Ancient Israelite Clothing
When I began writing, I had not done much research about the clothing of the period. I had seen the Egyptian drawings on the tomb walls of Canaanites coming to Egypt to trade and immigrate and live. Amorites and Canaanites appear to dress so similarly, that one cannot be distinguished from the other by dress. Jacob and Esau would have dressed in much the same fashion, though with a full tunic, meaning there would have been a top.
According to the Egyptian drawings, men wore a kilt from the waist to the knee or a little below. Women wore a dress with a strap across one shoulder and extending down to the ankles. The dresses were not low cut, but rather extended to the arm pits on both sides. In the Egyptian drawings, the clothing of both male and female were multi-colored in striped patterns.
What else is known about the way ancient Israelites may have dressed?
Because of the climate and the swings in temperature a person out with flocks of goats and sheep would need more than a simple tunic. If it were wool, it would be hot in the day and still not warm enough at night. Both men and women wore tunics and coats over them. The difference was in the length of the tunic and possibly the belt, but there were not great differences between clothing for men versus those for women. There was more of a difference in the way they were worn. I got good information from these two sites: www.womeninthebible.net/3.3.Clothing_housing.htm and www.bible-archeology.info/clothes.htm
According to the Egyptian drawings, men wore a kilt from the waist to the knee or a little below. Women wore a dress with a strap across one shoulder and extending down to the ankles. The dresses were not low cut, but rather extended to the arm pits on both sides. In the Egyptian drawings, the clothing of both male and female were multi-colored in striped patterns.
What else is known about the way ancient Israelites may have dressed?
Because of the climate and the swings in temperature a person out with flocks of goats and sheep would need more than a simple tunic. If it were wool, it would be hot in the day and still not warm enough at night. Both men and women wore tunics and coats over them. The difference was in the length of the tunic and possibly the belt, but there were not great differences between clothing for men versus those for women. There was more of a difference in the way they were worn. I got good information from these two sites: www.womeninthebible.net/3.3.Clothing_housing.htm and www.bible-archeology.info/clothes.htm