The words ἐνδύνω, ἐκδύνω, are commonly used for “to put on” and “to take off” a χιτών, which seems to imply that the garment was drawn over the head; although occasionally περί is used with the simple verb δύνω instead of the compound ἐνδύνω.[29] In no case is there any mention of pins or brooches in connection with the χιτών, so we are justified in inferring that it was a sewn garment; and in _Odyssey_, xxiv., 227, the χιτών of Laertes is actually described as sewn: ῥυπόωντα δὲ ἕστο χιτῶνα ῥαπτὸν ἀεικέλιον. “He wore a sewn tunic, dirty and unseemly.” [29] _Odyssey_, xv., 60. As a rule, the χιτών was worn ungirdled, except when the wearer was engaged in vigorous action, when he is usually described as girding himself for the purpose. For example, in the _Odyssey_,[30] when Eumæus is going to slay pigs, he prepares himself by confining his χιτών with a girdle: ὣς εἰπὼν ζωστῆρι θοῶς συνέεργε χιτῶνα. [30] xiv. 72. Little mention is made in the Homeric poems of the length of the χιτών, but the distinguishing epithet of the Ionians is ἑλκεχίτωνες—with trailing chitons—so that trailing garments were evidently customary only among the Ionians; warriors while fighting and slaves occupied in active work would probably wear very short garments reaching only to the thigh, as they are to be seen on the earliest vase-paintings. The princes and elders of the people, engaged in peaceful pursuits, in all probability wore them reaching to the ankles. The word τερμίοεις, applied to the χιτών in _Odyssey_, xix., 242, is usually taken to mean “reaching to the feet,” and to be equivalent to ποδήρης, used by later writers. With regard to the material of which the χιτών was made, the word itself is connected with a Semitic root signifying linen;[31] and from the various epithets applied to it in Homer, it is reasonable to infer that the garment was ordinarily made of that material. It is described as σιγαλόεις, “shining” or “glossy”; and although this particular epithet need mean no more than “dazzlingly clean,” its comparison for softness and brightness with the skin of an onion[32] would hardly be very apt, if it were made of a stuff that did not present a very smooth surface; a hand-woven woollen material might possibly be called μαλακός, “soft,” but could hardly be described as shining like the sun. Two passages in Homer show clearly that oil was used in the weaving of linen, which would have the effect of producing a shiny appearance. The maidens in the palace of Alcinous are described as weaving linen from which the oil runs off: καιρουσσέων δ᾽ ὀθονέων ἀπολείβεται ὑγρὸν ἔλαιον. [_Odyssey_, vii., 107.] “And from the close-woven linen the liquid oil runs off,” and in _Iliad_, 596, the youths in the dancing place on the shield of Achilles are described as wearing χιτῶνας ἐϋννήτους, ἦκα στίλβοντας ἐλαίῳ, “well spun, shining softly with oil.”