However, we must regard the use of twelve brooches as exceptional, and consider that the peplos was ordinarily fastened with only two, and with a girdle round the waist. That it was a fairly ample garment and trailed on the ground behind, is proved by the epithets τανυπέπλος and ἑλκεσιπέπλος, “with trailing robes,” frequently applied to women. Athena finds it certainly too cumbersome to fight in; for when she is preparing for battle, we are told that she lets her peplos slip to the ground, and puts on the chiton of her father,[58] Zeus. A very constant epithet of the peplos is ποικίλος, or sometimes the intensified form, παμποίκιλος,[59] The meaning of the adjective is, “bright, varied, covered with patterns.” Whether these patterns were woven in the material at the loom or embroidered is a question not easy to decide.[60] [58] _Ibid._, v., 733; viii., 385. [59] _Odyssey_, xv., 105; xviii., 292. [60] See section on “Materials and Ornamentation.” In some cases they were apparently woven, in others probably embroidered. The silver-shining φᾶρος which Calypso puts on[61] takes the place of the peplos, and was probably worn in the same way,[62] with the overfold and girdle, over which the superfluous length was drawn, forming the κόλπος, or pouch, which varied in depth according to the wearer’s fancy. That it was sometimes fairly roomy is proved by the fact that the nurse of Eumæus was able to hide three cups ὑπὸ κόλπῳ[63] “under the folds of her dress.” [61] _Odyssey_, v., 230. [62] The passage is repeated word for word of Circe, _Odyssey_, x., 543. [63] _Odyssey_, xv., 469. The material of which the girdle (ζώνη) was made is uncertain. We hear of golden girdles of Calypso and Circe, and of a fringed girdle of Hera with a hundred tassels, but these are exceptional. The ordinary girdle may have been of metal, or cord, or leather; this last material is suggested by the magic κεστὸς ἱμᾶς of Aphrodite, which may have been a girdle; or, since we are told that the goddess took it ἀπὸ στήθησφιν,[64] “from her bosom,” and that Hera received it and ἑῷ ἐγκάτθετο κόλπῳ, “put it on her own bosom,” perhaps it was something of the nature of Athena’s ægis, which also possessed magic power. On a vase in the British Museum[65] a goddess is represented wearing an ægis, and would naturally be interpreted as Athena, were it not that the vase-painter has clearly written her name, “Aphrodite,” by her side. It has been suggested that he has made a slip, and meant to write “Athena”; but in all probability he knew what he was doing, and it was his intention to represent Aphrodite wearing her κεστὸς ἱμᾶς. [64] _Iliad_, xiv., 214. [65] B., 254.