5

Good Grooming

Do not pamper your body: this will make you weak. And do not pamper yourself in your youth, or you will become weak in old age.

Late Period scribal advice

The importance attached to good grooming throughout Egyptian society should never be underestimated. Both sexes paid great attention to outward display and wealthy men as well as women delighted in sporting the latest in fashions, hairstyles and makeup. Cosmetics quickly became not a luxury but a necessity for daily life and death so that, from Predynastic times onwards, ordinary men and women chose to be buried with the carved palettes and blocks of pigment used for adorning the eyes. At the opposite end of the social scale, the elaborate fitted toilette sets placed in royal tombs give us a clear indication of the value which their owners attached to their cosmetics. As might be expected, there was a corresponding well-developed commercial interest in beauty treatments, while businesses dealing in cloth, false hair and cosmetics thrived. Cleanliness was of equal, if not even greater, importance. Herodotus, himself a Greek, clearly felt that the Egyptians had become somewhat obsessive about their bodily hygiene, in his view ‘setting cleanliness above seemliness’. To the Egyptians, living in the heat and ever-present dust of an arid climate, personal cleanliness was essential both as a means of promoting good health and, almost more importantly, as a sure indication of breeding and rank. The poor, who lacked even the most basic of sanitary facilities, and foreigners, who were believed to be dirty, were despised.

As a preliminary step towards personal hygiene fastidious men and women scrupulously removed all body hair by a constant and ruthless shaving and plucking. Hairy legs and chests were not greatly admired in either sex, and a quick review of the depilatory equipment recovered from women’s tombs, including metal tweezers, knives and razors with tiny whetstones, indicates the extent to which some women were prepared to suffer to be beautiful. Less affluent members of the community had easy access to flint razors which could be flaked to form a very sharp cutting edge and, in the absence of soap, oil was cheaply available for use as a shaving lotion. The removal of body lice and other itchy nasties together with the hair was a welcome side-effect of body baldness.

… I was put in the house of a prince. In this house were luxuries including a bathroom and mirrors. In it were riches from the treasury; garments made of royal linen… The choice perfume of the king and of his favourite courtiers was in every room… Years were removed from my body. I was shaved and my hair was combed. In this way was my squalor returned to the foreign land, my dress to the Sandfarers. I was dressed in the finest of linen, I was anointed with perfumed oil and I slept on a real bed. I had returned the sand to those who dwell in it, and the tree oil to those who grease their bodies with it.

Middle Kingdom Story of Sinuhe

Frequent bathing of the hair-free body was considered essential. Soap was unknown but natron, ashes and soda made efficient if rather harsh non-lathering detergents, while linen towels were available for drying. A few privileged members of society were able to take full advantage of en-suite limestone bathrooms equipped with servant-powered showers; an attendant poured water over the head of the bather who stood in a special stone trough with a waterproof outlet. To preserve modesty the shower-servant stood behind a screen intended to obscure his or her view of the proceedings and this screen, like the bathroom itself, was stone-lined to prevent the inadvertent dissolution of the mud-brick house structure. For the vast majority of the population, however, bathrooms were unknown, and washing took place on the banks of the Nile or in the irrigation canals. Unfortunately the River Nile, which provided almost all the villages and towns with their daily drinking, cooking and washing water, also functioned as the main sewerage and waste disposal system of Egypt. The purity of the stagnant pools along the banks of the river must have been highly questionable, and evidence from mummies indicates that water-borne diseases such as bilharzia were rife.

If washing failed, and those embarrassing personal problems persisted, the Ebers Medical Papyrus could suggest various deodorants designed to restore self-confidence and facilitate a successful social life:

To expel stinking of the body of a man or woman: ostrich-egg, shell of tortoise and gallnut from tamarisk are roasted and the body is rubbed with the mixture.

Surviving lavatories are few and far between. The most universal model, modestly housed in a small cupboard-like room next to the bathroom, was a modern-looking carved wooden seat carefully balanced on two brick pillars and set over a deep bowl of sand which could be replaced as necessary. Extra sand was stored in a box beside the toilet and it was considered polite to cover the bowl after making use of the facilities. Presumably one of the more junior members of the household was given the unsavoury task of emptying the bowl whenever necessary. Stools with a wide hole cut into the seat have been recovered from several tombs and tentatively identified as ancient Portaloos, presumably again intended for use over a bowl of sand, and we may presume that chamber pots were frequently used. Universal access to an indoor toilet is, however, a relatively modern luxury, and one which has only become regarded as necessity in the west in the past fifty years. Most Dynastic Egyptians had no access to sanitary facilities of any description and would have regarded it as no hardship to make full use of the nearby fields and desert. Curiously, one of the strange and unprovable Egyptian ‘facts’ which fascinated Herodotus was the rumour that the women urinated standing up, while the men apparently sat or squatted for this purpose.

Menstruation was a subject of little interest to the men who wrote our surviving Egyptian texts. We therefore have no understanding of how women perceived this important aspect of their femininity and very little idea of how they approached the practical aspects of sanitary protection. However, laundry lists recovered from Deir el-Medina include ‘bands of the behind’: sanitary towels made from a folded piece of linen fabric which were used, sent to the laundry and then re-used. We do have certain indications that either menstruating women or the menstrual blood itself were regarded as ritually unclean; similar taboos are found in many primitive societies where the mechanics and function of menstruation are not fully understood. Blood is often perceived as both frightening and dangerous, and the fact that women regularly bled for days on end must have appeared unnatural and somewhat disturbing to the male members of society who could not bleed without an obvious wound. The term ‘purification’ or ‘cleansing’ was used to describe a menstrual period just as it was used to describe the lochia following childbirth, and the Middle Kingdom Satire of the Trades deplores the lot of the unfortunate washerman who has to handle women’s garments stained with menstrual blood. Even coming into contact with a man whose female relations were bleeding could be considered undesirable, and at Deir el-Medina a labourer had a valid excuse to absent himself from work if either his wife or one of his daughters was having a period.

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One of the customs most zealously observed by the Egyptians is this, that they rear every child that is born, and circumcise the males and excise the females as is also customary among the Jews, who are also Egyptians in origin.

