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Ancient Greek clothing refers to clothing starting from the Aegean bronze age (3000 BCE) to the Hellenistic period (31 BCE). [1] Clothing in ancient Greece included a wide variety of styles but primarily consisted of the chiton, peplos, himation, and the chlamys. [2] The people of ancient Greece had many factors (political, economic, social, and cultural) that determined what they wore and when they wore it. [2] Customarily, clothing was homemade and cut to various lengths of rectangular linen or wool fabric with minimal cutting or sewing, and secured with ornamental clasps or pins, and a belt, or girdle ( ζώνη: zōnē). [3] Pieces were generally interchangeable between men and women. [1] [4] However, women usually wore their robes to their ankles while men generally wore theirs to their knees depending on the occasion and circumstance. [3] Additionally, clothing often served many purposes than just being used as clothes such as bedding or a shroud. [5]

Textiles

Small fragments of textiles have been found from this period at archeological sites across Greece. [6] These found textiles long with literary descriptions, artistic depictions, modern ethnography, and experimental archaeology have led to a greater understanding of ancient Greek textiles [3]. Clothes in Ancient Greece were mainly homemade or locally made. [1] It is thought that textile making was primarily women's responsibility within the household. [1] Linen was the most common fabric due to the hot climate which lasted most of the year. [3] On the occasion of colder weather, ancient Greeks wore outer garments made with wool. [3] Silk was also used for the production of clothing though for ceremonial purposes by the wealthy. [3] In Aristotle's The History of Animals, Aristotle talks about the collection of caterpillar cocoons to be used to create silk. [7]

Production Process

In the production of textiles, upright warp-weighted loom were used to weave clothing in Ancient Greece. [8] These looms had vertical threads or warps that were held down by loom weights. [8] The use of looms can be seen in Homer's Odyssey when Hermes comes across Calypso weaving on a loom. [9] Another example of the loom in Homer's Odyssey can be seen when Odysseus comes across Circe for the first time. [10] The use of looms can also be seen being depicted on ancient Greek pottery. [3]

Color and Decoration

Clothing in ancient Greece has been found to be quite colorful with a number of hues and colors. [3] Colors found to be used include black, red, yellow blue, green and purple. [3] Yellow dyed clothing has been found to be associated with a woman's life cycle. [3] The elite typically wore purple as a sign of wealth and money as it was the most expensive dye due to the difficulty in acquiring it. [3] The ancient Greeks also embroidered designs into their clothes as a form of decoration. [6] The designs embroidered included representations of florals patterns and geometric patterns as well intricate scenes from Greek stories. [6] An example of this embroidery can be seen in Homer's Iliad where Helen is described as a purple textile where she embroidered a scene Trojans in battle. [11]

Styles of clothing

Chiton

The chiton (plural: chitones) was a garment of light linen consisting of sleeves and long hemline. [2] [5] The chiton was commonly worn by both men and women but the time in which each did so depended. [1] Chitons typically fell to the ankles of the wearer, but shorter chitons were sometimes worn during vigorous activities by athletes, warriors, or slaves. [6] A himation, or cloak, could be worn over-top of the chiton. [2]

Peplos

unknown

The peplos was a rectangular piece of woolen garment that was pinned at both shoulders leaving the cloth open down one side which fell down around the body. [2] [5] The top third of the cloth was folded over to create an over-fold. [3] The use of a girdle or belt was be used to fasten the folds at the waist and could be worn over or under the over-fold. [3] Variations of the peplos were worn by women in many periods such as the archaic, early classical, and classical periods of ancient Greece. [1]

Himation

The himation was a simple wool outer garment worn over the peplos or chiton by both men and women. [2] [5] It consisted of heavy rectangular material, passing under the arm, and secured worn over the shoulder. [6] The himation could also be worn over both shoulders. [3] Woman can be seen wearing the himation over their head in depictions of marriages and funerals in art. [3] Man and boys can also be seen depicted in art as wearing solely the himation with no other clothing [1]. A more voluminous himation was worn in cold weather. [12] The himation is referenced as being worn by Socrates in Plato's Republic.

Chlamys

Statue of a youth wearing a chlamys.

The chlamys was a seamless rectangle of woolen material worn by men for military or hunting purposes. [13] It was worn as a cloak and fastened at the right shoulder with a brooch or button. It is thought that the chlamys could ward against light attacks in war. [2]

The chlamys was typical Greek military attire from the 5th to the 3rd century BC. [14]

The chlamys went on to become popular in the Byzantine Empire by the high class and wealthy. [1]

Undergarments

Women possibly wore a strophic, a breast-band or bra, under their garments and around the mid-portion of their body [3]. The strophic was a wide band of wool or linen wrapped across the breasts and tied between the shoulder blades. [15]

Men and women sometimes wore triangular loincloths, called perizoma or diazoma, as underwear. [3]

Nudity

The ancient Greeks viewed nudity as an essential part of their identity that set them apart from other cultures. [16] Males went nude for athletic events such as the Olympics. [16] Male nudity could also be seen in Symposiums, a social event for elite men. [17] Male nudity could also be seen in rituals such as a boys coming of age ceremony. [17] Public female nudity was generally not accepted in ancient Greece. [16] Though occasionally woman are nude in athletic events and religious rituals. [16] Women who were sex workers are commonly depicted as nude in ancient Greek art. [3] Partial nudity could also be seen through the fabric being expertly draped around the body, and the cloth could be slightly transparent. [6]

