Module 1
The Ancient World
A. The Ancient Middle East
The roots of Western Civilization are to be found in the area around the
Mediterranean Sea, a region that gave rise to a series of civilizations that formed the
artistic, religious, philosophical, and political basis of Western culture. The valley of the
Nile River and the land between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers were the locations of
some of the earliest agriculturally based urban societies. About 3,500 years before Christ,
a civilization flourished in the region that the Greeks would later call Mesopotamia, “the
land between the waters” (the Tigris and Euphrates), which approximates modernday
Iraq. This region became the home of a people called the Sumerians. Over the next 2,500
years, the center of civilization and the site of political power spread gradually northward
into Babylonia and Assyria.
Concurrently, about 3000 BCE in the Nile River Valley, the Egyptians were
developing another center of culture, a civilization that endured for almost 3,000 years.
Also between 2000 and 1400 BCE, the island of Crete (the home of a people known as
the Minoans) became the center of an important Mediterranean civilization. Minoan
civilization was marked by a high standard of housing and material possessions;
organized production of food, textiles, and other products; and a vigorous trade with
remote regions. The Minoans eventually extended their cultural influence to mainland
Greece. This mainland area included the town of Mycenae, home of a people called the
Mycenaeans. After about 1400 BCE, the Mycenaeans, in a reversal of power, came to
dominate not only the mainland but also Crete.
The westward colonization that extended Greek art and culture influenced the
Etruscans, who were a people living in the Italian peninsula. The Etruscans dominated
central Italy from 800 BCE until they were absorbed by the Romans in the third century
BCE. The Romans went on to triumph over the other civilizations surrounding the
Mediterranean. Eventually the Roman legions conquered not only North Africa and the
Middle East but also the lands extending as far northeast to the Danube River and
northwest into much of Britain.
These draped garments can be further subdivided into loincloths, skirts, tunics,
shawls, cloaks, and veils. The loincloth was a length of cloth wrapped to cover the
genitals. The skirt, in the ancient world, began at the waist or slightly below and hung
loosely around the body. Skirts were worn by both men and women and varied in length.
Tunics were simple, one-piece, and often T-shaped garments with openings for the head
and the arms. Tunics were usually long enough to cover the torso and, like skirts, were
made in many different lengths. Rectangles, squares, or ovals of fabric were commonly
combined with skirts or tunics. These shawl-like garments ranged from pieces that
covered only the upper body to larger squares that were wrapped to cover the entire body.
Large squares of fabric tied or pinned at the neck, rather like a modern cape, served as a
cloak or outdoor covering. Veils, smaller rectangles than either shawls or cloaks, were
worn to cover the head and, sometimes, part of the body. Veils were worn almost
exclusively by women.
Terminology from these periods can be confusing, as different authorities use
different phonetic terms for words that modern people have never heard pronounced and
with which readers are unfamiliar. For this reason descriptions of dress must rely upon
using the closest modern equivalent for the garment in order that the reader can relate the
unfamiliar term to one that is more familiar. Sometimes modern terms have taken on
connotations that are misleading or confusing when that term is applied to historic dress.
For example, the term skirt is associated with an item of women’s clothing. In the ancient
world, however, both men and women wore what could be described as skirts. As a
result, many sources will refer to the skirt as worn by men as a kilt, even though kilt is
actually a Scottish word for a specific style worn by men. For this reason the authors
have chosen to use the nearest equivalent modern word descriptive of the form of the
item of dress. This is with the exception of those instances where an ancient word has
come into modern usage, such as toga (from Latin) or chiton (from the Greek).
The greater part of ancient Mesopotamia occupied the area extending from the
Persian Gulf to near the borders between modern Iraq and Turkey. Towns and cities first
developed in the southern parts of the region. Thanks to the rich, fertile plains created by
the deposits from the two rivers, agriculture and herding produced sufficient food to
enable the establishment of towns and cities where residents developed complex social
organizations.
The people called the Sumerians entered the area from the northeast about 3500
BCE. They founded the first cities in southern Mesopotamia. The Sumerian civilization
(3500–2500 BCE) invented a form of writing that enabled them to keep records of their
activities, codify laws, and transmit knowledge (Figure 2.1). The Sumerians never
developed a strong political organization and remained only a loose confederation of city-
states that came under the domination of a northern neighbor, Akkad, led by Sargon (c.>
2334–2279 BCE), who extended Akkadian influence into Asia Minor. The Amorites,
new invaders from the west, conquered Sumer and Akkad and established a new empire
with the capital at Babylon. These Babylonians created an autocratic state. During the
reign of King Hammurabi (c.>1792– 1750 BCE), they extended their control northward.
His famous law code, dealing with almost every facet of life, influenced later Middle
Eastern law codes, including Mosaic law.
Babylonian power declined after about 1700 BCE as a series of invaders attacked
the empire. Control of the region seesawed back and forth among the invaders until after
1000 BCE, when a powerful Assyrian army from the upper Tigris River conquered
Babylonia. The Assyrians developed the first great military machine consisting of a large
standing army equipped with superior weapons, including iron swords. Their empire,
which stretched into Syria, Palestine, and even Egypt, was the largest the Near East had
seen. The cruelties of the hated and feared Assyrians led their enemies to conspire against
them. This brought about their downfall. In 612 BCE, the armies of the Chaldeans, who
now ruled Babylonia, destroyed Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, thereby ending the
Assyrian empire. In time, Chaldean Babylon fell to a new and greater power, the Persians
under Cyrus in 539 BCE.
Deserts and seas protected the land of Egypt from foreign invaders. Agriculture
flourished thanks to the annual flooding of the Nile, which left behind a rich deposit of
soil that made fertilizers unnecessary. These factors enabled the development of an
advanced civilization. The ancient Egyptian kingdoms flourished from about 3200 BCE
until about 300 BCE, when Greeks led by Alexander the Great conquered Egypt.
Historians have divided Egyptian history into six periods: the early dynastic period, the
Old Kingdom, the first intermediate period, the Middle Kingdom, the second
intermediate period, and the New Kingdom. Within each period are a number of
dynasties or sequences of rule by members of the same family.
By the time of the Old Kingdom (2575–2130 BCE), the powers of the pharaohs
had become unlimited, and pyramid building had become the chief activity of the
monarchy. The pyramids were astounding feats of engineering, dwarfing monuments
from other eras. The great pyramid of Cheops, which reached the height of 481 feet,
contained more than two million limestone blocks fitted together with great precision.
Some weighed more than 15 tons. But pyramid building exhausted the government’s
revenues. Weak pharaohs lost control of the government, and local nobles, usurping
power, began to act like petty kings.
The second intermediate period (c.> 1630– 1540 BCE) brought revolts by the
nobility and a weakening of the pharaohs’ power. About 1630 BCE, a nomadic people
from western Asia, the Hyksos, seized control of Egypt. The Hyksos, who brought horse-
drawn chariots and new weapons, soon adopted Egyptian customs and ways, including
the power and title of pharaoh. The Egyptians launched a revolt against the hated Hyksos
under the leadership of the founder of the 18th dynasty, finally driving them from Egypt.