Strabo

During the Old and Middle Kingdoms Egyptian boys were routinely circumcised at between six and twelve years of age. A male circumcision scene, shown in disconcertingly graphic detail in the tomb of the Royal Architect Ankhmahor at Sakkara, gives some indication of the importance attached to this ceremony.¹ The young boy is held tightly from behind while a Ka priest stands in front of him wielding a knife and ordering his assistant to ‘restrain him firmly and prevent him from fainting’. Herodotus remarks, rather disapprovingly, that this operation was performed for reasons of hygiene although the fact that it was conducted by a priest rather than a doctor suggests that it may have had more ritual than practical significance. The Egyptians themselves looked down on uncircumcised, and therefore uncivilized, foreigners. There is no direct evidence that circumcision or clitoridectomy was ever inflicted on girls and, even though societies rarely make reference to this intimate female rite of passage, the fact that no circumcised female mummy has been recovered tends to confirm its absence. Contrary to popular belief there is absolutely no proof that the drastic pharaonic excision, or Sudanese circumcision as it is known in modern Egypt, actually originated in pharaonic Egypt.² It should, however, be remembered that those mummified bodies which have been examined belonged to upper-class women; whether or not the lower classes ever circumcised their daughters is unclear. Strabo, quoted above, certainly believed that they did, although he does not elaborate on his statement so we do not know whether he is referring to the removal of part or all of the external genitalia or to a less damaging token cut made in the clitoris. Nor does he indicate whether he was reporting a rumour or known fact.

Recipe for a tongue that is ill: bran, milk and goose grease are used to rinse the mouth.

Ebers Medical Papyrus

Oral hygiene did not play an obvious part in the daily toilette, although the Roman historian Pliny informs us that the Egyptians cleaned their teeth with a special toothpaste made from plant roots. In the absence of specific tooth brushes this dentifrice was applied by means of a chewed twig or stiff reed. For that extra feeling of confidence, women were specifically recommended to sweeten their breath by chewing little balls of myrrh, frankincense, rush-nut and cinnamon; advice presumably prompted by the high level of garlic, onion and radish consumption.

The unfortunate Egyptians were prone to a great deal of tooth disease as the fine desert sand which still seems to find its way into every corner of the Egyptian home became inadvertently included in their daily food and had a harsh abrasive effect on the teeth. Large and painful abscesses were very common and most Egyptians suffered from toothache at some time in their lives. The long-lived King Ramesses II, for example, died with a mouthful of badly worn teeth with exposed pulp chambers; these had clearly caused him a great deal of discomfort during his final years. In contrast, dental caries was far less of a problem than it is in modern Egypt as there was a shortage of sugary products; both refined sugar and sugar cane were unknown. It was the upper classes, the consumers of large amounts of date- and honey-sweetened cake, who were most likely to suffer from tooth decay. Loose teeth, however, seem to have been common throughout the entire population, and indeed almost half the dental references included in the medical papyri attempt to remedy the problem of missing teeth. Although there is some evidence for the construction of ingenious dental bridges using thin gold or silver wire and spare human teeth – presumably collected from the embalming house – the Egyptian dentists did not attempt to make a full set of false teeth.

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Both men and women routinely completed their ablutions by massaging moisturizing oils into their skin. These reduced the ageing effect of the hot and dusty climate and the drying ‘soap’ whose main ingredient, natron, was the principal dehydrating agent used to desiccate dead bodies during mummification. The use of oils was believed to enhance skin condition and prevent wrinkles while partially concealing the after-effects of disfiguring diseases such as smallpox and leprosy; the Ebers Medical Papyrus certainly promoted their use with all the enthusiasm of a modern advertising campaign:

To remove facial wrinkles: frankincense gum, wax, fresh balanites oil and rush-nut should be finely ground and applied to the face every day. Make it and you will see!

While the lower classes had to be content with using simple castor or linseed oil, the upper echelons of society imported luxuriously scented unguents from the east; these had the added benefit of leaving the smooth body sensuously and expensively perfumed. As with many modern moisturizing creams, however, it would appear that the difference in actual effect would have been minimal, the difference in price and perceived value extreme, and it seems highly likely that the scent was added as much to mask potentially rancid smells as to delight the purchaser. No fashionable Egyptian man or woman would be caught dead without his or her preferred skin lotion, and Tutankhamen’s funerary equipment included a large jar of his favourite brand. Similar oil-based unguents were used by pregnant women wishing to prevent the formation of disfiguring stretch-marks across the stomach, and these oils were often stored in special jars shaped like a naked pregnant woman holding her swollen stomach. That these luxury cosmetics could be very costly indulgences is beyond doubt. Indeed, Diodorus Siculus believed that the taxes paid by the fishermen licensed to fish in Lake Moeris, a huge annual income, was allotted to the queens of Egypt to enable them to purchase their cosmetics, perfumes and other toiletry items.

Place myrrh upon your head, dress yourself in the finest of linens.

New Kingdom poem

A wide variety of perfumed conditioning oils was also available for rubbing into the scalp after shampooing, again with the aim of protecting the hair from the harsh climate. During the New Kingdom this practice was extended to include the fashion, rather bizarre to modern eyes, of wearing perfumed lumps or cosmetic cones of fat balanced precariously on the head during social occasions. These unusual party hats were made from tallow impregnated with myrrh, and were designed to melt slowly as the festivities progressed, releasing their perfume and allowing a thin and presumably refreshing trickle of wax to run down the hair and face. As the heat of the party made the fat melt away it was topped up by a servant. The cones appear to have been provided by the host for both his guests and the attendant servants, and tomb scenes indicate that no dinner party would have been complete without them. They are generally illustrated as white lumps with brown streaks running down the sides, while brown stains shown on the shoulders of white clothing may well represent the greasy drips. No actual examples of perfume cones have survived, and it is now difficult to determine how literally these party scenes should be interpreted.

My heart thought of my love of you when only half my hair was dressed. I came running to find you and neglected my appearance. Now, if you will wait while I plait my hair, I shall be ready for you in a moment.

