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
artificial folds and the band which held them in place, and then by
omitting the numerous fastenings on the arm. This would necessitate
an alteration in the shape of the cloak; it would naturally become
more square. Kalkmann, in the article already referred to, fig. 17,
represents an intermediate stage in this development, where a large
cloak is worn without band or frill, and is fastened by a series of
several brooches down one arm. Were it not for this representation
of the transition stage, we might be inclined to class the cloak of
the Artemis of Gabii as a development of the Doric peplos, which it
resembles in having an overfold and being fastened by a single large
brooch on the shoulder; and indeed these two elements are probably
due to the influence of the Doric dress, and we should therefore,
perhaps, more rightly call the final form of the cloak a blending of
the two styles rather than a development of either the one or the
other.
[138] Fig. 36.
[139] Fig. 37.
[Illustration: FIG. 36.—Vase-painting—Ionic Dress.
_Face page_ 94.]
[Illustration: _Photo by Mansell & Co._
FIG. 37.—The Artemis of Gabii—Louvre.
_Face page_ 95.]
As early as the beginning of the fifth century we find the two styles
becoming confused and mingled together. The Doric peplos is worn as
an over-dress over the Ionic chiton, even by one of the “Maidens”
of the Acropolis, and later on the commonest form of outdoor dress
for women was the Ionic chiton with the Doric himation over it. This
combination appears in the so-called Fates of the Parthenon pediment.
Frequently we find this blending of the two styles in a single
garment; we find also on vases the overgirt Doric peplos with sleeves
formed by a number of brooches;[140] and again, with cross-bands,
which belong properly to the Ionic chiton.[141] Some authorities,
pinning their faith entirely to Herodotus, consider that the brooch
is an element which belongs strictly only to the Doric dress; they
therefore regard the chiton with pinned sleeves as a mixture of the
two. An over-garment not very simple in form, which can be regarded
as neither Doric nor Ionic, but a mixture of both, is illustrated by
Fig. 38. Kalkmann regards it as a number of overfolds or flounces
sewn separately on to the chiton. It seems more reasonable, however,
to regard the part of the dress which appears on the arms and at
the feet, and which is made of a plain material, as the chiton,
and the rest which is ornamented with a pattern, as a separate
over-garment. This garment has three edges, at the waist, hips, and
ankles, so that it is obviously not merely an ordinary rectangular
himation, nor a simple Doric peplos with overfold. It seems simplest
to explain it as a Doric peplos with deep overfold, ungirt, having a
short false overfold to the waist sewn on over the real one at the
neck. Such over-garments never occur in sculpture and only rarely
on the vases, and may possibly be an error or invention on the part
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