quote: The term "Cordwainer" is an Anglicization of the French word cordonnier, introduced into our language after the Norman invasion of England in 1066. The word itself is derived from the city of Cordoba, in the south of Spain, a stronghold of the mighty Omeyyad Kalifs until its fall in the 12th century. Moorish Cordoba was celebrated for two staple trades in the early Middle Ages, silver-smithing and the production of cordouan (cordovan) leather, called "cordwain" in England. Originally made from the skin of the Musoli goat, then found in Corsica, Sardinia, and elsewhere, this leather was "tawed" with alum after a method supposedly known only to the Moors. English Crusaders brought home much plunder and loot, including the finest leather the English shoemakers had ever seen. Gradually cordouan, or cordovan leather became the material most in demand for the finest footwear in all of Europe.
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No kidding. Tut's elaborate gold and beaded slippers reminds me exactly of the same kind worn by royalty from from other parts of Africa.
Posts: 26237 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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posted
Interestingly enough, the reason I was looking for this is because I wanted to find a connection between the upturned sandals of the Egyptians and the upturned slippers of the Moors and Muslims. Many people say that slippers or slip ons, as opposed to sandals, originated in Asia. But here in Tut's tomb, you see plainly that the Egyptians also had slippers. Also, it would not be hard to go from the updurned sandals of the Egyptians to the upturned slippers just by adding some fabric to the front of the sandal. I dont doubt that this is possible at all.
There is a lot of clothing that was found in Tut's tomb and MOST of it hardly gets the light of day. However, what was found mostly showed that they DID NOT just wear the white linen that modern Egyptologists say they did.
Also note this fine tapesry robe that was found in his tomb:
Actually, my opinion is that many of the clothes of the Egyptians were more like the clothes of some tuareg, some of the ethiopians, some of the Sudanese and some of the Muslims, because they all draw on the same legacy. I also think that they wore elaborate and colorful dress that has not survived to this day.
Keep in mind that the oldest quilted fabric is found in Egypt and the oldest knitting is found in Egypt during the Muslim period, even though knitting is older than that. We also know that they had tents and woven sails and all other sorts of textile traditions, that became part of what we call "berber" or saharan cultural traditions, that some think originated with the Muslims. In fact many of the traditions spreading from East to West in the early Muslim period were actually traditions from WITHIN Africa, not without. Unfortunately because of the Muslim conquests, man y assume that these ideas and traditions originated with the Muslims. Notwithstanding the fact that there too were ancient traditions in within the lands of Persia, Babylon and elswhere that came under Muslim domination as well.
One example of this is the robes worn across Africa, and slippers, that also trace back to this tradition in Africa along the Nile. For example, the one piece white shawls of the Berbers in Morrocco or the striped textiles and headscarves, all of which trace back to the spread of African traditions across the sahara prior to and during the Muslim period. These traditions then passed out of Africa as a result of trade around the world. Not that Africa was the only place to have such traditions, but that many of the traditions that spread across Africa were from Africa itself, as opposed to outside influence, in many areas. An example is the tapered casbahs of Morrocco that are reminiscent of the Mud brick fortresses and palaces of Egypt and along the Nile that led to the stone fortress temples of Karnak and elsewhere. Karnak, by the way, means fortress or fortified village in Arabic:
quote: The other major temples of Thebes are all located in Karnak, about 2,400 meters (1.5 miles) north of the Luxor Temple. Karnak takes its name from those imposing remains - the Arabic word means "fortified village" - and from the temples' pylons, which inspired Homer's description of Thebes as "hundred-gated." Covering an area of more than 120 hectares (300 acres), the monuments of Karnak record the identities and aspirations of the pharaohs, and occasionally of important non-royal personages, from the 21st century BC down to the Roman period, which began in 30 BC. The monuments were built as earthly residences for the gods and goddesses worshipped in Phararonic times.
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Doug M, I understand perfectly what you mean. It's all too true that scholars have created this perception that the only type of clothes Egyptians wore was white linen. Although white linen was a common wear due to the hot weather, there is no doubt the Kemetians also wore clothes of other varied colors also. I have seen only a few examples in tomb art of Egyptians wearing colored clothing (other than the Ramses Book of Gates scene).
