Omaha daily bee., 1899-07-16
ANTIQUITY WAS UP TO DATE.
Proven by Garments Taken from
Graves Made LOO Years Ago.

PrONcn ny GnrmentS taken from
Graves Made 1,T0O Years Ago.
There has just opened in Paris an ex-
hibition of clothes and stuffs taken from
graves of Egyptian patricians and imperial
Roman officials, women and men, who were
buried in the second and third centuries
respectively after Christ, and these, being
in a rare state eff preservation, bring Mr.
Ben Akiba's saying, Nothing new under
the sum-" home to us with terrible ven
geance. Those very latest Paris novelties
in stuffs and colors, the fashionableness of
which makes them the property Of favored
few only, are not novelties at all. They or
their originals says Paris letter in the
st. Louis Globe Democrat, must have been
quite common on the Nile sixteen or seven
teen centuries ago. The ornaments found
with the clothes were paltry as to weight in
gold and silver, which shows that the
corpses, when in the flesh. cannot have be-
longed to upper tendon, for in those days
the rich never failed to provide their be-
loved dead with a few gold coins to pay
their way in eternity; they also buried their
favorite jewels with them.
The graves were unearthed in Antionos
Egypt, at one time seat of a Roman gov
ernor The well known Psychologist, Gayet,
superintended the work and brought his
finds to Paris. AS the inscriptions on some
Of the graves showed, many of their occu-
pants were Christians. The bodies of the
females were clothed in silk and wool their
undergarments being OF fine linen.
When the silk dresses were shown to a
Lyons silk manufacturer he was dunn
founded. THE very weaving process I my
self have invented he said, Seems to
have been known to the ancients." And
continuing his Investigations with strong
magnifying glass he added: They knew
all our tricks Of manufacturing.
Pieces of silk cut from the garment Of
one of the Egyptian women were sent TO
the government school for silk weaving
and the pupils were invited to guess the
texture and manufacturing place. The
brighter ones concluded that it was
"Jacquart work." one of the latest products
OF silk manufacturing. But they added,
"the color distribution is finer than we have
ever seem.
Another piece of goods from the graves was
adjudged to be from the factory Of Raute
Lisse one OF the first weaveries of France.
And the colors of these sixteen and severn
teen centuries old grave clothes were of the
most fashionable hue-"Bysantnian," 1t is
called in Lyons, only finer, more delicate
and certainly more lasting.
Here is dress of noblewoman buried
at Antipols: "a long linen shirt OF the
| finest batlste, as the stuff is called today
| with insertion OF lace. The ground color Is
| white, with blue polka dots and heart
| shaped dots of white hue inwoven. The
| borders around the shoulders and in from
are OF raised embroidered work, the pattern
| of which Is quite fashionable just now
| This embroidery is visible through the over
| dress; also a modern frock. The dress
81 t. a,tt ate
| square. The dress has insertions over the
breast and is done up with many founce'
and friEs The poor dead woman wore ar
opera cloak, bright red silk, with whit,
| feather collar and a hat made OF narrow
| bands of red silk sewed together. She haC
| on tan shoes on which figures are Impressed
| in gold"
Your correspondent knows that he is chal
| lenging belief by the above statements bu
| he is copying from the official report of thu
| excavations made to the government. Tht
yellow dress from the year 200 is edged witt
an embroidered border of many colors The
borders OF imitation precious stones, nov
worn, appeared like bad counterfets of thu
Roman Egyptian original.
Some little time ago an article appeared II
many papers stating that the handkerchie
was an invention OF the fifteenth century
| Flddlesucks! Nj, Gayet assures us that tn
most of the female corpses excavated b!
him herd handkerchlefs between thei
| fingers!
On the Paris boulevards one sees nowadayI
many women wearing dresses with embrold
cry in high relief It's so fashionable
Strange. the Roman Egyptian women OF th'
second and third century thought so. too
as their dresses prove. And those big but
tons, pastels OF co-women framed il
bright metal. which We're all the rage no
long ago-our sisters at the beginning OF tn
Christian era thought them pretty also
though they used of course, different sub
jeots, goddesses and nymphs, Instead o
queens and great women.
The sleeves OF all the Roman dresses wer
OF peculiar pattern, which was revived Il
the middle ages, They must have swep
with them the ground. as they measure