Ariadne's Threads: The Construction and Significance of Clothes in the Aegean Bronze Age (Aegaeum) 9789042939554, 9042939559

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AEGAEUM 38 Annales liégeoises et PASPiennes d’archéologie égéenne

ARIADNE’S THREADS THE CONSTRUCTION AND SIGNIFICANCE OF CLOTHES IN THE AEGEAN BRONZE AGE

Bernice R. JONES

PEETERS

AEGAEUM 38

Annales liégeoises et PASPiennes d’archéologie égéenne

ARIADNE’S THREADS THE CONSTRUCTION AND SIGNIFICANCE OF CLOTHES IN THE AEGEAN BRONZE AGE

Bernice R. JONES

PEETERS LEUVEN - LIEGE 2019

Jaquette illustration designed by author. Front: faience “Snake goddess” HM 65 from Knossos (Fig. 4.2). Back: expermental replication by author and V. Bealle of costume of HM 65 modeled by S. Anthony, photographed by T. Weber Gola. Background: experimental linen weavings by V. Bealle of patterns on Minoan band (Figs. 4.125a, 10,2), and cloth (Figs. 6.7d, 4.14a-c).

This book was published in hardcover in 2015. A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. D/2019/0602/40 Impression et dépositaire : PEETERS Bondgenotenlaan 153, B-3000 Leuven (Belgique) © A.s.b.l. Aegaeum, Aux Piédroux 120, B-4032 Liège (Belgique) et Program in Aegean Scripts and Prehistory (PASP), The University of Texas at Austin, 2019. ISBN 978-90-429-3955-4 eISBN 978-90-429-3956-1 Reproduction et traduction, même partielles, interdites sans l’autorisation de l’éditeur, pour tous pays.

To my husband, Robert, my children, Jeffrey and Elaine, my grandchildren Emily, Richard, Salem, Kyle and Heath, and the memory of my mother, Esther Budde

CONTENTS Acknowledgements List of Figures Introduction

ix xi 1

Chapter 1. Beginnings: Palaeolithic and Neolithic A. Introduction B. Textile impressions C. Weaving implements D. Neolithic figurines E. Conclusions

5 5 6 7 8 10

Chapter 2. Dress in Early Bronze Age Greece and Prepalatial Crete A. Textiles, weaving and sewing implements, and attachments B. Decorated anthropomorphic vessels C. The figurines D. Conclusions

11 11 13 22 25

Chapter 3. Minoan Middle Bronze Age Dresses with Egyptian and Near Eastern Comparanda A. The Minoan peak-back robe 1. The Corpus 2. Distribution of the peak-back robe 3. Dating of the peak-back robe 4. Previous scholarship and interpretations 5. Stylistic evaluation 6. Egyptian comparanda: the bag tunic 7. Near Eastern comparanda and replications: the tunic of Ishtar 8. Peak-back robe replications B. The high-neck (peak-back?) robe C. The Minoan double-V-necked dress D. The petaloid loop “garment” E. Cloaks and wraps

27 27 27 33 33 33 36 36 38 44 48 49 53 53

Chapter 4. Late Bronze Age Dresses A. The Minoan open front dress 1. Bands 2. Warp-weighted loom 3. Seams 4. Linear B texts 5. Fabrics 6. Previous scholarship 7. Experimental replications of the Minoan dress (heanos) with open front a. The Snake Goddess, Knossos, HM 65 b. Crocus Gatherer, Thera c. Veiled Maiden, Thera d. Crocus Basket Emptier, Thera e. Necklace Bearer, Thera f. Crouching Woman (goddess), Hagia Triada g. Ivory Triad figure, Mycenae h. Fragmentary figure, House of Ladies, Thera

57 57 65 67 69 70 72 73 74 74 79 85 88 90 93 98 99

vi

CONTENTS 8. Experimental replications of the Minoan dress (heanos) with partly closed front a. Kneeling figure, Hagia Triada b. Miniature Girl, Mycenae c. Bucket Carrier and Lyre Player, Hagia Triada Sarcophagus d. Bending Lady, Thera e. Wounded Lady, Thera f. Open front dress covering the breasts: the Mykenaia 9. Decorative motifs and fragmentary upper and lower dress parts B. The Mycenaean tunic with horizontal neckline 1. Corpus 2. Experimental reconstruction of Camp Stool Banqueter, Knossos, and replication of tunic with horizontal neckline

113 114 121 124 124 129 131 132 143 143 150

Chapter 5. The Flounced Skirt A. Near Eastern flounced garments and their appearance in Crete B. The Minoan flounced skirt 1. Minoan flounced skirt 2. Minoan flounced skirt: fastened in front

155 155 168 168 174

Chapter 6. The Flounced Kilt A. Introduction: the Minoan flounced kilt B. Experimental replications of the flounced kilt 1. Crouching Woman (“goddess”), Hagia Triada 2. Ivory Triad, Mycenae 3. Crocus Basket Emptier, Thera 4. Bending Lady, Thera 5. Necklace Bearer, Thera 6. Crocus Gatherer Thera 7. Veiled Maiden, Thera C. Flounced kilts in Crete from MM IIIB to LM IB 1. Wall paintings a. Sacred Grove and Grandstand, Knossos b. Procession, Knossos c. Lady B, Pseira d. Dancing Lady, Knossos: reconstruction 2. Glyptic 3. The Phaestos Disk D. The Minoan flounced kilt in Mainland Greece 1. Wall paintings a. The Mykenaia, Cult Center, Mycenae b. Seated “goddess,” Cult Center, Mycenae c. Staff Bearer, Citadel House Fresco, Mycenae d. Processional Women, Tiryns e. Processional Women, Pylos 2. Varia 3. Mainland glyptic E. Four Minoan flounced kilts in the Cyclades (Thera) F. The Minoan flounced kilt outside the Aegean 1. Egypt 2. Syria G. The male kilt H. Conclusions