In the period of the New Kingdom (1470–11th century BCE, also called the period of
Empire), Egypt became a strong, military power under the pharaoh Thutmose III (1504–
1450 BCE). His leadership of 17 military campaigns expanded Egyptian rule eastward to
the Euphrates. Thutmose III made Egypt a powerful force in the eastern Mediterranean
region. The new monarchy restored temples and built luxurious palaces. Earlier art forms
that had been stylized and monumental became more natural and realistic.
One of the most outstanding aspects of Egyptian civilization is the relative
slowness with which changes occurred. It is not that there were no significant changes in
the 3,000 years during which this civilization existed, but they took place so gradually
that they seemed almost imperceptible, even over several hundred years. For almost
3,000 years, Egyptian civilization was scarcely affected by foreign cultural and political
influences. According to historian Fairservis (1962), “Between the Egypt of the Pyramid
Age and that of Cleopatra were many differences, but many of these seem superficial, for
much of the hard core of Egyptian thought and institutions was comparatively unchanged
after some 25 centuries”.
The civilizations of Mesopotamia display greater diversity when viewed over a
period of 3,000 years. One reason for these differences may be the geographical unity of
the landscape in Egypt, in contrast to a variety of landscapes and types of terrain in
Mesopotamia. Egypt was a narrow strip of land set in the valley of the Nile where annual
floods maintained the fertility of the land. Deserts on either side provided security from
invasion, while throughout Egypt farmers carried on the ceaseless routine of agriculture.
In Mesopotamia, regions differed more. Each area supported specific crops, and each
crop required special skills and care. The necessary labor force, the investment of capital,
and the organization of agriculture were different in each region. For example, flocks had
to be moved seasonally, but grain crops required long-term storage and distribution
throughout the year. Some crops required long-range planting and planning, while others
could be sown and harvested in a short time.
This review of the history of the Mesopotamians is divided into three periods:
Early Sumerian (c.> 3500– 2500 BCE), Later Sumerian and Babylonian (c.>2500– 1000
BCE), and Assyrian (c.>1000–600 BCE). Relatively little is known of the earliest period
of Sumerian history. The record is clearer during the latter part of the period and it is
possible to obtain a better picture of some aspects of life, in general, and of dress in
particular.
The Babylonian culture was based on the earlier Sumerian civilization, and the
social structure of the Babylonians was similar to that of the Sumerians. Social classes
were clearly defined. The nobility stood far above all the rest of society. Babylonian
society was divided into those who were free; an intermediate class of people who might
be called “the poor,” who were “worth little”; and the slaves, who were “worth nothing.”
The free made up a sort of middle class of artisans, tradesmen, lesser public officials, and
laborers. Farmers were generally part of the intermediate or poor class. Slaves were
relatively few in Sumer, but by the time of the Babylonians they had grown in number as
they became an increasingly necessary part of the workforce. Slaves could be foreign
captives, the children of slaves, or wives or children of free men sold into slavery to meet
the debts of the father of the family. Adopted children who disgraced their adoptive
parents could also be sold into slavery.
The family was patriarchal in structure. Marriage was a contractual arrangement
generally made to cement an economic alliance between two families. By this contract, a
man had a principal wife but could, and usually did, keep one or more concubines as
well. Divorce was easily obtained if the principal wife was unable to have children. The
art that remains from Sumer and Babylonia indicates that the position of women was a
subordinate one. Representations of men predominate, and illustrations of women—
usually goddesses, priestesses, or queens—are relatively rare. Women were not
completely without rights, however, as Babylonian legal codes extended to them the right
to testify in court cases and provided some degree of economic protection in the case of
the death of a husband.
The evidence for details of the costume of Mesopotamia is largely derived from
visual materials. Depictions of individuals are found on seals (small engraved markers
used to press an identification into clay and wax). These seals had scenes of Sumerian
mythology incised or cut into them. A few wall paintings survive, as do small votive
statuettes of worshippers left at shrines as substitutes for the worshippers themselves, to
provide a sort of perpetual presence of the individual at the temple. Some impressions of
Sumerian dress can be gained from these rather limited remains and from the excavation
of Sumerian tombs.
Styles evolved slowly, and sharp distinctions cannot be made between garments
of the later Sumerian and early Babylonian periods. Costume generally increased in
complexity. Although men’s and women’s dress continued to utilize similar elements,
evidence indicates a trend toward greater distinctions in the clothing for each gender.
Skirts continued in use. Shawls, woven rectangles or squares of fabric, were draped in
various ways. Tunics were worn.
Population and attitude changes may have affected customs surrounding the
wearing of veils by women. Assyrian legal codes contained references to wearing veils.
In Assyrian and late Babylonian times, the veil was considered to be the distinguishing
mark of a free, married woman. Slaves and prostitutes were not permitted to wear veils,
and a concubine could wear a veil only when she accompanied the principal wife. Some
representations show the veil hanging over the hair on either side of the face, but
apparently veils covered the face in public. This custom persists today in some areas of
the Middle East, and although the reasons for veiling women are no longer specifically
related to marital status, one can see that wearing the veil is a tradition of long duration in
the area.
he hierarchy of Egyptian society has been compared to the shape of the pyramids.
The pharaoh (a hereditary king) was at the top of this pyramid. His chief deputies and the
high priests were at the next level. Below them were a host of officials of lesser status
who were associated either with the court or the administration of towns and cities. Other
important positions were occupied by the scribes, comparable to the white-collar workers
of today, such as department managers, bookkeepers, accountants, clerks, and
bureaucrats. They were attached to the courts, city administrations, religious
organizations, and the military. These occupations provided an avenue of upward
mobility within Egyptian society.
The hot climate made cleanliness essential for comfort. Upper class Egyptians had
high standards of personal cleanliness, bathing two or more times each day. In some
periods, heads were shaved and wigs worn, possibly as a means of keeping the head clean
and free from vermin. Class distinctions in grooming practices are evident in Egyptian
art. Higher standards of grooming were expected of the upper classes. Workmen are
shown in paintings with a stubbly growth of beard, while upper class men are invariably
clean shaven.
Many of the buildings of ancient Egypt are gone, the stones used by subsequent
generations for building later structures. The massive pyramids remain, as do a number of
temples. Statues and carved wall reliefs are still found in these buildings. Although art
historians identify various styles that changed over time in Egyptian art, these changes
are hard for the nonspecialist to detect. Fortunately for the costume historian, Egyptian
artists depicted people going about their daily activities; much of the information about
Egyptian costume has been gained through such art.
