Native Arab Dress

[Crispvs]

Does anyone have any information on the native dress (both male and female) of North African and Arabian Arabs in late antiquity?

Crispvs

[Robert Vermaat]

What North African Arabs? The Arabs only spread to N Africa after the start of the Islamic conquest during the 7th c., I think....

I'm not sure if we even have that many illustrations of any kind from this period. Clothing styles may have differed widely from bedouin tibes to the city states on the Arabian peninsula. North African tribes may have been much influenced by Roman fashion, whilst the closer you got to Persia, Persian influence is seen..

I'm not a specialist in this field, but from the images that I have from this and that book, I'd say wide tunics, knee-length. Trousers, also wide, not so much different as some local clothing today.

Here's a link to a nice book about the 6th c. and after

As for female dress, no veils or similar face-covering clothing. That all post-Islamic, and not arab at all. Byzantine women were the first to cover their faces in public, only Arab women of very high status did so.

Another general link.

[Caballo]

And for Berbers a shaved head and scalplock, shown in Tunisian Roman mosaics, and woRn by Berbers up to the 19th century.

[MeinPanzer]

What North African Arabs? The Arabs only spread to N Africa after the start of the Islamic conquest during the 7th c., I think....

There were Arabs living in Egypt since at least the Hellenistic period, and very likely earlier as well.

What period of late antiquity are you referring to, and which part of Arabia? Costume differed between the Bedouin tribes of the northwest and the inhabitants of the urbanized cultures of the southwest of the peninsula in what is today Yemen. We have a lot of evidence for costume in the latter, but not a huge amount for the former.

[Crispvs]

I was actually asked the question by someone else, but as far as I know she was interested in the dress of Arabs living away from urban centres in the century or so prior to Mohammed. Sorry - I should have been clearer to start with.
Robert, thanks for the link.

Crispvs

[Alanus]

In my studies of the late Sarmatian-Alanic version of the akinakes, I was surprise to find illustrations of them worn by Saracens. This would be the time-period you are inquiring about. Pre Muslem. The trousers are baggy, as is the tunic. The akinakes (dagger) was worn on the outside of the right leg, just below the crotch, tied by two cords or straps. I made a reproduction for my kit. Handy little bugger.

[ParthianBow]

It's a bit of a mish-mash Osprey, trying to cover an awful lot of ground in not enough pages, but there's some good information in it:
http://www.ospreypublishing.com/store/Romes-Enemies-(5 )_9781855321663
I second what Vortigern Studies says about the Arabs - they didn't come along until the rise of Islam...

[MeinPanzer]

I second what Vortigern Studies says about the Arabs - they didn't come along until the rise of Islam...

Didn't come along where? If you mean north Africa, then the papyrological record contradicts you, since there are numerous attestations of people with the ethnic title of Arab from the Hellenistic period onwards.

[ParthianBow]

I should have been more specific. I was referring to the common interpretation that all peoples of North Africa in Roman times were 'Arabs', when in fact there were Numidians, Libyans, Carthaginians etc. etc. IIRC, the Arabs may indeed have been present in N. Af., but didn't complete their conquest of it, and of the peoples above, until the rise of Islam.

[Alanus]

It seems the original question was about Arab dress, not specificly in N. Africa. :?

As mentioned above, Arabs were mentioned in Greek texts. If we equate Arab with Saracen, they jump out of the text of Ammianus and earlier Roman writers as well. Palmyra was Arabic; Zenobia was an Arab. The Apostate used Saracens while fighting Shapur II. A contingent of Saracen horsemen rode out of Constantinople and fought the Goths. These were described as "half naked," ie no tunic or shirt. They frightened the bejabbers out of the Goths in their uncivilized behavior. Again-- according to Prof. Barberi-- this same group of Saracens was at the battle of Adrianople. I would say that Arabs "got around," if you get my gist.

[Bellerophon]

Arabian dress was different from region/people and of course what class of society. There isn't one awnser, and of course it also varied and evolved from time to time. Some arabians kept the typical ancient semitic clothing style of a cloth wrapped around the waist forming a king of skirt for a very long time. (Especially in the Southern parts) Others were influenced very much by the Persians (east coast of Arabia) and later the Parthians/sassanids (palmyra, hatra, east arabia), some were hellenized a lot (Take the nabataeans who where very much hellenized before their annexation by the roman empire).

So it's hard to tell. What people are you interested in and what exactly do you mean with late classical period?

[Yeyo]

I was actually asked the question by someone else, but as far as I know she was interested in the dress of Arabs living away from urban centres in the century or so prior to Mohammed. Sorry - I should have been clearer to start with.
Robert, thanks for the link.

In Syria and Jordania, the Byzantine and Persian influence was strong, but among the nomad arabic peoples the typical male garment was the izzar. Here is a coptic ivory of the 6th century that shows two bedouins with long braided hair and izzar.



In the time of Mohammed was very common the use of a long unbelted tunic called jubba, and the qamis, an undertunic. The general image of an arab wasn’t very diferent than, for instance, the people who appears in the Maqamat of al-Hariri of the 13th century, but with a shorter version of the turban.
http://www.omifacsimiles.com/brochures/ ... aq_2_m.jpg

Here you will find an article about pre-islamic garments in North Africa.
http://home.earthlink.net/~lilinah/Cost ... stume.html

As you can see, the traditional Berber/Amazight clothing is diferent to the Arabic ones. For instance, they didn’t use the turban (called ‘imama) until the 8th century, or even after. In the Maghrib the Punic, Roman, Byzantine and Arabic influences were important in the urban centers, specially in the coast, and in the 7th century this population spoke latin and dressed a late roman or byzantine fashion.

But even today, the 40% of the population of Morocco speaks Berber, not Arabic, and some of the traditional Berber garment are used: long tunics and a hooded cloack called “burnus”. In general, the pre-islamic northern Africa was very different as is shown in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator: no turbans, no dromedaries, etc.

[Bellerophon]

@Yeyo: Would you happen to know when "turbands" first started to be commonly worn in Arabia? Though of course that is also very region depended. I also wonder what role India would've played. As there was quite a bit of trade between the Indians and Arabs, especially with those living on the coasts of the persian gulf.

[Yeyo]

@Yeyo: Would you happen to know when "turbands" first started to be commonly worn in Arabia? Though of course that is also very region depended. I also wonder what role India would've played. As there was quite a bit of trade between the Indians and Arabs, especially with those living on the coasts of the persian gulf.

No, I'm afraid I can't answer that question...