Slide 1


	Homer speaks of the weaving of the peplos in the Odyssey. In Archaic Greece, the word referred to the rectangle of cloth commonly worn by women. The Parthenon frieze contained a relief of Athena carrying a sacred peplos. The peplos was woven at home out of wool; lengths were woven to suit the size of the wearer. The garment was created by draping or wrapping the rectangle of cloth around the body and fastening it with metal fibulae (left), or clasps. These were often worked with decorative designs or stones. Linen eventually became the fabric of choice for its flow and coolness, and could be woven to a gauze-like weight.The Greeks also imported silks from China. Preferring fabrics that would drape well, they unraveled silk threads from the Chinese goods and rewove them into softer textures. Vegetable dyes were used, and embroidered and woven designs decorated borders. Pleating was a popular treatment.
	The Greeks had a range of garments which were used alone or layered for warmth. The basic element for both men and women was the chiton, originally a tunic-like garment sewn at the shoulders and under the arm, but later wrapped around the body and secured with pins at the shoulders. Variations in the placement of pins and belting developed into different styles of chiton that are closely related to the changing aesthetic in the development of Greek art and architecture.
	The Doric Peplos (Archaic period, to 500 BCE): women wore the chiton fairly closely wrapped on the body, with a pin at each shoulder. This is pictured as a patterned garment, probably of wool, and is called the Doric Peplos.
	The Ionic Chiton (550 - 480 BCE, less often from 480 - 300 BCE): both men and women wore this version. It was fuller, of a lighter weight wool or pleated linen, with a sleeve created by pinning the opening closed from shoulder to elbow. Women wore it long, and men both short and long. The Charioteer of Delphi wears a form of Ionic chiton, with the shoulder seams sewn shut.
	The Doric Chiton ( 400 - 100 BCE): narrower than the Ionic, again fastened with one brooch at the shoulder, and without sleeves. This was worn by both sexes, and was of wool, linen or silk. A less ostentatious version than the Ionic, it suited the attitudes of restraint and moral rectitude prevalent in the late Classical Period. The chiton was belted by a braided girdle, that could be crossed under the breast to hold the chiton in place.In the High Classical period the Doric chiton was fashioned from a wider piece of fabric, the extra height folded down to cover the torso. This overfold, known as the apotygma, could then be belted and bloused, such as is seen in the Porch Maidens on the Erechtheion.