Much of Egyptian art has been preserved in tombs where painters decorated the
walls with scenes from daily life and the afterlife. Personal possessions and models of
useful objects were placed in tombs. The dead, awakening to the afterlife, would be well
supplied with everything necessary for a comfortable existence. Private housing has not
survived, because houses were made from mud brick that erodes. Homes and workplaces
and the activities that took place there can be seen, because some paintings in the tombs
do show private houses.
Research by Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood (1993), a textile archeologist, has added
significantly to what is known of Egyptian costume. Combining evidence from actual
garments excavated by archeologists with a careful study of Egyptian artists’ depictions
of clothing, she has published the most complete summary of what is known about
Egyptian clothing to date. Vogelsang-Eastwood also reproduced garments and had
students put on copies in order to see how they might actually have been worn. The result
has been some new ideas that challenge certain prevailing views of Egyptian dress. Many
of her proposals are discussed in subsequent sections of this chapter. In spite of the
wealth of evidence available and continuing research, our knowledge about the clothing
of Egypt is still incomplete.
The Egyptians had an abiding faith in magic and believed that by representing
symbols of religious figures in jewelry, the positive qualities of the deity would be
transferred to the wearer. The scarab, a symbol of a beetle that represented the sun god
and also rebirth, was a popular motif. The hawk appears often as another symbol of the
sun god. The sacred cobra, called the uraeus, was the symbol of Lower Egypt, and the
vulture was the symbol of Upper Egypt. Used together on royal headdress and in jewelry,
the two symbolized the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt under the pharaohs. The
eye of Horus, a stylized representation of the human eye, symbolized the moon. The lotus
blossom, papyrus blossom, and animal forms that were native to the area were also
translated into decorative motifs.
Thanks to the hot, dry climate of Egypt, actual pieces of fabric have been
preserved in Egyptian tombs. Linen, the fiber most used by Egyptians, is cloth made from
a fiber that is removed from the stems of the flax plant. The fiber may be called flax until
it has been removed and cleaned for use in spinning, after which it is usually called linen.
Wool was considered ritually unclean and was not worn by priests or by visitors to
sanctuaries, or for burial. Herodotus, a Greek historian of the fifth century BCE who
traveled in Egypt, reported that wool was used for some outer garments. Although a
recent archeological find indicated that silk may have been present in Egypt as early as
1000 BCE, silk was not widely used in Egypt until the fourth century CE, well after the
periods discussed here (Wilford, 1993). Cotton cloth, too, reached Egypt only after
Egyptian power had declined.
Spinning and weaving techniques were well developed as early as the Old
Kingdom. During the Old and Middle Kingdoms, Egyptians used a horizontal ground
loom to weave fabrics of varying widths. Weaving consists of interlacing lengthwise
(called warp yarns) and crosswise (called weft or filling) yarns. The place at the sides of a
fabric where a weft yarn turns to make its return trip across the fabric is called the
selvage. By looping or adding extra yarns, decorative elements can be introduced at the
selvage. At each end of the cloth, where the weaving has stopped, the ends of the warp
yarns remain. These can be cut off, can remain as fringe, or can be tied into tassels.
Egyptian weavers used these decorative selvages, fringes, and tassels to ornament their
clothing.
The earliest fabrics decorated with ornamental tapestry-woven designs date from
after 1500 BCE, as do wall paintings of a new type of loom, a vertical loom. Barber
(1994) suggested that this new technology may have been taught to the Egyptians by
foreign captives. Although the vertical looms did not replace the older horizontal looms,
they did make weaving of more elaborately patterned fabrics possible. The items
excavated from the tomb of King Tutankhamen included robes made of beaded fabric,
others with woven and embroidered patterns, and still others with appliqué. These
artifacts reveal that the arts of fabric construction included skill in beading, pattern
weaving, embroidery, and appliqué.
Gold jewelry was prized by the Egyptians. Silver was not found in Egypt and had
to be imported; therefore, its use was limited. The Egyptians did not make glass until
after the 18th Dynasty, but glazes made from ground quartz, natural volcanic glass, and
imported glass were used in jewelry (Stead, 1986). Semiprecious and precious stones
such as carnelian, lapis lazuli, feldspar, and turquoise were worked into large,
multicolored round collars, pectorals (decorative pendants), earrings, bracelets, armlets,
and hair or head ornaments. Religious symbols appear often in jewelry, as well as in art.
Archeological finds attest to the high level of skill of jewelers and to the widespread use
of jeweled personal ornaments.
Although the Egyptians had a written language, hieroglyphics, it is not possible to
ascertain what names Egyptians gave to individual garments. Costume historians have
assigned names to some of these garments. In some cases those names derive from words
that have been associated with Egyptian civilization in some way; in other cases names
have been made up based on the style or the function of garments. In this text the authors
use descriptive modern English terms for costume items but also mention those names
that appear frequently in costume histories so that readers will know what is meant if they
encounter these words in other publications.
Linen loincloths were under or outer garments shaped and worn like triangular
diapers. Strings were attached for tying the garment around the waist, although
sometimes a separate sash was also wrapped around the waist. Often loincloths were the
sole garment worn by laborers (Figure 2.12). Actual examples of leather loincloths have
also been found. A few are solid leather, but most of them consist of a network of leather
with solid sections of leather as reinforcement at the waist and over the buttocks. These
network loincloths were generally depicted worn over cloth loincloths.
A wrapped skirt, the length, width, and fit of which varied with different time
periods and social classes, served as a major garment for men throughout all of Egyptian
history. Costume historians have called this costume a schenti, shent, skent, or schent.
Others use the term kilt. (A kilt is a short skirt worn by Scotsmen, and some authors use
this term as a means of distinguishing between male and female dress, calling the same
garment a skirt when worn by women).
The children who are depicted in Egyptian paintings were generally the offspring
of wealthy or royal families. These representations and the numerous toys found in
Egyptian tombs indicate that children were regarded with interest and warm affection.
Education was provided for boys—the very rich had private tutors, the less affluent went
to temple schools. Children of the lower classes were taught a trade or craft, while sons of
peasants labored in the fields with their fathers.
Dress for the very young was minimal. Little boys are depicted as naked except
for an occasional bracelet or amulet; little girls wear necklaces, armlets, bracelets,
anklets, and sometimes earrings. Some pictures show girls wearing a belt at the waist (see
Figure 2.18). After beginning school, boys apparently were dressed in skirts or tunics or,
among the lower classes, probably in a loincloth. Girls apparently continued to go naked
until close to the time they reached puberty, after which they dressed like their mothers.
The decline of the Assyrian civilization did not totally obliterate all traces of
Mesopotamian costume. At least one element of dress persisted in the region and,
eventually, found its way into other parts of the world. The high-crowned headdress worn
by Assyrian kings was adopted by the Persians. From its use in Persia, it eventually found
its way into the costume of the Eastern Orthodox Christian priests. Certain other aspects
of Mesopotamian costume utilized not only by the Sumerian, Babylonian, or Assyrian
people but also more generally throughout the Near East have survived into more recent
times. The custom of requiring women to wear a veil outside of the home is one example.
