corners would not coincide when folded corner to corner; they are
invariably represented on the vases as coinciding.
[42] Fig. 7 (_b_) is taken from the “François” vase.
[43] _Odyssey_, xiii., 223.
[44] iii., 126; xxii., 440.
[Illustration: FIG. 7.—(_a_) Vase—British Museum. (_b_ and _c_)
Vase-paintings by Klitias and Ergotimos, Florence.
Furtwängler and Reichhold, _Griechische Vasenmalerei_, I and II.
_Face page_ 26.]
The place of the χλαῖνα is frequently taken by the φᾶρος, constant
epithets of which are καλὸν and μέγα, “fine” and “large,” so that
we may conclude that the φᾶρος was an ample and somewhat luxurious
garment. The word is used not only for an article of wearing
apparel, but also for the shroud of Laertes,[45] and for the sails
of a ship,[46] so that Studniczka’s conjecture that it was made of
linen is probably right, and the difference of material probably
constitutes the chief distinction between the φᾶρος and the χλαῖνα.
The φᾶρος is several times described as “white” and “well-washed,”
and the epithets ἀργυφεόν, λέπτον, χαρίεν, “silvery,” “fine,”
and “graceful,” which are used of the φᾶρος of Calypso, are more
applicable to a linen than to a woollen garment. Φᾶρος is the only
word used in Homer for the dress of both men and women. When worn by
men, the φᾶρος was in all probability draped in the same fashion as
the χλαῖνα, but the woman’s φᾶρος would be draped differently, as
will be shown later.
[45] _Odyssey_, ii., 97; xix., 137.
[46] _Ibid._, v., 257.
The χλαῖνα and the φᾶρος were not worn in battle, since they would
encumber the wearer too much; armour was put on over the chiton,
or in some cases warriors wore the skin of some wild beast slain
in combat; we hear, for example, of Agamemnon wearing a lion’s
skin,[47] and of Menelaus and Paris wearing leopards’ skins.[48] A
man’s costume was completed by sandals, πέδιλα, which we are told
were made of leather;[49] no mention is made of any head-covering
worn in the pursuit of peaceful occupations; if any protection were
needed, a fold of the mantle might easily be drawn up over the head;
in battle, of course, some kind of helmet was worn, which was made
usually of bronze, or sometimes of hide,[50] covered with boars’
tusks, such as have been found at Mycenæ.
[47] _Iliad_, x., 22.
[48] _Ibid._, 29; iii., 17.
[49] _Odyssey_, xiv., 23.
[50] _Iliad_, x., 261 f.
The women’s dress in Homer consists of two garments, the πέπλος and
the κρήδεμνον or καλύπτρη, called also in one case the κάλυμμα;[51]
the word ἑανός which is used sometimes as a substantive instead of
πέπλος, sometimes as an adjective, simply means “something to be
worn.”
[51] _Ibid._, xxiv., 93.
The principal garment of the women was the πέπλος. The derivation
of the word is uncertain; it is probably connected with some root
meaning to cover or wrap; the word is used in the _Iliad_ to signify
things other than dress; for the covering of a chariot[52] and for
the wrappings of the vessel which held the ashes of Hector;[53] the
πέπλος, therefore, like the χλαῖνα and φᾶρος consisted of a square
or rectangular piece of material which could be used for various
purposes. When worn as a garment, it was held in place by means of
brooches or pins (περόναι, ἐνεταί) and a girdle. A passage in the
_Iliad_[54] gives a description of an elaborate toilette made by Hera
when she is setting out to beguile Zeus:
ἀμφὶ δ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ἀμβρόσιον ἑανὸν ἕσαθ᾽ ὅν οἱ Ἀθήνη
ἔξυσ᾽ ἀσκήσασα, τίθει δ᾽ ἐνὶ δαίδαλα πολλά·
χρυσείῃς δ᾽ ἐνετῇσι κατὰ στῆθος περονᾶτο,
ζώσατο δὲ ζώνην ἑκατὸν θυσάνοις ἀραρυῖαν,
ἐν δ᾽ ἄρα ἕρματα ἧκεν ἐϋτρήτοισι λοβοῖσιν,
τρίγληνα μορόεντα· χάρις δ᾽ ἀπελάμπετο πολλή.
