Clothing and Personal Care

Clothing in the Hittite kingdom was both a practical possession and a way to present status. Wool and linen supplied cloth, leatherworkers prepared material for footwear and straps, and elaborate garments belonged to royal and religious service. Texts, textile tools and Late Bronze Age images reveal different stages between raw fibre, a finished garment and a person dressed for work or ceremony.

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Making cloth

A garment began with labour well before it was worn. Wool fibres or prepared flax had to be spun into yarn. A spindle twisted drawn-out fibres, with a pierced weight called a whorl helping it rotate. Weaving then interlaced crosswise threads with lengthwise threads held under tension. Clay or stone loom weights and spindle whorls survive in central Anatolian settlements, preserving equipment used where the cloth itself has decayed.

Hittite textile vocabulary names wool and linen, yarns, strips and rolls of fabric, as well as finished clothing. This range matters because a piece of woven cloth could be stored, exchanged or assigned to a worker before being turned into a garment. The laws recognised weaving and fulling, the cleaning and finishing of cloth, as skills for which a parent could arrange a son’s training.

Tunics, robes and headgear

Knee-length, shirt-like tunics formed part of ordinary dress as described in studies of Hittite clothing. A belt gathered a garment at the waist and could carry equipment. Longer robes and mantles occur in royal representations; kings could appear in a long outer garment open at the front over a shorter garment. Different lengths and layers changed both the silhouette and the way a dressed figure was presented.

At Yazılıkaya, the rock sanctuary outside Hattusa, divine figures wear distinctive dress. Male gods commonly have short belted garments and tall pointed headgear, while goddesses appear in long pleated skirts and high headdresses. These attributes helped viewers identify the figures within the religious procession. The carved folds, belts and footwear also show the visual importance of how a garment fitted around the body.

Footwear and adornment

Shoes with upturned toes are conspicuous in Hittite images. Their shape appears on figures in short and long garments and became a recognisable feature of Anatolian visual traditions. Leatherworking was a skilled occupation, attested in palace service as well as through craft training. Preparing, cutting and joining material for shoes and straps connected clothing with the same animal resources used by other crafts.

Jewellery added another material and social layer. Royal ceremonial preparations could include gold earrings and a close-fitting cap. Valuable metal objects also entered cult and palace inventories, where clothing and adornment were listed among possessions supplied or dedicated for particular purposes. Such goods embodied skilled work and accumulated wealth as well as changing a wearer’s appearance.

Dressing for a ceremony

Royal festival texts describe clothing as part of a sequence of preparation and performance. An attendant helped the king put on prescribed garments after washing. Different ceremonies called for a blue robe or for combinations such as a white garment, a rough shepherd’s mantle and black shoes. Changing clothing marked a transition into a particular ritual role.

Dress also accompanied action. A ruler might carry a spear or another prescribed object, and some festival schedules required a change of equipment during the ceremony. Colour, headdress, outer garment and the items carried worked together to distinguish a stage of the rite. This was an organised task involving attendants as well as the king.

Washing and grooming

Cleanliness was especially explicit in instructions for temple personnel preparing food for the gods. Workers were required to wash, attend to hair and nails, and wear clean garments. The baking area also had to be swept and kept free from animals that could contaminate the food. Personal appearance and the treatment of utensils formed part of the same responsibility for acceptable service.

Water had to be carried or channelled to the place where it was used. Hattusa and Sarissa preserve bathing installations, drains and ceramic equipment associated with washing. In royal and temple service, cleaning the body and changing into appropriate clothing prepared a person to handle sacred food or enter a ceremony. Garments, water vessels and the work of attendants made this preparation possible.

For the wider setting, see Hittite daily life.