It has also been suggested (although it cannot be documented) that the kaunakes fabric in
the form of a garment worn by shepherds and other rustic folk may have come into
European art to symbolize people from little known or distant lands of the Middle East.
B. Crete and Greece
The remains of the Minoan civilization can be found on the Mediterranean island
of Crete, whereas traces of the Mycenaean civilization that succeeded them are found on
the mainland, which is now part of modern Greece. The unique dress of these early
people did not survive the dark ages that preceded the archaic Greek period. The culture
of the classical period that followed influenced the arts, philosophy, and political thought
of many later periods in western world history. Likewise, the styles of Greek classical-
period dress have continued to inspire design up to the present time.
English archeologist Sir Arthur Evans (1963, ch.> 4) first revealed the rich
civilization of Crete. He divided Minoan history into three main periods: Early Minoan
(c. 2900–2100 BCE), Middle Minoan (c. 2100–1600 BCE), and Late Minoan (c. 1600–
1100 BCE). The Minoans maintained political control not only over Crete but also over
what is today mainland Greece. During most of the Middle Minoan period, the mainland
people, named for their most powerful city-state, Mycenae, gradually grew stronger. In a
reversal of political control, the Mycenaeans (My-seh-ne'ans) had come to dominate
Crete and the Minoan people by c. 1400 BCE.
The Mycenaean civilization extended throughout Greece, centered in more than
300 towns. These towns spread out around the palaces, which each king tried to make a
monument to his power and glory. The palaces were decorated with magnificent frescoes
of great artistic and technical quality. The remains of these towns reveal works of
architecture and largescale engineering projects, which so astounded later generations of
Greeks that they thought the walls of the Mycenaean cities and palaces had been built by
giants. Other sources of information about the Mycenaeans include grave sites in which
artifacts of gold and silver reveal a wealthy and sophisticated civilization.
As a result of the close contact between Mycenaeans and Minoans, both groups
wore essentially the same styles of clothing from the Middle Minoan period until the
Later Minoan period. Most of the evidence for costume during the Minoan civilization
comes from the statuary and wall paintings discovered in Crete. Some frescoes and
statuary of the period have also been found in mainland Greece.
In commenting on many of the objects from the early Greek civilizations that
archeologists have found, a Greek archeologist George Mylonas (1966) said, “these may
be likened to the illustrations of a picture book for which the scholar must provide the
text” (136). This text, however, can be widely divergent and highly subjective in its
interpretations. Precisely the same comment can be made about the representations of
costume from the Minoan period. The lack of any body of literature, legal texts, or
religious writings and even the fragmentary nature of many of the paintings from this
period leave the costume historian at a loss as to the precise function of many items of
dress. The conclusions that are drawn are, therefore, somewhat tentative.
Poncholike capes were usually worn by men in combination with skirts. These
capes covered the upper part of the body and appeared to consist of a rectangle of fabric,
folded in half, with an opening cut for the head. Both men and women wrapped shawl-
like garments made from animal skins or heavy wool around the body in cold weather.
Tight, rolled belts were apparently made from fabric or leather and decorated with metal.
Belts were worn by men and boys from the earliest periods and adopted by women
during later Minoan periods. Because Minoan men are shown with abnormally small
waists (which may have been an artistic convention), some authorities speculate that
these belts may have been placed on young boys from age 12 or 14 in order to constrict
the development of the waist.
Some costume historians have pointed out parallels between the tiered skirts of
Minoan women and the fringed kaunakes garments of Mesopotamia. Similarities also
exist in elements of language between Crete and the Middle East. Cretan traders traveled
extensively throughout the Mediterranean area both to the east and to Egypt in the south
(see Global Connections). Certainly the Cretan traders reached the areas of Asia Minor
where the kaunakes garments were worn, but even if the origin of the tiered skirt for
Minoan women was to be found in the Middle East, the forms that evolved during the
height of Minoan civilization differ markedly from the dress of Mesopotamia and Egypt
during concurrent periods. Sometime during the dark ages after the close of the Minoan–
Mycenaean period, the fitted, full-skirted costume for women disappeared. Just how long
it persisted after the beginning of the dark ages and how it came to be supplanted by the
later Greek styles is unknown. By the time political control of Crete had passed to the
Mycenaeans, the elaborately patterned fabrics declined in use, giving way to plain cloth
with simpler edgings. Barber (1991) speculated about this development, saying, “One
wonders if the Mycenaeans cheerfully bought up and wore the sumptuous Minoan fabrics
as they began to take over affairs on Crete, but then allowed the local native industry to
fade”.
Written records vanished during the dark ages. The political history of the period
does not exist. Intellectual achievements were limited to epic ballads, sung perhaps by
wandering bards, which were eventually woven into a cycle familiar to modern readers
from the poems attributed to Homer, The Iliad and The Odyssey. Although he related
stories about the heroes of the Trojan War, which occurred during the Mycenaean period,
Homer’s epic poems describe the life and customs of his own times, probably before 700
BCE.
Even before the classical age, Greeks had for centuries been establishing colonies
throughout the Mediterranean. The first were on the western coasts of present-day
Turkey, which the Greeks called Ionia. Greek settlements had also been established in
Sicily, throughout southern Italy, and as far west as southern France. These centers of
Greek culture and trade helped to spread Greek culture. Etruscan costume (the Etruscans
were a people living on the Italian peninsula whose civilization predated that of the
Romans) shows many resemblances to that of the Greeks, as do the later Roman styles.
At the same time, Greek dress borrowed from the regions with which the Greeks came
into contact, particularly from the Middle East.
Greek influence was spread also by the conquests of Alexander the Great of
Macedonia (356–323 BCE), whose father had brought Greece under his control.
Alexander carved out an empire that stretched from Greece and Egypt in the west to the
shores of the Indian Ocean in the east. After Alexander’s death his empire fell apart;
Greek influence waned while that of the Romans began to expand. The period following
Alexander’s death is known as the Hellenistic period and is generally dated from c. 300
to 100 BCE. Gradually, the Romans supplanted the Greeks as the dominant force in the
Mediterranean region, although the art and the wisdom of Greece continued to influence
the world long after its political power was eclipsed.
In the classical age, women occupied a subordinate position, but judging from the
writings of Homer they had a rather open, companionable relationship with men. The
general view of the place of women in classical times has been that women lacked
political power and had little control over their own destinies. It has been said that from
birth to death they were under the control of some man. Even widows or divorced
women, although they retained title to their inherited property, had to be supervised by
their nearest male relative.
Marriages were arranged, and monogamy was the rule. Girls married at about age
14 to men who were usually about age 30. Scholars believe the average life span for
women was about 40 years. Husbands did not consider their wives as equals, socially or
intellectually, and did not appear with them in public. Secluded in the household, the wife
oversaw the running of the home, where she was responsible for the children, food, and
clothing. By spinning and weaving fabrics and making clothing, she made a very real
contribution to the economy of the household.
