h the sex has commonly
submitted in the Eastern world. Much modesty can scarcely have belonged
to those whose virgin charms were originally offered in the public
market to the best bidder, and who were required by their religion, at
least once in their lives, openly to submit to the embraces of a man
other than their husband. It would certainly seem that the sex had
in Babylonia a freedom--and not only a freedom, but also a
consideration--unusual in the ancient world, and especially rare in
Asia. The stories of Semiramis and Nitocris may have in them no great
amount of truth; but they sufficiently indicate the belief of the
Greeks as to the comparative publicity allowed to their women by the
Babylonians.

The monuments accord with the view of Babylonian manners thus opened to
us. The female form is not eschewed by the Chaldaean artists. Besides
images of a goddess (Beltis or Ish-tar) suckling a child, which are
frequent, we find on the cylinders numerous representations of women,
engaged in various employments. Sometimes they are represented in a
procession, visiting the shrine of a goddess, to whom they offer their
petitions, by the mouth of one of their number, or to whom they bring
their children for the purpose, probably, of placing them under her
protection [PLATE XXV., Fig. 5.], sometimes they may be seen amusing
themselves among birds and flowers in a garden, plucking the fruit from
dwarf palms, and politely handing it to one another. [PLATE XXV., Fig.
4.] Their attire is in every case nearly the same; they wear a long but
scanty robe, reaching to the ankles, ornamented at the bottom with a
fringe and apparently opening in front. The upper part of the dress
passes over only one shoulder. It is trimmed round the top with a fringe
which runs diagonally across the chest, and a similar fringe edges the
dress down the front where it opens. A band or fillet is worn round the
head, confining the hair, which is turned back behind the head, and tied
by a riband, or else held up by the fillet.

Female ornaments are not perceptible on the small figures of
the cylinders; but from the modelled image in clay, of which a
representation has been already given, we learn that bracelets and
earrings of a simple character were worn by Babylonian women, if they
were not by the men. On the whole, however, female dress seems to have
been plain and wanting in variety, though we may perhaps suspect that
the artists do not trouble thems