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Veiling appears to have been an old Indo-European custom. It doesn't necessarily involve face-covering, but covering of the head and especially the hair. The Greeks, Hittites, Persians, and Romans all practiced it, and it spread. Although it's not recognizable to most people today, European medieval dress involved a version of it, in the form of required head-coverings for married women (some involving considerable fabric, others quite abbreviated). Veiling preceded Islam, but its adoption as a Muslim norm caused it to spread further yet (from Morocco to Malaysia, countries where it was previously unknown. It seems to have originally been a marker for married women of high status (as it was among the Greeks and Romans). "Lower" classes of women did not veil, and in many places this was in fact forbidden to them. But over time they too began to adopt veiling, which not only marked status but also acted as a shield against street assaults. It has for a very long time been a demarcator of "respectable" women. Prostitutes sometimes adopted it (both for protection and also as a tool of seduction) but were also punished for their unauthorized use of it. > I think veils (regardless >of their representation in art) were a fashion accessory. They were something >that were simply worn. As time went on, they became incorporated into >religious as well as secular dress. And if you think about our own times, some >of our mothers and grandmothers were raised with the notion that one didn't >leave the house without some sort of hat on. >I don't think anyone was "supposed" to wear veils (or were not permitted to). Max Dashu <[log in to unmask]> <www.suppressedhistories.net> 30 Years of International Women's Studies <www.maxdashu.net> Paintings of bold and spirited women