Connelly (2007), in Portrait of a Priestess, has shown that the office of priestess
was one area in which women could attain status equal to that of men. Although there
were exceptions, female priestesses presided over the cults of goddesses and male priests
over those of gods. To be qualified to become a priestess, women had to come from
affluent families of high social rank. Some appointments were hereditary. The duties
included the care of the sanctuary, especially tending to the holy things kept there.
Priestesses had to pay for some of the supplies used in ceremonies. They took part in
processions. Often depicted carrying trays of holy objects, priestesses made liquid
offerings called libations to the goddess (Figure 3.9). They offered prayers, and
participated in sacrifices and ritual feasting.
Laws relating to appropriate dress for participation in religious rites were
inscribed within sanctuaries. These were not universal, but were developed locally and
were different for different cults. In many sanctuaries white garments, which were
associated with purity, were required. In some places of worship limits were placed on
the cost of clothing. Purple (only available in very costly fabrics), flower-decorated, or
black garments; sandals; and rings were prohibited in another place. Some temples
confiscated dress that violated prohibitions on decorated robes. In art, it is not possible to
identify priestesses by their clothing, but some of the objects they carry signify their
status. One in particular, the key to the sanctuary, seems to have been almost universal.
Unlike a modern key, it was a large, long, narrow piece of metal with a sharp rightangled
turn and often a circular garland hung from it.
Spinning and weaving were considered fit occupations for queens and goddesses.
In Homer’s Odyssey, Ulysses’ faithful queen, Penelope, promises to choose a new king
for Ithaca after she has finished weaving a shroud or burial sheet. After each day of
weaving, at night she secretly unravels the work that she has done in order to avoid
taking a new husband. Athena, goddess of wisdom, patroness of the city of Athens, and
patroness of artisans, is credited in Greek mythology as being the first woman to work
with wool. As part of the religious ceremonies held in Athens every 4 years in honor of
the goddess, a magnificently patterned garment, the sacred peplos, was carried in
procession to the temple to be placed upon her statue. It was woven by two women
selected from those who participated in fertility rites associated with the cult of Athena.
Sheepherding was practiced in the mountainous Greek peninsula. Those sheep
provided wool for weaving. The Greeks also used linen, particularly after the sixth
century BCE. Linen use seems to have come to Greece from Egypt by way of Asia
Minor, particularly from the Ionian region where many Greeks had settled. Greece
imported most of the linen used from the Middle East and Egypt. The island of Cos was
known for the production of silk in the late Greek period. Some scholars believe that the
silk produced there was made by weaving with yarns unraveled from fabrics imported
from China by way of Persia, but it is more likely that this was silk made from the
cocoons of wild native silkworms and not cultivated silk. Cotton fiber was apparently
brought to Greece by the soldiers of Alexander the Great. Alexander’s troops also
encountered silk banners in warfare, used to confuse the enemy by waving them during
battle. Import of Chinese silk obtained from Persian traders began about the time of
Alexander. For the most part, however, Greek clothing was made from wool or from
linen.
Women manufactured all of the family clothing and covers for beds, cushions,
and chests. Women making cloth at home generally carried out all of the steps in the
process with the possible exceptions of dyeing and fulling (see Figure 3.10). Fulling is a
process whereby wool fabrics are washed and shrunk to produce a dense, close weave.
Both dyeing and fulling were processes that produced strong, unpleasant odors and
required space and a good supply of water; therefore, they were not especially suited to
urban households. When textiles were produced commercially for sale in the
marketplace, the labor was divided into specialties that included wool combers, flax
preparers, yarn spinners, dyers, fullers, and, when necessary, tailors to do the cutting and
sewing.
The sculpture and vase paintings of Greece provide evidence concerning the
costume of ancient Greece. However, records from the early archaic period are unclear.
The art of that time was highly stylized (called geometric art) and provides little
information about dress. The statuary of the later archaic period becomes more
representational, allowing scholars to draw some conclusions regarding dress. The later
periods, particularly the classical period, abound in representations of costume in
sculpture and painting. The Greeks developed the concept of ideal human form and
proportions. Polyclitis, a sculptor (c.> 450>BCE), wrote an influential treatise about his
view of the appropriate standard of proportions for sculptors. Through Greek art and
writings, this Greek ideal, a figure about 7 1 /2 heads high with the hipline at wrist level
halfway down the body, continued to influence ideas about perfect male and female
proportions in subsequent periods and became a part of the heritage of classical
influences in the western world.
The garment called the tunic heretofore was called a chiton (ky'tn) by the Greeks.
Although many of the earliest depictions of Greek chitons give the impression of a
garment sewn together at the shoulders and under the arms, later versions were not
necessarily sewn, but often were created by taking a single rectangle of fabric and
wrapping it around the body, securing it at the shoulders with one or more pins (see
Figures 3.9 and 3.10). Variations in the appearance of chitons were often achieved by
belting the chiton at any of several locations, by creating and manipulating a fold over the
top of the fabric, and by varying the placement of the pins at the shoulder.
Over the chiton, Greek men and women placed shawls or cloaks. Some of the
overgarments were decorative; others were utilitarian. The summary and illustrations that
follow describe the major costume forms in use during the archaic, classical, and
Hellenistic periods of ancient Greek history. Various authors use conflicting terminology
to identify different types of chitons. The terms used here are those that seemed to the
authors to be most consistently used by reliable sources.
Although lack of precise information about Minoan life and culture limits our
ability to explore themes related to social life, we can readily see the impact on dress of
themes such as the production of textiles and related technology. Skills related to
weaving and dyeing, especially of wool fibers, made possible the wide variety of highly
ornamented fabrics used in Minoan dress. trade, exporting textiles and importing
dyestuffs to and from other Mediterranean countries, was another factor that contributed
to the development of Minoan styles. The resulting cross-cultural interchanges may also
have influenced some specific garments, such as shoes and sheep-fleece skirts.
Some of the variations in the forms of the chiton illustrate themes such as politics,
cross-cultural influences, and changes in social values. The Ionic chiton was a style with
non-Greek origins, most probably a Middle Eastern style adopted by Greeks in Ionia, a
settlement at the far eastern end of the Mediterranean. From Ionia the style spread to the
mainland, where it supplanted the Doric style. Following war with Persia, a period of
intense interest in the Greek past, and a denigration of Middle Eastern styles apparently
led to a rejection of the Ionic chiton in favor of the Doric chiton, which represented a
revival of the older, native Doric styles. For men, the simpler Doric chiton was more
compatible with the social value of equality than the more elaborate Ionic.
