Iraq+Culture

__media type="custom" key="3139994" Clothing __Artifacts found in Sumerian tombs suggest that the early inhabitants of Mesopotamia wore a wrapped sheepskin skirt, called //kaunakes,// with one end of the garment passed under a wide belt in front and over the left shoulder. After woven cloth was available, the garment was fringed at the hem to simulate the effect of fleece. Cloaks covered the upper body, and royal women wore elaborate gold jewelry. Later Babylonian and Assyrian costume shifted from draped garments to tunics. Assyrian law codes prescribed veiling for free, married women and prohibited it for prostitutes and slaves. Mesopotamia was the land of wool production and weaving, and wool was the primary fiber for clothes, tapestries, and curtains, although linen, cotton, and even silk are mentioned. The industry was technologically sophisticated enough to produce elaborate woven and embroidered figural motifs. Evidence of weaving guilds and apprenticeships, plus textile trade with other countries, attests to the importance of the textile industry. __Languages__ Iraq's languages come from different linguistic families - Semitic, Indo-European, and agglutinative languages like Sumerian, Hurrian and Turkish. Some, although long dead, have a prime place in the history of the Old World: Sumerian, probably the first language to be written and the vehicle of cuneiform scholarship for more than twomillennia, and Akkadian, the language of Hammurapi and the Epic of Gilgamesh, and used across the Near East for administration and diplomacy. The history of Aramaic is even longer, stretching back to overlap with Akkadian before 1000 BC. It survives, precariously, in both written and spoken forms, being one of four languages spoken in Iraq today. Of these Arabic as a major world language has often been described, but here we have an account of the vernacular Iraqi Arabic dialects, and the descriptions of Iraqi Kurdish and Turkman are unique, detailed and authoritative. Standard Arabic && Kurdish Language __Ettiquette__ Handshaking is the traditional form of greeting for Iranians. However, some sources state that while handshaking is customary, it is not done with members of the opposite sex. Due to this fact, wait until the man has extended his hand to you first.Some good topics of conversation are ancient history and culture. Poor choices for conversation would be the Iran/Iraq Wars and politics in general.