κρηδέμνῳ δ᾽ ἐφύπερθε καλύψατο δία θεάων
καλῷ νηγατέῳ, λευκὸν δ᾽ ἦν ἠέλιος ὥς.
ποσσὶ δ᾽ ὑπὸ λιπαροῖσιν ἐδήσατο καλὰ πέδιλα.
“Then she clad her in her fragrant robe that Athena wrought
delicately for her, and therein set many things beautifully made, and
fastened it over her breast with clasps of gold. And she girdled it
with a girdle arrayed with a hundred tassels; and she set ear-rings
in her pierced ears—ear-rings of three drops and glistering—and
therefrom shone grace abundantly. And with a veil over all the
peerless goddess veiled herself, a fair, new veil, bright as the sun,
and beneath her shining feet she bound goodly sandals.”—LANG, LEAF,
AND MYERS.
[52] _Ibid._, v., 194.
[53] _Ibid._, xxiv., 795.
[54] xiv., 178 f.
We gather from this passage that the garment was fastened on the
shoulders by brooches or pins inserted, κατὰ στῆθος, which Studniczka
rightly explains[55] as meaning “down towards the breast,” a method
of fastening which is represented on the François vase[56] and
elsewhere; the material is drawn from the back, and wraps over that
which covers the front; the pins are then inserted downwards, and
hold the two thicknesses of material together; the dress is held
in to the figure by a girdle worn round the waist, over which any
superfluous length of material could be drawn, forming a κόλπος or
pouch. No mention is made in Homer of the ἀπόπτυγμα, or overfold,
which is a common feature of the women’s dress in historic times; but
from its constant appearance on the earliest monuments, it is not
unreasonable to suppose that it formed an element in women’s costume
of the draped type from the very earliest times. It is formed by
folding over the upper edge of the garment before it is put on, in
such a way that a double thickness of material covers the figure from
the neck to a distance a little above the waist in front and behind.
The original purpose of this overfold may have been either to secure
greater warmth, or to prevent the dress from tearing at the points
where the brooches were inserted; such a thing might easily happen,
if only the single stuff were used, since the whole mass of material
hung down from the two points where it was secured on the shoulders.
[55] p. 97 f.
[56] Fig. 8.
[Illustration: FIG. 8.—From the François Vase.
_Face page_ 30.]
Another question which arises in connection with the Homeric peplos
is as to whether it was worn open or closed at the side; a passage
which has been much discussed in this relation is the one which
describes the peplos given by Antinous to Penelope, with its twelve
brooches:
Ἀντινόῳ μὲν ἔνεικε μέγαν περικαλλέα πέπλον
ποικίλον· ἐν δ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ἔσαν περόναι δυοκαίδεκα πᾶσαι
χρύσειαι, κληῗσιν ἐϋγνάμπτοις ἀραρυῖαι.
[_Odyssey_, xviii., 292.]
“For Antinous, his henchman, bare a broidered robe, great and very
fair, wherein were golden brooches, twelve in all, fitted with
well-bent clasps.”—BUTCHER AND LANG.
The point in dispute is the purpose of the twelve brooches.
Studniczka maintains that two were used to fasten the dress on
the shoulders, and the remaining ten to hold it together down the
open side; he states in support of this theory that sewing was not
commonly practised by the Homeric women, although he has previously
pointed out that the men’s chiton was always sewn; this being the
case, it is only natural to suppose that the women applied the art
of sewing to their own garments also where necessary. There is no
example in early art of a peplos fastened in this way with brooches;
it is invariably joined round, the seam being covered by a band of
ornament either woven in the edge of the material or embroidered upon
it afterwards. In fifth century art we sometimes find representations
of the peplos worn open down the side; it may have been worn so also
in Homeric times; if the garment were wide, one edge could easily be
wrapped over the other and held in place by the girdle, so as not
to leave the figure too much exposed. It is more probable that the
twelve brooches in question were used to fasten the dress on the
shoulders and down the upper arms six on each side, forming a kind of
sleeve to the elbow. That the ample Ionic chiton was worn in this way
in later times is manifest from the numerous vase-paintings and other
monuments of the late sixth and early fifth centuries; it may have
been a fashion peculiar to the East in Homeric times, but Eastern
fashions and customs were not unknown to the author of the Homeric
poems. We read[57] of rich robes that were the work of Sidonian women
whom Paris brought from Sidon, and it is not unlikely that Antinous,
wishing to offer Penelope some rich gift, would choose a luxurious
garment brought from the East.
