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.
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.
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.
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.