Helbig’s hypothesis concerning the Homeric peplos: that it had a long opening in front extending to the feet, has been energetically combated by Studniczka, who attempts to explain differently all the passages quoted from the epics in support of the other theory, and regards the strips down the front found on monuments as merely meant for ornamental purposes, and not a reminiscence of that opening. Studniczka, for his part, considers the Homeric female dress identical with the so-called Doric, which is described to us by writers as the oldest Greek female dress, in place of which the Ionic afterwards came. His first assumption, therefore, is that the dress was not sewn and arranged for slipping on, but rather consisted in a shawl-shaped piece of stuff fastened on the shoulders by means of pins. This is not the fitting place to discuss this controversy; we must therefore content ourselves with alluding to it, and refrain from deciding in favour of either opinion, since this would not be the purpose of our book.
Herodotus informs us, concerning the female dress of the historic period, that the Athenian women in olden times wore the Doric dress, a woollen chiton fastened with fibulae, but afterwards, instead of this, adopted the Ionic dress, a stitched linen chiton. However simple this statement may sound, it is by no means so easy to trace this change of dress on the works of art. These show us female dresses in ancient times which appear to have been sewn rather than pinned together; while the chiton which we find in the classic period of Greek art may really be traced back to the Doric type. It is, therefore, comprehensible that attempts lately made, especially by Boehlau and Studniczka, to trace the transition from the ancient Doric to the later Ionic costume on works of art, should have led to very different results.
If we look at the female dress on the oldest vase pictures (compare Figs. [1], [3], [11]-[15]), we almost always find a stiff chiton descending without folds to the feet (the Homeric name “peplos” gradually falls into disuse), which could, however, in no case be as narrow as it is depicted, else it would be impossible to walk in it; the feet as a rule are uncovered, but sometimes the dress is lengthened behind in the form
Fig. 11.
of a train, and there touches the ground. (Compare Fig. [15].) The girdle is regularly worn with this chiton, rather high up, and so as to be visible. There is also a second garment covering breast and shoulders, and falling down nearly as far as the girdle. How this
Fig. 12.