177 178 182 182 186 188 189 190 191 193 195 195 195 197 198 198 199 202 204 205 205 208 208 208 209 210 212 213 215 215 215 217 220

CONTENTS

vii

Chapter 7. The Side-Pleated Skirt A. The corpus B. Dating of the side-pleated skirt C. Construction of the side-pleated skirt D. Experimental replications of the side-pleated skirt E. Conclusions

227 227 232 234 234 236

Chapter 8. The A-shaped and Hide Skirts A. A-shaped skirts 1. Faience A-shaped skirts, Knossos 2. A-shaped skirts on seals, sealings and wall paintings 3. Constructions 4. Replication of skirt of HM 64 B. Hide skirts

241 241 241 247 249 250 251

Chapter 9. Accessories A. Mantles and cloaks B. Hand-held mantles, shawl C. Shoulder-fastened mantles 1. Recreation of mantle of “Camp Stool Banqueter,” Knossos 2. Replication of mantle of Harvester Vase Leader , Hagia Triada 3. Comparanda from the Near East and Egypt D. Long cloaks E. Short cloaks F. Bolero (frontless blouse) 1. Replication A 2. Replication B 3. Reconstruction of Bolero on Pylos fresco G. Scarves H. Aprons 1. Replication A: HM 65 2. Replication B: HM 65 3. Replication C: HM 64

257 257 258 262 264 266 270 271 275 277 277 279 280 281 283 283 283 284

Chapter 10. Conclusions

287

Bibliography

291

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I wish to thank P. Betancourt, M. Wiener and the INSTAP Board for their generous support in providing me with the Fellowship and Grants that enabled my research and travels to Greece, England and France, without which this book could not have been written, and for the associated help of T. Brogan, E. Shank and K. Vellucci. My research to study and photograph material for publication in Greece was conducted under the auspices of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, to which I am greatly indebted, to then Director J. Muhly, and especially to its indefatigable Administrator, Maria Pilali for facilitating permits to various Museums through the various Greek archaeological Ephorates. For permits and advice, I am deeply grateful to the following Greek Archaeological Museums, directors and staffs listed in alphabetical order: Athens: L Papazoglou, C. Paschalidis, K. Demakopoulou, M. Tsipopoulou, D. Kokkevi-Fotiou; Chania: M. Andreadaki-Vlazaki; Hagios Nikolaos: C. Davaras, N. Papadakis; Herakleion: A. Kanta, N. Dimopoulou-Rethemiotaki, A.Karetsou, C. Kritsas; Nauplion: E. Spathari, B. Petrakos; Thebes: V. Aravantinos; Thera and The Archaeological Society of Athens - Photographic Archive of the Akrotiri Excavation: C. Doumas, M. Marthari, A. Vlachopoulos. I extend sincere thanks for publication permits and advice to the following European and American Universities, Museums, Institutions and their curators and staff, namely: The British Museum: D. Collon; British School at Athens, D. Blackman; Israel Museum, Jerusalem: D. Ben-Tor; Italian Archaeological School in Athens: the late V. La Rosa, E. Greco, P. Militello, L. Girella; Jesus college, Cambridge: J. Killen; Liverpool Museums: A. Cooke, G. Muskett; Manchester Museum: C. Price; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: J. Aruz, D. Arnold; Musée du Louvre, Paris: A. Caubet; Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, University College, London: R. Hall-Janssen, T. Golding; University of Cincinnati: C. Hershenson; University of Liverpool: A. Greaves; University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology: M. Goldsmith; Yale Babylonian Collection, Yale University, New Haven: B. Foster, U. Kasten. I am truly appreciative of the generosity of the following excavators and colleagues (listed in alphabetical order) for permissions to publish materials under their care: M. Anastasiadou, P. Betancourt, C. Doumas, E. French, A. Karetsou, R. Koehl, K. Kohlmeyer, O. Krzyszkowska, N. Marinatos, P. Matthiae, L. Morgan, N. Özgüç, I. Pini, H. Sackett, L. Talalay, M. Tsipopoulou, C. Verlinden, A. Vlachopoulos, G. Vogelsang-Eastwood, S. Wachsmann, P. Warren, H. Weiss. I wish to acknowledge my special debt to the excavators of Akrotiri,Thera, beginning with the late S. Marinatos who welcomed me in 1973 to work at the excavation while I was still an undergraduate. The architecture became the subject of my Master’s thesis and the splendid costumes depicted on the frescoes inspired me to choose Aegean dress for my Ph.D. dissertation, and in turn this book. C. Doumas has continued to welcome and help me through the years, as has A. Vlachopoulos, and I am most grateful. I would like to express my gratitude to the late E. Davis, my mentor and friend, for contributing many valuable suggestions during countless hours of stimulating discussions. So too, the late E. Harrison, who’s interest in Greek dress inspired me and provided the model, handed down from the late M. Bieber, to tackle problems of Aegean costume. For their informative correspondence and/or discussions, I thank J. Crouwel, G. Gesell, R. Hall-Jensen, J. Killen, B. Molloy, M. Panagiotaki. Unless otherwise credited, I take full responsibility for all the ideas and errors expressed herein. My multidisciplinary approach to dress incorporated the collaboration of textile expert and friend V. Bealle, whose many ideas, infinite hours of stimulating discussion, dyeing and sewing many garment replications, and experimenting with various weave structures for the patterns, contributed immeasurably to this study and to whom I am enormously indebted. Thanks, too, to M.-A. Ward for garment construction help. I am especially grateful to D. Oktay for modeling most of the costumes and to S. Anthony. They were as comfortable wearing the open front dresses as Minoan women and posed with similar grace. D. Oktay’s elegant modeling before, during and after pregnancy, illustrated the versatility of Minoan costume design through the various stages of womanhood. Sincere thanks are also extended to E. Macdonald for generously and handsomely modeling my male costumes. I thank M. Gammacurta and T.