[57] _Iliad_, vi., 289.
However, we must regard the use of twelve brooches as exceptional,
and consider that the peplos was ordinarily fastened with only
two, and with a girdle round the waist. That it was a fairly ample
garment and trailed on the ground behind, is proved by the epithets
τανυπέπλος and ἑλκεσιπέπλος, “with trailing robes,” frequently
applied to women. Athena finds it certainly too cumbersome to fight
in; for when she is preparing for battle, we are told that she
lets her peplos slip to the ground, and puts on the chiton of her
father,[58] Zeus. A very constant epithet of the peplos is ποικίλος,
or sometimes the intensified form, παμποίκιλος,[59] The meaning of
the adjective is, “bright, varied, covered with patterns.” Whether
these patterns were woven in the material at the loom or embroidered
is a question not easy to decide.[60]
[58] _Ibid._, v., 733; viii., 385.
[59] _Odyssey_, xv., 105; xviii., 292.
[60] See section on “Materials and Ornamentation.”
In some cases they were apparently woven, in others probably
embroidered.
The silver-shining φᾶρος which Calypso puts on[61] takes the place
of the peplos, and was probably worn in the same way,[62] with the
overfold and girdle, over which the superfluous length was drawn,
forming the κόλπος, or pouch, which varied in depth according to
the wearer’s fancy. That it was sometimes fairly roomy is proved by
the fact that the nurse of Eumæus was able to hide three cups ὑπὸ
κόλπῳ[63] “under the folds of her dress.”
[61] _Odyssey_, v., 230.
[62] The passage is repeated word for word of Circe, _Odyssey_,
x., 543.
[63] _Odyssey_, xv., 469.
The material of which the girdle (ζώνη) was made is uncertain. We
hear of golden girdles of Calypso and Circe, and of a fringed girdle
of Hera with a hundred tassels, but these are exceptional. The
ordinary girdle may have been of metal, or cord, or leather; this
last material is suggested by the magic κεστὸς ἱμᾶς of Aphrodite,
which may have been a girdle; or, since we are told that the goddess
took it ἀπὸ στήθησφιν,[64] “from her bosom,” and that Hera received
it and ἑῷ ἐγκάτθετο κόλπῳ, “put it on her own bosom,” perhaps it was
something of the nature of Athena’s ægis, which also possessed magic
power. On a vase in the British Museum[65] a goddess is represented
wearing an ægis, and would naturally be interpreted as Athena,
were it not that the vase-painter has clearly written her name,
“Aphrodite,” by her side. It has been suggested that he has made a
slip, and meant to write “Athena”; but in all probability he knew
what he was doing, and it was his intention to represent Aphrodite
wearing her κεστὸς ἱμᾶς.
[64] _Iliad_, xiv., 214.
[65] B., 254.
The second garment which was essential to the completion of a woman’s
dress, at least when she appeared in public, was the κρήδεμνον or
καλύπτρη,[66] which served both as cloak and veil. It was probably
put on over the shoulders like a shawl, without being folded, in such
a way that it could be drawn over the head without difficulty, and
across the face, serving as a veil.[67] Sometimes it may have been
doubled corner to corner diagonally and laid on the shoulder. That
it was worn over the head is clear from _Odyssey_, v., 232, where
Calypso puts on her φᾶρος; κεφαλῇ δ᾽ ἐρύπερθε καλύπτρην, “and over
her head a veil.” From the description of Penelope, when she appears
among the suitors “holding her shining veil before her cheeks,” we
may gather that it was customary for women to veil themselves before
men.[68] No woman would think of leaving the house without her
κρήδεμνον. Helen, though she quits her house in haste, first veils
herself with shining linen,[69] ἀργεννῇσι καλυψαμένη ὀθόνῃσιν, and
it is only when they are far from the town and enjoying the quietude
of the river bank, that Nausicaa and her attendant maidens throw off
their veils for the ballplay.[70]
[66] The κάλυμμα κυάνεον, “dark blue veil,” of Thetis (_Iliad_,
xxiv., 93) is the same garment.
