CLOTHING MATERIALS DURING THE

HELLENISTIC PERIOD

Sotirios D. Lambropoulos*

gions, that had never before direct contact with the

Greek world, the influx of different new clothing materials and fabric, the contact with dressing codes of
different cultural areas, such as of those in Bactria
and India and Egypt, possibly led to the acceptance of
different dressing types, the selection of the most
suitable attire depending on the climatic needs of
each area, as well on political and cultural conditions.
The above information like these is gathered
through archaeological data (statues, depictions in
vases, frescoes, mosaics, coins, roman copies of fine
art) and literary texts. Ancient authors, poets and historians mention costume-dressing tradition and clothing materials, in their literary efforts. Another important issue concerning clothing materials and dressing
production is the typology of clothing (attire, hats,
buskins and sandals, etc.) associated both with men
and women (social class, army, official garment, ceremonial costumes) (BIEBER, 1973: 425f; PEKRIDOUGORECKI, 1989).
Alexander the Great, after the catalysis of the
Persian state, followed the formal dressing code of
the great Persian kings (NEUFER, 1929). He established the use of the purple-dyed chiton with the
white band around the waist. Gradually he adopted
the persikhvn kivtarin (Persian headband) the
diavleukon citwvna (white chiton) and the persikhvn zwvnhn (Persian belt). The Hellenistic rulers
after the death of Alexander, even though they did not
carry out the luxury of the Persian kings and the rest
of the eastern sovereigns, they were none the less
dressed with extravagant garments, distinguishable by

4th and 3rd B.C. century witnessed a permanent

change in the attitudes of all Greeks and the people who lived under the reign of the Hellenistic
rulers, resulting in what emerged as a new attitude toward life and its expectations (BENGTSON, 1969: 383389; CARY, 1951). In the Hellenistic world, public and
private lives were made separate, and the individuals
only duty was to himself. In art, sculpture, architecture, or philosophy or wherever we choose to look,
we see more attention paid to individualism and introspection (FOULER, 1989; ANNAS, 1992).
We encounter the same thing in dressing-costume
typology and in clothing materials, fabric and textiles
(HORN, 1931). The elements of the Hellenistic World
were predominately of an urban culture. The direct
contact with the conquered civilisations, such as the
Egyptian, the Persian and the Indian, influenced the
Greeks, in the production and the selection of clothing materials and fabric. The Hellenistic kings became monarchs in the Macedonian tradition. Drawing
from the Alexander legend, they attempted to have a
striking personal appearance. We know that they wore
headbands similar to the ones Alexander had worn,
which became a symbol of monarchy.
Egypts port city of Alexandria and other great
Hellenistic cities, became centres of fabric imports
and costume manufacturing. The Phoenicians produced and traded cotton cloth, and the Egyptians produced silk, wool clothes, dyes, etc. In West Asia,
large workshops were established. The manufacture
of woollens increased there, along with carpets, linen
clothes, bleach. The growth of trade relations with re-

HE

* MA, PhD candidate, University of Athens.

PURPUREAE VESTES. II Symposium Internacional sobre Textiles y Tintes del Mediterrneo en el mundo antiguo (C. Alfaro, L. Karali, eds.),
pp. 79-82.

