Much confusion at one time existed between the conceptions of the Harpy and the Siren, both names being indiscriminately applied to the female-headed bird so common on vases of all periods. But there is ample evidence for the representation of the Harpy more in the style of the Gorgons, as a purely feminine type, with the short chiton suited for rapid movement, high boots, and wings, and often in the conventional running attitude.[[1964]] In this form they appear in one instance as feminine counterparts of the male Boreades.[[1965]] The Siren types vary at different times, the earlier Sirens frequently having human arms.[[1966]] The Sphinx is always a woman-headed winged four-footed beast; sometimes on Corinthian and Ionic vases she wears a high head-dress. The Gryphon[[1967]] is a winged lion with eagle’s beak, and often with erect ears; the winged Pegasos and the bull-headed Minotaur require no description.
Turning now to personages concerned in events of every-day life, we find great variety of costume and equipment, especially at different periods and under different circumstances. The vases, in fact, may be said to supply the most instructive locus classicus for Greek dress and ornament, as well as for minor details—such as weapons, implements, and furniture—of which they provide contemporary illustrations.
Kings are usually distinguished by dignified flowing robes, by the wearing of a wreath or head-dress, or by the sceptre which they hold.[[1968]] Oriental potentates wear the costume of their country, with lofty ornamented tiaras, or the Persian kidaris or kyrbasia—a peaked cap decorated with fringes and lappets. Their dress is often very elaborate on the later vases. Actors and musicians both wear appropriate costumes. The former, who hardly occur except on the Italian vases, wear the dress of the Old Comedy, with grotesque mask, padded stomach, loose jerkin, and trousers.[[1969]] Tragic actors are seldom represented; but it has already been pointed out[[1970]] that in the setting of the mythological scenes on the vases of Southern Italy there is an unmistakable reflection of the tragic stage, especially in the elaborate and somewhat exaggerated details of costume. Musicians invariably wear a long chiton, over which on R.F. vases they sometimes wear a short loose garment called the ὀρθοστάδιον, embroidered with patterns.[[1971]] There are also a few instances of male performers (recognisable by their beards) in distinctively feminine costume.[[1972]]
Athletes are invariably nude when performing their exercises, except in the case of the armed foot-race (see p. [164]); in the torch-race they seem to have worn high crowns; on the reverse of late R.F. vases they appear inactive, wrapped in mantles and conversing in groups. Hunters wear a distinctive costume of petasos and chlamys, and usually carry two spears. Boys on horseback are usually represented nude, and on Ionic vases have their hair tied in a tuft behind.[[1973]] Charioteers are always attired in a long girt chiton reaching to the feet, which on Attic B.F. vases is painted white. They usually hold a goad in the right hand, the reins in the left. Heralds wear the attributes of Hermes—the petasos, caduceus, and high boots, with a chlamys or short girt chiton. Warriors on the early and B.F. vases are equipped in a fashion which tallies to some extent with the descriptions of Homer.[[1974]] Their armour usually consists of a crested Corinthian helmet, a metal cuirass, under which is a short chiton, and greaves, to which are sometimes added the thigh-coverings known as parameridia. Some peculiarities may also be noted—such as the hooked projection on the front of helmets on the Ionic vases of Daphnae and the Clazomenae sarcophagi,[[1975]] the linen cuirasses (indicated by white paint) sometimes worn on Attic B.F. vases,[[1976]] or the heavy helmets with large cheek-pieces seen on the Caeretan hydriae (Plate XXVI.). The R.F. vases often represent the fully armed Athenian hoplite equipped in the same fashion as the B.F.; but in these, and more especially in the Italian vases, there is a tendency to omit much of the defensive armour. Cuirasses on R.F. vases are often decorated with patterns of scales or panelling.[[1977]] Helmets on Italian vases often assume a local character, with conical crowns and two or three lofty plumes.[[1978]]
Of offensive armour, the full equipment consists of sword, spear, and shield. The two former call for no comment, but the shields, which are of two forms, the circular Argive or the indented oval Boeotian, present one feature of great interest—the devices with which they are adorned.[[1979]] Investigations have failed to discern in these any symbolical or heraldic significance; they are not appropriated to particular personages, and all that can be noted about them is that they usually seem to suggest rapid movement. Thus we find an eagle or other flying bird, wheels, balls, chariots, a bent leg, a serpent, Pegasos, and so on. The passage in the Septem of Aeschylus (387 ff.), in which the shield-devices of the combatants are described, is of course familiar, and similar allusions are not wanting in Greek writers.[[1980]] They are universal on B.F. vases, being painted in white on black ground, and are often found on the earlier R.F. vases in black on red; but they seem to disappear at an early stage of the R.F. period. Sometimes they consist only of letters of the alphabet, as on a Panathenaic amphora, where Athena’s shield has the letters Α to Θ; on a B.F. vase in the British Museum are the letters ΑΘΕ.[[1981]] Other peculiar subjects are a winged boar, two rams butting, a figure of Artemis, a white-bordered square, and a ladder.[[1982]] Some of those on R.F. vases are somewhat elaborate—a Seilenos,[[1983]] a fox eating grapes,[[1984]] an armed runner,[[1985]] or a warrior blowing a trumpet.[[1986]] A variation is when the device takes the form of an object in relief—a Satyr-mask,[[1987]] Gorgoneion,[[1988]] mask of Phobos (Panic),[[1989]] or a Gryphon,[[1990]] or a rearing serpent[[1991]]; or when a shield is surrounded by a fringe of serpents.[[1992]] Shields frequently have a piece of fringed and embroidered stuff suspended from them, which seems to have served as a protection to the legs.[[1993]]