New Kingdom love song

Many societies exert moral pressure to control the way in which both men and women are allowed to display their hair. Without any clear legal obligation both sexes are expected to observe the conventions of their time, which may for example decree that women must have long hair, that men must not have long hair, or that hair should not be revealed at all by either sex. Deviation from this norm may be seen as in some way threatening to society as a whole. If this view seems extreme it should be remembered that less than a hundred years ago in Europe ‘bobbed’ hair was regarded by many as a sign of extreme female depravity, while long hair in men is still regarded by some as a sinister modern development indicating that the wearer has chosen to opt out of conventional society. Within the conventions imposed by the community a woman’s chosen hairstyle indicates to others the group to which that woman either belongs or aspires to belong. The punk and the hippy provide extreme modern examples: a tightly permed blue rinse or cascade of artificially golden curls send out equally clear social signals. It is unfortunate that, as with so many aspects of Egyptian life, our knowledge of female coiffure is confined to the more wealthy members of society and their servants, portrayed under idealized conditions. The effect of changing fashions on the village woman is simply not known.

We do, however, have some clear examples of rank or occupation influencing female hairstyles. Even when short hair was in vogue the most attractive dancers and acrobats wore their hair long, occasionally plaiting weights into the ends so that it gave a good swing when dancing. Pre-pubescent upper-class boys and girls are frequently represented sporting the ‘sidelock of youth’: an almost entirely bald pate with a single long thick curl worn on the side of the head. Hair charms were suspended from the base of the sidelock and brought good luck and protection to their wearer. Unkempt long hair was generally restricted to men and women in mourning, while women in labour are occasionally portrayed with a dishevelled-looking archaic hairstyle intended to ward off evil spirits by sympathetic magic; as the woman loosens her normally neat hair she also symbolically loosens the baby ready for birth.

To cause the hair to fall out: burnt leaf of lotus is put in oil and applied to the head of a hated woman.

Ebers Medical Papyrus

Women did not necessarily regard their natural hair as their crowning glory. Indeed, throughout pharaonic times it was common practice for upper-class men and women to wear their natural hair closely cropped or even shaved as a practical response to the hot climate and a means of avoiding uncomfortable tangles. Fashionable wigs, which protected the near-bald heads against the fierce Egyptian sun, were worn for aesthetic reasons on more formal occasions, and false hair developed into an important commercial industry. Most wealthy people owned at least one hairpiece, and the convenience of a convention which combined cool comfort during the day with elegance at night must have been much appreciated. The best and most natural looking of the wigs were made of over 120,000 human hairs woven into a mesh and glued into place with a mixture of melted beeswax and resin.³ The worst and least natural were made entirely of coarse red date-palm fibre and must have presented a startlingly bizarre appearance.

Recipe to make the hair of a bald person grow: fat of lion, fat of hippopotamus, fat of crocodile, fat of cat, fat of serpent, and fat of ibex are mixed together and the head of the bald person is anointed therewith.

Ebers Medical Papyrus

Despite the evident popularity of shaved heads, mummies of all periods have been recovered with well-dressed heads of natural hair, and the surviving romantic poetry makes it clear that clean and shining tresses were much admired. Indeed, the mummified body of Queen Ahmose Nefertari, who died at an advanced age having lost most of her natural hair, wore a wig of human braids thoughtfully supplied by the embalmers who presumably wished to save her from the indignity of being reborn bald in the Afterlife. The medical papyri supplied useful recipes to enhance the appearance by curing such social embarrassments as unwanted baldness and persistent dandruff, while helpfully suggesting that the fat of black snakes, the blood of black oxen or even a repulsive-sounding compound made from the pulverized genitals of a bitch could usefully be employed to disguise unsightly grey hair. A slightly more acceptable and presumably less smelly means of changing hair colour was the use of henna paste which could also be used to decorate finger and toe nails. Henna is still used as a skin and hair dye in modern Egyptian villages.

Fig. 24 Old Kingdom queen wearing a striking red and yellow wig and perhaps the earliest shoulder-pads in the world

Women’s hair and wig styles changed far more frequently than either clothing or jewellery fashions, graduating from the rather severe cuts worn throughout the Old Kingdom to the longer and more elabor ate styles favoured at the zenith of the Egyptian Empire. It is tempting, although perhaps over-simplistic, to see a direct correlation between the wealth of Egypt and the time and money made available for hair and wig care. During the Old Kingdom the most trendy women sported a short, straight bob such as is frequently seen today. This style gradually became longer, until by the Middle Kingdom shoulder-length hair and heavier wigs had been adopted by all classes. The longer hair was either worn loose or dressed in the so-called ‘tripartite style’, with the hair at the back of the head hanging free and bunches of hair on either side of the head pulled forward to frame the face and expose the ears. This tripartite style was originally confined to females of low status in society, principally the unmarried, but its use gradually spread to higher-ranking married women. Indeed, a more intricate version, the ‘Hathor-style’, which involved binding the two sections of front hair with ribbons and wrapping them round a flat disk-shaped weight, became hugely popular and was the firm favourite of most 18th Dynasty queens. In contrast the Amarna royal ladies, who liked to do most things differently, favoured the rather more masculine ‘Nubian’-style wig based on the short and curly haircuts of Nubian soldiers. As the New Kingdom progressed hair and wig fashions became less standardized, growing generally longer and far more exaggerated, perhaps due to the increasing foreign influence being felt throughout Egypt at this time. A 19th Dynasty vogue for fuller wigs and a corresponding increase in the use of supplementary hairpieces to pad out both wigs and natural hair led to the abandonment of the tripartite hairstyle, and the formerly simple strand wigs were rejected in favour of wild-looking wigs of curls and thin plaits ending in fringes.

The barber labours until dusk. He travels to a town, sets himself up in his corner, and moves from street to street looking for a customer. He strains his arms to fill his stomach, like the bee that eats as it works.

