Daily Life

Clothing

Nubians wore diverse types of clothes. Excavated graves dating to early periods in Kushite history indicate that early Nubians clothes were mostly made of leather and linen fibers. Loin clothes, kilt, and sandals were uncovered in considerable amounts in the Kerma graves. Clothes also showed signs of heavy coloration.

Jewelry was found in large numbers throughout Nubian graves including necklaces, bracelets, earrings, finger rings, ostrich feathers, and beads of faience.

Part of a scene from a bronze bowl from el-Hobagi. Source: Wildung, Dietrich. Sudan: Ancient Kingdoms of the Nile.

Men in Kushite graves were usually accompanied with loin clothes and tunics made of linen , while women were accompanied with simple long skirts; however, they wee often found bare chested.

A pastoral scene engraved in a bronze bowl dating to the second century AD, depicts Nubian men wearing tunics that were tucked under their belts and tied to to their fronts in a butterfly tie (see the figure below). A seated women was depicted wearing a squire piece of cloth with tassels dangling from its lower edge. The woman was also shown wearing heavy ornaments including a headband, a large bracelet, and armlets.

Royal Clothing in Early Nubia

Rich graves were excavated in Sudan containing abundant types of clothes such as leather loincloths, and tunics. Personal ornament materials were also abundantly discovered such as Kohl pots, and jewelry made of finance beads, ostrich shells, copper, and ivory.

Scene from the tomb of the Viceroy of Kush, Huy, at Thebes (Egypt), depicts Nubians presenting tribute to Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamon (1333-1323 B.C.).

Clothing of the Napatan Pharaohs:

Napatan pharaohs usually wore simple kilts that were sometimes adorned with colored bands. The pharaohs wore tight skullcaps as their crowns. Two urea (Cobras) were attached to a golden headband that was worn over the skullcaps. Kushite rulers always wore two urea to indicate that they were the rulers of both Nubia and Egypt. The pharaohs are often depicted bare chested except for large gold necklaces that are sometimes hung around their necks. However, in few cases, such as in the tomb of Tanwetamany, the later pharaoh is depicted wearing a tight shirt with short sleeves and a coat fastened over his left shoulder. Napatan pharaohs favored little jewelry; however, armlets were typically worn. Napatan pharaohs also wore false-beards sometimes. They also wore necklaces that depicted symbols of religious gods such as the falcon wings of Horus (sun god) or ram horns of Amon ( god of the universe). Kushite Royality usually wore leather sandals consisting of a strap that ran across the foot from which rose another stripe that joined the inner corner of the toe in the front of the sandal.

Releif of a Napatan pharaoh. Source: Wildung, Dietrich. Sudan: Ancient Kingdoms of the Nile.

Elements of a gold necklace from Meroe. Originally courtesy of the Oxford Excavations and the Khartoum National Museum. Source: Wildung, Dietrich. Sudan: Ancient Kingdoms of the Nile.

Clothin of the Napatan Royal women:

The common types of crown were consisted with tight skullcaps that started above the eyebrows and ended at the back of the neck. A uraeus (the eye Re) often projected from the skullcaps. Above the skullcap rose several types of crowns that indicated the importance of royal women in the family. The crown of the first wife to the pharaoh consisted of two horns with a sun disk in between. Above the horns and the sun disk were the shapes of, perhaps, two long feathers that rose in great height. The second wife, lesser in rank wore a crown supported with a small object which has the shape of a jar beyond which was a circular structure was placed. Other wives wore four long feathers. What seem to be the crown of the handmaids were three elongated plums rose and dangled over the back. Napatan queens are depicted wearing transparent linen loose robes usually plain of decorations. The robes were folded down the back of the dress. They were accompanied with broad collars and simple, but elegant, jewelery. Napatan royal women usually wore elegant leather sandals consisting of a stripe that ran across the foot from which rose another strap that joined the inner corner of the toe area at the front of the sandal.

Releif of Napatan Queen. Source: Wildung, Dietrich. Sudan: Ancient Kingdoms of the Nile.

Relief from Jebel Barka of Napatan queens.

Clothin of the Meroitic Royal women:

Relief from a temple at Naqa depicting Meroitic pharoah.

A Meroitic Pharaoh is usually depicted wearing the traditional skullcap with the two uraei (the eye of Re) projecting from them. A heavily decorated headband was sometimes tied around the head. This type of crown was usually accompanied with a tight leather dress with long sleeves. The dress, like most Meroitic clothes, is always heavily decorated with complex designs.

