garment that was the prevailing fashion. This is best seen on a worn seal in the British
Museum depicting what appears to be a domestic scene of four females, a mother
seated with her child on her lap and an attendant (servant) whose chest is bare and who
wears a long fringed skirt. The other females are wearing the long fringed garment with
one bare shoulder. All have the same hairstyle, a band round the head holding the long
hair at the back in a bun (Collon 1982 : pl. xx, 142 ). Another seal from the Borowski
Collection, executed in the best Akkadian classical style, shows an enthroned mountain
goddess receiving another goddess who is leading a female worshipper wearing a long
pleated garment made of two layers and showing one bare shoulder. Behind her is a
female attendant who is wearing the common fringed garment (Figure 19. 7 ). Both
females have a similar headdress to the previous seal–a headband that holds the long
hair into a bun.
The dress of the godsBy the Akkadian period, representations of deities, particularly on cylinder seals, were
common. There is a rich variety of dress represented. Two main styles of dress can be
identified as associated with the gods: the long multiple tiered flounced garment
draped over one shoulder, and occasionally a flounced skirt. The pleated or seriated
long skirt is the other type of dress. All these styles are best seen on one seal in the
British Museum (Figure 19. 8 ; Aruz 2003 : 213 , cat. no. 139 ).
The multiple horned crown is the standard headdress, the definitive symbol of
divinity, for both male and female deities. The male hair style is similar to what a
number of the rulers were wearing, long and tied at the back to a chignon, while the
female deities had their hair loose falling down their shoulders and back.
–– Lamia al Gailani Werr ––Figure 19.6Ur III impression of cylinder seal (Tell Suleimeh 222 .IM 83701 )