It's funny but the examples of multi-colored clothing from Tut's tomb reminds me of the various styles of clothing worn in inner Africa from Kente-cloth to others.
But you're correct, that their style reflected moreso neigboring peoples of the Nile Valley and the Sahara.
Posts: 26237 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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Senegalese Egyptologist Aboubacry Moussa LAM pointed out the resemblances between the Egyptian & Senegambian shoes from different standpoints:
-The Pulaar name of the shoe teppite (from teppere "sole of the foot" ) resembles the AEgyptian one tjbwty (from tjbw "sole of the foot");
-Many Egyptologists think the buckle of the Egyptian shoe represents the ankh symbol and in various West-Atlantic languages, it is known as the "life of the shoe";
-The design of the Senegambian shoe sometimes reminds a stylization of the ankh symbol itself.
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Note that these styles of corselets are an excelllent example of the level of sophistication in making stylized scale and chain mail armors for the royalty along with the elaborate helmets that were worn. Many people confuse the fact that the Egyptians portrayed themselves going to war in loincloths as meaning that they actually had no scaled armor of leather or metal. This was not the case, as most of these images were simply traditional, going back to the beginnings of the Egyptian state and had nothing to do with the actual day to day accoutrements of warfare. If they only wore kilts they would have been destroyed way before the 6th dynasty.
Anyway, this type of scaled dress is very old indeed in Egypt and can be seen going back a ways. One good example is the dress of Kemsit from the 12th dynasty. Which, by the way, I also recall seeing in its full color glory in one of the Egyptian picture books I have here at home....
I think it was on the cover of the The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (or History of the World) from the late 80s to early 90s that featured an excellent illustration of Rameses II riding into battle with horses that had colorful plumes, riding gloves, scale armor and the like. Definitely a sight to see and definitely NOT the linen kilt wearing soldier many would expect from Egypt.
A funny thing I have noticed is that many of the picture books offer more undeniably black African images from Egypt than those on the web, whether any color remains or not. I was looking at some of the sculpted reliefs from Karnak and it was amply evident. A good example is the white chapel of senwosret I. Also there are images of tombs that are not often found on the web as well.
More on scale armor and clothing from the ancient world:
quote: 98) Thomas Hulit, University of Durham, Organic Body Armor in the Late Bronze Age Near East
Organic remains in archaeology are often lost due to decomposition, and can lead to large gaps in our understanding of the archaeological record. Organic materials were often used in the manufacture of military equipment, including body armor. Current hypotheses generally suggest that most body armor from the Late Bronze Age was manufactured from bronze, however the author’s recent research suggests that the majority of coats of scale body armor in use in the LBA were made from rawhide. As a biologically active (but inert) material, rawhide rarely survives in the archaeological record, and there is only one known surviving LBA example of rawhide armor; the armor from the tomb of Tut_Ankham_n. In an analysis of the methods of construction of scale body armor, the socio-economic factors governing its use, and the relevant contemporary Near Eastern texts, it appears that as many as 200 coats of organic armor were in use for every one coat of bronze armor. It is also quite likely that the few bronze armor scales found in excavations were from coats of armor made of a composite of both bronze and rawhide scales. Experimental work conducted at H.M. Royal Armories Museum (Leeds) has proven that bronze, rawhide, and composite bronze/rawhide scale armor is quite effective at protecting the wearer from injury.
But even with the decay of artifacts, the abundance of imagery from Egypt of persons wearing scale and intricate chain armor suggests that it was much more widespread than what is often suggested in Egypt.
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Egyptian leather cuirass (leather breastplate) from the tomb of Tutankhamun:
Presages the later breastplates of the Greeks and Romans and also presages the leather working styles of later African Islamic cultures in northern Africa and Spain.
quote: The only item of true body armor recovered from the tomb was a close-fitting leather cuirass, found in a crumpled up state in box 587 in the Annex. It is described by Carter as 'made up of scales of thick tinted leather worked onto a linen basis, or lining, in the form of a ...bodice without sleeves'.
Not to mention the ancient Egyptian belts that presage the modern military belts with circular buckles worn by officers.
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