FIG. 68. AKROPOLIS MAIDEN IN IONIC CHITON AND HIMATION
Shoes were of two principal types: sandals with straps, and high shoes or boots for hunting and traveling. The Greeks valued finely made shoes, and dandies sometimes invented new fashions which were called by their names, as “Alkibiades shoes.” A terracotta foot from Cyprus wearing a sandal and another painted black are on the middle shelf of Case 2. On a krater in Case O in the Fourth Room Hermes wears high laced boots with a tongue rising above the laces, and a stamnos on the bottom of Case E shows the hunter Eos in boots. The bronze statuette of the philosopher Hermarchos in the Seventh Room wears sandals which are worked out in detail ([fig. 69]), and an idea of the thickness of the soles may be gained from those worn by the woman on a stele, No. 4 in the Sculpture Gallery. The number and arrangement of the straps which held the sandal in place were various and they were sometimes broad enough to form what was practically a shoe. Boots were at times made with the leg-covering composed of leather bands resembling modern puttees. Women wore sandals or low shoes. Black was the usual color for foot-coverings, but gay colors were worn by women and young men. The warm climate and custom permitted people often to dispense with shoes in the house, and working-men went barefoot.
FIG. 69. GREEK SANDAL
FIG. 70. GREEK JEWELRY
The hair was worn long by men until the fifth century, and the Spartans and Athenian gentlemen who admired Spartan ways continued the fashion. It was sometimes allowed to fall on the shoulders in curls or braids, but was more frequently braided in two plaits and wound around the head, or made into a sort of roll at the back and fastened by a gold pin. In the sixth century men wore pointed beards without moustaches, but later it became customary to shave the entire face, though short beards and moustaches were worn by older men. A warrior arming, on an amphora on the bottom of Case 4, has a pointed beard and long hair. His young squire, who stands behind him, is beardless but his hair is long and curling. The lyre-player on a large amphora on Pedestal R3 in the Third Room has long hair in a knot at the back, held in place by a band. A somewhat similar arrangement is seen in the bronze statuette of Apollo in Case C2 in the same room. The fashion of plaited hair wound around the head is illustrated by a terracotta relief of Phrixos on the ram’s back in Case E in the Fourth Room. In the fifth century short hair was usual for both young and old men; young men did not wear beards but older men frequently wore short beards with moustaches. A moustache without a beard was regarded as the mark of the barbarian. The marble heads of two young men, Nos. 12 and 14 in the Sculpture Gallery, and the athlete’s head on Pedestal H in the Sixth Room show the fashion for young men, and a comparison of the vases and small bronzes in the Third Room with those in the Fourth Room will make clear the gradual change of style from elaboration to simplicity.
FIG. 71. WOMEN’S COIFFURES