ature and extent
of their mathematical acquirements, no account, however, can be given,
since the writers who mention them enter into no details on the subject.

CHAPTER VI. MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.

"Girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed attire upon
their heads, all of them princes to look to, after the manner of the
Babylonians of Chaldaea, the land of their nativity."--Ezek. xxiii. 15.

The manners and customs of the Babylonians, though not admitting of that
copious illustration from ancient monuments which was found possible in
the case of Assyria, are yet sufficiently known to us, either from the
extant remains or from the accounts of ancient writers of authority, to
furnish materials for a short chapter. Herodotus, Strabo, Diodorus, and
Nicolas of Damascus, present us with many interesting traits of this
somewhat singular people; the sacred writers contemporary with the acme
of the nation add numerous touches; while the remains, though scanty,
put distinctly and vividly before our eyes a certain number of curious
details.

Herodotus describes with some elaboration the costume of the Babylonians
in his day. He tells us that they wore a long linen gown reaching down
to their feet, a woollen gown or tunic above this, a short cloak or cape
of a white color, and shoes like those of the Boeotians. Their hair they
allowed to grow long, but confined it by a head-band or a turban; and
they always carried a walking-stick with a carving of some kind on
the handle. This portraiture, it is probable, applies to the richer
inhabitants of the capital, and represents the Babylonian gentleman
of the fifth century before our era, as he made his appearance in the
streets of the metropolis.

The cylinders seem to show that the ordinary Babylonian dress was
less complicated. The worshipper who brings an offering to a god is
frequently represented with a bare head, and wears apparently but
one garment, a tunic generally ornamented with a diagonal fringe, and
reaching from the shoulder to a little above the knee. The tunic is
confined round the waist by a belt. [PLATE XXII., Fig. 1.] Richer
worshippers, who commonly present a goat, have a fillet or headband, not
a turban, round the head. They wear generally the same sort of tunic
as the others; but over it they have a long robe, shaped like a modern
dressing-gown, except that it has no sleeves, and does not cover the
right shoulder. [PLATE XXII., Fig. 1.] In