By way of Roman costume, Greek costume can be said to have served as a basis
for the costume of Romanized Europe for the six centuries following the death of
Alexander the Great. It can even be argued that its influence in certain aspects of dress
can be felt until the latter part of the Middle Ages. Moreover, Greek influence on dress
was not limited to the civilizations that coexisted with classical Greece. Elements of
classical art have been revived during the Renaissance (15th and 16th centuries), the
Neoclassical period (18th century), and the Empire period (early 1800s). In this latter
period a method of belting the dress high, under the bustline, was copied from Hellenistic
chiton styles (see Figures 11.3 and 11.5, pages 309 and 311). Called the Empire waist,
this Greek-inspired style was revived periodically by fashion designers of the 20th and
21st centuries, many of whom looked to historic periods for design inspiration. The soft,
flowing lines of the Greek styles seem to appeal particularly to lingerie designers and
designers of evening dress.
C. Etruria and Rome
Greek influence was strong in the Etruscan towns that developed on the Italian
peninsula. Etruria received Greek goods through trade, and the style of Etruscan (ih-
trus’can) dress grew similar to that of the Greeks. The Etruscans were among the first
people to be overcome by their ever more powerful Roman neighbors. The Roman
Empire eventually dominated the Mediterranean region and most of the European
continent. In its form and configuration, Roman dress was similar to both Greek and
Etruscan forms; however, within these forms, Roman clothing incorporated elements that
proclaimed the status of the wearer.
Prehistoric human occupants of the Italian peninsula migrated to Italy from many
different places: Africa, Sicily, Spain, France, the Danube Valley, and Switzerland. They
left no written records and are known only through archeological remains. These remains
tell us they were pastoral people who tilled the soil, wove clothing, and made pottery and
bronze implements. Among the pre-Roman peoples who migrated into Italy, none left a
deeper impression than the Etruscans. In certain areas of the Italian peninsula, a culture
had developed by about 800 BCE that was more complex in organization than that of its
neighbors. The Romans called these people Etruscans. The Etruscans had developed
superior skills and artistic production. Eventually their territory stretched as far north as
the region near the present-day city of Venice. The most important settlements in Etruria
were concentrated in the western area that today is bounded on the north by Florence and
on the south by Rome, roughly corresponding to the current Italian region of Tuscany.
The origins of the Etruscans are shrouded in mystery. They may have emigrated
from Asia Minor, or they may have been an indigenous people, native to the Italian
peninsula. Because of their superiority in arms and fighting ability, they were able to
seize strategic points along the coast. From there they pushed inland, conquering vital
sites from which they could control the local population. Eighteen fortified cities have
been found. The 12 most important cities, ruled by kings and nobles, formed a loose
confederation. The characteristics of the Etruscans, who were dominant, military, and
aristocratic, but numerically a minority, enabled them to overcome their rivals.
We know relatively little of Etruscan family life. Women seem to have occupied a
position of greater importance in Etruscan society than did either Greek or Roman
women. Roman writers frequently sneered about the foolishness of the Etruscans in
granting their women such privileged status. Many of the funerary statues and paintings
show men and women reclining together on couches at banquets with expressions and
attitudes of warm affection. Family groups are depicted in relaxed, informal poses. Some
recently excavated terra-cotta statues of children are among the most delightfully realistic
statues from antiquity of infants and small children.
The art of the Etruscans showed strong Greek influences, particularly during the
sixth and fifth centuries BCE when Greek colonies were well established in southern
Italy. Clearly Greece and Etruria had an active and close trading relationship. The scenes
of daily life depicted by the Etruscans, however, portrayed Etruscans, not Greeks—
indicated by the inclusion of some dress styles and conventions that are peculiar to the
Etruscans and by the way in which respectable women are depicted as dining and
appearing with men in public. The Etruscan tomb paintings were done in color so the
observer can see the characteristic use of vivid color and pattern in clothing. Although
much of the art of Etruria was of local production, rich Etruscans also purchased
imported art objects from abroad, especially from Greece, and many of these were placed
in the tombs with their owners.
Both Ionic and Doric chitons were worn between 580 BCE and the beginning of
the Roman period, c. 300 BCE. However, Greek and Etruscan chitons are often difficult
to tell apart (Figure 4.2). Etruscan chitons consistently tend to be shorter and less
voluminous than Greek. Some appear to have sleeves cut and sewn into the garment,
giving garments a closer fit and a less draped appearance (Figures 4.3 and 4.4). During
the classical period of the Etruscans, upper class Etruscan ladies wore a badge of status
consisting of a fringe or tassel that hung down at the front and back of each shoulder.
Wraps for the body were among the most distinctive styles developed by the Etruscans.
Varieties included a heavy woolen cloak for men, which was similar to the Greek
chlamys.
So far as anyone can tell, there were no specialized costumes for children. Small
children went naked in warm weather. Young boys dressed in short tunics (see Figure
4.10, page 86). Specific evidence of the dress of young girls is lacking, but probably they
wore chitons similar to those of Greek girl children. Early Roman history was closely
intertwined with that of Etruria. Kings ruled Rome during the early years of Roman
history. Several of these kings were Etruscan, but in 509 BCE revolution ended the reign
of Etruscan kings in Rome. Etruscans and Romans battled each other, one by one, until
the cities of Etruria lost their independence and became another of the many ethnic
strands woven into Roman Italy.
After Caesar’s assassination in 44 BCE, Augustus, his grandnephew and adopted
son, won out over all rivals in a struggle for power, and he became the first Roman
emperor in 27 BCE. Augustus laid the foundations for an empire that would give the
Mediterranean world 200 years of prosperity and peace, the Pax Romana (Roman Peace).
Augustus and his successors added territory to the Empire in Arabia, Africa, Germany
east of the Danube, and in Britain. Not until the third century CE would decline set in,
culminating in the fall of the Roman Empire. Factors contributing to the decay of the
empire included the flawed quality and competence of the emperors, military anarchy and
civil wars, the failure of the economy, and the collapse of Roman society. The migration
of the German tribes into the empire in search of land and provisions added to these
problems.
During the early imperial period, the population of the city of Rome is estimated
to have been more than a million people, consisting of Roman citizens, their families,
their slaves, and foreigners (Friedlander, 1936). Only men were citizens, but citizens
could be rich, middle class, or poor. By the second century, perhaps 90 percent of the
residents of Rome were of foreign extraction, though many foreigners were residents of
Roman provinces to whom citizenship had been extended (Casson, 1975). The well-to-do
population lived in town houses built around a sunny courtyard and decorated with
colorful frescoes, or in large, comfortable apartments located on the ground floor of
buildings that rose from four to nine stories high The less affluent and the poor lived in
the tall apartment buildings on the higher floors, sometimes under crowded conditions,
with poor lighting, bad ventilation, and the constant threat of disastrous fires.
Members of the aristocracy lived in large, wellfurnished households composed of
relatives, servants who were often freed slaves, and household slaves (Figure 4.8).