[67] Hera is represented wearing it so on the François vase, Fig.
7 (_c_), and although her head is not covered, yet, from the way
in which the folds lie high upon the nape of the neck, it is
clear that they could easily be drawn up over the head (cp. also,
Aphrodite, on the same vase).
[68] Thetis is represented in the François vase just about to
veil or unveil her face; though the head is missing, it is clear,
from the position of the arm, that the κρήδεμνον was worn over
the head.
[69] _Iliad_, iii., 141.
[70] _Odyssey_, vi., 100.
From the constant use of the epithets λιπαρός and λαμπρός, “shining”
or “bright,” we may infer that the κρήδεμνον was usually made of
linen, and, in summer at least, it was probably a fine, light
garment, possibly even semi-transparent. In no case are any pins or
brooches mentioned in connection with it; and from the ease with
which it can be slipped off,[71] it is reasonable to infer that it
was worn without fastening of any kind, like a shawl or scarf. In
the passage where Andromache casts off her head-dress in her anguish
at the death of Hector,[72] Studniczka supposes that because the
κρήδεμνον is mentioned as falling off last, the other δέσματα must
have been worn over it and held it in place; this seems to be putting
a too literal and even prosaic interpretation upon the lines. There
is no occasion to suppose that the poet enumerated the various parts
of the head-dress in the order in which they fell; and if we read in
that spirit, we shall frequently find that the Homeric heroes put on
their cloaks before their undergarments; for more than once the φᾶρος
or χλαῖνα is mentioned before the χιτών.[73]
[71] Cp. _Iliad_, xxii., 406, 470.
[72] _Ibid._, xxii., 468 f.
[73] _Odyssey_, xvi., 173; xxiii., 155, etc.
The various parts which composed this head-dress have given rise to
much discussion. The passage runs:
τῆλε δ᾽ ἀπὸ κρατὸς βάλε δέσματα σιγαλόεντα,
ἄμπυκα κεκρύφαλόν τε ἰδὲ πλεκτὴν ἀναδέσμην
κρήδεμνόν θ᾽.
[_Iliad_, xxii., 468.]
“And far from her head she flung the shining bonds, diadem and
kerchief, and meshy net and veil.”
The δέσματα σιγαλόεντα are explained by the words which follow, and
which stand in apposition. No question is raised as to the nature
of the ἄμπυξ; it was a metal diadem like the στεφάνη, worn across
the front of the hair. The κρήδεμνον has already been explained; the
κεκρύφαλος and the πλεκτὴ ἀναδέσμη need some comment. The former is
sometimes taken to mean a “net,” but it will be shown later that
this meaning is better applied to the πλεκτὴ ἀναδέσμη; the word
κεκρύφαλος is obviously connected with the verb κρύπτω to cover,
and therefore means “something which covers,” “a covering.” In all
probability, then, the κεκρύφαλος is simply a kerchief worn on top of
the head behind the ἄμπυξ. The ἀναδέσμη is obviously something which
serves to bind up (ἀναδέω) the hair and hold it in place, which is
the proper function of a net. The epithet πλεκτή, which Helbig[74]
has tried to explain as “folded,” means primarily “plaited”; it is
applied elsewhere in the Homeric poems to baskets,[75] which shows
its perfect appropriateness to the meshes of a net. We need give no
other meaning, then, to the πλεκτὴ ἀναδέσμη, but can easily explain
it as a net that confined the long hair behind. This completes the
head-dress proper, the κρήδεμνον being a separate scarf or shawl worn
over it.
[74] _Das Homerische Epos_, p. 157, f.
[75] _Iliad_, xviii., 40.
The women’s dress in Homer is completed by sandals, and for ornament
they wore, in addition to the brooches which fastened their clothes,
ear-rings and necklaces of varied workmanship; the γναμπταὶ ἕλικες
and κάλυκες of which we read[76] are perhaps spiral-shaped brooches
and ear-rings or necklaces in the shape of lilies, such as have been
found in the later Mycenæan graves.
