Besides the linen shirt the priests wore an upper garment of linen, more especially when they officiated in the temples. This garment was probably of the exact form of a modern linen sheet. The distinction between the shirt and the sheet worn over it, as well as the reason why linen was used for all sacred purposes, is clearly expressed in the two following passages from Apuleius and Jerome.
Etiamnè cuiquam mirum videri potest, cui sit ulla memoria religionis, hominem
tot mysteriis Deúm conscium, quædam sacrorum crepundia domi adversare, atque
ea lineo texto involvere, quod purissimum est rebus divinis velamentum? Quippe
lana, segnissimi corporis excrementum, pecori detracta, jam inde Orphei et Pythagoræ
scitis, profanus vestitus est. Sed enim mundissima lini seges, inter optimas
fruges terrâ exorta, non modò indutui et amictui sanctissimis Ægyptiorum sacerdotibus,
sed opertui quoque in rebus sacris usurpatur.
Apuleii Apolog. p. 64. ed. Pricæi.
Can any one impressed with a sense of religion wonder, that a man who has been made acquainted with so many mysteries of the gods, should keep at home certain sacred emblems and wrap them in a linen cloth, the purest covering for divine objects? For wool, the excretion of a sluggish body, taken from sheep, was deemed a profane attire even according to the early tenets of Orpheus and Pythagoras. But flax, that cleanest and best production of the field, is used, not only for the inner and outer clothing of the most holy priests of the Egyptians, but also for covering sacred objects.—Yates's Translation.
Indutus was the putting on of the inner, amictus of the outer garment. Vestibus lineis utuntur Ægyptii sacerdotes non solum extrinsecus, sed et intrinsecus.—Hieron. in Ezek. 44. folio 257.
The Egyptian priests use linen garments, not only without, but also within.
Plutarch says[1], that the priests of Isis wore linen on account
of its purity, and he remarks how absurd and inconsistent would
have been their conduct, if they had carefully plucked the
hairs from their own bodies, and yet clothed themselves in
wool, which is the hair of sheep. He also mentions the opinion
of some who thought that flax was used for clothing, because
the color of its blossom resembles the etherial blue which
surrounds the world; and he states, that the priests of Isis
were also buried in their sacred vestments. According to
- ↑ De Iside et Osiride, prope init. Opp. ed. H. Stephani, Par. 1572, tom. i p. 627, 628.