Accessories

Fasteners, Buttons, and Pins

Since clothing being cut or sewn was uncommon, fasteners and buttons were often used to keep garments in place [3] [6]. Small buttons, pins, and brooches were used. [3] [6]

Bronze Fibula

Large straight pins, called peronai were worn at the shoulders, facing down, to hold the chiton or peplos in place. [18] Fibulae were also used to pin the chiton, peplos or chlamys together. [3] These Fibulae were an early version of the safety pin. [3] In Sophocles' Oedipus Rex, Oedipus uses pins to stab his eyes out after learning he was the one to kill his father and marry his mother. [19]

Belts, sashes, or girdles were also worn at the waist to hold chitons and peplos. [2] [3]

Footwear

Men and women wore shoes such as sandals, shoes or boots, which were made most commonly out of leather. [3] [6]At home, people typically went barefoot. [20] It was also common for philosophers such as Socrates to be barefoot as well. [6]  

Headgear

Coin stamped with man wearing petasos

Women and men wore different types of headgear. [2] Woman could wear veils to preserve her modesty. [6] Men would wear hats for protection against the elements. [3] Both men and women also wore different types of headbands to pull their hair up or for decoration. [6]

Pileus and petasos were common hats for men in ancient Greece. [3] The pilues was a close-fitting cap which could have been made out of a variety of materials such as leather and wool. [3] While the petasos was a broad brimmed hat with an attached cord that hung down around the chin [3].

Jewelry

Gold lion's head bracelets

Ornamentation in the form of jewelry, elaborate hairstyles, and make-up was common for women.

[6] While jewelry was used to decorates oneself, it was also used as status symbol to show one's wealth. [3] The Greeks wore jewelry such as rings, wreaths, diadems, bracelets, armbands, pins, pendants, necklaces, and earrings. [21] Common designs on jewelry in ancient Greece included plants, animals and figures from Greek mythology. [3] Gold and silver were the most common mediums for jewelry. [22] However, jewelry from this time could also have pearls, gems, and semiprecious stones used as decoration. [3] Jewelry was commonly passed down in families from generation to generation. [21]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Condra, Jill (2008). The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Clothing Through World History, Vol. 1. Greenwood Press. ISBN  978-0-313-33662-1.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Nigro, Jeff (2022-02-01). "Ancient Greek Dress: The Classic Look". {{ cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= ( help)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae Lee, Mireille M. (2015). Body, dress, and identity in ancient Greece. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN  978-1-107-05536-0.
  4. ^ Adkins, Lesley, and Roy Adkins. Handbook to Life in Ancient Greece. New York: Facts On File, 1997. Print.
  5. ^ a b c d Art, Authors: Department of Greek and Roman. "Ancient Greek Dress | Essay | The Metropolitan Museum of Art | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History". The Met’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. Retrieved 2023-05-20.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Johnson, Marie, Ethel B. Abrahams, and Maria M. L. Evans. Ancient Greek Dress. Chicago: Argonaut, 1964. Print.
  7. ^ Aristotle. (1902). History of animals in ten books. London: G. Bell.
  8. ^ a b Broudy, Eric (1993). The book of looms: a history of the handloom from ancient times to the present. Hanover: Brown University Press. ISBN  978-0-87451-649-4.
  9. ^ Homer (2018-11-15), "Odyssey", Homer: Odyssey, Book 5, Oxford University Press, ISBN  978-0-19-878880-5, retrieved 2023-06-04
  10. ^ Homer (2018-11-15), "Odyssey", Homer: Odyssey, Book 10, Oxford University Press, ISBN  978-0-19-878880-5, retrieved 2023-06-04
  11. ^ Homer (1995-06-29), "Iliad", Homer: Iliad Book Three, Oxford University Press, ISBN  978-0-19-814130-3, retrieved 2023-06-05
  12. ^ Alden, Maureen (January 2003), "Ancient Greek Dress", Costume, 37 (1): 1–16, doi: 10.1179/cos.2003.37.1.1
  13. ^ Alden, Maureen (January 2003), "Ancient Greek Dress", Costume, 37 (1): 1–16, doi: 10.1179/cos.2003.37.1.1
  14. ^ Ancient Greek Dress Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–2013. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
  15. ^ Alden, Maureen (January 2003), "Ancient Greek Dress", Costume, 37 (1): 1–16, doi: 10.1179/cos.2003.37.1.1
  16. ^ a b c d Bonfante, Larissa (1989-10-01). "Nudity as a Costume in Classical Art". American Journal of Archaeology. 93 (4): 543–570. doi: 10.2307/505328. ISSN  0002-9114.
  17. ^ a b Bonfante, Larissa (1990). "The NAKED GREEK". Archaeology. 43 (5): 28–35. ISSN  0003-8113.
  18. ^ Alden, Maureen (January 2003), "Ancient Greek Dress", Costume, 37 (1): 1–16, doi: 10.1179/cos.2003.37.1.1
  19. ^ Sophocle; Mulroy, David D. (2011). Oedipus Rex. Wisconsin studies in classics. Madison (Wis.): University of Wisconsin press. ISBN  978-0-299-28254-7.
  20. ^ Ancient Greek Dress Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–2013. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
  21. ^ a b Hemingway, Authors: Seán Hemingway, Colette. "Hellenistic Jewelry | Essay | The Metropolitan Museum of Art | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History". The Met’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. Retrieved 2023-06-05.{{ cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list ( link)
  22. ^ Smith, Tyler Jo; Plantzos, Dimitris, eds. (2013-01-29). "A Companion to Greek Art". doi: 10.1002/9781118273289. {{ cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= ( help)
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