Ancient Greek/Roman Customs, Culture, and Clothing

This thread is for Epicureans in ancient Greece and Rome, focusing on historical events, culture, clothing, and lifestyle (Edit note: 02/21/25 - moved earlier posts into this new thread).

****

I found this book "The Invention and Gendering of Epicurus" (when Googling "Epicureans and effeminancy") which looks like it could shed some light on the culture of Epicureans. Though tracking down a library copy might be a bit difficult, unless anyone lives near a good university library.

The Invention and Gendering of Epicurus

The school of Greek philosopher Epicurus, which became known as the Garden, famously put great stock in happiness and pleasure. As a philosophical community,…

www.press.umich.edu

Quote

Description

The school of Greek philosopher Epicurus, which became known as the Garden, famously put great stock in happiness and pleasure. As a philosophical community, and a way of seeing the world, Epicureanism had a centuries-long life in Athens and Rome, as well as across the Mediterranean.

The Invention and Gendering of Epicurus studies how the Garden's outlook on pleasure captured Greek and Roman imaginations—particularly among non-Epicureans—for generations after its legendary founding. Unsympathetic sources from disparate eras generally focus not on historic personages but on the symbolic Epicurean. And yet the traditions of this imagined Garden, with its disreputable women and unmanly men, give us intermittent glimpses of historical Epicureans and their conceptions of the Epicurean life.

Pamela Gordon suggests how a close hearing and contextualization of anti-Epicurean discourse leads us to a better understanding of the cultural history of Epicureanism. Her primary focus is on sources hostile to the Garden, but her Epicurean-friendly perspective is apparent throughout. Her engagement with ancient anti-Epicurean texts makes more palpable their impact on modern responses to the Garden.

Intended both for students and for scholars of Epicureanism and its response, the volume is organized primarily according to the themes common among Epicurus' detractors. It considers the place of women in Epicurean circles, as well as the role of Epicurean philosophy in Homer and other writers.

Pamela Gordon is Chair of the Department of Classics at the University of Kansas and the author of Epicurus in Lycia: The Second-Century World of Diogenes of Oenoanda.

Ancient Greek clothing / Ancient Roman clothing, if anyone is interested.

An idea -- that it could be fun at some point to dress up for the 20th celebration, as a way to make it more festive. And I could help anyone with getting their costume together.

For ancient Greek clothing:https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clothing_in_ancient_Greece

And for ancient Roman clothing:

Clothing in ancient Rome - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Ancient Roman Clothing | UNRV

I thought this was an interesting read, about the differences between Greek and Roman clothing:

Quote

“Now wait a minute,” you might say. “How is the enkyklon different from a toga?” After all, a flat bedsheet is the fabric of choice for many attending toga parties in movies. The primary difference between togas and enkykla lies in the shape. While enkykla were rectangular, togas were semicircular, which is what gave them the wonderful drape and folds you can see on the stone versions worn by ancient statues.

The Truth About Togas

To many people, togas are synonymous with ancient Greece. The only problem? Togas aren’t Greek.

pieceworkmagazine.com

This shows how vibrantly Greek statues were originally painted:

Quote

Ancient Greek and Roman sculpture was once colorful, vibrantly painted and richly adorned with detailed ornamentation. Chroma: Ancient Sculpture in Color reveals the colorful backstory of polychromy—meaning “many colors,” in Greek—and presents new discoveries of surviving ancient color on artworks in The Met’s world-class collection. Exploring the practices and materials used in ancient polychromy, the exhibition highlights cutting-edge scientific methods used to identify ancient color and examines how color helped convey meaning in antiquity, and how ancient polychromy has been viewed and understood in later periods.

https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2022/chroma

Mythology --The Three Graces --- daughters of Zeus and Eurynome:

"It is traditional to offer them the first draught of wine at a gathering to invoke their blessing and aid.”

Quote

The Three Graces are (most consistently named), from youngest to oldest, Aglaia, Euphrosyne, and Thalia (2, 12). Roman mythology depicts these Goddesses as The Graces (The Gratiae), having been previously referred to as the Charities (Kharites) in Greek mythology. In the Roman custom, in addition to their other benefits, The Gratiae signify gratitude (as in gratia), as well as benevolence (9), and according to Seneca, each of the three Goddesses is linked in a chain to causality, which pertains to the divine manifestation of Grace, and as related to their differing ages (15).