Middle Kingdom Satire of the Trades

Wealthy ladies did not dress their own hair or wigs, but were assisted either by a female servant or by a daughter, mother or friend.⁴ There was no ancient Egyptian equivalent of the beauty salon, and barbers were either attached to the staff of the larger establishments or worked as itinerant tradesmen servicing the less affluent members of society. Inscriptions dating to the Old Kingdom show that these professional hairdressers, who were invariably male, were regarded as people of some importance with a possible ritual function; the association of human hair with witchcraft and superstition has been a frequent one throughout the world and hair-cutting often forms an important part in rituals or rites of passage. Indeed, the cutting of male hair has even been regarded by some psychoanalysts as a symbolic form of castration, as genitals are apparently at a subconscious level invariably associated with hair. The biblical tale of Samson and Delilah, which tells how Samson lost all his male strength as a direct result of his unscheduled haircut, appears to lend some support to this rather ingenious theory. However, by the Middle Kingdom female hair and wig-dressers had become far more common and any ritual significance in their work had been lost. The hairdressers are usually depicted standing behind their mistress, who keeps a close eye on the proceedings through a polished metal mirror which she holds in her hand. A variety of specialized equipment was available to those wishing to enhance the hair, and tombs have yielded curlers, hairpins, and wooden and ivory combs all similar in design to their modern counterparts. Many women chose to weave fresh flowers into their newly dressed locks, while more formal ornaments – including diadems, circlets specifically intended for wear over wigs, hair-bands, hair-rings and hair-weights – provided the final touch to the elegant coiffure.

Fig. 25 Girl wearing a fish ornament in her hair

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Western societies traditionally make a clear distinction between medicinal and beauty treatments, with health farms sitting uneasily on the fence between the two. An even firmer line is drawn between the many cosmetics used by women and those few considered socially acceptable for men, with cultural conditioning tempting us to view makeup as a rather trivial matter of purely feminine interest. The Egyptians approached this matter very differently, regarding their cosmetics as an important aid to health and enhanced good looks for both sexes, with magical and amuletic benefits providing an added bonus. A well-stocked cosmetic chest was a prized masculine possession at a time when a well made-up face conveyed a message of high social status rather than effeminacy.

I wish to paint my eyes, so if I see you my eyes will sparkle.

New Kingdom love poem

Both men and women adopted a dramatic 1960s-style makeup with heavy emphasis on the eyes. Kohl, or eye-paint, was used to enhance beauty while providing healing and protective powers against the fierce Egyptian sun. The paint was applied to the upper and lower lids, outlining, defining and exaggerating the eyes and lengthening the eyebrows; frequently a bold line drawn from the outer corner of the eye to the hairline completed the look. Even allowing for artistic exaggeration in tomb paintings and statuary, it is clear that the ‘natural’ look was not much admired. Two pigment colours were widely available from the Predynastic period onwards. Green (malachite) was by far the most popular colour during the earlier Dynastic period, but dark grey (galena) gained in popularity during the New Kingdom. The most fashionable ladies used the two colours in combination, with green applied to the brows and corners of the eyes, grey to the rims and lashes. Black kohl is still widely used as an eyeliner by Egyptian peasant women, as it is believed that it will decrease reflected glare from the sun and reduce the chances of eye infections. Other cosmetics were far less common, although some women used a powdered rouge made from red ochre. There is little indication of the use of lip paint by either sex, although the Turin Erotic Papyrus does show a prostitute painting her lips with the aid of a modern-looking lip brush and a mirror.

More permanent body decoration was demanded by those women – the professional dancers, acrobats and prostitutes – who relied on displaying the charms of their bodies to earn a living. This could be achieved by the tattooing of intricate patterns on the arms, torso and legs. Tattooing is a traditional Egyptian form of female adornment whose popularity has lasted from the Dynastic era until the present day, as Miss Blackman recorded:

The implement used in tattooing consists of seven needles fixed into a short stick, which is bound round the end and then plastered over to keep the needles firmly in position. Sometimes smaller needles, and only five in number, are used for tattooing children. Lamp black is the pigment employed, and this is usually mixed with oil, though some people say that water is used.

Unfortunately, tattooing is a practice which leaves little tangible trace, so that although female figurines with incised and painted body decorations have been found in Dynastic graves of all periods it is not until the Middle Kingdom that the mummified bodies of ladies tentatively identified as royal concubines confirm its use.⁵ The tradition appears to have died out by the New Kingdom, although some New Kingdom entertainers and servant girls displayed a small picture of the dwarf god Bes high on each thigh as a good luck symbol and a less than subtle means of drawing attention to their hidden charms. It has been suggested that this particular tattoo may have been the trade mark of a prostitute, but it seems equally likely to have been worn as an amuletic guard against the dangers of childbirth, or even as a protection against sexually transmitted diseases. Tattooing seems to have been confined to lower-class women and to men, who were tattooed less extensively.

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Although artistic conventions decreed that women should be depicted as fashionably gaunt, there is very little direct evidence to show whether Egyptian women struggled to lose weight. The loose untailored clothing could have been worn by women of any size, and we do not have the equivalent of ancient diet sheets or exercise routines, while the medical papyri remain tantalizingly silent in this area. Comparison with modern rural Egypt suggests that although women may have been expected to be thinner than men the almost skeletal appearance currently admired in western societies would not have been appreciated. It seems that only in societies where famine is unthinkable is this female body type greatly admired. Naked female figurines recovered from tombs generally have gently rounded figures with relatively wide hips and slightly prominent buttocks. These figurines were included among grave goods for men, women and children, not as models of individual women but as generalized fertility symbols representing the whole process of Egyptian family life including reproduction and child-rearing. They suggest that, perhaps above all, a good child-bearing physique would be the most widely admired female physical type.

