Greek Chiton of circa 500 BC

Amber Willard
Greek Culture
500 BC was a time of flourishing for the Greeks. It marked the transition from the
Archaic period to the Classical period of Greek history. In the Classical period art and literature
blossomed so much that we still study the works of that time today. This was the time when
Greek tragedy came forth and the renowned philosophers Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle lived.
Politically the Greeks started new ideas by starting the first democratic government recorded,
city-states, elections, and juries. (Tortora, pg. 57) The ideals of the day were individual voices,
equality, and physical health. Although the society wanted equality, except for a few city-states,
the roles of women were very stiff and defined. A woman in ancient Greece ran the household,
spun, wove, and sewed the clothing, and reared the children. Women were out in public only on
very rare occasions and mostly only left the home to visit close relatives
(https://www.penn.museum/sites/greek_world/women.html). The one occupation for women
outside the home was that of a priestess (Tortora, pg. 59). Women of affluent families could
become a priestess with rank equal to that of priests.
Along with democracy education was on the rise. First, formal schooling by institutions
was available solely to boys born to aristocracy, then by 400 BC all boys began to receive
education. For young girls informal education was carried out in the home
(https://www.penn.museum/sites/greek_world/men_school.html).
Homes were very independent as the women clothed the family and the main occupation for men
was farming. Even wealthy men spent their time managing the farm work on their land
(https://www.penn.museum/sites/greek_world/men.html). Trading was another major part of the
economy of Greece. They traded with all their close neighbors and some of their art was
influenced by this connection to the outside world. The loose flowing robes of the ionic chiton
for example, replaced the straight lines of the doric peplos because of eastern influences.
The Basics of Greek Clothing
Greek dress has inspired many beautiful garments throughout the ages, but never has any
other people used the same ingenuity in creating simple functional garments that were also rich
with variety.
“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)." (Department of Greek and Roman Art. "Ancient Greek Dress",
Metropolitan Museum of Art, October 2003, metmuseum.org,
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/grdr/hd_grdr.htm)
An incredible number of styles came as “the result of simple manipulations of the three basic
garment types: the chiton, the peplos, and the himation. Positioning a waist cinch or a shoulder
harness and removing a fibula introduced to the ancient wardrobe the possibility of innumerable
effects." (Harold Koda, The Costume Institute, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, October 2003,
metmuseum.org, https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/god4/hd_god4.htm)
The tunic being the main garment was one or two pieces of fabric wrapped around the
body with a tie at the waist, a Koplos or excess fabric pulled up much like a pouch over the tie to
control length, and a fastening at the shoulders
(https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/grdr/hd_grdr.htm). Differentiating between the two types
of tunics goes like this: the chiton was made of linen, was much fuller then the peplos, generally
had multiple fastenings on each shoulder that formed short or long sleeves, and had an opening
on one side. The peplos was made of wool, it frequently had elaborate patterns, had a flap of
fabric folded back at the neckline, usually only one fastening at the shoulder, and most often both
sides were closed. (https://www.penn.museum/sites/greek_world/women_dress.html,
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/god3/hd_god3.htm)
Chiton

https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-8cadacb5553e36f923dd3f447f3f4a7e.webp
Peplos

https://www.hoplites.org/basic-greek-clothing-female/
Himation
The himation was a mantel, used for going out of the house. Although it was mostly
worn over a tunic, sometimes men are depicted wearing it alone. It consisted of one rectangle
piece of fabric and required no fastening. While not the only kind it was the most common and
could be worn in different ways. It was generally worn draped over one shoulder and secured
around the arm. Another mantel called the diplax was like the himation in for and even use but
smaller and worn only by women.

