Ancient Israelite Dress and Adornment

In the ancient world, as today, dress and personal adornment served both practical and aesthetic functions. Clothing, hairstyles and head coverings, jewelry, and other forms of physical adornment are markers of ethnic or regional identity and social status as well as individual style. Clothing and adornment sometimes had religious significance as well, as reflected in the biblical explanation of fringes attached to garments as reminders of God’s commandments and the commandment to wear God’s teachings on the hand and forehead (Numbers 15:37–40; Deuteronomy 6:8).

We have little visual evidence for how ancient Israelites dressed or styled their hair. They left few artistic depictions of themselves, only fragmentary images of schematized garbed figures, and a rather naturalistic figure on a pottery sherd from Ramat Rahel. Almost no clothing has survived because textiles disintegrated in the damp environment of Israel, although some scraps of fabric were uncovered at the desert site of Kuntillet Ajrud. Helpful information comes from the depiction of Israelites in Assyrian reliefs from Iraq, some (though not all) of which carefully distinguish different ethnic or geographic groups by their dress. Hairdos and sometimes clothing are shown on female figurines and woman-at-the-window ivories (see Ivory Relief of a Woman at a Window). These types of objects are found throughout the eastern Mediterranean and ancient Near East, and it is not certain whether they reflect styles worn in ancient Israel or merely artistic conventions.

We have more information about personal adornment such as jewelry and cosmetic utensils because these were typically made of nonperishable materials, including precious metals and stone. Jewelry included earrings, rings, necklaces, seals suspended from cords or set into rings, pins, including toggle pins, and fibulae (decorated garment fasteners). Jewelry made from precious metal or stone was reserved for the elite, while more common materials, like bone and shell, were worn by ordinary people. Jewelry is found in various contexts, particularly in tombs, as well-to-do men and women were often adorned with jewelry when they were buried. Collections of jewelry were stored (or hidden) for later retrieval in private or in public buildings. Jewelry often had a religious or magical function, particularly when the jewelry depicted a supernatural being or an identifiable symbol, but even where the imagery is not obvious, various materials and colors were thought to have inherent apotropaic qualities.

Cosmetic equipment was used to apply makeup, particularly around the eyes. Common pigments were kohl (black), ocher (red), and calcite (white); traces of pigment have been found on the bowls that served as palettes where the colors were ground into a fine powder and mixed with binding materials. The pigment was then applied with long-handled miniature spatulas. Additional equipment for personal grooming included tweezers, mirrors, and combs.