79

80
the selection of their materials of manufacture (silk,
fine wool), by their decorative elements (gold threads)
and their coloration (purple-dye) (BLANK, 1976:
31f.). The new lords of Egypt adopted the titles, the
signs and mostly the attire of Pharaohs and they undertook their role in the religious perceptions and rituals. The royal garments were similar to those of aristocrats and those of the middle-class citizens, with an
important exception concerning the colour and the
material of the textile. The Ptolemies usually wore a
short tunic strapped around the waist, and with a purple-dyed chlamys, mostly during wartime or in cult
ceremonies. Murex-Dye, was extremely expensive
and symbolized wealth.
The king and the high rank officers wore purple
and violet-dyed headgear (kansiva ), tall boots, and of
course chlamys, that had round long side (WUESCHERBECCHI, 1904: 93f). They adopted the signs and emblems of their Asian and Egyptian predecessors, and
in some certain cases they vested all their attire. Furthermore, they replaced the simple protocol of Macedons court, with the imposing and elaborate formality that characterised the imperial life of the East.
Priests, clad in white, initiated people into Ptolemys
cult by baptism submerging them in the Nile.
In Egypt, himation, resembling those of travellers
and horsemen of Northern Greece, followed as fashion from all the immigrants of the Hellenistic kingdoms. The Macedon Veterans and their descendants
were depicted like that in tombstones, dressed with
short chiton, covered most of the times, by armour,
and with a chlamys placed over their shoulders. The
image of a Greekness was reflected on the clothes, as
a social and cultural sign.
The farmer and villager of the Hellenistic countryside and the city-slave could be recognised from
their dressing. The chiton was short with small or
without sleeves and fastened with a fibula over the
mans shoulders. The cloth worn by the manual workers, was called ejxwmiv, hanged by the left shoulder. Fisher men and poor people in general were depicted, half-naked, with their torso not covered.
Against sun, rain and wind, the women of the Hellenistic world, wore broad brimmed hats made of
straw (foliva ) (THEOCRITOS, 15, 39).
The Seleucids, presented themselves successors
of the Achaemenids and kings of Babylon for their
Iranian subjects. Of course, these new rulers continued to dress, as the kings of Macedon. We have to
underline, that already from the 5th B.C. century, luxurious clothes from Persia, (savrapi, kalavsiri,
aktaiva ) sown all over with gold sheet, were known
to mainland Greeks and to those who lived in the
colonies. Rich citizens with the intention of reestablishing their social status, bought these clothes.

Sotirios D. Lambropoulos
Unfortunately, Organic decay, due to the proliferation of bacteria, is the leading cause of the deterioration of clothing products. Generally, hair and wool fibres survive well, while flax, a cellulosic vegetative
fibre, decays rapidly in such conditions. In Egypt and
the Middle East materials such as cotton, linen, wool,
and silk fabrics have been preserved. Specifically, the
Middle Eastern city of Dura-Europos has afforded archaeologists with all four of these types (BELLINGER,
1945). During the Hellenistic period, clothes, textiles
were manufactured basically originating from plants
such as (cotton, linen, cannabis) or animal, for instance (wool, hair, silk, leather) (FORBES, 1956,
vol.4). Mineral fibers, such as amiantus and metals
such as gold and silver were used in the production of
threads and textiles.
From all these materials, the most important was
the lambs wool (evrion). The weaving of it, was developed considerably. To the native sheep of every region, were added also other breeds too. Silk was one
of the most precious animal fibres (shrikovn nhvma )
which was created by the silkworm (Bombyx Mori)
imported from The Greeks became aware of the genuine Chinese silk by the end of the 5th century according to a burial found at the cemetery of Kerameikos
(HUNDT, 1969: 59f.) Pliny, (NH 11, 75) mentions Assyria as the homeland of a species of a wild silkworm. Aristotle (Hist. anim. 5, 551b) relates that the
inhabitants of the island of Cos, were turning it to
textile. Particularly strenuous dresses such as
(savkko) were made by goat hair.Cotton came from
the Far East, from Eastern India, Greece and Upper
Egypt. Linen came from regions, such as Northern
Europe, Orient, Greece and mainly from Egypt. The
delicate linen textile was exported from Alexandria to
other regions of the Hellenistic world that produced
linen too. Skin of animals originating from deer,
sheep, ox, bear, wolf, leopard, colt, sable, lion, sometimes served as cloth or clothing material. Special establishments existed for the carding, bleaching and
coloring. Natron, the Alexandrian craftsmen obtained
it, by paying a special tax (nitrikhv). In Alexandria,
an important dye craft of high quality was developed,
due to the significant demand of court and the creation and presence of enormous networks of commercial routes that converged there.
Technical improvements were marked regarding
the production of goods of great value. Thus, began
the production of textiles with imprint decoration
that. Smaller changes included the adaptation of certain craft-based products from the East, to the needs
and preferences of the Greeks, as well as the imitation of Greek prototypes. Alexandria gathered the
major part of weaving workshops and dye, as an
amount of raw materials was sent there, weaved or

