the attic stelai - The American School of Classical Studies at Athens

THE ATTIC STELAI 205
Our evidence concerning clothes and footwear is very scattered, but no prices
seem to be cheap in terms of work-days.
The following table lists references to prices contained in Economic Survey, I-V.
For the most part, references are to general terms for clothing and shoes and they
afford little evidence for the prices of the specific items preserved in our lists.
Source Volume Pages Items
Rome I 194, 200 Clothing
Egypt II 318-320 Clothing, Shoes
Syria IV 179 Clothing allowance to one's wife'
186-187 Clothing
Greece IV 399-400 Clothing
Diocletian V 351-353 Shoes
Edict 369 ff. Clothing
1. adjTExovov (I, 160). Mantle or shawl. The garment is discussed in connection
with the himation by G. Leroux in Daremberg-Saglio, s.v. Pallium, 290 b.
It is here described as a Dorian mantle worn by the Syracusans of Theokritos, and
reference is made to Theokritos, 15, 21. Gow in his study of this idyll has defined the
ampechonon as a " wrap, regularly worn by women at this period, which resembles an
ample himation, but is often made of thin and clinging materials which allow the
heavier folds of what is worn beneath to show through. It can be draped about the
figure in a great variety of ways, but when worn out of doors most usually envelops
both arms and also hoods the head." 9 He provides illustrations from terracotta
figures. Praxinoa's ampechonon was put on last and was torn in the crowd. In I.G.,
JJ2, 1514 ff., the inventories of the overseers of Artemis Brauronia, the ampechonon
appears as distinct from the himation.
2. E4cwpiq (VII, 107-111). Type of chiton or tunic. The garment was worn in
such a way as to leave the right shoulder bare and the arm free. The exomis is the
ordinary dress of workers and craftsmen, human and divine; it is a short plain rather
scanty garment, usually, as seen on the monuments, of some fairly heavy material.10
8 This interesting passage from the Talmud of the first or second century after Christ specifies
the minimum allowance to be made by a husband to his wife. The annual allowance included a hat,
an apron, new shoes for each major festival and new clothes to the value of fifty denarii. This was
prescribed for the poorest.
9 J.H.S., LVIII, 1938, pp. 185-186.
10 Cf. e. g., the vase-painter at work, on the bell-krater in Oxford, Cloche, Classes, etc., pl. XXII,
1; or, for Hephaistos, an oinochoe in New York (Richter and Hall, Red-Figured Athenian Vases
in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New Haven, 1936, pl. 142, no. 140). Here the contrast between
this garment and the fuller, often pleated, and much thinner short chiton, likewise often worn
exomos by horsemen and others and called by convention chitoniskos, is plainly seen; Hephaistos