Page:The Hittites - the Story of a Forgotten Empire.djvu/143

The robes of the women descended to the feet. This was also the case with the long sleeved garment of the priests, but other men wore a tunic which left the knees bare, and was fastened round the waist by a girdle. Over this was thrown a cloak, which in walking left one leg exposed. In the girdle was stuck a short dirk; the other arms carried being a spear and a bow, which was slung behind the back. The double-headed battle-axe was also a distinctively Hittite weapon, and was carried by them to the coast of the Ægean, where in the Greek age it became the symbol of the Karian Zeus, and of the island of Tenedos. All these weapons were of bronze, or perhaps of iron; but there are indications that the Hittite tribes had once contented themselves with tools and weapons of stone. Near the site of Arpad Mr. Boscawen purchased a large and beautiful axe-head of highly polished green-stone, which could, however, never have been intended for actual use. It was, in fact, a sacrificial weapon, surviving in the service of the gods from the days when the working of metal was not yet known. Like other survivals in religious worship, it bore witness to a social condition that had long since passed away. A small axe-head, also of polished green-stone, was obtained by myself from the neighbourhood of Ephesos, and bears a remarkable resemblance in form to the axe-head of Arpad. The importance of this fact becomes manifest when we compare the numerous other weapons or implements of polished stone found in Western Asia Minor, which exhibit quite a different shape. It permits the conclusion that both Arpad and Ephesos were seats of Hittite influence, and that in both the same form of stone implement—a survival from an earlier age of stone—was dedicated to the service of the gods.