Clothing

Men and women wore close-fitting tunics with either short or long sleeves. They were usually made of wool and often lined with white cotton so they wouldn’t scratch the skin when the undershirt was not worn. Tunics were tied at the waist with a wide sash called a girdle. The girdle was usually a square yard of wool, linen, or silk cloth. The outer garment was a cloak or mantle. This was used as a coat during the colder seasons of the year and also as a blanket to wrap up in at night. The cloaks were usually made of wool, goat hair, or camel hair. Men used three kinds of headgear: cotton or wool caps, turbans (long pieces of thick linen material wound around the head with the ends tucked under), or a scarf called a kaffiyeh. This was a square yard of colored cotton, wool, or silk folded into a triangle and draped around the head with the point of the triangle falling down the middle of the back. The man held it in place with a silk or woolen cord coiled around his head.

Women wore headscarves or shawls. These were often pinned over a cap made of stiff material and decorated with pearls, silver, gold, or other ornaments. Sometimes they were used to form a veil that covered at least part of a woman’s face and upper body. Priests had special clothes. The ephod was a linen garment worn by the high priest. It was embroidered with gold thread. Blue, purple, and scarlet threads also were used to make it. A breastplate was worn over the ephod, which had twelve precious stones—one stone for each tribe of Israel. Other priests wore simpler linen ephods.

Grave clothes were the strips of linen cloth that were wrapped around a body before burial. The hands and feet were tied with more pieces of linen, and another piece was placed over the face. This is the way Lazarus appeared when Jesus raised him from the dead.