• Aglaia – the eldest, (literal: splendor, beautiful, bright) (4), beauty, nature, amusement; sometimes wife of Hephaestus (14), divine artistry; “The Grace symbolizing beauty (9).”
• Euphrosyne – (literal; mirth, merriment, cheerful, or a good mind) (5), good cheer, joy, and being well. “The Grace incarnate of delight (9).”
• Thalia – (literal; luxuriant, blooming) (6), plentiful, rich, festivity. “The Grace of blossoming (9).”

Quote

“It is traditional to offer them the first draught of wine at a gathering to invoke their blessing and aid.”
— 365 Goddess

The Graces vs The Muses vs. The Fates

The Graces are most principle in relationship to Venus (15) appearing as handmaidens within her extended entourage, and spending much time at the Goddess's sanctuary at Cypress. It was in this temple of refuge where Venus was maintained in health and comfort, regularly bathed in the divinely anointed oils of The Gratiae, and where for example, the Goddess was presented with a magnificent immortal robe (10). Eros and The Muses (8) were frequent companions of The Graces as well, and they all loved to spend time together, dancing around in a circle to the music of Apollo (8). Another of their colleagues, the Goddess Dike (one of The Hours), often attended The Graces, and particularly in matters of peace and justice (1).

The individual identities of the nine Muses are often intermingled with the three Graces as the two groups sometimes overlap in benefit. However, The Graces and The Muses dwell from slightly different origins. All of the Goddesses share a parent Zeus, though, in some Roman lore, The Graces are instead, fathered by Bacchus. Eurynome an Oceanid - daughter of Oceanus (God of the Sea) and Tethys (fresh water), (an incestuous Titanian brother/sister marital couple), is their mother (14).

https://owlcation.com/humanities/The-Gratiae-Goddesses

Regarding the good attributes and ancient Greek events and festivals during the month of Gamelion -- the month in which Epicurus was born (which coincides with the modern calander months of January/February).

"...Gamelion... is the month of the Halcyon Days, days of warm sun and calm seas, Alkionides Meres, as the Greeks call them, which appear in mid January. These glorious Halcyon days of the month of Gamelion, also played a role in the reason certain dates were chosen for so many ancient Greek feasts, festivals and theatre, which were always held outdoors."

Edit Note: After the initial posting of this, I further researched about "halcyon days" and I am finding mixed references to the exact times.

Quote

Gamelion; the month of marriage, was the seventh month of the Attic calendar of ancient Greece which coincides with the modern day month of February.

The word derives from the Greek γαμηλίᾰ (gamēlía), meaning “wedding feast”, as it was the most popular month for weddings;

(γάμος – gámos – wedding in greek).

Gamelion:

A month of marriages and festivals

Not by chance was the ancient Greek month Gamelion the “Wedding-Month” a month for love, lust, weddings and festivals.

Ancient Greeks generally married in winter, in honour of the goddess of marriage, Hera (Juno) Greek Goddess of Women, Marriage, Childbirth, Children and Family, a time when, throughout the month, special sacrifices were made to the goddess.

As the ancient Greek wedding consisted of a three part ceremony which lasted for three days, held outdoors and usually at night, the weather had to be taken into consideration.

Gamelion, then, was the perfect month, as this is the month of the Halcyon Days, days of warm sun and calm seas, Alkionides Meres, as the Greeks call them, which appear in mid January.

These glorious Halcyon days of the month of Gamelion, also played a role in the reason certain dates were chosen for so many ancient Greek feasts, festivals and theatre, which were always held outdoors.

The sacred Marriage

Another reason the month of Gamelion is the month of marriages, is to commemorate the sacred Marriage, or Hieros gamos or Hierogamy, of Goddess Hera and Zeus; king of Greek gods.

The wedding took place, with much pomp and glory, in the Garden of Hesperides, where Gaia, Mother Earth, overcome with happiness, caused a tree to bloom with golden apples and was watched over by the dreaded fates (The Moirai) of ancient Greece, who were probably comparing notes with each other and deciding the destiny of this sacred coupling!

The wedding between Hera and Zeus was followed by a three hundred year honeymoon.

The Theogamia or Hieros Gamos, a sexual ritual, or fertility rite, which performs a marriage between a god and a goddess, an annual festival celebrating the marriage of the gods Zeus and Hera, a sort of wedding anniversary, took place in the temple of Hera in honor of the goddess as protector of Marriage.

