Εικόνες σελίδας
PDF
Ηλεκτρ. έκδοση

The chlamyde is a garment about which authors greatly differ. Some affirm that it resembled the Roman toga, but the greater number reject this opinion; whatever its exact shape and dimensions may have been is therefore uncertain, but it was usually fastened on the shoulder by a brooch.

The phelone, a dress often mentioned by Greek writers, differed from the chlamyde only in the quality of the material of which it was formed, the former being usually made of a coarse manufacture fit for wearing in the country.

The under-garments of the Greeks, which generally were of white woollen stuff, bore the name of tunics

"A vest and tunic o'er me next she threw."-Odyssey.

The tunics were of different kinds, and varied in name according to their shape and texture; they were worn equally by men and women, the only difference being that the latter always had the petticoat and sleeves long, while the common tunic of the men generally descended no lower than the calf of the leg, and the sleeves were short and very narrow. Thus, in the Odyssey," we read of Ulysses :

66

"The goddess with a radiant tunic dress'd

My limbs, and o'er me cast a silken vest."

The exomide was a tunic without sleeves, generally worn by servants, and often also by philosophers, who, to mark their contempt of luxury, sometimes clothed themselves in the most unostentatious manner.

The calasiris was another tunic made of linen,

and with a fringe at the bottom. The richest tunics were made of silk, and they were fastened at the waist by a girdle or belt.

The upper-garment worn by Grecian women was called ampechone; it was a kind of light

cloak.

The Grecian matrons were, like the ladies of most other nations, fond of dress and ornament, and also of perfumes. The following description of the goddess Saturnia, given by Homer, is applicable to them :

"Swift to her bright apartment she repairs,
Sacred to dress and beauty's pleasing cares.

*

Here first she bathes, and round her body pours
Soft oils of fragrance and ambrosial showers.

Her artful hands the radiant tresses ty'd;
Part on her head in shining ringlets roll'd,
Part o'er her shoulders wav'd like melted gold.
Around her next a heavenly mantle flow'd,
That rich with Pallas' labour'd colours glow'd;
Large clasps of gold the foldings gather'd round,
A golden zone her swelling bosom bound;
Ear-beaming pendants tremble in her ear,
Each gem illumin'd with a triple star.

Then o'er her head she casts a veil, more white
Than new-fall'n snow, and dazzling as the light.
Last her fair feet celestial sandals grace."

The principal occupations and amusements of wo

men in the earlier ages seem to have consisted in spinning, weaving, and embroidering. The Grecian ladies, in particular, were very celebrated for their skill in all kinds of needlework. At some of the religious festivals it was the custom to offer, to the god or goddess in whose honour it was instituted, a garment wove and embroidered for that purpose. Thus, at the Athenian fête in honour of Minerva, a robe was carried in the procession; it was of a white colour, without sleeves, and embroidered with gold: upon it were described the achievements of the goddess. Jupiter also, and the heroes, had their effigies in it. Hence, men of courage and bravery are said to be worthy to be portrayed in Minerva's sacred garment, as in Aristophanes :

"We will our fathers treat with high esteem,
Whose brave exploits are worthy Attica,
Fit to be portrayed in Minerva's vest."

The garments worn by the Grecian priests were very costly and magnificent; they differed according to the gods in whose honour they were officiating. Those who sacrificed to the celestial gods wore purple, to the infernal gods they sacrificed in black, and to Ceres in white garments.

The ancient Greeks generally went bareheaded; they had nevertheless a kind of hat, which they called sciadion, which signifies parasol. Their hair was an object of great importance, and they devoted much time and attention to it. The custom of dedicating the hair to one of their deities, and shaving off some of their locks for that purpose, seems to have been general both with the men and women of ancient

Greece. In Euripides, when Pentheus threatens Bacchus to shave his hair, the young god tells him it would be an impious action, because he designed it as an offering to some deity:

"This lock is sacred, this I do preserve

As some choice votive off'ring for the god."

The ancient Athenians, says Elian, curled their hair, and dressed it with small golden ornaments shaped like grashoppers, in token of their being sons of the earth. Virgil mentions this custom in his poem entitled "Circis :"

"Wherefore she did, as was her constant care,
With grashoppers adorn her comely hair,
Brac'd with a golden buckle Attick wise."

Fashion seems to have exercised as much influence over the head-dresses of the ladies, in the ancient days of Greece, as she does at the present time; gold, pearls, precious stones, flowers, and ribands, were employed to ornament the tresses. One of their coif

fures is described as an immense tower of bows and curls, and appears to have served as a model for the

commode already mentioned. False hair seems also to have been very generally used, and in great quantities, both curled and frizzled.

In Greece, married women were distinguished from the unmarried by the manner in which the hair was parted in front.

It seems to have been the custom for women always to cover their faces with a veil when they went out, or appeared in public, as we read of Penelope :

"Then from her lodgings went the beauteous dame,

And to her much-expecting courtiers came;

There veil'd before the door she stood."

A veil seems also to have been worn as an emblem of mourning by the ancient Greeks:

"Her face wrap'd in a veil declar'd her woes."

Nor does this fashion appear to have belonged to women only, for Theseus thus addressed Adrastus, when he came to him after his loss at Thebes :

"Speak out, unfold your head, restrain your tears."

No part of the dress of the ancients has given rise to more discussions and disputes than their chaussure, and the passages we find relating to this subject in different authors are not sufficiently explicit to throw much light upon it. The ancient statues enable us to judge of the shape, but do not enlighten us as to the colour of the boots and sandals. Pythagoras ordered his disciples to wear sandals made of the bark of trees. Strabo tells us that, these sandals being found too thin to protect the feet, they were sometimes made with copper soles; he also mentions that Phi

« ΠροηγούμενηΣυνέχεια »