New-York tribune., 1909-07-24

no costume as n rule can be made out. by me
at least. The figures are bipeds and erect, VIZ
they wear one does not usually know i 90 OD-
serve, on a case from TiTyns, women with hoous
which cover the head and fall TO the middle OF
the waist, then waist like moderately .I .Li.H -
walking stick. then separate skirt falIlhg %
the feet l also perceive a man IN what seems
TO he rather loose corselet of rings or scales
falling so low as 10 cover the MP joints An
other woman decidedly, has a body and separate
skirt These abortive designs may well De as
old as 1000 B. c. The men are more like BIRDS
than human beings. and one mans legs are
shaped like the hind legs of a horse
But what has become of Homer's belted
chiffon and why have the women peplOs. with
its folds but separate skirts and bOdices?
The trouble does not end here These hid
eOus attempts at art seem to be OF Homer s own
time. or rather later Il date him cor the older
members Of the syndicate that was Homer) at
l2OO-100O =. c Yet the human figures in the art
Of that age do not dress in accordance with
Hor,pr's descriutf0ns There IS a woman giving
a "send-off' TO a marching regiment on tine
warrior vase" which seems TO be as old as 1000
b G. She has no peplos. but body. and a skirt
with a crescent shaped cut-out az the IoGt: a
common Cretan and paleeoIthic kind OF skirt
The chiffon and peplos Of Homer are not repre-
scnted when they should be represented ana,
what is worse. they do not come in much Till
about three four centuries later. Here AT
least is "A strange difference of opinion Mr..
Walter Leaf who has deeply studied the subject,
says that the dress in Homer was in all essen
tials identical with that Of the Archaic age OF
speaking Of S0O-550 r. c. When l looked at
engravings of works Of art Of that age, and
found that the men do not wear belted chitons
but combination heshings. as tight as possible,
from the shoulders to four or five inches below
the hip joints. while the women seem often TO
wear bodies and separate skirts. rather than the
right But the ancient sanctuary Of Artemis at
Sparta has recently been dug out TO the lowest
stratum, and in lead figurines there offered To
TIA" goddess We ind Pallas Athene in corselat
and separate skirt. scOoped out in the Cretan
fashion. and another lady in the same sCOoped
out Cretan skirt There is no Peplos. and yet
the work is of the Archaic age" ! would not
venture this on my own evidence. but Mr. r NJ.
Dawkins one of the learned exCavators. writes
and separate skirt. suits the Archaic dating"
It thus appears that neither in the crude art
nearest 20 HOmer'S time. nor in the Archaic
art of the next age tsay S00-550 Il. c. do
find the dress that Homer knew. or, at least. to
be safe. we find men in heshings and many
women in costume far more tretan than
Greek Not till come to the vases with red
figures. say about $50 II. c., do We find that the
graceful pepos and long belted shirt or Chiffon
is the regular wear for men and women Not
till then I think. does the shirt of the armed
warrior fall low beneath his corslet.
Thus the costume familiar TO Homer is not
represented in art tat least 1 have nowhere
found il represented for the men) till 4SO-i4O
Z c. Now that is long after the age of the
Athenian tyrant Pisistratus, and. his sons, who.
according 10 many critics, practically made our
Homeric poems. edited and generally bewtched
them. Does il follow that tailOrs and milliners Of
Athens later induced the publishers To introduce
"our latest NODES wholesale by way OF adver-
tisement? The ase looks very black il nv facts
are correct. But there objections; for ex-
ample, the safety pins, which are not needed for
feshings and for the bodice with separate skirt
certainly came into Greece as early 1900 Il.
G., and needed for belted smoCk and peplos
which, without them. would fall off the shoulders
Homer then costume and all, must have lived
in the first age Of the regular Greek costume
after which must have followed a very long
period of feshings and skirt and bodice. and
then fun and permanent revival of long beIted
shirts and peplos and safety pins. The increase
of a reading public in 54O-4S0 B. c. may have
brought back Homeric costume into fashion.
TRY our Helen pepIos." would be the cry of the
mOdiSte