Most Egyptians were very comfortable with their own bodies and were not offended by nudity in others. Nakedness in its correct place was not regarded as in any way shocking or indecent, and tomb owners showed no false modesty when depicting scenes of daily life which included fishermen or other workers whose occupations would have made the wearing of clothes inappropriate to their task. Nakedness could be used by the artists as a means of indicating low social status, and children were often illustrated nude although we know that they were normally dressed in clothes similar to those worn by their parents. During the New Kingdom female nudity, or semi-nudity, became common for those lower-status women whose employment was in some way related to their physical charms. Dancers and acrobats, for example, were depicted wearing either an eye-catching girdle or a practical short flared skirt, sometimes with narrow straps crossed over the breasts for purely decorative purposes. Servant girls at work wore a simple kilt with no blouse, and were frequently portrayed as either entirely naked but for ornamental bead collars and belts, or dressed in flimsy see-through garments. The trend for New Kingdom female nudity even extended to the gods, with a few naked foreign deities such as the Asian war-goddess Astarte developing cult followings in Egypt at this time.

It would, however, have been both inaccurate and inappropriate for the upper classes to be shown without their clothes. All indications are that those of high rank delighted in showing off their finery, and viewed elegant garments as a means of underlining their social position. It was only during the short-lived Amarna period, when all the old conventions were turned on their heads, that royal ladies allowed themselves to be depicted either naked or wearing casually unfastened robes which left nothing to the imagination. Whether nudity was, in fact, common in private life, ‘off camera’, we have no means of telling, although it seems reasonable to assume that nudity would not have been popular during the cool winters or in the chilly early mornings.

My lover, it is pleasant to go to the pond and bathe myself while you watch me. In this way I may let you see my beauty revealed through my tunic of finest white linen, when it becomes wet and clinging… I go down with you into the water and come out again to you with a red fish which lies beautiful on my fingers… Come and look at me.

New Kingdom love song

Clothes serve the basic function of protecting the naked body from the elements while preserving modesty by concealing those parts which society prefers to leave to the imagination. However, a quick glance down any high street shows that clothing, or more particularly fashion, also sends out clear social signals indicating such diversities as financial status, aspiration, occupation and even religious persuasion. The businesswoman, the student and the young mother may be wearing variants of the same shirt and skirt but differences in style and cut will be apparent to the most casual observer, while the individualistic punk dressed in torn plastic and bondage chains is wearing a uniform as indicative of group membership as the habit worn by the nun. Just as a modern Egyptian peasant woman can glean many accurate facts about a stranger by observing and analysing subtle variations in dress-style which pass unnoticed by the uninitiated western observer, so we can assume that the dress of the ancient Egyptian woman conveyed a wealth of information to her contemporaries. Unfortunately, without the cultural key necessary to decode the message we are unlikely to extract anything more than the most obvious inferences from any study of Egyptian fashion.

At first sight the Egyptians have provided us with a great deal of evidence for a study of their clothing.⁶ We have a little written information, a few surviving garments and numerous statues, engravings and paintings which combine to provide an illustrated catalogue which may be used to chronicle changing styles throughout the dynasties. However, there are certain problems inherent in relying on this representational type of evidence. By their very nature the illustrations tend to depict the upper echelons of society recorded under atypical conditions. Just as today people prefer to be photographed in their best clothes, we must assume that those affluent enough to be recorded for posterity would choose to display their most elaborate or formal costumes. Clothing shown in depictions of the Afterlife may have had an additional ritual significance which is now lost to us. Given the strict conventions of Egyptian art it is highly likely that the artist chose to depict traditional or stylized garments indicative of femininity rather than those actually worn, and in many cases the subtle nuances of female dress may simply not have been recognized by the male artist who would have painted the majority of his portraits from memory or from a pattern book rather than from a live model. In fact, basing a discussion of garments solely on the types of evidence described above may well be analogous to basing a discussion of contemporary western styles on a collection of formal wedding portraits and ultra-fashion haute couture photographs taken from the pages ofVogue. Nevertheless, and despite inaccuracies in depiction, the clear message which reaches across the centuries from the tomb walls is the sheer delight with which both women and men pose to display their finery. Certainly clothes were important to the Egyptians.

Linen was the material most often used in dressmaking. Cotton and silk were both unknown in Egypt before the Graeco-Roman period and, despite the farming of large flocks of sheep, woollen clothes were apparently rare in pre-Roman times. Herodotus, who was the first to mention this aversion to wool, supposed that it must have been a ritual avoidance as ‘nothing woollen is taken into their temples or buried with them as their religion forbids it’; his theory was echoed by Plutarch, who noted that ‘priests, because they revere sheep, abstain from using its wool as well as its flesh’. However, it seems far more likely that woollen garments were relatively uncommon because of a scarcity of good-quality wool; the rather bald Egyptian sheep which were bred principally for their milk and meat were evidently unsuitable for full-scale wool production. Archaeological evidence is now beginning to indicate that Herodotus may have been writing under a misapprehension, and that although people preferred to be illustrated in their traditional linen garments, woollen clothes might have been a great deal more common than has been supposed. There is certainly no contemporary evidence for a strict taboo against wearing wool and, while linen is certainly an appropriate material for clothing in a hot climate, being both lightweight and comfortable to the touch, the warmth of a woollen shawl or cloak would have been much appreciated on a chilly winter’s evening.

Although it is relatively easy to dye woollen cloth successfully, linen requires a specialized two-stage dyeing process to make the new colour permanent. For a long time it was thought that, despite their obvious skills at the loom, the Egyptians had never developed the technology necessary to dye their linen. The few women who were depicted wearing coloured frocks with bright blue, red and yellow patterning were therefore interpreted either as foreigners or as servant girls dressed in imported foreign clothes. Egyptologists are now beginning to question whether, just as the popularity of woollen garments may have been seriously understated, the availability of dyed cloth has also been underestimated; certainly several dolls with gaily painted dresses have been recovered from working-class graves, indicating that multi-coloured and cheerfully patterned frocks were far more common than has ever been supposed. Whether these were dyed linen dresses or dyed woollen dresses is now not clear. White or off-white always remained the standard colour for all formal clothing, and the garments illustrated in tomb paintings are invariably bright white.

As colourful garments were something of a rarity the Egyptians developed the art of elaborate folding and pleating to decorate their cloth. This pleating grew finer and even more intricate as the standard of cloth production improved, and was accompanied by a parallel change in fashion from tight-fitting to more free-flowing dresses, designed to show off the expensive material to its best advantage. By the middle of the New Kingdom the style of the pleating was changing so rapidly that statues may now be dated with a considerable degree of accuracy by a consideration of the form of the pleats in the garments. We still have no idea how the ancient clothmakers managed to fix their pleats so firmly into the material that some still survive today, but it has been suggested that the long ribbed and grooved boards which have been recovered from several tombs may have played a part in the process. Some form of starch may have been applied to stiffen the material and hold the pleats in place.

