The History of the Manners and Customs of Ancient Greece, Volume 2 (of 3)St. John, James Augustus
History
The History of the Manners and Customs of Ancient Greece, Volume 2 (of 3)
St. John, James Augustus
Greece -- Social life and customs
See Pashley, i. 247. Pignor. de Serv. 193.
Footnote 222:
“The beautiful colour we call auburn, and which the ancients expressed
by the term golden, is the most common among the Greeks; and they have
gilt wire and various other ornaments (among which might yet perhaps
be recognised the Athenian grasshopper) in ringlets, which they allow
to float over their shoulders, or bind their hair in long tresses that
hang upon the back.”—Douglas, Essay, &c. p. 147, seq.
Footnote 223:
This is beautifully described by Lucian:—Γυναικὶ δὲ ἀεὶ πάσῃ ἡ τοῦ
δαψιλεῖς μὲν ἀπὸ τῶν βοστρύχων τῆς κεφαλῆς ἕλικες, ὑακίνθοις τὸ καλὸν
ἀνθοῦσιν ὅμοια πορφύροντες· οἱ μὲν, ἐπινώτιοι κέχυνται μεταφρένων
κόσμος, οἱ δε παρ’ ὦτα καὶ κροτάφους, πολὺ τῶν ἐν λειμῶνι οὐλότερον
σελίνων· τὸ δ᾽ ἄλλο σῶμα, μηδ᾽ ἀκαρῆ τριχὸς αὐταῖς ὑποφυομένης
ἠλέκτρου, φάσιν, ἢ Σιδωνίας ὑέλου διαφεγγέστιρον ἀπαστραπται.—Amor. §
26.
Footnote 224:
Pignor. de Serv. 194, seq.
Footnote 225:
The young lady, in Lucian, describes thin hair drawn back so as to
expose the forehead as a great deformity.—Diall. Meret. i.
Footnote 226:
A taste not greatly dissimilar presides over the in-door dress of the
modern Greek women. “In the gynecæum,” says Chandler, “the girl, like
Thetis, treading on a soft carpet, has her white and delicate feet
naked; the nails tinged with red. Her trowsers, which in winter are of
red cloth, and in summer of fine calico or thin gauze, descend from
the hip to the ankle, hanging loosely about her limbs, the lower
portion embroidered with flowers, and appearing beneath the shift,
which has the sleeves wide and open, and the seams and edges curiously
adorned with needlework. Her vest is of silk, exactly fitted to the
form of the bosom and the shape of the body, which it rather covers
than conceals, and is shorter than the shift. The sleeves button
occasionally to the hand, and are lined with red or yellow satin. A
rich zone encompasses her waist, and is fastened before by clasps of
silver gilded, or of gold, set with precious stones. Over the vest is
a robe, in summer lined with ermine, and in cold weather with fur. The
head-dress is a skull-cap, red or green, with pearls; a stay under the
chin, and a yellow fore-head cloth, She has bracelets of gold on her
wrists; and, like Aurora, is rosy-fingered, the tips being stained.
Her necklace is a string of zechins, a species of gold coin, or of the
pieces called Byzantines. At her cheeks is a lock of hair made to curl
toward the face; and down her back falls a profusion of tresses,
spreading over her shoulders.”—ii. 140.
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