The wedding of Zeus and Hera was celebrated at the Heraion of Samos.

Display More

Read more about this at the Article Source

Also during Gamelion was the

Lenaia festival.From Wikipedia

: "The festival was in honour of Dionysus Lenaios.^[1] There is also evidence the festival also took place in Delphi.^[2]

The term Lenaia probably comes from "lenos" 'wine-press' or from "lenai", another name for the Maenads (the female worshippers of Dionysus)."

This is an interesting read about symposiums and courtesans in ancient Greece:

Hetairai: Greek Courtesans

All about the Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece

This table is from a Wikipedia article:

This is also a good article:

The Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece

The Panhellenic Games in Ancient Greece included the Olympic Games, the Pythian Games, the Isthmian Games and the Nemean Games. The Sacred Games were religious

greektraveltellers.com

Joshua now that the ancient Athenian new year is here, can we guess when and which games would soon be starting?

Quote

During the Archaic period, Greek men wore a long chiton; thereafter, except for charioteers, priests, and the elderly, they wore a knee-length version. Sleeved chitons were worn by actors and priests. Patterns and colours varied with the times and with the status of the wearer.

Quote

himation, mantle or wrap worn by Greek men and women from the Archaic through the Hellenistic periods (c. 750–30 bce). A very large rectangle of fabric, the himation was draped in different ways—e.g., as a shawl, a cloak, or a head covering—during various periods.

Usually made of white wool, the version worn by women could be of coloured silk or cotton. A somewhat shorter Greek wrap was known as a chlamys.

From my reading...It seems that women sometimes wore three layers and men wore one or two layers of fabric.

source

I am still mulling over what Epicurus might have worn. Would Epicurus have worn something that conveyed the image of status and wealth? I personally would think that he would have worn something more plain (but perhaps there were festival days in which a finer weave of cloth was worn).

I found an article "What Did Jesus Wear" which also talks about ancient Greek clothing, and you can see a picture of a sculpture of Demosthenes, which gives some insight into possible clothing of Epicurus.

And so of course this would have been a little later than Epicurus:

Quote

Much is now known about clothing in 1st and 2nd century Judaea, because

many fragments of the tunics worn by people then have been found in caves

and tombs bordering the Dead Sea, where the dry climate has allowed their

preservation. For example, picture 6 shows a tunic recovered from the Cave

of Letters, a burial site near the Dead Sea. From the archaeological remains,

and from comparable art from Egyptian mummy portraits, Pompeii and

elsewhere, we can visualise what people wore. It is clear that Judaeans were

part of the Mediterranean world and dressed much like everyone else.

An ordinary man in Jesus’ world would wear a short tunic, called a chiton,

in Greek (in Latin a tunica) and a woman would wear an ankle-length one.

The long version, the stole, in Greek (or stola in Latin), was understood to

be women’s clothing, when not worn by high-status men. A higher hemline

indicated masculine wear.

Display More

Quote

The long, rough mantle of some philosophers (worn without a tunic

underneath) could be called a tribon – literally a ‘worn thing’, or even a ‘rag’

– or a peribolaion, a ‘wrap’. Their garment, if a long diploida, a ‘double’ piece

of cloth, was distinguished by quality from the expensive type of wrap the

gods would wear. These were generally worn wrapped around the middle

of the body under the armpits and then slung over the left shoulder, as we

see in the sculpture of Demosthenes.

Display More

Regarding the Mediterranean (but not specifically Athens):

Quote

Colourful clothes, like long garments, were associated with women’s attire.

...However, one cannot be too absolute in an association between colour

and women’s wear. In Pompeian frescoes, both men and women are shown

with coloured tunics and mantles, even though the men are also dressed in

white or undyed tunics. Tough guys might choose to eschew colour, but

it was always a choice, and not a rule. One factor that could easily offset a

manly preference for undyed or white clothing was the concern to show

riches and status.

Clothing found in Masada and the caves by the Dead Sea is often highly

coloured: bright shades of red, yellow, orange, blue, green, and types of

purple, including bold, striped cloth for blankets and rugs. In visualising

clothes in Jesus’ time, these remains ask us to imagine people wearing a

kaleidoscope of hues. The question then is whether dyed clothes mainly

belonged to women? Or did these clothes sometimes belong to wealthy

men who wished to show they could afford expensive dyes,...

Display More

https://christianevidence.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/What-Did-Jesus-Wear.pdf