Ancient Myths: The Simple Greek Chiton

There is this habit in the Society of viewing all Ancient garb as potato sacks, useful only for extremely hot weather or for new people who need garb fast. As a great lover of Ancient Greek garb and the grace it can display, this has rubbed me up the wrong way for a long time. This project is aimed at a particular case in which the accepted thought is not necessarily true, and to display some of that Ancient beauty and grace to those who are not familiar with it.

The accepted knowledge

The accepted school of thought on chitons (ancient Greek dresses. Literally, tunic),is that there were only two varieties (Doric and Ionic), and that each of of them consisted of a single piece of cloth, pinned at the shoulders and sometimes sewn down the side. In the case Doric chitons, for women, they sometimes have a peplos, traditionally thought to be an extension of the same piece of fabric, folded down at the shoulder (See diagram below). Note that chitons for women are always ankle to floor length (outside of ceremonial occasions) and are fastened with dress pins (which were sometimes up to a foot long), or later, after dress pins were made illegal, fibulae (ancient safety pins), or - and there is some discussion about this - buttons. Finally the garment is belted at the waist or slightly above, in order to give a slightly empire cut.

Diagram 1: The traditional view

The counter theory

It is my belief that the commonly accepted knowledge that Doric chitons with peploi fails to account for the documentary evidence, and also is less practical than it otherwise could be. For this reason I have constructed a number of garments which consist of a separate skirt and top. 

The first reason for this is one of drape. The problem with Doric chitons that follow the traditional school of thought is just how much of the body is visible given the neck hole. The nature of the full width fold corresponding to the full width skirt means that a great deal of side and torso is visible, something that is seen in neither the pots nor the statuary. These depictions almost always show a lot of fabric in the skirt and that just isn't realistically viable with the fold method most of the time.

Funny shaped edge on an (admittedly Ionic) chiton.
Attic drinking kylix - ca. 480 BCE
Photo taken in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

The second reason is clothing texture. There are a a very large number of pots depicting women wearing chitons with significantly different patterns on the peplos and the body of the dress. We have temple records indicating that dresses were embroidered, but also patterned weaving is thought to have occurred, and given the extent of the patterns and the class of the women wearing them, woven patterns seem more likely. Given this, it seems unlikely that the patterns in different parts of the same garment would be so very different, given the difficulty and therefore cost of changing patterns so radically mid-cloth.

You may have to zoom, but that's a solidly different pattern
Apulian (south Italian) Calyx-Krater fragment found in Greece - ca. 400-380 BCE
Photo taken in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

The third reason is access: whilst a traditional Doric chiton may be unpinned (or potentially unbuttoned) at the shoulder in order to breastfeed, re-pinning can be fiddly and annoying, especially when trying to handle a small child. The convenience of a separate skirt and top is that the shirt can easily be moved out of the way with greater modesty and speed.

The last notable problem is one of shape. Simply put, there are a number of statues where the points for the hanging corners of the peplos are just in the wrong place, and it makes no sense for them to be an extension of the simple rectangular shape.

Is that a belly button I see?
Attic Terracotta Amphora -  ca. 540-530 BCE
Photo taken in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

Of course, none of this is conclusive proof, and I make no claim that the traditional structure didn't also occur, but with this much evidence, from this variety of sources, it's worth exploring alternatives.

Construction and alternatives

I have tried a number of different methods for constructing this kind of garb over the last three years. I. I have primarily made court garb, and so have used silk, which was well and truly available around the Mediterranean in the Classical and Successor eras which are my focus. Trade routes through Persia in the form of the Persian Royal Road (established in 500-330 BCE), through Alexander's empire and the subsequent Seleucid Empire were strong (Mark, 2014), and nobility would have had access to silk through India.

I have tried two skirt construction methods - pleating and gathering - though I feel that pleating gives a body of fabric most similar to what is seen in depictions. I have similarly tried two different shirt constructions, one with a diagonal line to achieve the asymmetrical look in some dresses, and the more standard, even cut that is seen more commonly. Lastly I have tried ties and a catch as alternatives for closing of the skirt. The closing method is not something that I have reached a conclusion on as yet. To my knowledge there is no particular evidence either way, and they both have advantages and disadvantages. Ties are adjustable and there is no evidence of hooks and eyes or bars (as on the champagne gown), but there is still the possibility of buttons, and I have never seen any evidence of a the bulk of a knot either. 

All in all, I feel that this solution closes almost all of the holes seen in the more traditional construction method.

Bibligraphy

Joshua J. Mark. “Silk Road,” Ancient History Encyclopedia. Last modified March 28, 2014. http://www.ancient.eu /Silk_Road/.