[76] _Odyssey_, ix., 247.
Few colours are mentioned in Homer in connection with dress. The
epithets “white” and “shining” are frequently applied to the chiton
and κρήδεμνον and to the φᾶρος. Φοινικόεις and πορφύρεος are
frequently used of the χλαῖνα and the δίπλαξ, the former meaning
“red,” and the latter probably “dark purple”; the word is used also
of the sea and of clouds. The veil of Thetis[77] is described as
κυάνεος, indigo, probably, or blue-black, since we hear immediately
afterwards that “no garment ever was blacker.” The dark veil may be a
sign of mourning; but in any case, the epithet might be used of the
garments of the sea-goddess, just as κυανοχαίτης, “blue-haired,” is
applied to Poseidon. Only once is yellow mentioned, and that in the
case of “saffron robed dawn.” The veil of Hera, that was “bright as
the sun,”[78] might have been yellow-gold. Yellow is a favourite
colour among the Greek peasant women of to-day for the kerchiefs
with which they cover their heads; and in the clear atmosphere and
brilliant sunshine of Greece, it is natural to wear bright colours.
[77] _Iliad_, xxiv., 93.
[78] _Iliad_, xiv., 182.
The embroidered robes of the women would naturally be worked in
various colours, among which red and blue probably predominated, as
they do on the sixth century statues on the Acropolis at Athens, and
also in more modern Greek embroideries.
Enough has been said on the subject of Homeric dress to show that
it differs entirely from the pre-Hellenic type of costume which
appears on the monuments from Knossos and elsewhere. The absence of
contemporary monumental evidence renders it impossible to make any
very definite statements as to the details of Homeric dress; but the
poems themselves afford sufficient proof of the fact that it was of
the draped type, and resembled Greek dress as we know it from the
monuments dating from historic times; the dress of the classical
period is simply a development of that described in the Homeric
poems, with the addition of some foreign elements which blended with
it and somewhat transformed it in its details, while still preserving
the main types unaltered.
III
DORIC
When we come to the question of Greek dress during the classical
period, we find that the literary evidence is somewhat scanty;
however, in addition to the various casual references to dress that
are to be found chiefly in the plays, there are a few passages which
bear directly on the historical development of dress in Greece. The
most important of these is a passage in Herodotus,[79] in which he
describes a disastrous expedition against Ægina undertaken by the
Athenians during the first half of the sixth century, probably in
the year 568 B.C.; only one man returned alive to Athens, to meet
with an ignominious death at the hands of the wives of those who had
perished. Herodotus shall tell the story in his own words:
Κομισθεὶς γὰρ ἐς τὰς Ἀθήνας ἀπήγγειλε τὸ πάθος· πυθομένας
δὲ τὰς γυναῖκας τῶν ἐπ᾽ Αἴγιναν στρατευσαμένων ἄνδρων
δεινόν τι ποιησαμένας ἐκεῖνον μοῦνον ἐξ ἀπάντων σωθῆναι,
πέριξ τὸν ἄνθρωπον τοῦτον λαβούσας καὶ κεντεύσας τῇσι
περόνῃσι τῶν ἱματίων εἰρωτᾶν ἑκάστην αὐτέων ὅ κῃ εἴη ὁ
ἑωυτῆς ἀνήρ. Καὶ τοῦτον μὲν οὕτω διαφθαρῆναι, Ἀθηναίοισι
δὲ ἔτι τοῦ πάθεος δεινότερόν τι δόξαι εἶναι τὸ τῶν γυναικῶν
ἔργον. Ἄλλῳ μὲν δὴ οὐκ ἔχειν ὅτεω ζημιώσωσι τὰς γυναῖκας,
τὴν δὲ ἐσθῆτα μετέβαλον αὐτέων ἐς τὴν Ἰάδα· ἐφόρεον γὰρ δὴ
πρὸ τοῦ αἱ τῶν Ἀθηναίων γυναῖκες ἐσθῆτα Δωρίδα τῇ Κορινθίῃ
παραπλησιωτάτην· μετέβαλον ὦν ἐς τὸν λίνεον κιθῶνα, ἵνα
δὴ περόνῃσι μὴ χρεώνται. Ἔστι δὲ ἀληθεϊ λόγῳ χρεωμένοισι
οὐκ Ἰὰς αὕτη ἡ ἐσθὴς τὸ παλαιὸν, ἀλλὰ Κάειρα, ἐπεὶ ἥ γε
Ἑλληνικὴ ἐσθῆς πᾶσα ἡ ἀρχαίη τῶν γυναικῶν ἡ αὐτὴ ἦν τὴν νῦν
Δωρίδα καλεῦμεν.
