The simplest form of footgear was the sandal, the πέδιλον of Homer, the ὑπόδημα of later times; this consisted of a leather sole cut to the shape of the foot and fastened on by means of straps or thongs, passing sometimes round the instep, sometimes between the toes and round the heel and ankle.[192] At times a piece of skin was attached to the sandal at the back, so as to cover the back of the heel, or even to wrap round the instep entirely, leaving only the toes bare;[193] from this form of sandal the ἔμβας, or slipper, was probably developed. This is described by Pollux[194] as εὐτελὲς μὲν ὑπόδεμα, Θράκιον δὲ τὸ εὕρημα, “a cheap shoe, of Thracian invention.” Its name suffices to show that the foot was inserted into the ἔμβας, in contradistinction to the sandal, which was bound under the foot; and the epithet signifies that it covered the foot completely. This description could be applied to many varieties of shoes and boots represented in extant art. Fig. 46 (_e_ and _f_) gives two examples of shoes—_e_ being an ordinary soft shoe covering the foot completely to the ankle, _f_ is turned up at the toes, like a modern Greek shoe, and reaches above the ankle at the back. A vase at the British Museum represents a woman cleaning a shoe of this shape. We learn from Aristophanes[195] that shoes were cleaned with blacking made of pitch and applied with a sponge; they were usually black, except when the leather was allowed to retain its natural colour. The word ἔμβας seems to have been used for various kinds of foot-covering; in Aristophanes it refers sometimes to a kind of easy slipper worn by old men,[196] and in other instances it is used of any ordinary shoe or boot. The mention by Pollux of its Thracian origin perhaps refers to the high boot turned over at the top, frequently represented on vase-paintings as being worn by horsemen with the Thracian cloak and petasos.[197] Different varieties of this kind of boot are to be seen in Fig. 46 (_g_, _h_, _i_, and _j_). [192] Fig. 46 (_a_ and _b_); Fig. 48 (_c_). [193] Fig. 46 (_c_ and _d_). [194] VII., 85. [195] _The Wasps_, 600. [196] _The Wasps_, 274; _The Clouds_, 719. [197] Fig. 22. An article in Daremberg and Saglio’s _Dictionnaire_ suggests an Asiatic origin, and indeed the resemblance between Greek boots and those represented on Assyrian monuments is striking. A comparison is actually made by Herodotus[198] between Assyrian boots and Bœotian ἐμβάδες. [198] I., 195. It is quite possible that boots of this kind may have come to Greece from the East by way of Thrace, and the fact that Dionysus is very frequently represented wearing them seems to add confirmation to this conjecture. [Illustration: FIG. 47.]