Pharaohs and queens wore other prominent types of dresses. However the most common one is consisted of a long skirt that reached the ankles; over which a fringed shawl was sometimes worn. A long robe is usually depicted dangling with three tassels.

Other types of crowns are depicted. A the temple at Naqa a pharaoh is depicted wearing a skullcaps that supported two horns and upon the ends of every horn is a urea. Farther more, above the horns rose three feather like objects (see the figure below).

Meroitic pharaohs usually wore sandals. One stripe of the sandal crossed over the back of the ankle and a second stripe crossed over the front of the ankle, and a third stripe connected the later stripe to the sole of the toe. Some sandals had leather extensions that provided a protective cover to the heel, while another stripe extended from the sole of the toe to another stripe that ran across the foot.

part of a relief From Naqa temple showing sandals of Meroitic royality.

Meroitic pharaohs and queens wore extensive jewelry including hand bands, bracelets, necklaces, girdles, earrings, anklets, and finger rings.

Unfortunately not much archeology had been done regarding this period, and especially in Sudan. Some of the excavated tumuli at Balana revealed few cotton materials. However since Sudan is notorious for its cotton production, cotton was certainly the main material used for making fiber in ancient Nubia.

Clothin of the Meroitic Royal women:

Floral elements. Napatan period. Made of gold. From Nuri. Originally courtesy of the Harvard University-MFA Boston Expedition and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Source: Wildung, Dietrich. Sudan: Ancient Kingdoms of the Nile.

At the Meroitic period, fashion differed considerably from fashion in the Napatan period. Meroitic kings and queens favored wearing extensive jewelry and heavily decorated their clothes with complex designs. Women were depicted obese as a sign of beauty, wearing long skirts that reached down to their ankles. Meroitic queen dress often consisted of a long skirt t; over which a fringed shawl was worn and a long robe was left dangling with multiple tassels at its end. Meroitic crowns were usually consisted of skullcaps with uraeus. Royal women often wore transparent loose robes of linen that reached down to their ankles and folds of the dress were draped over the right shoulder and folded down the back. This type of dress is very similar to the modern Sudanese Toab, worn by women. Royal women crowns considerably varied from one another; however, many of them were depicted wearing skullcaps over which rose two crowns consisting of two elongated plums that rose and dangled over the back. Napatan royality wore sandals similar to those worn by kings and queens although they often depicted bare foot. Meroitic royal women usually wore less Jewelry than their queens, often consisting of beads and headd bands.

Armlet. Made of gold and fused glass. From Meroe. Currently housed in Berlin. Source: Wildung, Dietrich. Sudan: Ancient Kingdoms of the Nile.

Royal Clothin of the X-Group:

One relief at Kalabsha dating to the fifth century A.D. depicts a king wearing fancy cloth with crowns (see the figure to the left). The first and larger relief depicts the king riding on a horse wearing a kilt up to his knees decorated with bands that were probably colored. The figure is also depicted wearing a thick belt decorated with vertical bands and a horizontal band on each edge. On his chest he wore a shield of, probably leather or iron. He wore a couple of armlets and bracelets. His chest is covered with a rectangular piece of cloth with a whole in it for the head.

The piece is decorated with vertical bands and tassels that align along its bottom side. The king wears a band that is tied around his head and a crown held upon two horns of a ram. The upper part of the crown is consisted of three leaf-like shapes with spherical shapes at their top ends.

A secondary part of the relief, below, depicts a king wearing the same kind of skirt with a chest shield that ends below the armpits. Two horizontal bands decorate the top and bottom ends of the shield. The shield is held by belts that pass over the shoulders and meet at the middle of the upper edge of the shield. Around his neck he is depicted wearing a broad collar, decorated with vertical bands. On his head he wears a crown shaped like a cylinder. From the inside of the cylender-crown a second crown emerges towards the top shaped like a plum and conglobed at its top-end.

^{Farther Readings:}

• ^{•Timothy Kendall, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Brockton Art Museum, Kush, Lost Kingdom of the Nile: A Loan Exhibition from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, September 1981-August 1984 (Brockton Art Museum/Fuller Memorial, 1982).}
• ^{•Robert S. Bianchi, Daily Life of the Nubians (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004).}