The Lady of Susa: Reconstructing the clothing of Achaemenid Persia (Part 3)

A simple veil is where we begin today..... Well, for now. You'll see what I mean later. :)

Veils, prior to Islam, were viewed in a very different context than now. They were not mandatory in Achaemenid Persia; rather, they were meant to be seen as a luxury item; something that a woman wore when leaving the privacy of the home to show her status as a lady, so free of obligations, that she could cloak herself in a garment that made it nearly impossible to do anything in.

 

Detail from the Pazyryk Rug, a 2500 year old rug that is believed to be from Achaemenid Persia, and certainly seems to back up that belief with these wonderful depictions of Achaemenid women. Image found from the Web.Iran forum

In addition, in a world where women worked along side men, and were paid equal - each person paid according to their individual skill level, their difficulty of labor, and their over all experience in the field rather than their gender - and with women even given a form of maternity gratification, (which can be likened to compensation given during maternity leave), the idea of being away from the public eye was a state of leisure. This state of leisure was usually enforced by the women themselves, as they were the ones that then chose to showcase their status by protecting as much of their privacy as possible.

Royal women viewed themselves as very private, as their common counterparts were so visible to the public. The ability to be able to simply withdraw oneself at one's own convenience was quite a luxury, mainly because it was so impractical.

This is also why in the Cyropaedia, Araspas the Mede gets a bit in over his head with our Lady of Susa... She retracted her general "veil of privacy" so to speak around him because she saw him as a close friend, and, well... How often did royal women really do that?

Judging by his reaction: not often, not often at all.