The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World, Vol 2: Assyria: The History, Geography, And Antiquities Of Chaldaea, Assyria, Babylon, Media, Persia, Parthia, And Sassanian or New Persian Empire; With Maps and Illustrations.Rawlinson, George
History
The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World, Vol 2: Assyria: The History, Geography, And Antiquities Of Chaldaea, Assyria, Babylon, Media, Persia, Parthia, And Sassanian or New Persian Empire; With Maps and Illustrations.
We have but one representation of an Assyrian queen. Despite the
well-known stories of Semiramis and her manifold exploits, it would seem
that the Assyrians secluded their females with as rigid and watchful a
jealousy as modern Turks or Persians. The care taken with respect to the
direction of the passages in the royal hareem has been noticed already.
It is quite in accordance with the spirit thus indicated, and with the
general tenor of Oriental habits, that neither in inscriptions nor in
sculptured representations do the Assyrians allow their women to make
more than a most rare and occasional appearance. Fortunately for us,
their jealousy was sometimes relaxed to a certain extent; and in one
scene, recovered from the _debris_ of an Assyrian palace we are enabled
to contemplate at once the domestic life of the monarch and the attire
and even the features of his consort.
It appears that in the private apartments, while the king, like the
Romans and the modern Orientals, reclined upon a couch leaning his
weight partly upon his left elbow, and having his right arm free and
disposable, her majesty the queen sat in a chair of state by the couch’s
side, near its foot, and facing her lord. [PLATE CXV., Fig. 1.] Two
eunuchs provided with large fans were in attendance upon the monarch,
and the same number waited upon the queen, standing behind her chair.
Her majesty, whose hair was arranged nearly like that of her royal
consort, wore upon her head a band or fillet having something of the
appearance of a crown of towers, such as encircles the brow of Cybele on
Greek coins and statues. Her dress was a long-sleeved gown reaching from
the neck to the feet, flounced and trimmed at the bottom in an elaborate
way, and elsewhere patterned with rosettes, over which she wore a
fringed tunic or frock descending half-way between the knees and the
feet. [PLATE CXV., Fig. 3.] In addition to these two garments, she wore
upon her back and shoulders a light cloak or cape, patterned (like the
rest of her dress) with rosettes and edged with a deep fringe. Her feet
were encased in shoes of a clumsy make, also patterned. Her ornaments,
besides the crown upon her head, were earrings, a necklace, and
bracelets. Her hair was cushioned, and adorned with a drapery which hung
over the back. Her feet rested on a handsome footstool, also cushioned.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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