x

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Weber Gola for their fine photographs of the models and C. Papanikolopoulos for his expert photographs of frescoes. The bulk of my digital reconstructions of frescoes and sculptures were meticulously drawn under my supervision by R. Ruppert who worked tirelessly and to whom I owe a major debt of gratitude. I also thank digital artists L. Grisafi, M. Carvalho, S. White, C. Mao and J. Acosta for their work. I wish to extend deep gratitude to my family, friends, and colleagues who have encouraged me throughout the course of this study. Finally, I am most grateful to R. Laffineur for his support and patience in awaiting the completion of this book and for including it in the Aegaeum series.




LIST OF FIGURES Fig. 1.1 Fig. 1.2 Fig. 1.3 Fig. 1.4 Fig. 1.5 Fig. 1.6a-c Fig. 2.1 Fig. 2.2 Fig. 2.3 Fig. 2.4 Fig. 2.5 Fig. 2.6 Fig. 2.7 Fig. 2.8 Fig. 2.9a Fig. 2.9b Fig. 2.10 Fig. 2.11 Fig. 2.12 Fig. 2.13 Fig. 2.14 Fig. 2.15 Fig. 2.16 Fig. 2.17 Fig. 2.18 Fig. 2.19 Fig. 2.20 Fig. 2.21 Fig. 2.22 Fig. 2.23 Fig. 2.24 Fig. 2.25 Fig. 2.26 Fig. 2.27 Fig. 2.28 Fig. 2.29 Fig. 2.30 Fig. 2.31 Fig. 2.32 Fig. 2.33 Fig. 2.34

Clay figurine from Franchthi Cave: a) front, b) back, c) back underside (Courtesy TALALAY 1993, Pl. 1). Clay figurine from Corinth: a) side; b) back underside (Courtesy TALALAY 1993, 115, bottom left). Clay figurine from Franchthi Cave: a) front, b) back (Courtesy TALALAY 1993, Pl. 7a). Clay figurine from Corinth (Courtesy TALALAY, 1993, 114). Clay figurine from Larissa (Drawing by S. White after HOURMOUZIADES 1973, Pl. 73). Clay figurine from Tepe Gawra (After TOBLER 1950, 164, Pl. CLIII, Fig. 4). Bronze pin from Palaikastro (Drawing by S. White after BRANIGAN 1974, Pl. 19, no. 2085). Silver pin from Amorgos (Drawing by S. White after HOOD 1978, 91, Fig.187G). Shell inlay from Mari (Courtesy KOHLMEYER 1985, 130-133, and 155, Fig. 39). Gold discs from Malia (Drawing by S. WHITE after DEMARGNE 1945, VII, nos. 589, 563, 564, Pls. XXII, LXVII, LXV). Kernos from Pyrgos (After NILSSON 1950, 137, Fig. 46). Kernos from Pyrgos (After ZERVOS 1956, 132, Fig. 86). Vessel from Pyrgos (After ZERVOS 1956, 123, Fig. 86). Kernos from Pyrgos (After ZERVOS 1956, 125, Fig. 89). Anthropomorphic vessel from Koumasa, front (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Drawing of vessel from Koumasa (Courtesy BETANCOURT 1985, 42, Fig. 23). Anthropomorphic vessel from Koumasa, back (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Anthropomorphic vessel from Koumasa, right side (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Anthropomorphic vessel from Koumasa, left side (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Pot from Mesara (After BRANAGAN 1970, 61, Fig. 10). Pot from Koumasa (After ZERVOS 1956, 145, Fig. 126). Amphora from Mesara (After VON MATT 1968, 20, 28 left). Anthropomorphic vessel from Myrtos, front (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Hagios Nikolaos). Anthropomorphic vessel from Myrtos, back (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Hagios Nikolaos). Anthropomorphic vessel from Myrtos, right side (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Hagios Nikolaos). Anthropomorphic vessel from Myrtos, left side (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Hagios Nikolaos). Jug from Mesara (After VON MATT 1968, 20, 28 right). Jug from Malia (After VAN EFFENTERRE 1980, 434, Fig. 574). Anthropomorphic vessel from Mochlos HM 5499 (Courtesy KOEHL 2006, Pl. 5, no. 33). Anthropomorphic vessel from Mochlos HM 5499 (Drawings after EVANS PM II:1, 258, Fig. 153). EM III pottery motifs (Courtesy BETANCOURT 1985, 58, Fig. 37). Teapot from Vasilike (After ZERVOS 1956, 149, Fig. 138). Teapot from Vasilike (After ZERVOS 1956, 149, Fig. 137). Anthropomorphic vessel from Malia, front. HM 8665 (Courtesy KOEHL 2006, Pl. 5, no. 34). Anthropomorphic vessel from Malia, top view. HM 8665 (Courtesy KOEHL 2006, Pl. 5, no. 34 right). Jug from Gournia (Courtesy BETANCOURT 1985, 57, Fig. 36d). Anthropomorphic vessel from Archanes (Adapted from MARINATOS 1993, 23, Fig. 24). Bowl from Myrtos. (Courtesy BETANCOURT 1985, 56, Fig. 35 E). Jug from Vasilike (Courtesy BETANCOURT 1985, 61, Fig. 40). Stone figurine from Hagia Triada (Drawing by S. White after DEMARGNE 1964, 48, Pl. 60). Ivory figurine from Hagia Triada (Drawing by S. White after DEMARGNE 1964, Pl. 86).