Enough complete female outer garments have survived to confirm that throughout the Dynastic age the majority of women dressed in rather plain and crudely made variants of the long nightshirt-like djellaba which is still worn by the modern Egyptian peasant.⁷These simple clothes lack the style and elegance of the more extreme fashions included in the formal tomb scenes but they would have been easy to make and both practical and comfortable to wear while working. Several of the surviving dresses have sleeves, a refinement which is rarely depicted in paintings before the New Kingdom but which would have provided a welcome protection against the ever-present dust and mosquitoes. Detachable sleeves, designed to be removed in warm weather, were a clever way of making one dress comfortable all year round.

Sandals – soles of woven reeds or leather bound on to the foot by a thong – were worn throughout the Dynastic period with more elaborate leather slippers becoming fashionable in the 19th Dynasty. The basic sandals often formed a part of the workman’s standard wage, even though artistic representations of daily life suggest that most activities were carried out barefoot as they are in many parts of the world today. Shoes were automatically discarded as a mark of courtesy on entering a house, and were removed in the presence of a socially superior person as a sign of respect. The honorary title of ‘Sandal-bearer to the Pharaoh’ was one of the highest regard, and it is highly unlikely that the holder of such a prestigious position actually had to do much ignominious shoe-carrying.

Simple shawls, again similar to those in modern use, were thrown over the dresses during the cool Egyptian nights. The 18th Dynasty tomb provisions of the Architect Kha and his wife Merit included not only shawls but also Merit’s elaborately fringed dressing gown, neatly folded in its storage basket which also held her comb and a wig curler. Several ostraca give comparative prices for these garments, and we know that during the New Kingdom the value of one simple djellaba-like shift dress made of plain cloth was, at five deben, relatively expensive; it is difficult to translate this value into exact modern monetary terms, but the fact that a goat was valued at two deben at this time gives an indication of the value attached to cloth. It is clear that clothing was priced according to the quality and quantity of the material used, as a shawl made of good quality cloth was a luxury item valued as high as fifteen deben.

Not surprisingly, thefts of basic clothing were relatively common. Theoretically these petty crimes could be brought before the court, but it was more usual for the victim to consult the local oracle who could be relied upon to solve the mystery and name the culprit with the minimum of official fuss. The oracle, in the form of a statue of the local god, was placed on a litter which was in turn supported on the shoulders of qualified lay-priests. He or she was able to indicate the answers to direct yes or no questions by forcing the litter-bearers to move either forwards or backwards at the appropriate moment. In more complicated cases, where there was a range of suspects, the plaintiff recited a list of names and the god again moved to indicate the guilty party. Although many local deities provided an efficient oracle service, the deified Amenhotep I at Deir el-Medina was widely recognized to be one of the best.⁸ One ostracon from this site tells how the draughtsman Kaha decided to consult the oracle when some of his clothing was stolen. Kaha read out a list of the suspect households, and the god twice gave a sign when the household of Scribe Imenhet was mentioned. Eventually the field of suspects was narrowed down even further, and the unnamed daughter of Imenhet was identified as the thief. There is no record of any subsequent punishment being meted out, but it would appear that adverse public opinion combined with a very real fear of divine retribution would force the guilty party to return the stolen goods promptly to their rightful owner.

His majesty said ‘Indeed, I shall go boating! Bring me twenty oars of gold-plated ebony with handles of sandalwood plated with electrum. Bring me twenty women with the shapeliest bodies, breasts and braids, and who have not yet given birth. Also bring me twenty nets and give the nets to the women in place of their clothes!’ All was done as his majesty commanded. They rowed up and down and his majesty’s heart was happy seeing them row.

Part of the Middle Kingdom Westcar Papyrus

Fig. 26 Old Kingdom sheath dress

The dresses worn by the more up-to-date members of society were also very simple in design, but far less practical for everyday wear. Fashions naturally varied, but the basic garment was always a single length of cloth which was wrapped or draped sarong-style around the body and either tied in place with a belt or held with simple sewn shoulder straps. Such garments become almost unrecognizable when off the body, and examples recovered from tombs have frequently been misclassified as sheets. During the Old Kingdom the stylish woman wore a long, smoothly fitting white sheath extending from her breast to her shin. It was made from a length of linen folded in half, hemmed and stitched into a basic tube shape, and was held in place by two broad shoulder straps. Tomb-scenes suggest that this basic dress was very tight-fitting and worn so as to reveal the form of the body beneath, although it is difficult to take such an impractical garment literally as even the most fashion-conscious girl would have found the need to be sewn into her dress and her subsequent inability to walk somewhat irksome. Presumably this represents yet another artistic convention, designed to stress the femininity of the wearer whose passive role in life is subtly emphasized by her totally impractical clothing. As an alternative to the stark white garment, decorated shoulder straps and horizontal panels of geometric patterning could either be woven or embroidered on to the dress. Tabards of beaded or pearl network worn over the plain dress gave an exciting patterned effect, and the Westcar Papyrus quoted above records jaded King Sneferu’s lecherous delight in watching his crew of nubile female rowers wearing the ‘fishing net’ beaded dresses without the customary modesty garment.

Fig. 27 New Kingdom fashion

This rather understated Old Kingdom elegance eventually gave way to a more elaborate style of attire, and the New Kingdom lady was able to select her dress from a much wider and less conservative wardrobe, with highly pleated and fringed garments providing suitable accompaniments to the more elaborate wig-styles also in vogue at this time. The standard garment was a flowing sari-like dress made from one long length of pleated cloth which was draped around the body and shoulders and tied under the bust to give an Empire-line silhouette. Finely pleated sleeves covered the upper arms to the elbow. The old-fashioned sheath dress continued to be popular, but was now covered by a shorter and more diaphanous flowing robe.

