The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-01-20
STARTLED THE PRIESTS.
The Oldest Dressmaker's Bill in the
World.

World.
Egypt has been called the Gland of sur
prises." Year after year the explorer in
the Nile land bring to light some new and
startling examples Of art, revealing 10 US
the astonishing character of the early
civilization of the Egyptians. Egypt has
now a rival in the sister civilization Of an
Gent Chaldea. Although in art Chaldea
is far behind the land of the Nile, espe-
cially in the art of painting, the restora-
ton of the early civilization and the per-
feet picture which we can form of the
life and manners and customs Of the peo-
pie, is almost as complete as that which
we can restore of Egypt in the pyramid
age. The startling feature of the discov-
cries resulting from the decipherment of
the cuneiform inscriptions has been the
numerous details of popular life which
are accessible to US. The little clay tab
lets not only contain the record of kings
and princes, but even of the poorest Of the
people, slaves and beggars In so great
literary land as Chaldea, every transac-
tion, no matter how small, was recorded
in writing, and thus we have many de-
tails Of transactions which would other
wise have been for ever loss.
Among the documents which have been
discovered is a tablet which may be well
called ''the oldest dressmaker's bill in the
world" 1t was the custom Of the Baby
lonian king 10 present TO the temple sets
of robes for the use of the priests and
priestesses. This was usually done every
year, and we have many of these lists in
the British Museum. The oldest hitherto
known has been that of king about 1850
b. &. There are several of later period,
but the document before US is far older
than any yet found. The tablet, which
is Of limestone, was discovered in the
ruins of the temple in the city Of Nipur,
Southern Chaldea. This temple was
dedicated to the ghost god, and had a
very large priesthood attached to it.
From the style of the writing, which is
extremely archaic, and from the curious
system of numerals employed, the tablet
cannot be of later date than $500 B. G.
1t contains list of ninetytwo vestments
which were presented to the temple by
the king. The name of the king is I'M
fortunately not given. The end of the
tablet reads: "In all ninety-two pure
vestments, the bill Dist of the temple
for the priests this year, Many Of the
words are unknown to us, as they are, no
doubt, many of them technical terms en-
ployed by the modistes of the period.
Some of the lines, however, are of par
ticular interest--those that can be salts
factorily deeiphered. Among the items
are twelve white robes of the temple,
6iEAb TOOSS Oh ING mouse OF MS lhuy, ten
pure gold collars two white robes.n One
item of special interest occurs near the
end: -Four scented robes" This re-
minds US of the passage in Psalms xiv,
speaking of the robes redolent of 'myrrh
and aloes and cassia." 1t was no doubt,
the custom in Babylonia to perfume the
robes, and it is to-day in Persia and In
dia. Another item Is also illustrative of
eastern life Two winders," probably
scarfs used for binding round the waist.
This document has likewise an addi-
tional value in showing us the great de-
velOpments which had taken place in the
textile arts in Chaldea even at this early
period. The decorations on the statues of
Judea (B. C. $500, the embroidered fringes
show that the skill of the weaver and
the embrolderer was far advanced
and it is curious feature to
notice that nearly all the attempts
at decorative work in early Chaldea are
in patterns which are derived from tex
tile designs