women is sometimes concealed under a cap, but generally it escapes
from such confinement, and shows itself below the cap in great rolls,
or in wavy masses, which flow off right and left from a parting over the
middle of the forehead.20 Tresses are worn occasionally: these depend
behind either ear in long loose curls, which fall upon the shoulders.21
Female heads are mostly covered with a loose hood, or cap; but sometimes
the hair is merely encircled by a band or bands, above and below which
it ripples freely.22
Female
ornaments
Phoenician
women were greatly devoted to the use of personal ornaments. It was probably
from them that the Hebrew women of Isaiah's time derived the "tinkling
ornaments of the feet, the cauls, the round tires like the moon, the chains,
the bracelets, and the mufflers, the bonnets and the ornaments of the
legs, and the head-bands, and the tablets, and the ear-rings, the rings
and nose-jewels, the changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and
the wimples, and the crisping pins, the glasses, and the fine linen, and
the hoods, and the vails,"23 which the prophet denounces so fiercely.
The excavations made on Phoenician sites have yielded in abundance necklaces,
armlets, bracelets, pendants to be worn as lockets, ear-rings, finger-rings,
ornaments for the hair, buckles or brooches, seals, buttons, and various
articles of the toilet such as women delight in.
Necklaces
Women wore,
it appears, three or four necklaces at the same time, one above the
other.24 A string of small beads or pearls would closely encircle
the neck just under the chin. Below, where the chest begins, would lie
a second string of larger beads, perhaps of gold, perhaps only of glass,
while further down, as the chest expands, would be rows of still larger
ornaments, pendants in glass, or crystal, or gold, or agate modelled
into the shape of acorns, or pomegranates, or lotus flowers, or cones,
or vases, and lying side by side to the number of fifty or sixty. Several
of the necklaces worn by the Cypriote ladies have come down to us. One
is composed of a row of one hundred and three gold beads, alternately
round and oval, to the oval ones of which are attached pendants,  also in gold, representing alternately
the blossom and bud of the lotus plant, except in one instance. The
central bead of all has as its pendant a human head and bust, modelled
in the Egyptian style, with the hair falling in lappets on either side
of the face, and with a broad collar upon the shoulders and the breast.25
Another consists of sixty-four gold beads, twenty-two of which are of
superior size to the rest, and of eighteen pendants, shaped like the
bud of a flower, and delicately chased.26 There are others where gold
beads are intermixed with small carnelian and onyx bugles, while the
pendants are of gold, like the beads; or where gold and rock-crystal
beads alternate, and a single crystal vase hangs as pendant in the middle;
or where alternate carnelian and gold beads have as pendant a carnelian
cone, a symbol of Astarte.27 Occasionally the sole material used is
glass. Necklaces have been found composed entirely of long oval beads
of blue or greenish-blue glass; others where the colour of the beads
is a dark olive;28 others again, where all the component parts are
of glass, but the colours and forms are greatly varied. In a glass necklace
found at Tharros in Sardinia, besides beads of various sizes and hues,
there are two long rough cylinders, four heads of animals, and a human
head as central ornament. "Taken separately, the various elements
of which this necklace is composed have little value; neither the heads
of the animals, nor the bearded human face, perhaps representing Bacchus,
are in good style; the cylinders and rounded beads which fill up the
intermediate spaces between the principal objects are of very poor execution;
but the mixture of whites, and greys, and yellows, and greens, and blues
produces a whole which is harmonious and gay."29
Perhaps
the most elegant and tasteful necklace of all that have been discovered
is the one made of a thick solid gold cord, very soft and elastic, which
is figured on the page opposite.30 At either extremity is a cylinder
of very fine granulated work, terminating in one case in a lion's head
of good execution, in the other surmounted by a simple cap. The lion's
mouth holds a ring, while the cap supports a long hook, which seems
to issue from a somewhat complicated knot, entangled wherein is a single
light rosette. "In this arrangement, in the curves of the thin
wire, which folds back upon itself again and again, there is an air
of ease, an apparent negligence, which is the very perfection of technical
skill."31
Bracelets
The bracelets
worn by the Phoenician ladies were of many kinds, and frequently of
great beauty. Some were bands of plain solid gold, without ornament
of any kind, very heavy, weighing from 200 to 300 grammes each.32
Others were open, and terminated at either extremity in the head of
an animal. One, found by General Di Cesnola at Curium in Cyprus,33
exhibited at the two ends heads of lions, which seemed to threaten each
other. The execution of the heads left nothing to be desired. Some others,
found in Phoenicia Proper, in a state of extraordinary preservation,
were of similar design, but, in the place of lions' heads, exhibited
the heads of bull, with very short horns.34 A third type aimed at
greater variety, and showed the head of a wild goat at one end, and
that of a ram at the other.35 In a few instances, the animal representation
appears at one extremity of the bracelet only, as in a specimen from
Camirus, whereof the workmanship is unmistakably Phoenician, which has
a lion's head at one end, and at the other tapers off, like the tail
of a serpent.36
A pair
of bracelets in the British Museum, said to have come from Tharros,
consist of plain thin circlets of gold, with a ball of gold in the middle.