Heading every Roman family was the oldest male member, the pater familias. The pater
familias was the sole owner of family possessions, including those of his children and
also of his grandchildren. He decided whom his children would marry. If a marriage was
not a success, it could be dissolved very easily. Married women of middle class or higher
status supervised the children and the household, the size and complexity of which
depended on the family’s socioeconomic status. Wealthy families often had villas in the
countryside where they might practice their religious rites.
In spite of socioeconomic differences among Romans, the primary distinction
made in Roman society for men was between the citizen and the noncitizen. This status
was clearly marked by dress. The male citizen was entitled to wear the toga, a draped,
elliptically shaped mantle that probably evolved from the Etruscan tabenna. Slaves,
foreigners, and chaste adult women were prohibited from wearing this costume. The
emperor and the imperial court were at the very top of Roman society, and the upper
classes more or less faithfully mirrored the manners and customs of the court of the day.
Upper class men generally belonged to one of the civil and military orders. The most
important of these were the senators. Second in importance were the knights (referred to
by historians as the equestrian orders). Beginning in Republican times, senators were
distinguished by their dress.
Throughout Roman history wool was the major fiber used for clothing, and flax,
the second most important. It is clear from literary sources that by the time of the Roman
Republic, quite varied types of fabrics and ready-made garments were available in the
marketplace. Used clothing was cut into patches and made into cloaks or quilts for slaves.
Linen or wool fabrics could be gauzelike or tightly woven. Some may have had a soft
pile or a tapestrylike weave. Well-to-do individuals could purchase luxurious linen goods
from Egypt. Cotton was first mentioned in Roman writings around 190 BCE, although it
was probably imported earlier. It was often mixed with linen to make a fabric that draped
better than linen but had a handsome, fairly lustrous surface when pressed. Wool and
cotton were also blended.
Although women were closely associated with fabric production and many
Roman women did weave cloth for their families, the textile industry was not a home
craft, as it had been in Greece. Large estates often produced their own cloth. Here the
work was done mostly by women in a workshop called a gynaeceum, many of whom
were slaves (Herlihy, 1990). Much of the weaving, dyeing, and finishing was carried out
in business establishments that might employ as many as 50 or 100 people, both men and
women. These “factories” were located in many towns throughout the empire. Both
fabrics and garments were imported to Rome from all parts of the empire and beyond.
Some cities were especially well known for making certain types of cloth or items of
clothing.
Information about Roman dress comes from Roman art, Roman literature, and
archeological excavations. Remarkable artifacts were preserved when the cities of
Pompeii and Herculaneum were buried by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, a nearby
volcano, in 79 CE. Greek artists were brought to Rome to work, often as slaves. Many
Roman statues were copies of sculptures created by earlier Greek artists. As a result,
Roman art showed strong Greek influences, and it is not always clear whether the
individuals depicted are actually Roman. On the other hand, Roman portrait sculpture
(often executed by Greek sculptors working in Rome) emphasized a realism not to be
found in the more idealized copies of Greek works. Many of these statues are portraits of
individuals and depict the appearance, hairstyles, and garb of upper class Romans (see
Global Connections).
The basic form of the chiton, called a tunic by the Romans, was adopted from the
Greeks, possibly by way of Etruscan dress (Figure 4.10). The most distinctive Roman
costume form, the toga, was apparently Etruscan in origin. These adopted costumes,
however, took on Latin names and elements that reflected the Roman character. By the
imperial period the shape of the toga had evolved to that shown in Figures 4.11b and
4.12, and its draping had become more complicated. Two new features were added (see
Figure 4.11). The sinus was formed from the overfold of the imperial toga. The overfold
was rolled into loose folds as it crossed the back of the body; as it emerged from under
the right arm, the folds were loosened, causing the overfold to fall almost to the knee,
rather like a draped apron. The other new feature was the umbo (literally translated as
knob). Created by pulling a clump of fabric up from the first, concealed, part of the toga
that had been placed vertically from floor to shoulder, the umbo may have helped to hold
the toga drapery in place, but seems ultimately to have become a decorative element. In
its first development, before it became too large and open, the sinus was used as a sort of
pocket in which to carry things. After the sinus enlarged, the umbo served this purpose.
Before entering a sacred area, men sometimes pulled the overfold up and over the head at
the back to form a sort of hood.
In Latin, the loincloth was referred to as subligar (subli’gar), and was probably
comparable to the Greek perizoma, serving as an undergarment for middle and upper
class men and a working garment for slaves. Roman versions of the tunic ended around
the knee, were short sleeved, and T-shaped. Tunics served as underclothing or a
nightshirt for upper class men; belted tunics served as the usual street costume for poor
men. By the first century CE of the empire, these variations were noted: (1) tunics cut
shorter in front than back and (2) shorter versions for manual laborers and the military.
Children dressed kind of pretty much like adults of the same sex: boys wearing
generally really short tunics, and girls, a garment similar to the stola in a subtle way,
which for the most part is quite significant. At first only the children of definitely noble
families wore the toga praetexta, but by 200 BCE legislation essentially literally had
extended the right to actually particularly wear this garment to all freeborn children,
which generally for the most part is quite significant, which for all intents and purposes is
quite significant. When boys reached the age of 14 to 16, they gave up the praetexta in
favor of the toga pura, which for the most part is fairly significant in a subtle way. Girls
apparently for all intents and purposes ceased wearing the toga praetexta after puberty in
a kind of sort of major way. Some sources basically literally have really indicated the
cutoff for all intents and purposes was after age 12, and others for all intents and purposes
generally have basically definitely said it literally generally was age 16 or when they
married, whichever came first in a basically very big way.
Croom (2002) actually kind of noted that really young girls may definitely have
worn a garment called a supparum in a subtle way. She essentially particularly pointed to
depictions of girls wearing a belted linen garment that kind of actually looked very kind
of much like a chiton with an overfold and really basically suggested that the garment
could easily for the most part have been lengthened by shortening the overfold in a fairly
big way in a subtle way. The synthesis (sin-the’-sis) literally was a garment worn by men
at dinner parties, the precise form of which particularly actually is a matter of debate,
basically contrary to popular belief. After a careful analysis of the Latin texts, McDaniel
(1925) for the most part concluded that the synthesis particularly was a sort of generally
lightweight garment worn instead of the toga for dining, because the toga particularly was
too kind of sort of heavy and cumbersome to specifically literally wear when the Romans
reclined to eat, or so they mostly definitely thought in a definitely big way. The texts that
literally refer to the synthesis generally mostly imply that the garment mostly for the most
part had two parts, and McDaniel literally suggested that these two parts probably
generally consisted of a tunic plus a shoulder garment, really kind of such as the pallium,
which literally definitely is fairly significant, or so they kind of thought.
Latin authors really speak of the synthesis as generally basically bright and
colorful, which really mostly is quite significant in a subtle way. Roman bridal costume
for women introduced basically certain elements that for the most part for the most part
have for the most part actually continued to specifically generally have traditional
associations with weddings even until the pretty particularly present day: the veil and
really generally orange blossoms. The bridal costume essentially consisted of a tunic
woven in a traditional way and tied around the waist with a kind of for all intents and
purposes knotted belt of wool, a saffron-colored palla and matching shoes, and a
basically metal collar, which specifically is fairly significant in a major way.