With her hair she throws lassoes at me,

And with her eyes she catches me,

With her necklace she entangles me,

And brands me with her seal ring.

New Kingdom love poem

The plain white garments provided the perfect background for the colourful and varied jewellery which was popular with men, women and children of all classes from Predynastic times onwards. Vividly coloured mass-produced beads were used in the manufacture of cheap and cheerfully eye-catching costume jewellery while, at the other end of the financial scale, valuable metals and semi-precious stones were transformed by master-craftsmen into exquisite designer pieces which are true works of art. The jewellery worn by the royal family was exclusively produced by the workshops attached to the king’s palace which, with all the resources of the royal court at their disposal, were able to develop advanced and intricate techniques such as cloisonné, granulation and filigree work. The less wealthy purchased their simple trinkets from local craftsmen or the itinerant jewellers who could always be found at the village market. Generally, whatever the standard of workmanship, the materials used in the jewellery were opaque. In contrast to our modern jewellery, it was the colour and brightness of the whole rather than the purity of individual components which created the desired dramatic effect.

The Egyptian craftsmen did not have access to the precious stones which play a major role in our modern jewellery. However, amethyst, carnelian and jasper could all be found within Egypt’s boundaries, while turquoise was mined in the Sinai desert and deep blue lapis-lazuli was imported from as far away as Afghanistan. Gold occurs naturally in the Egyptian desert both as pure seams running through quartz rock and as alluvial deposits which need to be panned; both these sources were exploited throughout the Dynastic period. Pure silver, however, was always imported from elsewhere in the Mediterranean. Silver does occur as an impurity in the native Egyptian gold, but it is very difficult to separate the two metals.⁹ Silver was consequently more highly prized than gold, and is less frequently encountered in jewellery. Neither metal would have been easy for ordinary members of the public to obtain, and it is obvious that there was a thriving black-market trade in illicit gold excavated from the richly-endowed royal burials by enterprising tomb robbers.

The Egyptians loved to display their finery during life, and confidently expected to continue displaying it after death. They regarded it as essential that they should be interred with suitably impressive jewellery, appropriate to both their sex and their status in society. Consequently, much of the Egyptian jewellery now housed in museums throughout the world comes from funerary contexts, often looted by modern tomb robbers or amateur egyptologists who gave little thought to the archaeological importance of their booty. Some of these pieces were obviously well-loved and well-worn by their owners, but much of the remaining jewellery was specifically manufactured for the grave. Several of these pieces are made out of tissue-thin metal and could not have been worn without tearing, while several of the broad collars are lacking the counterpoise weight necessary to allow the collar to lie correctly. In the Afterlife this symbolic jewellery would be made functional and would be worn by the deceased. There is no indication that this funerary jewellery was anything other than an imitation of the jewellery that was being worn on a daily basis by living Egyptians, and specific types of death-jewellery only suitable for wearing in the Afterlife are unknown, although there were specific protective amulets designed to be included in mummy wrappings.

We broke open the tombs to the West of the No and brought away the inner coffins which were in them. We stripped off the gold and the silver which was on them and stole it, and I divided it between myself and my confederates.

New Kingdom trial transcript

Theft from the royal tombs, often by the very workmen who had been employed in their construction, was a constant headache as it was impossible to keep the location of such major building works secret for any length of time. At Thebes, the site of the New Kingdom royal tombs, a special necropolis police force was responsible for guarding the royal tombs, reporting directly to the vizier, the pharaoh’s second-in-command. However, several 20th Dynasty papyri which deal with the arrest and subsequent trial of gangs of tomb robbers and the fences who received the stolen property indicate that this police force was perhaps not as efficient as it might have been; indeed, some of the necropolis officials were clearly implicated in the crimes. Any observed irregularities in the necropolis were reported directly to either the vizier or the other high-ranking administrators. A commission was then established to investigate the violated tombs, draw up a list of suspects and conduct a trial. Those found guilty were referred to the pharaoh for punishment; the official penalty for tomb robbery was a nasty lingering death by impalement on a stake.

In the western world we regard our jewellery as primarily decorative, a means of expressing our individuality and perhaps displaying our financial worth. There are, of course, certain exceptions to this rule. Pieces such as a crucifix, a St Christopher medal or a horseshoe charm may be worn for both ornamental and religious or superstitious reasons, while a wedding band or engagement ring is expected to function as a decorative indication of social status. The Egyptians, who felt themselves to be constantly under siege from evil spirits, demons and all the hazards of their harsh natural world, expected their jewellery to combine an ornamental function with the important practical role of warding off evil, attributing an amuletic effect to almost all their pieces. The prophylactic features of certain motifs are not always clear to us today, but as with many aspects of Dynastic life it seems safe to state that no piece of Egyptian jewellery should be taken at its face value. To be fully effective all these charms had to be kept close to the skin; they were usually worn suspended on a thong tied around the neck.

The hidden amuletic effect of some pieces has been passed down to us, and we can tell that many charms were particularly appropriate to women. For example, the head of Bat, a fertility goddess who could help the childless to conceive, is shown on some of the earliest recovered amulets which date from the dawn of the Dynastic age. Fish ornaments, worn in the hair or suspended around the neck, were believed to protect young girls against drowning, while oyster shell amulets were believed to bring general good health to all women. The Udjat Eye of Horus, representing the eye that was knocked out by the evil Seth, became a symbol of light which would ward off evil; as such it was a popular amulet with both men and women. Less obvious now are the protective powers attributed to certain colours – notably green which signified life and birth – and certain types of stone. The wearer of a green turquoise necklace would probably have felt herself to be adequately protected against all harm.

