Fig. 54.

The alabastron used to contain unguents or perfumes is a long narrow bottle with a spreading neck and small opening; it has no foot, and is round at the bottom, so that some kind of stand must have been necessary to hold it upright when not in use.[217] It was usually made of stone, alabaster, or terra-cotta. The lekythos also was sometimes used for the same purpose.

That Greek ladies wore abundant jewellery is proved by frequent representations both in sculpture and vase-paintings, as also by actual finds of jewellery, notably in the Greek graves of the fourth century at Kertch. These objects have been described and discussed by Mr A. B. Walters, in his book on The Art of the Greeks.[218] Rings, bracelets, necklaces, brooches, and ear-rings, were commonly worn, as well as ornamental hair-pins and metal diadems for the hair. Many examples of goldsmith’s work are extant including some gold ornaments set with precious stones.

In summing up the results of the foregoing enquiry, we find that the nature and development of the costume of the Greeks is entirely in accordance with what we know of the nature and development of the national character. The chief characteristics of the Doric dress, which was probably worn in early days by all the inhabitants of the mainland alike, is a certain broad simplicity; that of the Ionic dress, which was worn by the Asiatic Greeks, and for a short period at least by the Athenians also, is graceful elegance. These characteristics distinguish the Doric and Ionic temperaments as exhibited in art also, notably in architecture, and to some extent also in sculpture. Athens appears to have occupied a middle position between the Peloponnese and Ionia. The Peloponnesians seem to have clung throughout their history to the Dorian dress, as the Ionians probably did to the Ionic; but in Athens we find change and development most strongly marked. In very early days the Athenians wore the Doric dress; then in the course of the seventh and sixth centuries their intercourse with the East brought them into contact with Eastern ideas and Eastern customs, and they appear to have caught something of the luxury which was characteristic of the East. At any rate, for a time at least they adopted the Ionic dress, and carried it to a great degree of luxury and extravagance. Then with the Persian wars came a reaction against anything savouring of Orientalism, and a return to greater simplicity. This led to a resumption of the Doric dress, with certain modifications and the retention of some Ionic elements.

It can hardly be questioned that the freedom and simplicity of their dress was to a great extent the cause of the development of the splendid physique which the Greeks undoubtedly enjoyed. Their loose draperies allowed their limbs perfect freedom, and their bodies were unhampered by constraint of any kind. In the palæstra and the gymnasium, air and sunlight were allowed to exercise their salutary influence, for the Greeks were not “ashamed of their own naked skin,” and so discarded their clothing when in pursuit of their athletic occupations. The healthy state of body thus preserved no doubt had its share in fostering that healthy state of mind to which are due the sanity and sobriety that characterise all Greek thought, whether expressed in literature, art, or philosophy.

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