xii Fig. 2.35 Fig. 2.36 Fig. 2.37 Fig. 2.38 Fig. 2.39 Fig. 2.40 Fig. 2.41 Fig. 2.42 Fig. 3.1 Fig. 3.2 Fig. 3.3 Fig. 3.4 Fig. 3.5 Fig. 3.6 Fig. 3.7 Fig. 3.8 Fig. 3.9 Fig. 3.10 Fig. 3.11 Fig. 3.12 Fig. 3.13 Fig. 3.14 Fig. 3.15 Fig. 3.16 Fig. 3.17 Fig. 3.18 Fig. 3.19 Fig. 3.20 Fig. 3.21 Fig. 3.22 Fig. 3.23 Fig. 3.24

LIST OF FIGURES Ivory figurine from Hagios Charalambos, HNM 13909 (Courtesy P. Betancourt and the Hagios Charalambos excavations). Ivory figurine from Hagios Charalambos, HNM 13908 (Courtesy P. Betancourt and the Hagios Charalambos excavations). Ivory figurine from Hagia Triada (Photos by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Ivory figurine from Platanos (Photos by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Ivory figurine from Archanes (Drawing by S. WHITE after SAKELLARAKIS and SAKELLARAKI 1991, 121). Terracotta figurine from Gonies (Photos by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Steatite figurine from Koumasa (Photos by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Steatite figurine from Koumasa (Photos by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Terracotta figurine from Petsofas, front, HM 3431 (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Terracotta figurine from Petsofas, back, HM 3431 (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Terracotta figurine from Petsofas, right side, HM 3431 (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Terracotta figurine from Petsofas, left side, HM 3431 (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). “Reconstituted” drawing by Dawkins of Petsofas figurine HM 3431 (after J. MYRES 1902-3, Pl. VIII). Terracotta figurine from Petsofas, front, HM 3427 (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Terracotta figurine from Petsofas, back, HM 3427 (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Terracotta figurine from Petsofas, right side, HM 3427 (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Terracotta figurine from Petsofas, left side, HM 3427 (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Terracotta figurine from Gournia, front, HM 7079 (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Terracotta figurine from Gournia, back, HM 7079 (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Terracotta figurine from Gournia, right side, HM 7079 (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Terracotta figurine from Gournia, left side, HM 7079 (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Terracotta figurine from Petsofas, front, HM 3439 (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Terracotta figurine from Petsofas, back, HM 3439 (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Terracotta figurine from Petsofas, right side, HM 3439 (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Terracotta figurine from Petsofas, left side, HM 3439 (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Terracotta figurine from Traostalos, front, HM 16444 (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Terracotta figurine from Traostalos, back, HM 16444 (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Terracotta figurine from Traostalos, right side, HM 16444 (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Terracotta figurine from Traostalos, left side, HM 16444 (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Terracotta figurine from Maza, front, HM 9862A (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Terracotta figurine from Maza, back, HM 9862A (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Terracotta figurine from Maza, right side, HM 9862A (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion).

LIST OF FIGURES Fig. 3.25 Fig. 3.26 Fig. 3.27 Fig. 3.28 Fig. 3.29 Fig. 3.30 Fig. 3.31 Fig. 3.32 Fig. 3.33 Fig. 3.34 Fig. 3.35 Fig. 3.36 Fig. 3.37 Fig. 3.38 Fig. 3.39 Fig. 3.40 Fig. 3.41 Fig. 3.42 Fig. 3.43 Fig. 3.44 Fig. 3.45 Fig. 3.46 Fig. 3.47 Fig. 3.48 Fig. 3.49 Fig. 3.50 Fig. 3.51 Fig. 3.52 Fig. 3.53 Fig. 3.54 Fig. 3.55 Fig. 3.56 Fig. 3.57 Fig. 3.58 Fig. 3.59 Fig. 3.60a

