ere lavished on them, or they obtained them
for themselves, but all the while they were obliged to remain shut in
the harem within their own houses; when they went out, it was only to
visit their female friends or their relatives, to go to some temple
or festival, and on such occasions they were surrounded with servants,
eunuchs, and pages, whose serried ranks shut out the external world.

* For the long garment of the women, see the statue
represented on p. 263 of the present work; for the loin-
cloth, which left the shoulders and bust exposed, see the
bronze figure on p. 262. The latter was no doubt the garment
worn at home by respectable women; we see by the punishment
inflicted on adulteresses that it was an outdoor garment for
courtesans, and also, doubtless, for slaves and women of the
lower classes.

** Women's occupations are mentioned in several texts and on
several ancient monuments. On the seal, an impress of which
is given on p. 233 of this volume, we see above, on the
left, a woman kneeling and crushing the corn, and before her
a row of little disks, representing, no doubt, the loaves
prepared for baking. The length of time for suckling a child
is fixed at three years by the Sumero-Assyrian tablet
relating the history of the foundling; protracted suckling
was customary also in Egypt.

There was no lack of children in these houses when the man had several
mistresses, either simultaneously or successively. Maternity was before
all things a woman's first duty: should she delay in bearing children,
or should anything happen to them, she was considered as accursed or
possessed, and she was banished from the family lest her presence should
be a source of danger to it.* In spite of this many households remained
childless, either because a clause inserted in the contract prevented
the dismissal of the wife if barren, or because the children had died
when the father was stricken in years, and there was little hope of
further offspring. In such places adoption filled the gaps left by
nature, and furnished the family with desired heirs. For this purpose
some chance orphan might be brought into the household--one of those
poor little creatures consigned by their mothers to the river, as in
the case of Shargani, according to the ancient legend; or who had been
exposed at the cross-roads to excite the pity of passers-by,** like the
f