The Hittites : $b The story of a forgotten empireSayce, A. H. (Archibald Henry)
History
The Hittites : $b The story of a forgotten empire
Sayce, A. H. (Archibald Henry)
Hittites
About the Hittite dress we have fuller information. Apart from the
snow-shoes or mocassins which have helped to identify their monumental
remains, we have found the Hittites wearing on their heads two kinds of
covering, one a close-fitting skull-cap, the other a lofty tiara,
generally pointed, but sometimes rounded at the top or ornamented, as at
Ibreez, with horn-like ribbons. The pointed tiara was adorned with
perpendicular lines of embroidery. At Boghaz Keui the goddesses have
what has been termed the mural crown, resembling as it does the
fortified wall of a town.
The robes of the women descended to the feet. This was also the case
with the long sleeved garment of the priests, but other men wore a tunic
which left the knees bare, and was fastened round the waist by a girdle.
Over this was thrown a cloak, which in walking left one leg exposed. In
the girdle was stuck a short dirk; the other arms carried being a spear
and a bow, which was slung behind the back. The double-headed battle-axe
was also a distinctively Hittite weapon, and was carried by them to the
coast of the Ægean, where in the Greek age it became the symbol of the
Karian Zeus, and of the island of Tenedos. All these weapons were of
bronze, or perhaps of iron; but there are indications that the Hittite
tribes had once contented themselves with tools and weapons of stone.
Near the site of Arpad Mr. Boscawen purchased a large and beautiful
axe-head of highly polished green-stone, which could, however, never
have been intended for actual use. It was, in fact, a sacrificial
weapon, surviving in the service of the gods from the days when the
working of metal was not yet known. Like other survivals in religious
worship, it bore witness to a social condition that had long since
passed away. A small axe-head, also of polished green-stone, was
obtained by myself from the neighbourhood of Ephesos, and bears a
remarkable resemblance in form to the axe-head of Arpad. The importance
of this fact becomes manifest when we compare the numerous other weapons
or implements of polished stone found in Western Asia Minor, which
exhibit quite a different shape. It permits the conclusion that both
Arpad and Ephesos were seats of Hittite influence, and that in both the
same form of stone implement--a survival from an earlier age of
stone--was dedicated to the service of the gods.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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