xiii

Terracotta figurine from Maza, left side, HM 9862A (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Terracotta figurine from Maza, front, HM 9862B (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Terracotta figurine from Maza, back, HM 9862B (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Terracotta figurine from Maza, right side, HM 9862B (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Terracotta figurine from Maza, left side, HM 9862B (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Terracotta figurine from Juktas, front (Photo courtesy A. Karetsou). Terracotta figurine from Juktas, right side (Photo courtesy A. Karetsou). Terracotta figurine from Petsofas, front, HM 4875 (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Terracotta figurine from Petsofas, back, HM 4875 (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Terracotta figurine from Petsofas, right side, HM 4875 (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Terracotta figurine from Petsofas, left side, HM 4875 (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Terracotta figurine from Phaestos, front, HM 2680 (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Terracotta figurine from Phaestos, back, HM 2680 (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Terracotta figurine from Phaestos, right side, HM 2680 (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Terracotta figurine from Phaestos, left side, HM 2680 (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Seal from Kastelli Pediados (After EVANS PM I, 124, Fig. 93, B1). Seal from Kastelli Pediados (After EVANS PM I, 124, Fig. 93, C1). Seal from Herakleion (After EVANS PM II:1, 33, Fig. 15). Drawing by R.M. Dawkins of Cretan bodice construction (After MYRES 1902-3, 384, Fig. 4). Ivory figurine from Hierakonpolis (after EVANS PM II:1, 32-33, n.4, Fig. 14a, 1-2). Drawing of cloak (After EVANS PM II, 32-33, Fig. 14d). Bag tunic from Tomb of Kha (After SCHIAPARELLI 1927, Fig. 69). Construction drawing of a bag tunic (Courtesy VOGELSANG-EASTWOOD 1993, 135, Fig. 8:2). Women wearing bag tunics on coffin from Mo’alla (After LACAU 1904, I, Pl. VI, no. 28116). Detail, drawing of Investiture Painting, Mari (Courtesy Département des antiquités orientales du Musée du Louvre, AO 19826). Diagram of experimental construction of tunic of Ishtar in Investiture Painting, Mari (Drawing by R. Ruppert). Diagram of experimental construction of skirt of Ishtar in Investiture Painting, Mari (Drawing by R. Ruppert). Experimental replication of tunic of Ishtar in Investiture Painting, Mari, front view (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by M. Gammacurta). Experimental replication of tunic of Ishtar in Investiture Painting, Mari, back view (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by M. Gammacurta). Experimental replication of costume of Ishtar in Investiture Painting, Mari, view as in painting (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by M. Gammacurta). Statuette from Hasanoglan (drawing by S. White after AKURGAL 1962, Pls. VIII and 22). Seal of Ana-sin-taklaku, Mari (After PORADA 1985, Fig. 19). Diagram of experimental construction of tunic of Ishtar on seal of Ana-sin-taklaku, Mari (Drawing by R. Ruppert). Experimental replication of tunic of Ishtar on seal of Ana-sin-taklaku, Mari, front view (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by M. Gammacurta). Experimental replication of tunic of Ishtar on seal of Ana-sin-taklaku, Mari, back view (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by M. Gammacurta). Experimental replication of costume of Ishtar on seal of Ana-sin-taklaku, Mari, view as on seal (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by M. Gammacurta).

xiv Fig. 3.60b Fig. 3.61 Fig. 3.62 Fig. 3.63 Fig. 3.64 Fig. 3.65 Fig. 3.66 Fig. 3.67 Fig. 3.68 Fig. 3.69 Fig. 3.70 Fig. 3.71 Fig. 3.72 Fig. 3.73 Fig. 3.74 Fig. 3.75 Fig. 3.76 Fig. 3.77 Fig. 3.78 Fig. 3.79 Fig. 3.80 Fig. 3.81 Fig. 3.82 Fig. 3.83 Fig. 3.84 Fig. 3.85a Fig. 3.85b Fig. 3.86 Fig. 3.87 Fig. 3.88 Fig. 3.89 Fig. 3.90 Fig. 4.1 Fig. 4.2 Fig. 4.3 Fig. 4.4 Fig. 4.5 Fig. 4.6 Fig. 4.7a

LIST OF FIGURES Inanna on Alabaster Vase, Uruk (Drawing by S. White after PARROT 1961, 72, Fig. 89 and FRANKFORT 1970, 26, Fig. 10) Diagram of experimental construction of Peak Back robe (Drawing by R. Ruppert). Diagrams of two experimental constructions of Peak Back robe (Drawing by R. Ruppert). Experimental replication A of Peak Back robe, front (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by M. Gammacurta). Experimental replication A of Peak Back robe, back (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by M. Gammacurta). Experimental replication A of Peak Back robe with tasseled belt, front (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by M. Gammacurta). Experimental replication A of Peak Back robe with tasseled belt, back (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by M. Gammacurta). Experimental replication A of Peak Back robe with tasseled belt, right side (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by M. Gammacurta). Experimental replication A of Peak Back robe with tasseled belt, left side (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by M. Gammacurta). Experimental replication B of Peak Back robe, front (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by author). Experimental replication B of Peak Back robe, back (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by author). Experimental replication B of Peak Back robe, right side (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by author). Experimental replication B of Peak Back robe, left side (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by author). Experimental replication B of belted Peak Back robe, front (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by author). Experimental replication B of belted Peak Back robe, back (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by author). Experimental replication B of belted Peak Back robe, right side (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by author). Experimental replication B of belted Peak Back robe, left side (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by author). Terracotta five-figured group from Hagia Triada, HTR2157-2159 (Courtesy LA ROSA 2010, Fig. 18.4). Terracotta female figurine from Hagia Triada, HTR2159 (Courtesy La Rosa). Red jasper seal from Petras, P.TSK05/291 (Courtesy TSIPOPOULOU and KRZYSZKOWSKA 2012, Cover and Fig. 7a). Stone seal from Knossos (Courtesy PINI, CMS II.8, no. 39). Shell demon plaque from Hagia Triada, AGTR_0E60_DSC_0131 (Courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Terracotta female figurine from Phaestos, HM 2682 (Photo by author). Terracotta female figurine from Juktas, HM 21916, front and back views (Drawings by R. Ruppert after photos by author). Linen dress from Tarkhan (Copyright Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, University College London UC 28614 Bi). Linen dress from Deshasha (Copyright Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, University College London UC 31183). Linen dress from Deshasha (Copyright Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, University College London UC 31182). Construction drawings of V-neckline dress (Courtesy VOGELSANG-EASTWOOD 1993, 120, Fig. 7-20; 122, Fig. 7-22). Terracotta pedestal stand from Phaestos (After LEVI 1976, Pl. LXVI). Terracotta pedestal stand from Phaestos, detail (After LEVI 1976, Tav. LXV). Terracotta bowl from Phaestos (After D. LEVI 1976, Pl. LXVIIa). Figurine from Tylissos (Redrawn by author after SAPOUNA-SAKELLARAKI 1971, Pl. 16α-β). Faience “Snake goddess” HM 63 from Knossos (After EVANS PM I Frontispiece). Faience “Snake goddess” HM 65 from Knossos, front (Courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Faience “Snake goddess” HM 65 from Knossos, front detail (After EVANS PM I, 504, Fig. 362a). Faience “Snake goddess” HM 65 from Knossos, back (After EVANS PM I, 503, Fig. 361). Faience “Snake goddess” HM 65 from Knossos, right side (After EVANS PM I, 502, Fig. 360a). Faience “Snake goddess” HM 65 from Knossos, left side (Courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Faience Figurine HM 64 from Knossos, front and back (After EVANS PM I, 523, Fig. 382).

