Greek dress

by Ethel Beatrice Abrahams

Professor Ridgeway, in The Early Age of Greece, has pointed out that the civilization reflected in the Homeric poems differs in many essential points from that which is revealed by the monuments found at Mycenæan sites on the mainland of Greece and in the Ægean islands. Confirmation has since been added to his convincing arguments by the discoveries of Mr Arthur Evans in Crete, which prove that the so-called Mycenæan remains were but the last efforts of a dying civilization which stretched back at least as far as the third millennium before our era. The culture revealed by the excavations at Knossos and other sites in Crete presents a striking contrast to that of the Greeks of the classic period; whereas the state of society described in the Homeric poems seems to contain analogies with both periods.

The palace of Alcinous and the house of Odysseus, as described in the Odyssey, correspond in plan to the palace of Mycenæ excavated by the Greek Archæological Society in 1886, which undoubtedly belongs to the older stratum of civilization;[1] on the other hand, the methods of disposing of the dead, and the underlying principles of costume, are utterly different in the two cases. The Homeric heroes burn their dead, whereas the remains found in Mycenæan graves prove that in the state of society to which they belong burial was the common method of disposing of the dead. The difference in costume is equally striking; the women’s dress, illustrated by the Mycenæan gems and the wall-paintings and faïence statuettes from Knossos, consists of elaborately made garments, with tight jackets fitting closely to the figures at the waist, and full and frequently flounced skirts; there is no indication of fastening by means of brooches or fibulæ. In Homer the brooch is almost invariably mentioned as an essential detail of female costume, and the garments described are of a simple character, and such that they can be spread out and used for other purposes. For example, Aphrodite, when protecting Æneas from his assailants, shields him from their weapons by drawing a fold of her peplos over him (Iliad, v., 315); and again, at the funeral rites of Hector, the body is covered, πορφυρέοις πέπλοισι μαλακοῖσιν (Iliad, xxiv., 796), “with soft purple robes.”

The contrast between the forms of dress represented in Mycenæan art and in the Homeric poems can only be explained by supposing that there is a difference in race between the two peoples, and that the older civilization was almost entirely swept away by a great series of invasions carried out by men of a different race. The Homeric dress is closely akin to that of the Greeks of the classic period, whereas that represented on Mycenæan rings and gems belongs, as will be shown later, to the stratum of civilization revealed by the Cretan excavations.[2] We must suppose, then, that the Homeric heroes belonged to the invading race, which was full of youthful vigour and succeeded in superimposing its manners and customs upon those of the older, decadent society, and in finally ousting the older inhabitants from their homes altogether. The process was one which must have lasted over some centuries, and it is probable that the Homeric poems were composed whilst it was still incomplete, and that the siege of Troy represents one incident in the long wars which were waged between the two peoples. This view accounts for the fact that the Homeric house belongs to the older civilization, while the costume is that of the later. The invaders, having conquered or driven out the inhabitants, finding their houses strongly built and luxuriously decorated, would refrain from destroying them and settle themselves peacefully and comfortably there, naturally retaining their own style of dress and customs of disposing of their dead. Any new houses built after their settlement would be constructed after their own plans, and so the Homeric house would gradually give place to the Hellenic. The absence of brooches and fibulæ from the graves on the Acropolis of Mycenæ, and their presence in those of the lower city, adds confirmation to this theory. The Acropolis graves are earlier than the others, which in all probability belong to the time when the invaders had already imposed some of their characteristic customs upon their predecessors at Mycenæ and elsewhere in Greece. The use of the fibula is common to the early peoples of Central Europe, from which region it must have been introduced by the Achæan invaders into Greece.[3]

The earliest remains found on Greek soil are those which have been unearthed by Mr A. J. Evans, in his series of excavations at Knossos, in Crete. They represent earlier stages of that civilization which has hitherto been known as Mycenæan. The costume revealed by the art of this pre-Hellenic age forms a study in itself, since it presents a striking contrast to that of the classic period in Greece, and also to that of contemporary Asiatic peoples. The costume of the men is simple; when not entirely nude, they wear sometimes a waist-cloth rolled round a girdle, with a loose end hanging down like an apron in front;[4] in a lead statuette of the same period found near Abbia, in Laconia, the waist-cloth appears to take the form of a triangular piece of material wrapped round the girdle, the apex of the triangle being drawn up between the legs and tucked into the belt in front. In some terra-cotta figurines from Petsofa,[5] a third garment appears, consisting of a rectangular piece of material with the long side tucked into the belt all round and the short sides hanging down perpendicularly in front. In the later Mycenæan period, the garment takes the form of short breeches reaching half-way down the thigh. These are probably a development from the earlier waist-cloth.[6]

Fig. 1.—Cupbearer of Knossos.

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In most cases the upper part of the body appears to be quite bare, but in some instances a line is drawn at the neck and wrists which may indicate the edges of a close-fitting, long-sleeved tunic. It is more probable, however, that these lines are meant to represent a necklace and bracelets, such as have been found in considerable numbers in Mycenæan graves. On a siege scene represented on a fragment of a silver vase from Mycenæ,[7] the majority of the fighting warriors are represented quite nude; but in one case (at the lower right-hand corner) a tunic and head-dress are worn; but in this instance the tunic has sleeves reaching only half-way to the elbow, as is also the case with the inhabitants, who are watching the progress of the battle from behind the city wall; two figures, which appear to be just leaving the city, wear square cloaks fastened on the right shoulder and leaving both arms free; they do not appear to be fighting, and probably represent heralds about to make some proposal to the enemy. The covering here described as a cloak has been regarded as representing an oblong shield (ἠΰτε πύργος); but in view of the fact that the men carry no weapons and that both arms are exposed, it seems more reasonable to suppose that a mantle is intended. The warriors in front are fighting without protection; and if any shield were represented, we should expect it to be of the usual Mycenæan shape, which appears as a decoration on the upper left-hand corner of the fragment. A fragment of a wall-painting from Mycenæ represents a warrior wearing a short-sleeved tunic and having a double bracelet at the wrist; it appears, then, that when the pre-Hellenic man wore a tunic, it was not furnished with long sleeves, and even when his clothing was of the scantiest possible nature, he was not far enough removed from primitive barbarism to prevent his adorning his person with bracelet and necklace.

The indication of some kind of footgear is frequent: it is represented on the Vaphio cups; and on a wall-painting from Tiryns depicting the capture of a bull, it takes the form of pointed shoes turned up at the toes and fastened by a series of bands above the ankles. Such pointed shoes were common to the Assyrians and the Hittites, and are worn to this day by Greeks and Turks, and frequently also in other rocky countries.[8]

In the wall-painting from Tiryns, and on a Mycenæan intaglio (Perrot and Chipiez, VI., 426. 21), a number of bands is indicated just below the knee. Possibly the boots were fastened by leather laces crossed round the legs and then passed two or three times round under the knees. At present these bands have only been found in cases where the wearer is engaged in some violent occupation, such as the bull-taming scene; it has been suggested that they represent a leather thong wound round the knees to act as a protection; on stony ground some such guard would be necessary.