Chiton

“ Apollo too, except where he wears the long chiton as harp-player, is usually represented on works of art with the chlamys. It is, however, unusual in male dress, with the exception of military costume, and is never found in combination with the long chiton.
Fig. 10.
At home, as a rule, only the chiton was worn. It was, however, not considered correct to be seen thus in the street: only artisans or eccentric people went out without a cloak; but it was just as incorrect to appear without the chiton, only in the himation or chlamys. ”

“ With regard to the ornamental patterns which adorn the chiton, we find borders at the feet and at the edge of the overfold, also strips of ornamentation running round the neck and along the arms and round the arm-holes, and almost invariably a [p. 89] broad band running vertically down the front of the lower part of the chiton. In addition to these strips and borders we also get stars or small floral designs scattered over the whole garment. The bands which appear at the edges are easy to understand ”

“ The members of the Chiton family are numerous, being [64] found on most rocky shores; they attain the largest size in the hottest climates, having never been found very far north. The British species are small, and not more than two or three in number; they may be found adhering to stones near low-water mark. We give a figure of one of these called the Tufted Chiton, (C. fascicularis;) this word is from the Latin fasciculus—a little bundle of leaves or flowers, and it refers to the hairy tufts that edge the mantle of this marine slug. ”

“ The exomis is worn by the female statue in the Vatican known as the "Springing Amazon," and also by statues of Artemis, and [220] representations of that goddess on gems and coins. The long chiton for women reaching down to the feet, and only a little pulled up at the girdle, we see in a vase painting, representing dancing youths and maidens, the former wearing the short, the latter the long, chiton. A development of the long chiton is the double-chiton. It was a very large, oblong piece of woven cloth, left open on one side, like the Doric chiton for men. ”

“ The short chiton seems to be the usual dress of daily life; it was especially worn when free movement was required, and was therefore the suitable garment for war or hunting, for gymnastic exercises or manual labour. The long chiton, which was afterwards regarded as especially Ionic, and certainly maintained itself longer in Ionia and in Attica than in the rest of Greece, was not, however, unknown to the Doric races. It was the usual dress for men of advanced age and good position ”

“ We therefore find on the monuments of the oldest style that not only the older gods wear a long chiton, but also that young men are clothed in it on{4} festive occasions, or if they are in any way connected with religious functions, as, for instance, priests, harp-players, flute-players, charioteers, etc. This use of the long chiton remains up to the classic period. Thus, for instance, we see the figure known as the Archon Basileus in the central group of the Eastern Parthenon frieze in this dress ”

“ The ventral surface forms a flat creeping “foot,” and between mantle and foot is a pallial groove in which there is on each side a series of gills. Originally the Chitons were placed with the limpets, Patella, in Cuvier’s Cyclobranchia, an order of the Gastropoda. In 1876 H. von Jhering demonstrated the affinities of Neomenia and Chaetoderma, vermiform animals destitute of shell, with the Chitons, and placed them all in a division of worms which he named Amphineura. ”

“ That this is not invariably the case is proved by many examples both in sculpture and vase-painting, where a chiton is represented, which, from its length and fulness and the fine texture of its material, is clearly Ionic, but which is not sewn on the shoulders, but fastened together down the upper arm by a series of small round brooches; this fastening forms a kind of loose sleeve which reaches frequently to the elbow. It is the formation of this sleeve, whether sewn or pinned, which, apart from size or material, distinguishes the Ionic from the Doric chiton, which is sleeveless. ”

“ The Ionic chiton was commonly worn at Athens by men during the Persian wars, but it appears to have entirely gone out of fashion for the male sex about the time of Pericles, from which time the Dorian chiton was the under-garment universally adopted by men through the whole of Greece. The distinction between the Doric and Ionic chiton still continued in the dress of women. The Spartan virgins only wore this one garment, and had no upper kind of clothing, whence it is sometimes called Himation [Pallium] as well as Chiton. They appeared in the company of men without any further covering ”

