Clothing and Hairstyles of Ancient Greece & Macedonia

 

Clothing and Hairstyles in ancient Macedonia

(this is a repost of something from 2019 that disappeared) 

 

 Ancient Greek and Macedonian clothing was relatively simple, in terms of not requiring much stitching. It usually amounted to a large, rectangular piece of cloth that was then folded, pinned, and tied in various ways.

Women wore one of two primary garmets: the peplos (both left below) or the khiton (sometimes chiton, both right below, Ionic-style). The choice was more regional than one of personal preference. In Macedonia, most women would wear the peplos. A peplos was secured by long pins (with protective endpiece) while the khiton was secured by fibulai, which amounted to safety pins (bee fibula, left).

 

For men, there’s just the khiton really, either shorter (above knees, below left, Macedonian) or longer (mid-calf). In Macedonia, men may also have worn a long-sleeved version (below right).

 

Greeks also had “outer-wear.” First, the himation (not to be confused with a toga). It could be worn over a long men’s khiton, or alone (as below left); it’s sort of the ancient Greek version of a suit, more formal than a khiton. Women also wore the himation, especially outdoors. When raised over her head (below right), it was called “Aphrodite’s tortoise,” as she symbolically carried her “house” on her body (concealing her from the gaze of non-familial males).

 

Men might also wear a short cloak outdoors, the khlamys, especially associated with soldiers and men traveling . See the hunters below; the one on the left is identified as Alexander himself. And no, nobody really hunted naked; that’s “heroizing.” Notice also Alexander’s hat. That’s the petasos, a floppy, straw sunhat worn against the unforgiving solar glare of Greece.

 

Sandals came in a wide variety; there was even a “sandal boot” common to cavalrymen, et al. (See top left image below, or statue of man’s short khiton up above.) Additional sandal styles:

 

Finally, hair. Most of the men in the novel wear their hair short, following a style borrowed from soldiers and athletes. But Hephaistion wears his long, after a fashion among boys in Athens (see image on the pot below), but also among young men and even adults of the Archaic Age. I present you with … the ancient Greek mullet!

 

Despite what comic-book films would have you believe, fighting with long hair down may look lucious, but is pretty much impossible if you want to be able to see (and so, stay alive)—why most militaries insist that women (or men) with long hair keep it up. So also in ancient Greece. Hephaistion is described as wearing it braided in a crown around his head. Costume designer Ann Patricia demonstrates how that might work:

As for women’s styles, these varied a great deal. I’d like to point to the experimental archaeology of Janet Stephens, who pursues her love of figuring out hair designs in ancient statuary. Most of her work is not Greek, but of particular interest might be the Classical Greek chigon and Aphrodite’s Knot. Finally, the Sakkos, which Kleopatra is described as wearing once she’s old enough to be married off. The last video explains how ancient hair nets were made, and demonstrates weaving techniques on a small scale, for those interested. She then shows how to put the sakkos on the hair. (The model, incidentally, is wearing a peplos.)