Ancient Greek clothing: a Greek baby in a diaper, from Hellenistic Egypt
What did Greek kids wear?
Like Egyptian or Mesopotamian babies, Greek babies often wore nothing at all, but sometimes, as in this picture, they wore cloth diapers.
Ancient Egypt’s clothing
Families in ancient Greece
All our ancient Greece articles
If it was cold, of course, they would be more wrapped up. Children also often wore only cloth wrapped around their middles like wrap skirts or shorts.
A working man’s tunic (see the basket he is carrying?)
What did Greek men wear?
Greek men mostly wore a tunic, a sort of knee-length t-shirt made of wool or linen, tied with a belt at the waist. Men used the fold of cloth over their belt as a pocket. Often, as in this statuette, they wore their tunic only over one shoulder, as a himation.
Where does wool come from?
How about linen?
A project with fabrics
Boy in Macedonian hat, cape, and boots (ca. 300 BC)
What if it was cold?
Over the tunic men wore a wool cloak if it was cold out. They could also use their cloak as a blanket if they needed to (for example if they were off somewhere fighting a war).
How about shoes?
Men’s legs were bare, and they wore leather sandals when they weren’t barefoot. But many men went barefoot their whole lives.
How do you make leather?
Aphrodite and Eros
What did Greek women wear?
Greek women, like women in Iran or India at this time, generally wore one large piece of wool or linen, wrapped around them and pinned in various ways to make it stay.
West Asian clothing
The ways of pinning it changed over time.
How to pin a chiton
One way was to fold the cloth in half, and put it so that the fold in the cloth came under your right armpit and down your right side. Then pull up on the front and the back of the cloth so they meet over your right shoulder and pin the front and the back together with a big safety pin.
Then pull more of the front up over your left shoulder, and pin it to the back in the same way. Finally you will notice that your dress is still open all along your left side: tie a belt around your dress at the waist to keep your dress closed. These dresses came down to their ankles, even for younger girls.
What if it was cold?
When it was cold, women also had long wool cloaks/blankets to keep them warm.
Ancient Greek clothing: a girl wearing a tunic and a wrap over it
Women getting water at the public fountain.
Did Greek women wear veils?
Even when it wasn’t cold, most Greek women who weren’t slaves wore a shawl or a veil over their dress whenever they left the house. Some women wore their veil loose, and some used it to cover their hair, or their face.
How about enslaved women?
Women who were enslaved had to wear their hair cut short, while free women had long, complicated hairstyles. They couldn’t wear veils, either.
Didn’t long dresses get in the way?
Greek women didn’t always wear long flowy dresses. For running, hunting, or working, Greek women could also wear short tunics like the ones men wore, as this Spartan girl does to run.
Did you find out what you wanted to know about ancient Greek clothing? Let us know in the comments!
[…] cloth wrapped and pinned around themselves much like the outfits of Iranian women or Greek women. Some women wore skirts wrapped and pleated around their waists and knotted in front, with a […]
Is there a way I can find what hoplite means, please?
Hi BJ, ‘Hoplite’ means ‘a person carrying a weapon,’ from the Greek word ‘hoplon’, meaning ‘weapon.’ You’ll find more about hoplites here: hoplite
What did Athen’s slaves and children wear? I couldn’t find anything in that.
It’s in the article! I’ve added headings to make it easier to find.
hi my name is natalie vadun and i love school sooo much and yeah it realy helped kindofs but i am suppa bad at school welp yay
I’m glad we could help, Natalie. And I hope soon you will find teachers who can help you see how great you can be at learning.
I would like to know how clothing was reflective of ones social status in ancient Grèce.
Hi Tommy, That’s in the article, but you might also read this one, to help out: https://quatr.us/greeks/like-slave-ancient-greece.htm
What did the rich, upper-class wear? Did they wear sashes and togas? Also, what did normal Athenians clothing like?
Rich Athenians and Spartans still wore tunics; togas were something Romans wore, not Greeks. Sashes weren’t a thing either. Men wore tunics belted at the waist. Women wore cloth pinned into the shape of a dress, rather like an Indian sari today. Rich people wore clothes in nicer fabrics, with more expensive dyes and more patterns woven into them. Sometimes rich women wore several tunics, one on top of another, under their dress. Both men and women wore warm wool cloaks over their clothes if it was cold, which might also serve as blankets.
This was helpful for my grade 6 social project but what did the slaves and metics where?
Most slaves wore a plain linen or wool tunic. Sometimes they wore old worn-out clothing that had belonged to their owners. If they were working outside or in a mine, they just wore a long cloth wound around their middle like shorts. Metics wore whatever they could afford – rich metics in Athens dressed like other Athenians.
um did you put in the spartans armro?
I wasn’t counting armor as clothing. You’ll find an article about armor here: https://quatr.us/greeks/greek-hoplite-war-ancient-greece-htm.htm
and also check out our articles about the Spartans here: https://quatr.us/history/sparta-ancient-greece.htm
hey do you know when you made the website?
The date for each article is in the citation info just below the article (and above this comment section). We’ve been writing articles for more than 20 years, so each article has its own date.
How was Homer dressed? I mean like was he dressed as a regular person in ancient Greece or was he dressed different. I am also in 6th grade and doing a report on Homer.
We don’t really know anything at all about Homer other than his name and that he wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey. Some people say he was blind. But he was probably a pretty well-off person, or he wouldn’t have had the education to know how to write poetry. He probably dressed like a regular well-off man, with a wool tunic and a beard and leather sandals. His tunic might have been dyed in stripes or patterns, and to show his money it might have been red (a more expensive color). To show he was a great poet, he might have worn a laurel wreath, which was the prize for winning competitions. I hope that helps!
im in 6th grade and I’m doing a project and this is totally going to help thanks????
I’m delighted to hear it, Chloee! Good luck with your project.
Yes, exactly what i needed thanks very much :)
Wonderful!
I’m doing a project on this and have found this information really helpful. However i’d like to know the significance of clothing in their culture.
Well, in ancient Greece as in all cultures people use clothing to show who they are: rich or poor, what city they are from, whether they identify as men or women, slave or free, young or old. But also, many cities in Greece exported a lot of wool and linen cloth, so clothing was also important to their economy. Does that help?