About the beginning of the 6th century B.C. the Ionian chiton was introduced into Greece from Asia Minor, and became the ordinary undergarment of women, in Italy as well as Greece, throughout the classical period. It was in effect a loosely-fitting dress with wide sleeves, girt at the waist. Being of fine linen instead of wool, a mantle or wrap was worn over it to make up for the thinness of the cloth. This construction is plainly shown in a drawing on the inside of a cup (E 44) by the potter Euphronios, which represents a woman busy with the knot of her girdle (fig. 131). The material was soft and heavy, yet thin and transparent enough to reveal the form of the figure beneath it. It is only in a dressing scene, such as this, that the Ionian chiton is represented alone. Otherwise a mantle (_himation_) was worn in addition. These mantles were of various shapes and sizes, though always rectangular, and their arrangement did not follow any fixed rule. Distinct fashions, however, in the wearing of the over-mantle can be remarked at certain periods. Thus, when the Ionian dress first came into use at Athens, an extraordinary elaboration was cultivated, the folds being arranged with such precision as to suggest that the garment is not a rectangular wrap, but a made-up shawl artificially pressed and gathered. This style of dress is best known from a large series of statues which were discovered in excavations on the Acropolis of Athens. They are relics of the city which was destroyed by the Persians in 480 B.C., and give an accurate date for the prevalence of the fashion. The type is represented in a statuette in the Bronze Room (fig. 132): the lady stands in an attitude of archaic severity, and holds up with her left hand the skirt of the soft Ionian chiton which is underneath the shawl. [Illustration: FIG. 131.--THE IONIAN _Chiton_.] The outer garment was afterwards larger than this, as well as more simply arranged. Often the whole figure was wrapped in the mantle, which was also drawn over the mouth and the back of the head. This heavy style was favoured in the fourth and third centuries B.C., and constantly appears in the most numerous products of that period, the terracotta statuettes from Tanagra and elsewhere. Fig. 133 is from one of these, and others in the Terracotta Room show very clearly the beautiful and varied draperies of the himation. [Illustration: FIG. 132.--GREEK BRONZE STATUETTE, ILLUSTRATING AN EARLY FASHION OF WOMEN'S DRESS. 1:2.] [Illustration: FIG. 133.--TERRACOTTA STATUETTE OF A LADY OF THE HELLENISTIC PERIOD. 1:2.]