Talk:Clothing in ancient Greece

Error in caption to the caryatid image
I'm not an expert, but I believe that the caryatid depicted in the image on this article is actually wearing a peplos and not a chiton. My impression is that the peplos is distinguished from the chiton in that the former was folded over at the top, leaving a loose second layer of fabric hanging (at the front and back) to the hips. The chiton, on the other hand, seems to have been fastened (at the shoulders) at the top edge of the fabric, with no fold hanging down. Since there is clearly a fold descending from the shoulders over the breasts and abdomen of the caryatid, I believe this garment would be a peplos and not (as the caption states) a chiton. Since I don't have a definitive source at hand, though, I'm not confident enough about this to change the caption.

Ian W. Scott (talk) 01:54, 19 April 2011 (UTC)

S T U B !
This stub lacks all information about different periods and the change in dress, as well as differences among cities and states. Anyone knowing of sources to find such details? Gyuen (talk) 14:01, 17 October 2012 (UTC)

Article is utterly insufficient!

Missing: Clothing of Minoan Crete - or a link / reference;

Clothing of Archaic / Homeric times;

Clothing of Sparta which was, at least for girls/women, very divergent: "thigh showeresses"

Clothing of Hellenic civilizations

Ángel.García, Nuremberg 131.188.2.11 (talk) 14:03, 29 December 2013 (UTC)


 * Yes, I don't have the secondary sources to clean up this article, but someone really needs to note in it that the peplos precedes the chiton on mainland Greece, the chiton being an import from the eastern colonies. I will try to come back to deal with some of this. --Cassidy Percoco (talk) 00:37, 19 June 2016 (UTC)

Influence and legacy
Hello everyone. User:Katolophyromai has, correctly, removed this inappropriate content from the lede, which was unsourced and rather breathlessly promotional. However, I have a couple of questions about this.

First, we are still keeping a large quantity of material from the original edit that added this modern fashion-related content. Are we happy about this content?

Second, it's noticeable that the article discusses clothing in ancient Greece, but says nothing of its legacy or later imitations or anything along those lines. I think it's obvious that there would have been some impact or legacy, and the various fashion houses mentioned are rather major and notable ones. I think it would be useful to have a "Legacy" section if even one or two sources can be found to support it. Please help in improving this aspect of the coverage. MPS1992 (talk) 21:49, 3 December 2018 (UTC)

Winter Clothing
So how did ancient Greeks deal with the cold weather during the winter? On average, 15 to 20 % of Greece is covered with snow from December to early March and the temperature can fall well below 0 degrees Celsius. Especially in Northern Greece, temperature can stay well below zero for months. In February the whole country can be covered with snow. How did they deal with that? What about the Greek cities in Thrace and around the Black sea? What did they wear?

This is the mean daily snow cover in Greece 2004-2018. Assuming it was colder back then because of the climate change, what kind of clothes did they use? http://www.meteo.gr/UploadedFiles/articlePhotos/DEC18/Snow_cover_26122018_GR.png — Preceding unsigned comment added by Stroumel (talk • contribs) 20:18, 30 December 2018 (UTC)

Conflicting info on textiles, other
"The chiton was made out of cotton." appears in the introduction, but later in the Chiton section it states "The chiton was a simple tunic garment of lighter linen [...]" and then "The Doric chiton was usually made of wool and the Ionic chiton was usually made of linen." Then in Fabrics it says "Ancient Greek clothing was made with silk, linen and wool." with no mention of cotton.

I have read that ancient Greeks had access to imported Indian cotton starting in ~5th century BC, however, I don't think the first statement is broadly true so I've removed it.

It would be nice to reconcile all info about textiles, and expand upon use of cotton and silk. More sources are sorely needed.

Another instance of conflicting info: "Males had no problem with nudity, while women could only be naked in the public bath." in the introduction vs "Expensive linen was sheer; nudity was not taboo in Ancient Greece." in Fabrics is a bit confusing.

L.N. Cary (talk) 18:44, 11 March 2022 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: History of Ancient Greece
— Assignment last updated by Johnstoncl (talk) 20:37, 20 May 2023 (UTC)

Sources for future article expansion
Really the footwear section needs to be entirely redone (e.g. the crepida was the sine-non-qua of what it meant to dress up as a Greek in classical antiquity) and/or split off as its own article. Until that happens, has some good points on footwear as a marker of Spartan identity and as a sign (particularly in Athens) of aristocratic or Spartan political/philosophical leanings. — Llywelyn II   22:53, 7 July 2023 (UTC)