https://www.ancienthistorylists.com/greek-history/top-10-famous-clothes-ancient-greece/
https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Clementia
Why They Wore What They Wore
As mentioned above their garments were vary versatile, by not doing very much sewing and
cutting one piece of cloth could be used for many styles. As fabric was precious, expensive, and
time consuming to make this was much more cost effective. The weaving that went into the cloth
was also very fine and cutting into the fabric would be a waste.
Sewing Techniques
Specific techniques for constructing Greek garments are very hard to find. Firstly, the
information we have about their clothes comes from paintings, pottery, and statues (Tortorna).
Written information still available from this time speaks very little of the specifics of clothing
construction. Secondly, cloth was woven to the specific size needed for the garment, the designs
were usually woven into it, it was not cut, and it was only sewn with needle and thread very
rarely. This means that clothing was really all about how you draped the cloth around the body
so there weren’t many sewing techniques to record. Despite this, two techniques I incorporated
into my research are buttons, and shaping weights.
Buttons
For a long time, scholars did not believe the Ancient Greeks used buttons, but recent
research has confirmed that they did. At first, they pinned their tunics at the shoulder with
straight pins or brooch/safety pin like fastenings. These have long been called fibulae after the
word the Greeks used in their own writings. Upon closer inspection, scholars have found that
word fibulae when used by Greek authors is inclusive of button fastenings as well (https://www-
jstor-org.byui.idm.oclc.org/stable/497471).
Buttons were made of glass, ivory, metal, and possible wood although no wood has
survived (https://andromedaofsparta.wordpress.com/2017/10/26/button-button-whos-got-the-
button/). When they were used on the chiton they fastened with loops so the fabric would meet
right where the button was. When used on the peplos is actually overlapped the button meaning
they cut a buttonhole (https://andromedaofsparta.wordpress.com/2017/10/26/button-button-
whos-got-the-button/). Currently it is not known how they finished their buttonholes so that they
wouldn’t ravel.
The story of the women that killed a messenger with their dress pins after he reported bad
news from a battle, is said to be a possible reason why the Greeks started using buttons for it
happened around the same time, it also happened at the same time the chiton became popular.
This correlation is impossible to confirm though. Still the usefulness of being able to arrange the
cloth once and then easily but it on as apposed to having to carefully place the pins every time
can be seen as a logical reason for their use.
https://andromedaofsparta.wordpress.com/2017/10/26/button-button-whos-got-the-button/
https://andromedaofsparta.wordpress.com/2017/10/26/button-button-whos-got-the-button/
https://andromedaofsparta.wordpress.com/2017/10/26/button-button-whos-got-the-button/

https://andromedaofsparta.wordpress.com/2017/10/26/button-button-whos-got-the-button/
Corner Weights
On the corners of both the peplos and the diplax small weights were attached that
controlled the drape. There are numerous representations of them in art, showing them to be
quite widely used. For the peplos, they were fastened to the corner of the over fold and for the
diplax they were on all for corners. We do a similar thing today when we put weights in the
bottom of curtains so they can hang straight.

(https://www.clipa
rtkey.com/view/Jx
obTm_clip-art-
clothing-chiton-
google-search-
ancient-greek/)
Link to Digital Portfolio
https://amberwillardfashiondesign.weebly.com/fashion-history.html

Sources:
Tortora, P. G. & Eubank, K. (2010). Survey of Historic Costume (5th edition). Fairchild Books.
https://www.penn.museum/sites/greek_world/women.html
https://www.penn.museum/sites/greek_world/men_school.html
https://www.penn.museum/sites/greek_world/men.html
Department of Greek and Roman Art. "Ancient Greek Dress", Metropolitan Museum of Art,
October 2003, metmuseum.org, https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/grdr/hd_grdr.htm
Harold Koda, The Costume Institute, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, October 2003,
metmuseum.org, https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/god4/hd_god4.htm
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/grdr/hd_grdr.htm
https://www.penn.museum/sites/greek_world/women_dress.html
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/god3/hd_god3.htm
https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-8cadacb5553e36f923dd3f447f3f4a7e.webp
https://www.hoplites.org/basic-greek-clothing-female/
https://www.ancienthistorylists.com/greek-history/top-10-famous-clothes-ancient-greece/
https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Clementia
https://www-jstor-org.byui.idm.oclc.org/stable/497471
https://andromedaofsparta.wordpress.com/2017/10/26/button-button-whos-got-the-button/
https://www.clipartkey.com/view/JxobTm_clip-art-clothing-chiton-google-search-ancient-greek/