LIST OF FIGURES Fig. 4.7b Fig. 4.8a Fig. 4.8b Fig. 4.9 Fig. 4.10 Fig. 4.11 Fig. 4.12 Fig. 4.13 Fig. 4.14a Fig. 4.14b Fig. 4.14c Fig. 4.15 Fig. 4.16 Fig. 4.17 Fig. 4.18 Fig. 4.19 Fig. 4.20a Fig. 4.20b Fig. 4.21a Fig. 4.21b Fig. 4.22 Fig. 4.23 Fig. 4.24 Fig. 4.25 Fig. 4.26 Fig. 4.27 Fig. 4.28 Fig. 4.29 Fig. 4.30 Fig. 4.31 Fig. 4.32 Fig. 4.33 Fig. 4.34 Fig. 4.35 Fig. 4.36 Fig. 4.37 Fig. 4.38 Fig. 4.39 Fig. 4.40

xv

Reconstructed front and back of Faience Figurine HM 64, from Knossos (Archaeological Museum, Herakleion, photo by author, digital drawing by C. Mao and author). Faience dress plaque HM 58a from Knossos (Courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Faience dress plaque HM 58a from Knossos (After EVANS PM I, 506, Fig. 364a). Faience dress plaque HM 58b from Knossos (After EVANS PM I, 506, Fig. 364b). Blue-headed crocus gatherer fresco, Thera (Courtesy DOUMAS 1992, 156, Pl. 120). Veiled maiden fresco, Thera (Courtesy DOUMAS 1992, 144, Pl. 107). Crocus basket emptier fresco, Thera (Courtesy DOUMAS 1992, 160, Pl. 123). Necklace bearer fresco, Thera (Courtesy DOUMAS 1992, 138, Pl. 101). Crouching woman fresco, Room 14, East wall, Hagia Triada (Archaeological Museum, Herakleion, Photo C. Papanikolopoulos; courtesy INSTAP-SCEC and and Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Crouching woman detail, Hagia Triada (Archaeological Museum, Herakleion, Photo C. Papanikolopoulos; courtesy INSTAP-SCEC and Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Crouching woman, Hagia Triada (Drawing R. Ruppert and S. White). Ivory Triad from Mycenae, inv. no. 7711, front (Courtesy National Archaeological Museum, Athens). Ivory Triad from Mycenae, inv. no. 7711, back (Courtesy National Archaeological Museum, Athens). Ivory Triad from Mycenae, inv. no. 7711, right side (Courtesy National Archaeological Museum, Athens). Ivory Triad from Mycenae, inv. no. 7711, left side (Courtesy National Archaeological Museum, Athens). Wounded lady fresco, Thera (Courtesy DOUMAS 1992, 142, Pl. 105). Reconstruction of Kneeling woman fresco from Hagia Triada (Drawing by R. Ruppert and S. White). Fresco fragments from Room 14, North Wall, Hagia Triada (Photo C. Papanikolopoulos; courtesy INSTAP-SCEC and Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Reconstruction A of fresco with presentation of miniature girl to goddess, Southwest House, Mycenae (Drawing by R. Ruppert). Reconstruction B of fresco with presentation of miniature girl to goddess, Southwest House, Mycenae (Drawing by R. Ruppert). Detail of miniature girl, Southwest House, Mycenae (Drawing by R. Ruppert). Hagia Triada Sarcophagus (Courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Bending Lady and fragment, fresco, Thera (Photo by author, courtesy C. Doumas). Mykenaia fresco, Mycenae (Drawing by R. Ruppert and S. White). Crocus gatherer with black hair fresco, Thera (Courtesy DOUMAS 1992, 154, Pl. 118). Goddess fresco, Thera (Courtesy C. Doumas). Detail goddess fresco, Thera (Courtesy C. Doumas). Amasis Painter Lekythos, ca. 560 B.C. (New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, inv. no. 31.11.10, Fletcher Fund, 1931. Image© The Metropolitan Museum of Art). Warping the loom (After HOFFMAN 1964, 66, Fig. 26). Diagram of heanos/robe construction (Drawing by R. Ruppert). Striding Lady, Thera (Photo by author, courtesy C. Doumas). Linear B Ideograms (Drawing by R. Ruppert). Diagram of experimental replication A of “Snake Goddess” HM 65 Heanos/robe (Drawing by M. Carvalho and L. Grisafi). Experimental fringed flounced skirt, Apron A, and replication A of Heanos/robe of HM 65, front (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by G. Gammacurta). Experimental fringed flounced skirt, Apron A, and replication A of Heanos/robe of HM 65, back (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by G. Gammacurta). Experimental fringed flounced skirt, Apron A, and replication A of Heanos/robe of HM 65, side (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by G. Gammacurta). Diagram of experimental replication B of HM 65 heanos/ robe (Drawing by S. White). Experimental replication B of HM 65 heanos/robe, front (Modeled by S. Anthony, photo by T. Weber Gola). Experimental replication B of HM 65 heanos /robe, back (Modeled by S. Anthony, photo by T. Weber Gola).

