ii. _Aegean Costume._--The discoveries made at Mycenae and other centres
of "Mycenaean" civilization, and those of more recent date due to the
excavations of Dr A. J. Evans and others in Crete, have shown that
Hellenic culture was preceded in the Aegean by a civilization differing
from it in many respects (see AEGEAN CIVILIZATION), and not least in
costume. The essential feature both of male and female dress during the
"Minoan" and "Mycenaean" periods was the loin-cloth, which is best
represented by the votive terra-cotta statuettes from Petsofa in Crete
discovered by Professor J. L. Myres and published in the ninth volume of
the _Annual of the British School at Athens_ (fig. 15). J. L. Myres
shows that the costume consists of three parts--the loin-cloth itself, a
white wrapper or kilt worn over it, and a knotted girdle which secured
the whole and perhaps played its part in producing and maintaining the
wasp waists characteristic of the Aegean race. The loin-cloth was the
only costume (except for high boots, probably made of pale leather,
since they are represented with white paint) regularly worn by the male
sex, though we sometimes find a hood or wrapper, as on a lead statuette
found in Laconia (fig. 16), but the Aegean women developed it into a
bodice-and-skirt costume, well represented by the frescoes of Cnossus
and the statuettes of the snake-goddess and her votaries there
discovered. This transformation of the loin-cloth has been illustrated
by Mr D. Mackenzie (see below) from Cretan seal-impressions. In place of
the belted kilt of the men we find a belted panier or polonaise,
considerably elongated in front, worn by Aegean women; and Mackenzie
shows that this was repeated several times until it formed the compound
skirt with a number of flounces which is represented on many Mycenaean
gems. On a fresco discovered at Phaestus (Hagia Triada) (fig. 17) and a
sealing from the same place this multiple skirt is clearly shown as
divided; but this does not seem to have been the general rule. On other
sealings we find a single overskirt with a pleated underskirt. The
skirts were held in place by a thick rolled belt, and the upper part of
the body remained quite nude in the earliest times; but from the middle
Minoan period onward we often find an important addition in the shape of
a low-cut bodice, which sometimes has sleeves, either tight-fitting or
puffed, and ultimately develops into a laced corsage. A figurine from
Petsofa (fig. 18) shows the bodice-and-skirt costume, together with a
high pointed head-dress, in one of its most elaborate forms. The bodice
has a high peaked collar at the back. Other forms of head-dress are seen
on the great signet from Mycenae. The fact that both male and female
costume amongst the primitive Aegean peoples is derivable from the
simple loin-cloth with additions is rightly used by Mackenzie as a proof
that their original home is not to be sought in the colder regions of
central Europe, but in a warm climate such as that of North Africa. It
is not until the latest Mycenaean period that we find brooches, such as
were used in historical Greece, to fasten woollen garments, and their
presence in the tombs of the lower city of Mycenae indicates the coming
of a northern race.
[Illustration: Perrot et Chipiez's _Art in Primitive Greece_, by
permission of Chapman & Hall.