Archers are depicted in Oriental costume, wearing peaked caps with long lappets and a close-fitting dress of leather, consisting of jerkin and trousers, usually embroidered with various patterns. The different barbarian types which appear on vases—Persians, Scythians, Arimaspi, and Thracians—are more or less individualised, especially on the R.F. vases. Such subjects, indeed, were not really popular until the Persian wars. The details of Oriental costume have already been noted. Thracians on R.F. vases wear a long loose cloak known as the zeira and a cap of foxskin (alopeke) with long flaps, which dress is also worn by Boreas (see above). In the first half of the fifth century Oriental costumes seem to have had a period of popularity among the fashionable young men of Athens, especially the knights; and they are often depicted riding in the zeira or striped and embroidered dresses of outlandish style (see pp. [166], [179]). Egyptians are often realistically rendered, with shaven heads,[[1994]] as are negroes and Aethiopians. The latter, like all barbarians on vases, usually wear trousers. On the vases of Southern Italy details of local (Osco-Samnite or Messapian) costumes often appear (see p. [180], and Vol. I. p. [483]), especially in the case of helmets and breastplates worn by warriors on Campanian vases.
On the earlier vases, down to the end of the B.F. period, there is frequently no distinction between the dress of men and women, and to this fact may have been due the practice of painting the latter white to differentiate them. Both wear the long Doric chiton, with a mantle or himation thrown over it; but men often wear the smaller chlamys over the shoulders in place of the himation. Women, again, on the earlier B.F. vases, often appear without the himation, and wear a long chiton tightly girt at the waist, with a short apoptygma or fold falling over the breast. On R.F. vases the Doric chiton is sometimes worn by women, open down one side (known as the χίτων σχιστός). Men in the “strong” R.F. period wear a short loose chiton of fine crinkly linen. Generally in the R.F. period there is greater freedom of costume and variety of material and arrangement. The Ionic chiton is introduced about 500 B.C., but its vogue does not seem to have lasted long at Athens. In place of the apoptygma women sometimes wear a loose over-garment, known as the diplois. On the earliest vases men are often nude, with the exception of a loin-cloth or pair of tight-fitting “bathing-drawers.” Women are practically never nude on vases, except when occupied in bathing or washing, or in the case of hetairae and jugglers.
The draperies, especially the chitons, are often richly embroidered with patterns, represented by incising and purple and white colours on the B.F. vases, by black paint on the R.F. On the former the women’s chiton is often covered with a sort of diaper pattern of squares, filled in with circles and stars, or the dresses (both of men and women) are covered with groups of dots and flowers in white and purple. In the late fine R.F. period and on the vases of Lucania and Apulia the patterns become exceedingly rich and varied[[1995]]: chequers, wave-pattern, palmettes, stars, egg-pattern, maeander, and all kinds of borders are introduced. A further extension of the principle is seen in the introduction of borders of figures, the most notable instances of which are on the François vase and the Hieron kotyle.[[1996]] On the former the technique is remarkable as a kind of anticipation of red figures on black. Aristotle speaks of a garment made for Alkimenes of Sybaris on which deities were represented between borders decorated with Oriental figures, the subjects being the sacred animals of the Medes and Persians.[[1997]] We may also cite the remarkable statue of Demeter found at Lykosura in Arcadia, the drapery of which is decorated with inlaid borders of figures,[[1998]] and the mantle of Jason described by Apollonius Rhodius.[[1999]]
The hair of women on B.F. vases, and frequently also that of men, usually falls loose or in tight curls on the shoulders, with a fringe over the forehead. On the early R.F. vases men often wear their hair looped up behind in the fashion known as the κρώβυλος,[[2000]] which, as we know from Thucydides, went out about 480 B.C. Women, on the other hand, have theirs knotted up and confined under a cap. On later R.F. vases and on those of Apulia their hair is usually gathered up in the opisthosphendone, or in a broad coif or fillets, and arranged in bunches of curls in front and behind. On late R.F. vases a radiated diadem, painted white, is often seen. Men are seldom represented with long hair after 480 B.C., but they usually wear a wreath or plain fillet. Head-coverings are rarely worn by ordinary persons, with the exception of the traveller’s and huntsman’s petasos; but Oriental personages usually wear a high cap of some kind (see above, under Barbarians). Jewellery—such as necklaces, earrings, armlets, or anklets—is comparatively rare on B.F. vases, but becomes more and more common, until it reaches profusion on those of Apulia. Bracelets and anklets are often in the form of serpents. Various forms of sandals or shoes are seen on later vases, but on the black-figured the only kind of footgear is the high boot or endromis, with a curved tag in front.