“ In archaic Greek art, men often wear either a very tight jerkin, covering the trunk, or, "on the earliest vases," the men have reverted from the Homeric chiton to the Aegean loin-cloth and bathing-drawers. Either this is the case, or the men, in fact, never wore the chiton in the "earliest" lays; the chiton, like the armour, as we are told, must have been introduced by the "tunic-trailing Ionians." ”

“ Long sleeves falling to the hand belong exclusively to barbarian costume. Yet the bib, which as late as the first half of the fifth century was worn with the male chiton also, is not a part of later costume.
From this time onward the name “himation” was used for the cloak worn with the chiton, while “chlaina” was only retained for a special kind, distinct rather by its material than by its shape. The himation was often worn in the oldest period in the way described above, that is, with two points falling on the two sides in front. (Compare the Hermes in Fig. 4.) ”

“ He also found it crawling in sand on the shore, to which habit is no doubt due its extreme cleanness and freedom from the foreign growths which are so characteristic of many of the species. When detached a Chiton contracts the muscles of the whole body, and rolls up into a ball like a wood-louse. ”

“ The Spartan girls, who were very active and athletic, adopted this fashion, as it gave their limbs freer play. When they married, and gave up active games, they wore the chiton close. The Amazons are always represented with this slit-up garment. Sometimes (as in the Bacchantes) one side is entirely open. Sometimes there is but one girdle, the usual one round the waist, which is said to have been put on under instead of over the garment it was intended to confine. In this case the chiton must have been tucked into the girdle, and this may have been done occasionally. ”

“ Upper part of the torso of a female figure moving quickly to the left, with the arms raised. She wears a sleeveless chiton which appears to have been unsewn (schistos) down the right side. The shoulders are broken, but there are remains of large dowel holes as if for the insertion of wings, and the figure is not unlike the Victories on the balustrade of the temple of Nikè.—Elgin Coll. ”

“ At peaceful festivals, Ionians wore the "trailing chiton," in active life the un-Homeric tight curt garment.
We may understand, I think, that between the age when the Homeric poems were composed, and the eighth century B.C., men's costume had greatly altered. The Homeric chiton did not cease to exist, but it was worn by men merely on festive occasions, and by old men; while the dress in active life reverted towards the Aegean costume, the bathing-drawers, or even loin-cloth ”

“ They also wore long sleeves reaching down to the hands, a peculiarity of festive costume which had disappeared from real life. To increase the magnificence, the chiton often had a train, not only for women but even for men. The upper dress was either the himation and chlamys, common in ordinary life, or else garments peculiar to the stage, of which a number of names have come down to us, but no exact details of their shape and mode of wearing. Here, too, colour was the rule; black clothing was worn{435}
Fig. ”

“ The men are considerably larger than the women. The women wear a plain chiton, the men a chiton and mantle. All have bracelets, and long hair, which falls in a peculiar manner over the forehead; one wears a taenia, the remainder have stephanae. ”

“ She wears a short chiton, girt at the waist and with loose sleeves. She has spreading wings and tail, and bird's legs, but human arms which are extended in front of the wings. The head is wanting.
On each side of the column is a seated male figure. On the left is a beardless elderly man, wearing himation and chiton, with staff in left hand and right hand extended. On the right is a bearded old man, wearing chiton and himation, with staff in right hand and left hand extended. The back of the head is in part broken away; part was 54 never represented. The lower part of the relief is wanting. ”

“ The τρίβων worn by Spartans and people of austere or Laconizing tendencies, like Socrates and the Cynic philosophers, was probably a scanty Doric chiton made in some coarse homespun material; men of leisure and elderly men preferred to wear a longer chiton with sleeves either sewn or fastened with brooches; this was the case even after the reaction against anything savouring of Orientalism which followed the Persian wars. ”