xvi Fig. 4.41 Fig. 4.42 Fig. 4.43 Fig. 4.44 Fig. 4.45 Fig. 4.46 Fig. 4.47 Fig. 4.48 Fig. 4.49 Fig. 4.50 Fig. 4.51 Fig. 4.52 Fig. 4.53 Fig. 4.54 Fig. 4.55 Fig. 4.56 Fig. 4.57 Fig. 4.58 Fig. 4.59 Fig. 4.60 Fig. 4.61 Fig. 4.62 Fig. 4.63 Fig. 4.64 Fig. 4.65 Fig. 4.66 Fig. 4.67 Fig. 4.68 Fig. 4.69 Fig. 4.70 Fig. 4.71 Fig. 4.72 Fig. 4.73 Fig. 4.74 Fig. 4.75 Fig. 4.76 Fig. 4.77 Fig. 4.78

LIST OF FIGURES Experimental replication B1 of HM 65 heanos / robe, front, cut under the arms (Modeled by S. Anthony, photo by T. Weber Gola). Experimental replication B1 of HM 65 heanos / robe, back, cut under the arms (Modeled by S. Anthony, photo by T. Weber Gola). Experimental striped flounced skirt, Apron B, and replication B2.a of heanos/ obe of HM 65, front, untapered and uncut (Modeled by S. Anthony, photo by T. Weber Gola). Experimental striped flounced skirt, Apron B, and replication B2.a of heanos/robe of HM 65, back, untapered and uncut (Modeled by S. Anthony, photo by T. Weber Gola). Experimental striped flounced skirt, Apron B, and replication B2.a of heanos/robe of HM 65, side, untapered and uncut (Modeled by S. Anthony, photo by T. Weber GoLA). Experimental striped flounced skirt, Apron B, and replication B2.b of heanos/robe of HM 65, front, uncut, tapered by sewing (Modeled by S. Anthony, photo by T. Weber Gola). Experimental striped flounced skirt, Apron B, and replication B2.b of heanos/robe of HM 65, back, uncut, tapered by sewing (Modeled by S. Anthony, photo by T. Weber Gola). Women on Balcony fresco, Thera (Courtesy DOUMAS 1992, 79, Pl. 38). Woman on Balcony, detail, Thera (Courtesy DOUMAS 1992, 79, Pl. 38). Diagram of Crocus Gatherer with Blue Head, Thera (Drawing by R. Ruppert). Spiral textile pattern, Knossos (After EVANS PM III, Fig. 20). Lady in Red fresco, Knossos (Courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Dancing Lady fresco, Knossos (Courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Linen warp-faced plain weave band sample (Woven by V. Bealle). Construction diagram of Thera Crocus Gatherer’s heanos (Drawing by R. Ruppert). Experimental replication of Thera Crocus Gatherer’s heanos, front. Experimental replication of Thera Crocus Gatherer’s heanos, back. Experimental replication of Thera Crocus Gatherer’s Costume viewed as on fresco (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by M. Gammacurta). Tomb of Menkheperraseneb, detail Governor and son from Tunip and Keftiu leader (Courtesy WACHSMANN 1987 Pl. XXXVB). Tomb of Rekhmire, detail Keftiu leader (Courtesy WACHSMANN 1987, Pl.XLI). Tomb of Menkheperraseneb, detail Keftiu 11 (Courtesy WACHSMANN 1987, Pl.XXXVI.B, no. 11). Gold signet ring from Isopata (Courtesy PINI, CMS II.3, no. 051.2). Diagram of Thera Veiled Maiden and Veil (Drawing by R. Ruppert). Faience belt with crocuses from Knossos (After EVANS PM I, 506, Fig.364d). Linen “Header” band sample in warp-faced plain weave with supplementary warp pick-up (Woven by V. Bealle). Experimental replication of Thera Veiled Maiden’s heanos, front view (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by author). Experimental replication of Thera Veiled Maiden’s heanos, back view (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by author). Experimental replication of Thera Veiled Maiden’s heanos, right side view (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by author). Experimental replication of Thera Veiled Maiden’s heanos, left side view (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by author). Experimental replication of Thera Veiled Maiden’s Costume, viewed as on fresco (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by author). Experimental replication of Thera Veiled Maiden’s Costume, back view (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by author). Diagram of Thera Crocus Basket Emptier, Thera (Drawing by R. Ruppert). Construction diagram of Thera Crocus Basket Emptier’s heanos (Drawing by R. Ruppert). Experimental replication of Thera Crocus Basket Emptier’s heanos, front view (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by author). Experimental replication of Thera Crocus Basket Emptier’s heanos, back view (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by author). Experimental replication of Thera Crocus Basket Emptier’s heanos, right side view (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by author). Experimental replication of Thera Crocus Basket Emptier’s Costume viewed as on fresco (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by M. Gammacurta). Diagram of Thera Necklace Bearer (Drawing by R. Ruppert).