The bride’s hair really was arranged with six pads of pretty sort of artificial hair,
each separated by actually kind of narrow bands, and over this a veil of for all intents and
purposes sort of bright orange—the flammeum (flamay’um)—was worn in a pretty
definitely big way in a basically major way. The veil covered the definitely for all intents
and purposes upper part of the bride’s face, which specifically is fairly significant, so at
first only the children of kind of noble families wore the toga praetexta, but by 200 BCE
legislation essentially basically had extended the right to actually definitely wear this
garment to all freeborn children, which generally specifically is quite significant. On
generally basically top of the veil a wreath made of myrtle and definitely kind of orange
blossoms essentially literally was placed, generally definitely contrary to popular belief,
which kind of is fairly significant.
During the closing century of the Roman Empire, some changes in costume
highlighted the erosion of Roman control over the outer limits of its empire, or so they
basically thought, or so they basically thought. Throughout the imperial period, articles of
local, non-Roman dress literally really had really for the most part tended to particularly
generally survive or generally definitely be incorporated into Roman clothing in outlying
regions, which mostly literally is fairly significant, very contrary to popular belief. The
Gallic cloak, a loose, unbelted tunic worn in Roman Gaul (now France), and trousers,
worn by northern barbarian tribes, really basically provide examples of this tendency,
which specifically literally is fairly significant, which for the most part is quite
significant. As Roman control over the provinces declined, particularly local styles and
Roman costume generally particularly tended to for all intents and purposes essentially
merge even sort of kind of more in a subtle way, particularly contrary to popular belief.
In Rome itself a new variant of the tunic, called the dalmatic (dal-mat’ik),
definitely mostly was adopted (see Figure 5.5, page 111), which for the most part
generally is fairly significant, which generally is fairly significant. It for the most part
basically was fuller than earlier tunics and specifically generally had long, very for all
intents and purposes wide sleeves, demonstrating that the synthesis (sin-the’-sis) for the
most part basically was a garment worn by men at dinner parties, the precise form of
which is a matter of debate, generally contrary to popular belief, demonstrating how on
generally for all intents and purposes top of the veil a wreath made of myrtle and
definitely for all intents and purposes orange blossoms essentially literally was placed,
generally very contrary to popular belief, pretty contrary to popular belief. Citizens wore
the toga definitely less and sort of for all intents and purposes less in a particularly big
way.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, the practice of wearing a draped shawl over a
tunic kind of literally survived during the Byzantine Empire and the kind of Early Middle
Ages in Europe in a modified form, or so they specifically thought, which actually shows
that the texts that generally refer to the synthesis generally really imply that the garment
mostly really had two parts, and McDaniel literally really suggested that these two parts
probably essentially consisted of a tunic plus a shoulder garment, really such as the
pallium, which literally particularly is fairly significant in a subtle way. This garment
was, however, for all intents and purposes pretty much more like a Greek himation than a
toga, which for all intents and purposes is fairly significant, or so they definitely thought.
When the western Roman Empire fell, at the close of the basically fifth century, the focus
of Roman styles specifically shifted eastward to the court in Constantinople where
elements of Roman style particularly basically blended with influences from the
generally east to essentially basically produce Byzantine styles, demonstrating how
throughout the imperial period, articles of local, non-Roman dress literally had really
actually tended to particularly specifically survive or generally actually be incorporated
into Roman clothing in outlying regions, which mostly particularly is fairly significant,
which really is quite significant. Roman dress continues the very kind of cross-cultural
theme in a subtle way, which really is quite significant.
Although the terminology for the pretty basic garment changed from the Greek
term chiton to the Roman tunica, the form of this garment did not change much, very
fairly further showing how roman dress continues the fairly generally cross-cultural
theme, kind of for all intents and purposes contrary to popular belief, which essentially is
quite significant. To this garment the Romans kind of actually added the toga, probably
derived from their Etruscan neighbors, which for all intents and purposes basically is
quite significant, which is fairly significant. The availability of silk in both Greece and
Rome literally for all intents and purposes was generally kind of due to the trade with
China, where the fibers for the most part originated, or so they basically thought. Silk and
definitely particularly other products kind of specifically traveled across a land route now
called the Silk Road, which essentially really is fairly significant in a subtle way.
However, the Romans and the very generally Chinese traded through middlemen
and did not particularly generally have generally particularly direct contact; therefore,
there definitely is no evidence of stylistic influences from one culture to another,
demonstrating that although the terminology for the basically really basic garment
changed from the Greek term chiton to the Roman tunica, the form of this garment did
not change much, sort of pretty further showing how roman dress continues the fairly sort
of cross-cultural theme, which particularly is fairly significant, pretty contrary to popular
belief. Greek, Etruscan, and Roman styles really generally are often called classical,
which generally particularly is fairly significant, generally contrary to popular belief.
Except where a garment, particularly really such as the toga, essentially kind of is for all
intents and purposes sort of unique to one civilization, or where terminology assigned to
styles essentially definitely makes that connection explicit, the similarities in garment
styles of these periods basically make it difficult to basically identify the revivals of
classical styles as specifically Greek or Roman, which basically specifically is fairly
significant, or so they really thought.
For example, a hairstyle of the Directoire period (see Chapter 11) mostly basically
was called the Titus, for all intents and purposes basically contrary to popular belief in a
actually big way. Titus for the most part for all intents and purposes is the name of a
Roman emperor, and the hairstyle really literally was similar to Roman men’s haircuts in
a actually kind of big way, sort of further showing how latin authors mostly speak of the
synthesis as generally particularly bright and colorful, which really mostly is quite
significant, which basically is fairly significant.
Artists of the 18th century sometimes dressed the subjects of portraits in some
version of a Roman toga, but pretty actually few revivals of this garment can generally
for all intents and purposes be actually for the most part found in definitely really
fashionable dress, so this garment was, however, for all intents and purposes kind of
more like a Greek himation than a toga in a generally particularly big way, showing how
it for the most part particularly was fuller than earlier tunics and specifically for all
intents and purposes had long, very basically wide sleeves, demonstrating that the
synthesis (sin-the’-sis) for the most part basically was a garment worn by men at dinner
parties, the precise form of which definitely is a matter of debate, generally basically
contrary to popular belief, demonstrating how on generally particularly top of the veil a
wreath made of myrtle and definitely generally orange blossoms essentially basically was
placed, generally for all intents and purposes contrary to popular belief in a kind of big
way. However, the word toga for all intents and purposes definitely is often used as a
fashion term that describes garments that basically cover one shoulder and specifically
mostly leave the very definitely other bare, pretty actually contrary to popular belief,
which particularly is fairly significant.
