Greek dress : $b a study of the costumes worn in ancient Greece, from pre-Hellenic times to the Hellenistic ageAbrahams, Ethel Beatrice
History
Greek dress : $b a study of the costumes worn in ancient Greece, from pre-Hellenic times to the Hellenistic age
Abrahams, Ethel Beatrice
Clothing and dress -- Greece
We have next to consider those cases—and they are in the
majority—where another garment is worn over the chiton; and it is on
this point that archæologists are at variance. Many maintain that the
chiton only appears on the upper left-hand side of the figure, and
that a very large cloak is worn over it, which covers the whole of
the rest of the chiton, and has a deep overfold at the top and trails
on the ground behind, being held up in front and drawn aside in the
left hand. Studniczka supports this view, and calls the garment an
“ionisirende Peplos.” Holwerda, in an article in the _Jahrbuch_ for
1904, gives some drawings of some practical experiments he has made
in draping a model in a garment of this kind. He supposes that it
is cylindrical in shape, with a deep overfold, which is shorter on
the shoulder than elsewhere, and so produces a zigzag line along its
lower edge when draped; a girdle is worn underneath the overfold,
through which the superfluous length left by shortening the overfold
on the shoulder can be drawn. He supposes that the garment was drawn
tightly round under the left arm, and that its upper edge formed the
frill which we see in many of the Acropolis statues. A comparison
between his finished model and the statue which he reproduces beside
it serves to show the points wherein his theory falls short; it in
no way accounts for the vertical folds of the cloak, nor for the
tight band which appears passing under the left arm and fastened
on the right shoulder. Amelung, writing in Pauly-Wissowa’s _Real
Encyclopädie_, and Professor E. A. Gardner, in his _Handbook of
Greek Sculpture_, maintain that the garment is simply a Doric peplos
fastened on one shoulder instead of both, and held in place by a
tight band, under which the width of the peplos is arranged in
vertical folds. The main objections to this theory are that the Doric
peplos is invariably fastened in one place only on the shoulder,
whereas the fastening of the garment in question is continued by a
series of brooches down as far as the elbow; the result would be to
leave a very heavy and cumbersome mass of material hanging from the
right arm, which would seriously impede any active motion. Moreover,
it leaves out of account a piece of material which appears almost
invariably in front, below the zigzag edge, where it is drawn up
highest.[130] Holwerda takes it to be a girdle, but it has not the
appearance of a girdle; it hangs over the material that falls from
below it, and does not cut into the soft stuff in the way in which a
girdle would. That the makers of these statues knew how to represent
a girdle is plain from No. 679,[131] where the Doric peplos is worn
over the Ionic chiton. In this case the peplos is considerably
shorter than the chiton, so that the latter garment is plainly seen
below the peplos, which only hangs down to a distance somewhat above
the ankles. The Caryatid of the Cnidian Treasury at Delphi has the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account