As time went on, the dimensions of the Doric dress became more ample, or at least were represented so in art; both pouch and overfold become deeper and the folds of the garment generally grow fuller; the distance of the shoulder pins from the points which hang immediately under the arms becomes proportionately larger, no longer being an exact sixth of the whole width of the dress. The most perfect examples in art of the Doric dress in its full development are to be found in the maidens of the Parthenon frieze and the Caryatids of the Erechtheum. Here the pouch is emphasized, and its graceful curve dipping over the hips, though idealized, is at the same time perfectly naturalistic, as can be shown at once by practical experiment.
The Munich copy of Cephisodotus’s Eirene holding the infant Plutus presents a very good example of the closed Doric dress as it was worn in the fourth century; it will be seen that the folds are more ample, and the overfold and pouch fall to a distance considerably below the waist, so that the garment must be larger than that originally worn, if we are to accept early monuments as faithful representations of the style of dress actually worn.
The simpler form of the Doric dress, namely, that which is unsewn and left open down the side, is not found represented in art before the fifth century; it becomes fairly common on red-figured vases, where it is very frequently depicted ungirt.[82] Sometimes it is the only garment worn; in other cases it is worn over an under-dress. A sculptured example is to be found in an Artemis in Dresden,[83] for the original of which Furtwängler claims Praxitelean authorship. This was probably the dress worn by Laconian girls, to whom the term φαινομηρίς, “showing the thigh,” was applied by some ancient writers.[84]
Fig. 12.—Vase-painting—British Museum.
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A variety of this dress appears in art about the middle of the fifth century; it is sometimes known as the “peplos of Athena,” because Pheidias chose it as the style in which to drape his statue of the Athena Parthenos. The word “peplos” is usually reserved for the Doric dress whether open or closed, the word “chiton” for the Ionic, though the latter is frequently applied to the Doric, and is invariably used of the under-dress, when the two styles became confused. The “peplos of Athena” is similar to the ordinary open Doric dress, except that the overfold is longer and reaches to the thighs and the girdle is worn over it.[85] The material is pulled up very slightly over the girdle, but not sufficiently to hide it in front, the purpose of the slight pouch being merely to prevent the dress from dragging under the arms, and from trailing on the ground at the sides. The girdle is at first worn round the waist, but later it is put on higher, until, on the Athena from the frieze of the altar at Pergamon, it is worn immediately under the breasts. The clearest representation in art is to be found in the Varvakeion copy of the Athena Parthenos, and it occurs also in many representations of Athena which were obviously influenced by Pheidias. In the Dresden “Lemnia,”[86] the girdle is passed not only over the overfold, but also round the ægis; in the “torso Medici”[87] this overgirt peplos is worn over an under-dress of the Ionic type. The date of the introduction of this style of wearing the Doric dress is a point of some uncertainty. The question arises as to whether it was invented by Pheidias or was already commonly worn and adopted by him as being most appropriate for his great representation of the maiden goddess. Certainly, in sculpture we have no example of it before the time of Pheidias, unless we assign an earlier date to the little relief of the “mourning Athena,” which seems improbable; the Iris of the Parthenon frieze wears it; and among slightly later works the Victory of Pæonius at Olympia is a good example, though here the dress is slightly varied by being fastened only on one shoulder. Further evidence is afforded by the vases, but even these do not give any certain proof; the dress does not appear before the middle of the fifth century, but after that date it becomes fairly frequent, and is given not only to Athena but to other divine or mythological personages, such as Persephone,[88] Nike, Cassandra, and also to hand-maids attending on ladies in more elaborate costume. In some of these vases the work is obviously post-Pheidian, but many of them were probably made before the completion of the Athena Parthenos, and the fact that the overgirt dress is so frequently represented on slaves renders it likely that it was a style of dress actually worn, and not merely the invention of the great sculptor’s imagination; it was probably selected by him for the Parthenos because of its extreme simplicity and the possibilities of statuesque dignity which it contained.
Fig. 13.—Vase-painting in the Polygnotan Style—Louvre.
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