“ Thus, in ancient works of art, the long chiton also appears quite narrow in the upper part, but then falls perpendicularly from the waist, sometimes gradually, but more often straight without any folds to the feet. (Compare the figure of Apollo in Fig. 1 and of Priam in Fig. 2.) Both the long and short chitons as a rule have no sleeves, but only an armhole; we sometimes find short sleeves not quite covering the upper arm. Unfortunately, we cannot form a clear notion from the pictures of the mode in which it was put on. It is, however, probable that the{5}
Fig. ”

“ Women are frequently repre [p. 71] sented on vases [124] wearing over the long Ionic chiton a short and sometimes very ornate garment, which cannot be described as a himation. Possibly this short over-chiton is the garment indicated by the name χιτωνίσκος. [125] A similar garment was worn by musicians over the long ungirt chiton (ὀρθοστάδιος) . [126] Another instance of a special dress worn for a special purpose is the costume worn by actors ”

“ Thus, all the deities are draped, and their costume differs in no respect from that worn by mortals; all alike wear the chiton, himation, or chlamys, and ornamentation of the drapery with embroidered patterns is no mark of distinction. It is only as the art advances in the B.F. period that the necessity for differentiation makes itself felt, and each deity becomes individualised by some peculiarity of costume or special attribute which makes it possible to recognise them without difficulty. ”

“ Suborder I. Neomeniomorpha.—Aplacophora with a distinct longitudinal ventral groove; bisexual with paired genital glands and no distinct liver. The whole of the skin except the ventral groove corresponds to the mantle of Chiton. The cuticle, in some species very thick, contains numerous spicules which are long, hollow and calcified; they are secreted by epithelial papillae. In some species there are also sensory papillae comparable to the aesthetes of Chitons. A small longitudinal projection in the ventral groove represents the foot. ”

“ Welcker, Alte Denkmaeler, I., p. 399.
151.Cast of a torso of a standing female figure, wearing a chiton of fine texture, and a mantle. The chiton is drawn over the girdle, and has a short diploïdion. The mantle is worn over the shoulders. The hair falls in three tresses in front of each shoulder, and in overlapping layers, down the back. The head, forearms and legs from the knees are wanting. The original, of marble, is at Athens. ”

“ On the dress of the Spartans I need only, after the labours of former writers,1250 make the following remarks. The chief, or indeed the only garment of the Doric virgin is by ancient writers sometimes called himation,1251 sometimes chiton: the former more correctly, [pg 275] as appears from works of art; and the latter word was used metaphorically, from the resemblance of the himation to the linen chiton of the Ionians. ”

“ If you were to hunt about among the rocks quite close to the water's edge when the tide is at its lowest, you would most likely meet with a number of chitons, and you would be surprised to find how much they vary in color. Some are ashy gray all over; but a great many are streaked and spotted with brown, and pink, and orange, and lilac, and white. But the strangest thing of all about chitons—there are far larger ones in the warmer parts of the world—is that some of them have nearly twelve thousand eyes scattered about all over their shells! ”

“ The Chitons are very singular creatures, destitute of eyes, of tentacles, and without jaws; they bear upon their back in place of a shell a cuirass composed of imbricated and movable scales. They have the power of elongating and contracting themselves like the snails. They roll themselves up into a ball like the woodlouse. They adhere with great force to the rocks, preferring those places most exposed to the beating waves. ”

“ H. 8,2 cm.
Aus Ägypten. Wohl 3.14. Jh. n. Chr.
Die Brust ist mit einem auf den Schultern durch runde Fibeln zusammengehaltenen Chiton bekleidet. Der jugendliche Kopf ist leicht zu seiner Linken gewendet, sein Haar ist gescheitelt zur Seite gestrichen und hängt fast bis auf die Schultern herab. Als Kranz dient ein Rebzweig mit Trauben. Unter den Ohren zwei Löcher, in denen ein Kettchen befestigt gewesen zu sein scheint. ”