The ball is ornamented with spirals and projecting knobs, which must
have been uncomfortable to the wearer, but are said not to be wanting
in elegance.37
 There are other Phoenician bracelets of an entirely
different character. These consist of broad flat bands, which fitted closely
to the wrist, and were fastened round it by means of a clasp. Two, now
in the Museum of New York, are bands of gold about an inch in width, ornamented
externally with rosettes, flowers, and other designs in high relief, on
which are visible in places the remains of a blue enamel.38 Another
is composed of fifty-four large-ribbed gold beads, soldered together by
threes, and having for centre a gold medallion, with a large onyx set
in it, and with four gold pendants.39 A third bracelet of the kind,
said to have been found at Tharros, consists of six plates, united by
hinges, and very delicately engraved with patterns of a thoroughly Phoenician
character, representing palms, volutes, and flowers.40
But it is
in their earrings that the Phoenician ladies were most curious and most
fanciful. They present to us, as MM. Perrot and Chipiez note, "an
astonishing variety."41 Some, which must have been very expensive,
are composed of many distinct parts, connected with each other by chains
of an elegant pattern. One of the most beautiful specimens was found by
General Di Cesnola in Cyprus.42 There is a hook at top, by which it
was suspended. Then follows a medallion, where the workmanship is of singular
delicacy. A rosette occupies the centre; around it are a set of spirals,
negligently arranged, and enclosed within a chain-like band, outside of
which is a double beading. From the medallion depend by finely wrought
chains five objects. The central chain supports a human head, to which
is attached a conical vase, covered at top: on either side are two short
chains, terminating in rings, from which hang small nondescript pendants:
beyond are two longer chains, with small vases or bottles attached. Another,
found in Sardinia, is scarcely less complicated. The ring which pierced
the ear forms the handle of a kind of basket, which is covered with lines
of bead-work: below, attached by means of two rings, is the model of a
hawk with wings folded; below the hawk, again attached by a couple of
rings, is a vase of elegant shape, decorated with small bosses, lozenges,
and chevrons.43 Other ear-rings have been found similar in type to this,
but simplified by the omission of the bird, or of the basket.44
Ear-rings
An entirely
different type is that furnished by an ear-ring in the Museum of New
York brought from Cyprus, where the loop of the ornament rises from
a sort of horse-shoe, patterned with bosses and spirals, and surrounded
by a rough edging of knobs, standing at a little distance one from another.45
Other forms found also in  Cyprus are the ear-ring with the
long pendant, which has been called "an elongated pear,"46 ornamented towards the lower end with small blossoms of flowers, and
terminating in a minute ball, which recalls the "drops" that
are still used by the jewellers of our day; the loop which supports
a /crux ansata/;47 that which has attached to it a small square box,
or measure containing a heap of grain, thought to represent wheat;48
and those which support fruit of various kinds.49 An ear-ring of much
delicacy consists of a twisted ring,curved into a hook at one extremity,
and at the other ending in the head of a goat, with a ring attached
to it, through which the hook passes.50 Another, rather curious than
elegant, consists of a double twist, ornamented with lozenges, and terminating
in triangular points finely granulated.51
Ornaments
more or less resembling this last type of ear-ring, but larger and coarser,
have given rise to some controversy, having been regarded by some as
ear-rings, by others as fastenings for the dress, and by a third set
of critics as ornaments for the hair. They consist of a double twist,
sometimes ornamented at one end only, sometimes at both. A lion's or
a griffin's head crowns usually the principal end; round the neck is
a double or triple collar, and below this a rosette, very carefully
elaborated. In one instance two griffins show themselves side by side,
exhibiting their heads, their chests, their wings, and their fore-paws
or hands; between them is an ornament like that which commonly surmounts
Phoenician /stelæ/; and below this a most beautiful rosette.52
The fashioning shows that the back of the ornament was not intended
to be seen, and favours the view that it was to be placed where a mass
of hair would afford the necessary concealment.
Ornaments
for the hair
The Phoenician
ladies seem also to have understood the use of hair- pins, which were
from two to three inches long, and had large heads, ribbed longitudinally,
and crowned with two smaller balls, one above the other.53 The material
used was either gold or silver.
