ability is that the latter name passed frx>m the mate- rial to a particular kind of robe. Silk was not intro- duced unto a very late period (Rev. xviii, 12) : the term meaki'^ ("^ttJa ; Sept rptxawrov ; Ezek. xvi, 10) is of doubtful meaning. See Silk. The use of a mixed material, shaaine/ 02^^^ * ^P^ Kifidr}XoVy I e. spU' riout; Aquila, ivrtBuuciifuvov ; Yen. Gr. ipcdXivov), such as wool and flax, was forbidden (Lev. xix, 19 ; Deut. xxii, 11), on the ground, according to Josephus (Ant, iv, 8, 11), that such was reserved for the priests, or as being a practice usual among idolaters (Spencer, Leg. Heb. Hit. ii, 82), but more probably with the view of enforcing the general idea of purity and simplicity. See DiVEBSB.
2. Color and Decoration. — ^The prevailing color of the Hebrew dress was the natural white of the materials employed, which might be brought to a high state of brilliancy by the art of the fuller (Mark ix, 8). Some of the terms applied to these materials (e. g. ^d, |^*ia, "^^n) are connected with words significant of white- ness, while many of the allusions to garments liave special reference to this quality (Job xxxviii, 14 ; Psa. civ, 1, 2 ; Isa. Ixiii, 8) : white was held to be peculiar- ly appropriate to festive occasions (Eccl. ix, 8 ; comp. Horace, Sat. ii, 2, 60), as well as symbolical of purity (Rev. iii, 4, 5 ; iv, 4 ; vii, 9, 13). It is uncertain when the art of dyeing became known to the Hebrews ; the Cai^O rishs, ketho^neth pamm' worn by Joseph (Gen. xzxvii, 8, 28) is variously taken to be either a ^* coat of divers colors" (Sept. fl-oictXoc; Vulgate polymUa; comp. the Greek vaaanv, II. iii, 126 ; xxii, 441), or a tunic furnished with sleeves and reaching down to the ankles, as in the versions of Aquila, affrpayaKnog, KapTTbiToCf and Symmachus, ^^ccpc^wroc, and in the Yulg. (2 Sam. xiil, 18) taiar%$^ and as described by Jo- sephus {Ant. vii, 8, 1). The latter is probably the cor- rect sense, in which case we have no evidence of the use of variegated robes previously to the sojourn of the Hebrews in Egypt, though the notice of scarlet thread (Gen. xxxviii, 28) implies some acquaintance with dyeing, and the light summer robe (C)*^?2C ; Sept. Ofpurrpov ; A.V. "veil") worn by Rebekah and Tamar (Gen. xxiv, 65 ; xxxviii, 14, 19) was probably of an ornamental character. The Egyptians had carried the art of weaving and embroidery to a liigh state of per- fection, and from them the Hebrews learned various methods of producing decorated stufFs. The elements of ornamentation were, (1) weaving with threads pre- viously dyed (Exod. xxxv, 26 ; compare Wilkinson's Egtfptuma, iii, 125) ; (2) the introduction of gold thread or wire (Exod. xxviii, 6 sq. ; (3) the addition of fig- ures, probably of animals and hunting or battle scenes (comp. Layard, ii, 297), in the case of garments, in the same manner as the cherubim were represented in the curtains of the tabernacle (Exod. xxvi, 1, 81 ; xxxvi, 8, 85). These devices may have been either woven into the stuff, or cut out of other stuff and afterwards attached by needlework : in the former case the pat- tern would appear only on one side, in the latter the pattern might be varied. Such is the distinction, ac- cording to Talmudical writers, between cunninff-work and needlework, or as marked by the use of the singu- lar and dual number, H^p^, needlework, and D^riTSp*^, needlevDork on both sides (Judg. v, 80), though the latter term may after all be accepted in a simpler way as a dual =ttPO embroidered robes (Bertheau, Comm. in 1. c). The account of the corsleL of Amasis (Herod, ill, 47) illustrates the processes of decoration described in Ex- odus. Robes decorated with gold (rS:cadp, Psa. xlv, 18), and at a later period with silver thread (Josephus, Ant. xix, 8, 2 ; comp. Acts xii, 21), were worn by royal personages: other kinds of robes were worn by the wealthy both of Tyre (Ezek. xvi, 13) and Palestine (Judg. V, 80 ; Psa. xlv, 14). The art does not appear
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