athenas owl wrote: I agree with Marcus I think..."we'll wear these damn things, but don't tell anyone back home!". Or they opted for plain pants or leggings, not the fancy decorated ones of the Iranians. Or really long socks...( I do know that even in Athens, socks were worn by the elderly and infirm.
Thing is, clothes back then were more a means of identification rather than a fashion as we think of them today. A while ago I was watching a show on one of the history channels about the century-long search for the exact historical shade of purple which was used by Jews for one part of the tassels they wear for religious purposes. The narrator noted that in ancient times one could tell everything about a man by the clothes he wore – his wealth, his position, his country, his ethnicity, his religion, etc. Now, I know the program was not about the Greek world, per se, but it is true that there were identifying factors amongst the Greeks and their clothes were not always as "generic" as people tend to think of them today. The Macedonians had their cloak and their kausia, the Spartans had their red cloaks and long hair, and even women had variables in clothing according to where they came from. I learnt from
Aphrodite's Tortoise: The Veiled Women of Ancient Greece that there were many styles of veils, some of them specific to state and even city of origin. In fact, women in Thebes wore an uncommon style where a heavy veil covered the whole face and had a slit in it for the eyes, much like the ones we are familiar with today in the Muslim world. When the veil turned up again in Hellenistic Alexandria (and became quite popular amongst Greek women because of the freedom it allowed – they had both hands free rather than having to use one to hold up a veil to their face), the author, Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, posits that the veil first came to Alexandria with Theban slave women brought there by the Macedonian army!
Now before the Hellenistic period the only time we see both long sleeves and trousers in any Greek artistic portrayal is on Amazonian women and on "barbarians" such as Persians, and these items of clothing are a definite identifying factor. I personally suspect that the epithet "effeminate" which the Greeks often directed at the Persians was as much to do with their mode of dress as anything else. I.e., wearing trousers meant "dressing like a girl"! It's notable, I think, that Plutarch stresses that Alexander did not wear trousers:
Plutarch, Alexander 45.2-4 However, he did not adopt the famous Median fashion of dress, which was along barbaric and strange, nor did he assume trousers, or sleeved vest, or tiara, but carefully devised a fashion which was midway between the Persian and the Median, more modest than the one and more stately than the other. At first he wore this only in intercourse with the Barbarians and with his companions at home, then people generally saw him riding forth or giving audience in this attire. The sight was offensive to the Macedonians, but they admired his other high qualities and thought they ought to yield to him in some things which made for his pleasure or his fame.
I also find the use of the word "modest" quite interesting as we tend to think of modest clothing as being the kind which covers up a person. To the ancient Greeks and Macedonians it seems to mean the opposite, and once again I suspect it refers to
not dressing in what was considered womanly clothing. Less was more as far as ancient Greek men's dress was concerned, certainly within the warrior society. So again I find myself saying that I find it hard to believe the average Macedonian soldier, initially offended by Alexander wearing long sleeves, a diadem, and a certain color of tunic (which I wonder if he may have worn long on occasions, although no visual evidence of such has been found), adopting trousers themselves – something even Alexander didn't do!
Yes, I know, I confess to being rather stubborn where this subject is concerned, but it's one that has fascinated me for a long time. (I'll go along with the possibility of them wearing really long socks though.
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
)
athenas owl wrote: I do remember reading somewhere that while wintering in Bactria or Sogdia, somewhere, one of Alexander's companions was saying that it wasn't really any colder than back home, putting a good face on it, but he still covered himself in three rugs....where have I read that?
That's familiar to me also, so I used the words
blanket and
robe in a quick computer search of the main sources, along with the Moralia and Athenaeus, and I couldn't find any reference. It may be that it's mentioned somewhere else, but I had what seems to be a visual memory of that particular scene when I read your post. Could it be that it was in Stone's movie?
Best regards,