DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1021#0209
CHAPTER VII
DRESS AND PERSONAL ADORNMENT
After our study of the Mycenaean fortress and dwelling1
and of the tomb, — that real compendium of an ancient
people's life, — we may now see what the monuments have
to say of Mycenaean dress. Hitherto we have looked to
Homer and the slight archaeological notices of the histori-
ans, along with the works of classical art, for our notions
of the primitive garb of the Greeks ; but these were sources
of doubtful character and beyond any scientific control.
Now, however, we possess a great mass of actual Myce-
naean jewelry — entire toilets, we might almost say, as
well as contemporary art representations, in the
round, in relief and intaglio, in vase and fresco
painting — of men and women, from the rudest to the most
refined stage of Mycenaean culture. These enable us to
trace the evolution of dress from the primitive Aryan
breech-cloth to fashions whicli at least foreshadow the ele-
gance of Ionian Greece. This observation, indeed, applies
rather to the women, — the gentleman in full dress being
very little in evidence, except as the sumptuous funeral
outfit speaks for him.
One monument — the famous siege scene on the Silver
Vase — shows us Mycenaean warriors in a state of absolute
nudity defending their fortress walls with bow TheLoin-
and sling; but this can hardly be typical of every- pron
day life. We have a truer starting-point for our study in
DRESS AND PERSONAL ADORNMENT
After our study of the Mycenaean fortress and dwelling1
and of the tomb, — that real compendium of an ancient
people's life, — we may now see what the monuments have
to say of Mycenaean dress. Hitherto we have looked to
Homer and the slight archaeological notices of the histori-
ans, along with the works of classical art, for our notions
of the primitive garb of the Greeks ; but these were sources
of doubtful character and beyond any scientific control.
Now, however, we possess a great mass of actual Myce-
naean jewelry — entire toilets, we might almost say, as
well as contemporary art representations, in the
round, in relief and intaglio, in vase and fresco
painting — of men and women, from the rudest to the most
refined stage of Mycenaean culture. These enable us to
trace the evolution of dress from the primitive Aryan
breech-cloth to fashions whicli at least foreshadow the ele-
gance of Ionian Greece. This observation, indeed, applies
rather to the women, — the gentleman in full dress being
very little in evidence, except as the sumptuous funeral
outfit speaks for him.
One monument — the famous siege scene on the Silver
Vase — shows us Mycenaean warriors in a state of absolute
nudity defending their fortress walls with bow TheLoin-
and sling; but this can hardly be typical of every- pron
day life. We have a truer starting-point for our study in