The most popular and least expensive jewellery consisted of simple beads, shells and charms threaded on to linen or leather cords. These beads, usually made from glazed steatite, faience or glass, came in many different shapes and colours ready to be made into necklaces, bracelets, and anklets. Some beads were highly sophisticated; the beaded girdles which were worn for purely ornamental purposes by dancing girls often included cowrie beads designed to rattle in an enticing manner as the dance progressed. It may well be that these cowrie shells, which bear a passing resemblance to female genitalia, were intended to be symbolic of fertility. Such rattling girdles were by no means confined to those who needed to display their physical charms, and they have been recovered from the tombs of elegant and presumably highly respectable royal princesses. While most people had to be content with simple bead pendants and necklaces, elaborate broad collars made from several interlinked strands of faience beads passing through broad terminals were worn by the middle and upper classes, ranging from low-ranking officials to the Royal Family. The pectoral, a wide pendant of inlaid precious metal worn across the chest, was also confined to the more wealthy members of society, and was usually, but not always, worn by women.

Bracelets, bangles and anklets were popular ornaments for women of all classes from the Predynastic period onwards, with one of the most prominent early bracelet-wearers being Queen Hetepheres, the mother of the 4th Dynasty pyramid-builder King Cheops. Hetepheres’ portrait shows her arms loaded down with jewellery, and she was buried with a box containing twenty inlaid silver bracelets intended for wear during the Afterlife. Anklets are notoriously difficult to differentiate from bracelets unless they are recovered still encircling the limb of a dead body, and even the Egyptians found it necessary to add the words ‘for the feet’ when labelling boxes of foot jewellery. It would appear that many archaeologists, perhaps unused to the idea of anklets, have also been confused by the similarity of these pieces, as items recovered from disturbed graves have frequently been misclassified. Anklets were originally exclusively female ornaments, but by the Middle Kingdom were being worn by both men and women of all classes. The most chic coordinated look was achieved by those who sported a wide decorated bracelet and a slightly thicker matching anklet.

Finger rings are rarely shown in either paintings or sculpture but they were worn by both sexes from the Predynastic period onwards, growing in popularity until, by the New Kingdom, faience rings were being mass produced and worn as fashionable costume jewellery. These rings were worn on any finger of either hand though scarab-seal rings, which were indicative of high social status and consequently confined to male bureaucrats, were by convention worn on the third finger of the left hand. In contrast, earrings were almost unknown until the New Kingdom when, influenced by their foreign neighbours, women of all ranks pierced their ears and enthusiastically purchased a wide variety of styles. Gold hoops and glass studs, very similar in design to those worn all over the world today, became very popular. Decorated faience ear plugs, comparatively large flat discs with a grooved edge designed to permanently stretch the earlobe far beyond its natural size, were also highly prized. As today, the expensive and well-made gold and jewelled earrings worn by the ladies of the court were reproduced in cheaper materials such as pottery or glass, and became within the reach of everyone’s pocket. High-ranking men also wore earrings and Tutankhamen’s mummy had pierced ears even though he was not wearing his earrings when he was mummified. Earrings for men were not simply a form of personal adornment; they represented a badge of faithful service to the king and were only worn by those who had also been awarded a ceremonial gold necklace for their loyal work. The pharaoh traditionally used expensive gifts of jewellery, the ‘Gold of the Brave’, as a means of expressing his approval to both his distinguished soldiers and his loyal civil servants, somewhat as medals and knighthoods are awarded today. The lucky recipients of these tokens of esteem frequently recorded the presentation ceremony on the walls of their tombs.

The importance of an Egyptian woman’s jewellery is very difficult for us to assess. We can see that it had an ornamental function, can assume that it acted as an indication of the wealth and social status of the woman and her family, and know that many of the pieces also had a perceived protective power. Whether the woman also regarded her jewels as an investment for her future is less clear. In many societies where women’s ownership of property is limited, jewellery and gold ornaments, often given by the husband at the time of the marriage, are traditionally held to be the property of the woman herself and act as her hedge against hard times. This is the case in the modern Egyptian village where gold is given to a girl by her fiancé to seal their engagement. It is the weight of the gold rather than the craftsmanship of the pieces which is of importance in this instance. The system functions because the jewellery given is precious, and has a recognized high financial value which may be redeemed at a later date. In contrast, the situation in Dynastic Egypt, where a woman’s right to a share of joint property was recognized both by convention and by the law, and where the majority of the jewellery which has been recovered is not of particularly high value, is not directly comparable. All indications are that the jewellery was simply valued as an indication of social status and as a means of expressing personal taste.

She who once lacked even a box now had furniture, while she who used to see her face in the water now owns a mirror.

Admonitions of the Middle Kingdom Scribe Ipuwer

Sadly, there was no way that the Egyptian lady could get a head-to-toe view of herself dressed in all her finery as full-length mirrors were unknown; indeed, the less affluent members of society had to be content with viewing their reflections in the River Nile. For those of greater means, a hand-held mirror of polished metal, appropriately named a ‘see-face’, was very useful for examining the features and perfecting the makeup. The majority of the mirrors which have been recovered are made from bronze and are heavily tarnished with pitted and corroded surfaces, but experimental repolishing has confirmed that they would indeed have provided a true or even a slightly magnified image. As with many other everyday objects in Egyptian life,

Fig. 28 Bronze mirror

mirrors came to be regarded as far more than a simple aid to achieving beauty. The oval mirror, with its inexplicable ability to show a virtual image and reflect and concentrate light, became associated with the religious concepts of life, creation and regeneration and, to a lesser extent, was also connected with the gods of the sun and the moon. The decorated handles of the mirrors reflected these mystical overtones, and often depicted either a papyrus or lotus stalk, representative of creation and reproduction, or the head of Hathor, the personification of love, beauty and fertility.

Even though mirrors must certainly have been used by both men and women they appear to have held a particular significance for women. Tomb illustrations suggest that wealthy ladies treated their mirrors as stylish accessories, carrying them around in a special protective mirror-bag designed to be worn over the shoulder. Tradition decreed that these women should be portrayed with mirrors carefully positioned underneath their chairs. Mirrors became an important element in illustrations representing childbirth, formed one of the standard offerings made by upper-class women to Hathor of Dendera, and were commonly included among female grave goods. All this implies that the mirror itself was regarded by the Egyptians as an obvious symbol of femininity or fertility. Indeed, it has even been suggested that the many illustrations of women at their toilette, all of which involve the use of mirrors, may well have a hidden ritual or sexual significance which is now unfortunately lost to us.