Spartan dress and decoration differed from that of the rest
of the Greek world sufficiently to provoke comment among ancient observers. At the same time, Spartan dress remained
essentially Hellenic. The Spartans did
not wear clothing fundamentally different from other Greeks, they were simply
more conservative in the adoption of new styles, meaning that they retained
archaic fashions, such as the peplos and long hair for men, long after Greeks
from other cities had adopted new fashions.
When one considers the fact that new fashions were introduced primarily
from Persia and Macedonia, than it is fair to say that Spartan dress was more
purely “Greek” or “Doric” than the fashions of Athens.
The most obvious example of the conservative character of
Spartan dress was the preference of Spartan women for the old-fashioned peplos,
even after Greek women elsewhere had adopted the long chiton. The peplos is the robe worn by almost all
archaic kore, and these
archeological models refute modern allegations that Spartan women went
around in short skirts like Amazons. The ancient complaint that Spartan women
were “thigh-throwers” did not refer to skirts or chitons so short they revealed
a woman’s thigh, but rather to the fact that a woman wearing a peplos was very
restricted in her movements – unless the side seam was opened to above the
knee. Thus, while Athenian women in their looser cut long chitons could walk
vigorously without revealing their legs, their Spartan sisters always showed
some leg when they walked. The
characteristic Spartan bronzes that show a girl in a short skirt running or
dancing do not depict mature Spartan women but rather girls; the most likely
interpretation is that they depict girls in the agoge, and as such girls before
puberty.
Another typical Spartan fashion that dated back to at least the
archaic age was for men to wear their hair long. However, modern
depictions of Spartans as shaggy, unkempt men with scrawny, chest-long
beards and wild, tangled hair hanging to their shoulders (alà
Richard Hook’s illustrations in Osprey’s The
Spartan Army) are not supported by ancient sources. A statue
fragment found in the heart of Sparta and dating from the early fifth century
(commonly – or affectionately – referred to as Leonidas) shows a man with a
clipped beard and neat hair. Earlier archaic artwork unanimously shows men with
short beards and long, but very neat, “locks” of hair. (Note, for example the
hoplites on the magnificent frieze of the Siphnian Treasure at Delphi dating
from Leonidas’ lifetime, the Krater of Vix and other figures of known Laconian
origin displayed now in the Museum of Ancient History in Berlin or pictured in
Conrad Stibbe’s Das Andere Sparta.)
Likewise, I reject emphatically
descriptions such as those of Otto Lendle, who describes Spartans as stinking,
filthy and slovenly. These images likewise contradict the historical record and
existing archeological evidence. Herodotus makes a great point of how the
Spartans groomed themselves before Thermopylae, for example, and no one would
be tempted to stress the beauty of Spartans -- as Plutarch explicitly does -- if they had been
repugnant for their lack of grooming and cleaning. Plutarch also claims Spartan men took particular care of their hair
especially in the face of danger, and refers to an alleged quote from Lycurgus
that long hair was preferred because it rendered a handsome man better looking,
and an ugly one more frightening.
The later quote suggests, of
course, that while a handsome man might have groomed his hair assiduously, an
ugly man might have consciously ratted his, but this hardly makes sense if one
considers the need for a man to wear a helmet, as all Spartans did until they
had reached the age of 61. It is more
likely to refer to the fact that hair braided back from the forehead tends to
give the face greater prominence than a crown of curls such as other Greeks
wore in the classical period. Thus,
while both a handsome and an ugly Spartan wore their hair neatly braided from
the forehead, the effect was to highlight the good features of the former and
the bad features of the latter. I would note further, that anyone familiar with
African hair braiding knows that a great deal of variety, and so different
effects, can be achieved without breaking the fundamental concept of long hair,
neatly braided from the forehead. I like to imagine that Spartan dandies
shocked and irritated their conservative elders by obeying the letter of the
law (long, neatly groomed hair) while nevertheless developing individual
styles.
I would also like to note that no
ancient source claims that Spartan women did not adorn themselves. On the contrary, in Euripides’ plays and
Aristotle’s political commentary both, Spartan women are despised and castigated
for being exceptionally vain, luxury loving and self-indulgent. Thus, while
Spartan men are portrayed as (stupidly) restrained and austere, Spartan women
are loathed for being even more fond of self-adornment than Athenian women, who
are themselves viewed as excessively fond of cosmetics, perfumes and jewels.
This suggests that even if, as
some argue, Spartan laws prohibited not only the use of gold and silver
currency but also gold and silver objects d’art, than Spartan women found other
means of adorning themselves. One option would have been to make jewelry from
other materials – ivory, copper, bronze, lapis lazuli, jade, coral, amber etc.
etc. In addition, the garments could
have been decorated with bright colored embroidery or borders with beads of
bronze, copper, ivory etc. Alternatively, the peplos themselves might have been
made of brightly colored fabrics. The
most precious purple dye was produced from muscles found in the
Gulf of Laconia, and Lacedaemon undoubtedly exported this dye and or fabric
stained with it. Other important dyes,
such as indigo, were also produced in Lacedaemon.
Anthropology, archeology and art
history show us that there is almost nothing as universal as human vanity.
Throughout history and throughout the world, men and women have been
astonishingly inventive in developing ways to adorn themselves and make
themselves appealing to one another.
Sparta, a society far closer to our own than many others the world has
known, was certainly no exception.
Indeed a concise yet incredibly informative essay.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the clarification of past errors or prejudiced accounts.
Thank you. Glad you found the arguments cogent.
ReplyDelete