Clothing materials during the Hellenistic period

not. The demand was enormous. During the 4th B.C.
century, took place changes, concerning patterns, textiles and colours. The East enjoyed the fame of being
the homeland of the most luxurious, extravagant textiles. The so called, barbarian textiles (Barbavrwn
ufavsmata ), had come to Greece long before the
Hellenistic era, possibly from Phrygia, Persia and
Babylon. (BUSCHOR, 1912: 39; HOECKMANN, 1985:
79). At this point, we have to mention the most precious textile that has been preserved. A interwoven
with gold, purple-dyed textile, coming from Tomb II,
identified as the Tomb of Philip the II, from the Great
Tumulus at Vergina. Plant patterns are weaved upon
it. It constitutes a significant source of information
for the quality and the high level of technique and
craft of textile data, concerning royal use. (DROUGOU,
1987: 303-316).
The Hellenistic kingdoms of Bactria and India are
of particular interest The coins of that region, not only carry Greek inscriptions, but follow Greek attire
prototypes (chlamys, himation). They represent impressive examples of realistic rendering and tradition.
The elephant-skin helmets, that Alexander the Great
(336-323 B.C.) and king Demetrius I (200-185 B.C.)
bore, were used as means to display the profile of
each monarch as conqueror of India. Typologically,
the kings were depicted with a diadem or a Macedonian cavalry helmet. This was, in all probability, considered a bound with the Greek-Hellenistic tradition,
even in the Times of Menander (155-130 B.C.), who
governed a kingdom, spreading from the Hindus valley to the Ganges River.
The literate sources, recount that the dead were
buried dressed with a red or purple-dyed item of
clothing. This practice is confirmed by archaeological research in South Russia, where red coverings
were found inside graves. The custom concerned the
placing of red-dyed textiles that covered the sarcophagus or the ossuary In Grief, black was considered to
be the color of the adoration of the dead (MOMMSEN,
1976: 105) King Perseus of Macedon, after his defeat from Aemilius Paulus, and during victors triumph, was dressed with a dark cloak (PLUTARCH,
Aem. Paul. 34).
Regarding the cult of dead, the practice of burning pieces of clothing in the funerary pyre is stated by
Plutarch. Textiles were a part of the goods that accompanied the dead into the grave. People of high
status were buried wearing richly embroidered
clothes with bands of brilliantly patterned fabrics As
for Festivals, In Naucrates, at some stage in the celebration of Hestia Prytaneias, during the festival of
Apollo Kommaios, all men dinned with white dresses
(ATHINAIOS Deip. 4, 149d-150a).

81
The only authentic attires, textiles of any form that
have been preserved in good condition, date from Late
Antiquity. All these kinds of textiles came from Egypt.
Most of the cloth remains were found in Achmim Panopolis and in Antinoopolis (pl. VII). The so called
Coptic textiles and clothes belong to a period set
chronologically to the late 3rd B.C. century, when the
practice of burying the dead wearing their clothes replaced the custom of mummification (TRILLING, 1982:
41; DOSOGNE-LAFONTAINE, 1988: 51).
The nomads Kushana, destroyed the Greco-Bactrian kingdom. They were charmed and finally copied
the Greek culture of the Hellenistic era. They started
to follow the Greek fashion, customs and traditions.
These tribes until then were dressed in a simple shirt,
short coat and above it a long smock. Now, their
dresses were decorated with thousand of gold plates
(SARIGIANNIDIS, 1996: 52-45).
In conclusion, analysing textiles and clothing
materials provides us with a considerable amount of
indirect information about Hellenistic culture hoping
to gain a better insight into the Hellenistic period.
During this period there existed regional differentiations, concerning clothing, in a typological manner,
in a social frame, and according to climatic conditions and ecosystems. Ancient fabrics that have survived hundreds of years often provide useful information about the Hellenistic textile industry, the
methods and materials of textile manufacture and
dyeing, and about many other facets of Greek and indigenous culture.

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ANIMAL FIBRES

PLANT FIBRES

ANIMAL SKINS

SILKWORM
SHEEP
GOAT
CAMEL
MOLLUSC
HORSE
COW
RABBIT
MINERAL-ASBESTOS

COTTON
FLAX
RAMIE
JUTE
MALLOW
NETTLES
HEMP

WOLF
BEAR
OX
DEER
OTTER
LEOPARD
SHEEP
SABLE

Figure 1. Natural materials used in textile production (after SCARRE, p. 41).