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Painted relief with scenes representing dancing, the slaughter of cattle,

preparations for a feast, etc.

[Assyrian Basement, No. 80.]

From the tomb of Ur-ari-en-Ptaḥ.
VIth dynasty,

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Painted sepulchral tablet of Kahu, a scribe of a storehouse of Amen. [Northern Egyptian Gallery, Bay 12, No. 514.]

XVIIIth dynasty.

unclean. The earliest masculine garment was the loin-cloth, the primitive form of which was preserved for ceremonial purposes until a late period. Above it a girdle, or belt, was usually added, and to this a tail, either that of some animal, or an imitation made of leather, was fastened. The tail is worn by many African peoples to this day. As time went on and fashion changed the loin-cloth developed into a sort of skirt, which varied in length, fulness, and folds, or a short kilt projecting in a peak just above the knees. Later both men and women wore a sort of shirt, and over this a loose flowing garment which reached from the neck to the feet. The linen worn by women of the upper classes was of very fine texture, and in the luxurious period of the XVIIIth and XIXth dynasties their apparel was often very voluminous. The dress of men and women under the VIth dynasty is well illustrated by the scenes from a mastaba tomb (see the Assyrian Saloon) reproduced on Plate IX, and under the XVIIIth dynasty by the figures on the stele of Kahu (Bay 12, No. 514) (Plate X). Both men and women wore wigs, which were sometimes very full and heavy, but women plaited their natural hair. Sandals were made of papyrus and palm-fibre, neatly woven or plaited, and sometimes of goat skin, or gazelle skin, well tanned and stained a pink colour. (See Table-case A in the Third Egyptian Room and Standard-case L in the Fourth Egyptian Room.) The "cone" was worn on the head by men and women, sometimes with a lotus flower or lily attached to it. According to some it contained a ball saturated with oil or pomade of some kind, which ran slowly into the hair, and so spread over the head and shoulders, causing pleasing sensations to him on whose head the ball was. The headdresses of the king and queen were very elaborate, whilst those of ordinary folk consisted of a bandlet, more or less decorated. Men of position always carried a staff or walking stick as a sign of authority, and those whom the king had honoured by the gift of a gold collar wore it on every important occasion. Both men and women wore rings, anklets, bracelets, armlets, necklaces, elaborately ornamented collars, pectorals, pendants, amulets, and earrings, just as they do in Egypt and the Sûdân at the present time. Egyptian women stained the nails of their fingers and toes a yellowish red with the juice of the henna plant; they painted their faces with a sort of rouge, and their eyelids and eyebrows with a preparation of antimony (stibium, or kohl), and they added under the eyes thick lines of paint to make them appear large and full. Both men and women sometimes decorated

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their bodies with tattoo markings, which originally probably had a religious, or tribal, import. The burning winds and heat made the use of unguents an absolute necessity, and oils and pomades were very largely used in all periods. Strong scented woods and herbs were pounded and mixed with oil, and rubbed into the body, and scents were in ancient days, as now, in great demand. Often women carried a fan and a mirror. A fine collection of mirrors is exhibited in Wall-cases Nos. 182-187 in the Fourth Egyptian Room.

Food. The food of the lower classes consisted chiefly of bread and vegetables. The bread was made of a kind of millet, like the modern dhurra, barley, and rarely of wheat. The grains were rolled and crushed on a stone and then both the flour and the bran were mixed with water into a stiff paste; from this pieces were broken off and flattened out by the hand into cakes of various degrees of thickness, which were baked on hot stones, or in mud-lined ovens. (See the examples in Table-case H in the Third Egyptian Room.) Bread-cakes were made in a variety of shapes, e.g.,, A. .

I, 8, §, ¦,, etc. Among vegetables may be mentioned onions, cucumbers of various kinds, beans, peas, lentils, radishes, pumpkins, water-melons, leeks, garlic, roots of the turnip and carrot class, and vegetables belonging to the class of the modern bâmia, bâdingan (egg-plant), melûkhiyah (spinach), etc. All these grew in great abundance, and, in growing, needed little attention, and formed very important items in the food of all classes. (Compare Numbers xi, 4, 5: "And the children of Israel also wept "again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? We "remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the “cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, "and the garlick.") Milk was drunk in large quantities by the living and was offered to the dead, and cheese was everywhere a common article of food. Among fruits may be mentioned figs, dates, mulberries, grapes, and probably pomegranates. From both figs and dates syrups and sweetmeats must have been made. Fish was largely eaten by the poorer classes, but from various passages in the texts we learn that the "eaters of fish" were unclean ceremonially. The animal food eaten consisted of the flesh of the sheep, goat, ox, gazelle, ariel, the antelope and other animals of that class, etc.; domestic animals intended for human food were often fattened artificially. Groups of swine are represented on the monuments occasionally, but the pig must have

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