2. With respect to the supposed representation of Jews in ancient monuments, if any authentic examples could be found, even of a single figure, in the ancient costume, it would afford much satisfaction, as tending to elucidate many passages of Scripture which cannot at present be with certainty explained. (See also un- der the article Bbick.)
(a.) A painting at Beni Hassan represents the ar- rival of some foreigners in Egypt, and is supposed to figure the arrival of Joseph's brethren in that country. The accessories of the scene, the physiognomies of the persons, and the time to which the picture relates, are certainly in unison with that event ; but other circum- stances are against the notion. Sir J. G. Wilkinson speaks hesitatingly on the subject ; and, until some greater certainty is obtained, we may admit the possi- ble correctness of the conjecture. The annexed cut
Supposed Representation of Joneph^s Brethren on the Egyp- tian Honnmenta.
shows the variety of costume which this scene displays. All the men wear sandals. Some of them are clad only in a short tunic or shirt, with close sleeves (fig. 8) ; others wear over this a kind of sleeveless plaid or mantle, throvm over the left shoulder, and passing un- der the right arm (fig. 2\ It is of a striped and curi- ously figured pattern, and looks exceedingly like the fine grass woven cloth of the South Sea. Others have, instead of this, a fringed skirt of the same material (fig. 1). All the figures are bare-headed, and wear beaids, which are circumstances favorable to the ident- fication. The fringed skirt of fig. 1 is certainly a re-
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markable drcmnstanoe. Moees directed tluit the peo- ple should wear a fHnge at the hem of their garments (Num. XV, 88) ; and the probabilitj is that this com- mand merely perpetoated a more ancient usage.
(b,) This fringe reappears, much enlarged, in the other Egyptian sculpture in which Jews are supposed to be represented. These are in a tomb discovered by Belzoni, in the valley of Bab el-Meluk, near Thebes. There are captives of diflferent nations, and among them four figures, supposed to represent Jews. The
Bappomd Represeatatlon of Jewiah Captivet on the Egyptian Monuments.
scene is imagined to commemorate the triumphs of Pharaoh-Necho in that war in which the Jews were defeated at Megiddo^ and their Icing Josiah slain (2 Chron. xxxv, xxxvi).
(c.) On the face of a rock at Behistnn (q. v.), on the Median border of the ancient Assyria, tliere is a re- markable sculpture representing a number of captives strung together by the neck, brought before the king and conqueror, who seems to be pronouncing sentence upon them. The venerable antiquity of this sculpture is unquestionable; and Sir R. K. Porter was led to fimcy tliat tbe sculpture commemorates the subjuga- tion and deportation of the ten tribes by Shalmaneser, king of Assyria (2 Kings xvii, 6). The reasons wliich he assigns {Travels in Persia, ii, 159 sq.) for tliis con- clusion are of little weight, and not worth examina- tion. But the single fact that the figures are arrayed in a costume similar to the ancient and present garb of the people of Syria and Lebanon inclines us to think that the figures really do represent the costume of na- tions west of the Euphrates, including, probably, that of the Jews and their near neighbors. The dress here
Supposed Bepresentatioo of IsnuiiiilMh Prlaouen on the Per- sian Monamenta.
shown is a shirt or tunic confined around the waist by a strap or girdle ; while others have a longer and lar- ger robe, furnished with a spacious cape or hood, and, probably, worn over the other.
There is no reason to think that the dress of the Jews was in any important respect different from that of the other inhabitants of the same and immediately bordering countries. It would therefore be satisfac- tory, and would enable us to judge better of the fig- ures which have been noticed, if we had representa- tions of Canaanites, Phoenicians, Syrians, Moabites, etc., by the Egyptian artists, who were so exact in discriminating, even to caricature, the peculiarities of nations. Under the article Abmor (p. 428) there is a supposed figure of a Canaanite warrior ttom this source. The dress, being military, does not afford much room for comparison in the present instance ; but we at once recognise in it most of the articles which formed the military dress of the Hebrews. The annexed figures, however, convey more information, as they appear to represent inhabitants of Samaria
Supposed Represenutlon of Natives of Faieatiike on tti»Eg7^ tian MoDoments.
and Lebanon. The evidence for the last (fig. 2) is « conclusive as can be obtained, for not only is tboette name **Lemanon** (m being constantly inteicbas^ with 6), but the persons thus attired are repnoote^ as inhabiting a mountainous country, and felBsf ^• trees to impede the cliariots of the Egyptian inndent. The dresses are Similar to each other, and this siai- larity strengthens the probability that the dress of & Jews was not very diflRarent ; and it b also obtemlck that it is similar to the full dress of some of the I^oib in the sculpture at Behistun : the figures are beaoM and the cap, or head-dress, is bound round with a §&L The figures are arrayed in a long gown reaching to tk ankles, and confined around the waist by a girdk; and the shoulders are covered by a cape, wfakb ap> pears to have been common to several natioof of Aa At first view it would seem that this dress is diief^ from those already figured. But, in all prohafaffitr, this more spacious robe is merely an outer garae^ covering the inner dress which is shown in tlie figara that seem more scantily arrayed. (See the iugaaesi papers by a lady on the costumes of the ancieet C» naanites in the Jour, of Sac, JU^., Jan. 1853, p. 291 sq.. and the cuts in the Ko. for April, 1854.) See CiXiif- itb; Lebanoh.