Toilet
pins and buckles
To fasten
their dresses, the Phoenician ladies used fibulæ or buckles
of a simple character. Brooches set with stones have not at present
been found on Phoenician sites; but in certain cases the fibulæ
show a moderate amount of ornament. Some have glass beads strung on
the pin that is inserted into the catch; others have the rounded portion
surmounted by the figure of a horse or of a bird.54 Most fibulæ
are in bronze; but one, found in the treasury of Curium, and now in
the Museum of New York, was of gold.55 This, however, was most probably
a votive offering.
A
Phoenician lady's toilet table
It is impossible
at present to reproduce the toilet table of a Phoenician lady. We may
be tolerably sure, however, that certain indispensable articles would
not be lacking. Circular mirrors, either of polished metal, or of glass
backed by a plate of tin or silver, would undoubtedly have found their
place on them, together with various vessels for holding perfumes and
ointments. A vase in rock crystal, discovered at Curium, with a funnel
and cover in gold, the latter attached by a fine gold chain to one of
its handles,56 was doubtless a fine lady's favourite smelling bottle.
Various other vessels in silver, of a small size,57 as basins and
bowls beautifully chased, tiny jugs, alabasti, ladles, &c., had
also the appearance of belonging rather to the toilet table than to
the plate- basket. Some of the alabasti would contain kohl or stibium, some salves and ointments, others perhaps perfumed washes for the complexion.
Among the bronze objects found,58 some may have been merely ornaments,
others stands for rings, bracelets, and the like. One terra-cotta vase
from Dali seems made for holding pigments,59 and raises the suspicion
that Phoenician, or at any rate Cyprian, beauties were not above heightening
their charms by the application of paint.
Freedom
enjoyed by Phoenician women
Women in
Phoenicia seem to have enjoyed considerable freedom. They are represented
as banqueting in the company of men, sometimes sitting with them on
the same couch, sometimes reclining with them at the same table.60
Occasionally they delight their male companion by playing upon the lyre
or the double pipe,61 while in certain instances they are associated
in bands of three, who perform on the lyre, the double pipe, and the
tambourine.62 They take part in religious processions, and present
offerings to the deities.63 The positions occupied in history by Jezebel
and Elissar (Dido) fall in with these indications, and imply a greater
approach to equality between the sexes in Phoenicia than in Oriental
communities generally.
Active
habits of the men
The men
were, for Orientals, unusually hardy and active. In only one instance
is there any appearance of the use of the parasol by a Phoenician.64
Sandals are infrequently worn; neck, chest, arms, and legs are commonly
naked. The rough life of seamen hardened the greater number; others
hunted the wild ox and the wild boar65 in the marshy plains of the
coast tract, and in the umbrageous dells of Lebanon. Even the lion may
have been affronted in the great mountain, and if we are unable to describe
the method of its chase in Phoenicia, the reason is that the Phoenician
artists have, in their representations of lion hunts, adopted almost
exclusively Assyrian models.66 The Phoenician gift of facile imitation
was a questionable advantage, since it led the native artists continually
to substitute for sketches at first hand of scenes with which they were
familiar, conventional renderings of similar scenes as depicted by foreigners.
Curious
agate ornament
An ornament
found in Cyprus, the intention of which is uncertain, finds its proper
place in the present chapter, though we cannot attach it to any particular
class of objects. It consists of a massive knob of solid agate, with
a cylinder of the same both above and below, through which a rod, or
bar, must have been intended to pass. Some archæologists see in
it the top of a sceptre;67 others, the head of a mace;68 but there
is nothing really to prove its use. We might imagine it the adornment
of a throne or chair of state, or the end of a chariot pole, or a portion
of the stem of a candelabrum. Antiquity has furnished nothing similar
with which to compare it; and we only say of it, that, whatever was
its purpose, so large and so beautiful a mass of agate has scarcely
been met with elsewhere.69 The cutting is such as to show very exquisitely
the veining of the material.
Use
in furniture of bronze and ivory
Bronze
objects in almost infinite variety have been found on Phoenician sites,70 but only a few of them can have been personal ornaments. They comprise
lamps, bowls, vases, jugs, cups, armlets, anklets, daggers, dishes,
a horse's bit, heads and feet of animals, statuettes, mirrors, fibulæ,
buttons, &c. Furniture would seem to have been largely composed
of bronze, which sometimes formed its entire fabric, though generally
confined to the ornamentation. Ivory was likewise employed in considerable
quantities in the manufacture of furniture,71 to which it was applied
as an outer covering, or veneer, either plain, or more generally carved
with a pattern or with figures. The "ivory house" of Ahab72
was perhaps so called, not so much from the application of the precious
material to the doors and walls, as from its employment in the furniture.
There is every probability that it was the construction of Phoenician
artists.
-- Rawlinson, George. History of Phoenicia, 1889, Canon of Canterbury and Camden Professor of Ancient History at the University of Oxford
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