The Sumerian World (Routledge Worlds)

Of the colors listed in Table 20. 2 , 90 percent were light, white, black, reddish-
brown, and multicolored. Shiny yellow was used to produce 1 percent of cloth and was
exclusively worn by the king. For others in Sumerian society, the marking of color by
social status was situational. White and black often were recorded at the end of lists,
suggesting that the cloth might be less valued because it was listed in connection with
persons of low status. For example, white fabric/cloth was listed for an old man and a
water carrier, while black was given to 10 percent of men and women slaves.
In distinction, white, black, and multicolored garments were produced for gods or
goddesses and used for dressing statues, suggesting that color could take on symbolic
qualities under specific circumstances. In myths, for example, Dumuzi, the god of
flocks, desired black and white, while the goddess Ninhursag wore a black garment.
She was given black wool and had a heavy-black cloth made for the goddess Inanna.
In the Enmerkar epic, the king specifically asked for a multicolored cape in an
enactment of a sacred marriage which he wore in the role of Dumuzi, while Inanna
wore a white garment. More powerful, however, was a black and multicolored garment
that Inanna wore which was said to have “numinous powers,” suggesting that under
some circumstances gods became more powerful with colored garments (Waetzoldt
2010 : 203 ).

Other fibers and fabrics

In addition to loom woven linen and wool, cloth was produced from a felting process.
Felters (Tu’g-du 8 ) produced a special type of cloth that was made from wool and goat
hair using a different process from loom woven fabrics. It came in different sizes and
thicknesses and cut into appropriate pieces for various uses. Based on analogies with
modern-day felting processes in Iran, Piotr Steinkeller has reconstructed the felting
process based upon the raw materials brought into the felters workshop. They include
various mineral and plant dyes, “powdered chick peas,” flour, ordinary beer, “horned
alkali,” “pig oil,” and “gold-coloured earth” (Steinkeller 1980 : 96 ff.). The pig oil, alkali,
and beer were used for the final sizing of the cloth; the chemical dyes, as they are
today, for motif designs composed of “colour patches of wool” that are pressed into
felt” (ibid.: 99 ).

–– Rita P. Wright ––

Table 20. 2 Colors, uses, and classes

Color Use Technique For whom

Light or white Garment or fabric Woven Various

Dark or black Garment or fabric Woven Various

Lowest quality wool Woven M/F slaves

Multicolored wool 3 rd/ 4 th quality wool* Woven Upper classes

Shiny yellow Finest quality garment Woven King only

Reddish-brown Shoes, sandals and belts Braided Unknown

Yellowish Ribbons Unknown

Greenish Ribbons Unknown

Multicolored Ribbons Lower deities

Black and yellow Ribbons Unknown