“When he came back to Athens bringing word of the calamity, the wives
of those who had been sent out on the expedition took it sorely to
heart, that he alone should have survived the slaughter of all the
rest; they therefore crowded round the man and struck him with the
brooches by which their dresses were fastened, each, as she struck,
asking him where he had left her husband. And the man died in this
way. The Athenians thought the deed of the women more horrible even
than the fate of the troops. As, however, they did not know how else
to punish them, they changed their dress, and compelled them to
wear the costume of the Ionians. Till this time the Athenian women
had worn a Dorian dress, shaped nearly like that which prevails at
Corinth. Henceforth they were made to wear the linen tunic, which
does not require brooches.
“In very truth, however, this dress is not originally Ionian, but
Carian; for anciently the Greek women all wore the costume which is
now called the Dorian.”—RAWLINSON.
[79] v., 87.
He goes on to say that after this the Argive and Æginetan women, out
of rivalry with the Athenians, wore much larger brooches than before.
The importance of the passage is that it tells us of the two types of
dress worn by Greek women. We learn that down to the early years of
the sixth century all the Greek women wore the Dorian dress fastened
with pins of such size and strength that they could become dangerous
weapons in the hands of women excited by grief or passion. Later the
Athenian women adopted a different dress, which did not need these
large pins to fasten it, and which Herodotus calls the linen Ionic
chiton, afterwards correcting himself and explaining that this kind
of dress was really Carian in its origin.
The story of the slaying of the sole survivor of the Æginetan
expedition, and of the punishment meted out to the Athenian women,
seems in itself far-fetched and highly improbable; but there is
probably some foundation of truth in it. Possibly the tale was
invented by Herodotus, or, more probably, was current in his day
as an explanation of a change in the style of dress which actually
took place in Athens at the beginning of the sixth century, or more
probably even earlier. Among the sumptuary laws introduced by Solon
was one regulating women’s dress, and forbidding them to wear more
than three garments when they went out to funerals or festivals.[80]
The passing of such a law could only be necessary if the Athenian
women had already adopted a luxurious and extravagant style of
dress. Now, the essence of the Doric dress, as will be shown later,
is simplicity; it did not admit of great variety or elaboration. On
the other hand, that the Ionic dress was somewhat luxurious is clear
from Thucydides, i., 6; so we may infer that by the time of Solon’s
archonship, 594 B.C., the Athenian women had already adopted the
Ionic dress, and had perhaps elaborated it by some modifications
added by their own invention. If this is so, Herodotus’s story places
the change at least a generation later than its actual occurrence;
but as he is writing at a distance of more than a century from the
event, we need not be surprised if he is a generation or so out in
his dating.
[80] Plutarch, “Solon,” 21.
The simple Doric dress mentioned by Herodotus as being universally
worn by Greek women down to the sixth century, finds abundant
illustration in early art, especially in the Attic black-figured
vases. It consists of a large oblong piece of material, in length
about 1 ft. more than the height of the wearer, in width about twice
the distance from elbow to elbow when the wearer’s arms are held out
horizontally at shoulder level. The additional foot in height is used
up by folding the upper edge over so that the material is double from
neck to waist. The garment is put on by folding it round the body and
pinning it on the shoulders at points a third of the distance from
the middle line and the edges respectively. A diagram will make the
arrangement clear.
[Illustration: FIG. 9.]
_a_, _b_, _c_, _d_ represents the original rectangular piece of
material, _ab_ being twice the wearers distance from elbow to
elbow—that is to say, about 5 ft. 9 in.—_ac_ being 1 ft. more than
the wearer’s height—namely, about 6 ft. 6 in.