Ancient Greece Clothing
Minoan Dress Colorful paintings on the walls of the Minoan palaces reveal the sort of clothes that people wore on the island. Minoan men usually wore a simple loincloth or a short skirt which were produced from wool or linen materials. Ancient Greece Clothing includes – the skirts dipped down to form a point at the front and those were frequently decorated with geometric patterns and a patterned border.
Ancient Clothing
Minoan men were usually clean shaven and their hair was worn loose down their backs. They wore golden collars, armlets, and bracelets, and some wore golden bands covering most of their calves. Minoan women’s dress was far more elaborate. Most of them wore brightly colored dresses, with full, flounced skirts, falling in many layers to the ground. The short-sleeved tunic that covered the top of the body had a tight fitting bodice, cut very low to leave the breasts bare. Minoan women wore golden necklaces and bracelets and left their hair long and loose. They wore tall, conical hats, or more often just a simple headband.
Myceneans Palace Dress
In the great halls of their brightly painted palaces, the Mycenean kings and queens held lavish feasts. Kings and nobles wore simple skirts with patterned borders and typically left their chests bare. Men wore their hair loose, hanging around their shoulders, and held in place by a simple headband. Mycenean women wore multicolored dresses, with flared, tiered skirts, and close-fitting, low-cut bodices. Their hair was loosely bound with colorful ribbons, while some locks hung down around their faces. Women wore gold and amber necklaces and bracelets, while men had golden armlets. Most of the army people wore simple skirts and relied for their protection on helmets and shields. Helmets were usually fairly plain – a pointed bronze cap with flaps for the ears, topped by a flowing horsehair plume.
The king, however, wore a helmet with a curved horn at the front. One remarkable helmet has been found that was originally constructed from dozens of boars’ tusks laid side by side. Most women in ancient Greece knew how to spin wool and weave it into cloth, and a Greek wife was expected to provide all the cloth for her family. Some women did all of their household spinning and weaving themselves, but rich women often had slaves to do the work instead. One famous example of a virtuous Greek woman is Penelope, the wife of the hero Odysseus, who kept busy with her weaving for twenty years, while Odysseus was away on his adventures!
