Department of Greek and Roman Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
October 2003
In antiquity, clothing was usually homemade and the same piece of homespun fabric could serve as a garment, shroud, or blanket. Greek vase painting and traces of paint on ancient sculptures indicate that fabrics were brightly colored and generally decorated with elaborate designs. Clothing for both women and men consisted of two main garments—a tunic (either a peplos or chiton) and a cloak (himation). The peplos was simply a large rectangle of heavy fabric, usually wool, folded over along the upper edge so that the overfold (apoptygma) would reach to the waist. It was placed around the body and fastened at the shoulders with a pin or brooch. Openings for armholes were left on each side, and the open side of the garment was either left that way, or pinned or sewn to form a seam. The peplos might not be secured at the waist with a belt or girdle. The chiton was made of a much lighter material, usually imported linen. It was a very long and very wide rectangle of fabric sewn up at the sides, pinned or sewn at the shoulders, and usually girded around the waist. Often the chiton was wide enough to allow for sleeves that were fastened along the upper arms with pins or buttons. Both the peplos and chiton were floor-length garments that were usually long enough to be pulled over the belt, creating a pouch known as a kolpos. Under either garment, a woman might have worn a soft band, known as a strophion, around the mid-section of the body.
Men in ancient Greece customarily wore a chiton similar to the one worn by women, but knee-length or shorter. An exomis, a short chiton fastened on the left shoulder, was worn for exercise, horse riding, or hard labor. The cloak (himation) worn by both women and men was essentially a rectangular piece of heavy fabric, either woolen or linen. It was draped diagonally over one shoulder or symmetrically over both shoulders, like a stole. Women sometimes wore an epiblema (shawl) over the peplos or chiton. Young men often wore a short cloak (chlamys) for riding. Greek men occasionally wore a broad-brimmed hat (petasos), and on rare occasions, Greek women donned a flat-brimmed one with a high peaked crown. Both women and men wore sandals, slippers, soft shoes, or boots, although at home they usually went barefoot.
Citation
Department of Greek and Roman Art. “Ancient Greek Dress.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/grdr/hd_grdr.htm (October 2003)
Further Reading
Grant, Michael, and John Hazel. Who's Who in Classical Mythology. London: Dent, 1993.
Hornblower, Simon, and Antony Spawforth, eds. The Oxford Classical Dictionary. 3d ed., rev. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Pedley, John Griffiths. Greek Art and Archaeology. 2d ed. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1998.
Ridgway, Brunilde Sismondo. Fourth-Century Styles in Greek Sculpture. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1997.
Ridgway, Brunilde Sismondo. Roman Copies of Greek Sculpture: The Problem of the Originals. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1984.
Ridgway, Brunilde Sismondo. The Archaic Style in Greek Sculpture. 2d ed. Chicago: Ares, 1993.
Robertson, Martin. A History of Greek Art. 2 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975.
Stewart, Andrew. Greek Sculpture: An Exploration. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990.
Additional Essays by Department of Greek and Roman Art
- Department of Greek and Roman Art. “Classical Cyprus (ca. 480–ca. 310 B.C.).” (July 2007)
- Department of Greek and Roman Art. “The Antonine Dynasty (138–193).” (October 2000)
- Department of Greek and Roman Art. “Death, Burial, and the Afterlife in Ancient Greece.” (October 2003)
- Department of Greek and Roman Art. “Geometric Art in Ancient Greece.” (October 2004)
- Department of Greek and Roman Art. “The Flavian Dynasty (69–96 A.D.).” (October 2000)
- Department of Greek and Roman Art. “The Julio-Claudian Dynasty (27 B.C.–68 A.D.).” (October 2000)
- Department of Greek and Roman Art. “Augustan Rule (27 B.C.–14 A.D.).” (October 2000)
- Department of Greek and Roman Art. “The Severan Dynasty (193–235 A.D.).” (October 2000)
- Department of Greek and Roman Art. “Roman Egypt.” (October 2000)
- Department of Greek and Roman Art. “Roman Copies of Greek Statues.” (October 2002)
- Department of Greek and Roman Art. “Athenian Vase Painting: Black- and Red-Figure Techniques.” (October 2002)
- Department of Greek and Roman Art. “Boscoreale: Frescoes from the Villa of P. Fannius Synistor.” (October 2004)
- Department of Greek and Roman Art. “Early Cycladic Art and Culture.” (October 2004)
- Department of Greek and Roman Art. “Geometric and Archaic Cyprus.” (October 2004)
- Department of Greek and Roman Art. “Hellenistic and Roman Cyprus.” (October 2004)
- Department of Greek and Roman Art. “Scenes of Everyday Life in Ancient Greece.” (October 2002)
- Department of Greek and Roman Art. “Greek Art in the Archaic Period.” (October 2003)
- Department of Greek and Roman Art. “The Symposium in Ancient Greece.” (October 2002)
- Department of Greek and Roman Art. “Roman Painting.” (October 2004)
- Department of Greek and Roman Art. “Tanagra Figurines.” (October 2004)
- Department of Greek and Roman Art. “The Augustan Villa at Boscotrecase.” (October 2004)
- Department of Greek and Roman Art. “The Cesnola Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.” (October 2004)
- Department of Greek and Roman Art. “The Roman Republic.” (October 2000)
- Department of Greek and Roman Art. “Warfare in Ancient Greece.” (October 2000)
Related Essays
- Contemporary Deconstructions of Classical Dress
- Scenes of Everyday Life in Ancient Greece
- Women in Classical Greece
- The Art of Classical Greece (ca. 480–323 B.C.)
- Athenian Vase Painting: Black- and Red-Figure Techniques
- The Chiton, Peplos, and Himation in Modern Dress
- Classical Antiquity in the Middle Ages
- Classical Art and Modern Dress
- Classicism in Modern Dress
- Death, Burial, and the Afterlife in Ancient Greece
- Etruscan Art
- The Five Wares of South Italian Vase Painting
- The Greek Key and Divine Attributes in Modern Dress
- Greek Terracotta Figurines with Articulated Limbs
- Mystery Cults in the Greek and Roman World
- Neoclassicism
- Nudity and Classical Themes in Byzantine Art
- Roman Copies of Greek Statues
- Southern Italian Vase Painting
- The Symposium in Ancient Greece
- Tanagra Figurines
- Theater in Ancient Greece
Chronology
Keywords
- 10th Century B.C.
- 1st Century B.C.
- 2nd Century B.C.
- 2nd Millennium B.C.
- 3rd Century B.C.
- 3rd Millennium B.C.
- 4th Century B.C.
- 4th Millennium B.C.
- 5th Century B.C.
- 6th Century B.C.
- 7th Century B.C.
- 8th Century B.C.
- 9th Century B.C.
- Ancient Greek Art
- Balkan Peninsula
- Clothing
- Europe
- Footwear
- Funerary Art
- Games
- Greece
- Horse Trappings
- Linen
- Mourning
- Painting
- Plaster
- Red-Figure Pottery
- Religious Art
- Sculpture
- Sculpture in the Round
- Sports
- Textile
- Wool