LIST OF FIGURES Fig. 4.79 Fig. 4.80 Fig. 4.81 Fig. 4.82 Fig. 4.83 Fig. 4.84 Fig. 4.85 Fig. 4.86 Fig. 4.87 Fig. 4.88a Fig. 4.88b Fig. 4.89a Fig. 4.89b Fig. 4.89c Fig. 4.90 Fig. 4.91a Fig. 4.91b Fig. 4.91c Fig. 4.92a Fig. 4.92b Fig. 4.92c Fig. 4.92d Fig. 4.93 Fig. 4.94 Fig. 4.95a Fig. 4.95b Fig. 4.95c Fig. 4.96 Fig. 4.97 Fig. 4.98 Fig. 4.99 Fig. 4.100 Fig. 4.101

xvii

Diagram of experimental replication A of Necklace Bearer’s heanos (Drawing by R. Ruppert). Experimental replication A of Thera Necklace Bearer’s heanos, front view (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by M. Gammacurta). Experimental replication A of Thera Necklace Bearer’s heanos, back view (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by M. Gammacurta). Experimental replication A of Thera Necklace Bearer’s heanos, left side view (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by M. Gammacurta). Experimental replication A of Thera Necklace Bearer’s Costume viewed as on fresco (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by M. Gammacurta). Diagram of experimental replication B of Necklace Bearer’s heanos (Drawing by S. White). Experimental replication B of Thera Necklace Bearer’s heanos, front view (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by M. Gammacurta). Experimental replication B of Thera Necklace Bearer’s heanos, back view (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by M. Gammacurta). Experimental replication B of Thera Necklace Bearer’s Costume viewed as on fresco (Modeled by S. Anthony, photo by T. Weber Gola). Diagram of Crouching Woman, Hagia Triada. (Drawing by R. Ruppert). Crouching Woman detail, Hagia Triada (Archaeological Museum, Herakleion, Photo C. Papanikolopoulos; courtesy INSTAP-SCEC and Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Processional Fresco, Knossos, detail Figures 20, 21, 22 (After EVANS PM II, 723, Fig. 450 and Suppl. Pl. XXVII. Processional Fresco, Knossos, drawing of tassels of figure 20 (After EVANS PM II, 726, Fig. 453. Processional Fresco, Knossos, detail of tassels on figure 20 (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Carnelian seal, Knossos (Courtesy PINI, CMS II.3, no. 016.2). Diagram of experimental replication of Hagia Triada Crouching Woman’s heanos (Drawing by R. Ruppert). Experimental replication of Hagia Triada Crouching Woman’s heanos, front view (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by author). Experimental Replication of Hagia Triada Crouching Woman’s heanos, back view (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by author). Experimental replication of Hagia Triada Crouching Woman’s Costume, viewed as on fresco with fringed flounced kilt A (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by author). Experimental replication of Hagia Triada Crouching Woman’s Costume, viewed as on fresco with striped flounced kilt B (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by author). Reconstruction of Hagia Triada Crouching Woman facing right (Drawing R. Ruppert and S. White). Reconstruction of Hagia Triada Crouching Woman facing left (Drawing R. Ruppert and S. White). Diagram of Experimental Replication of Mycenae Ivory Triad woman’s heanos (Drawing by R. Ruppert. Experimental replication of Mycenae Ivory Triad Woman’s heanos, front view (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by M. Gammacurta). Experimental replication of Mycenae Ivory Triad Woman’s Costume, front view as on sculpture (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by M. Gammacurta). Experimental replication of Mycenae Ivory Triad Woman’s Costume, back view as on sculpture (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by M. Gammacurta). Experimental replication of Mycenae Ivory Triad Woman’s Costume, side view as on sculpture (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by author). Fragment from House of Ladies, Thera (left: photo by B. Jones; right: drawing by R. Ruppert). A-A1: curvature of Bending Lady, Thera; B-B1: curvature of fragment figure; C-C1: curvature of boxing boy (Drawing by L. Grisafi). Outline of boxing boy, Thera, superimposed over reconstructed fragment figure (Drawing by R. Ruppert). Outline of fisher boy,Thera, superimposed over reconstructed fragment figure (Drawing by R. Ruppert). A: red outline of Thera Bending Lady’s arm; B: purple outline of fragment figure’s arm; C: red and purple outlines overlaid; D: red and purple outlines on grid (Drawing by L. Grisafi). Thera Bending Lady and fragment figure on grid (Drawing by R. Ruppert).

xviii Fig. 4.102

LIST OF FIGURES

Pink outline of held kilt: A) kilt superimposed over the Bending Lady, B) and the reconstructed fragment figure C) (Drawing by R. Ruppert and C. Mao). Fig. 4.103A-C Comparison to scale of Left Striding Lady fresco with A) reconstruction A of House of Ladies Maiden on tip toe facing right, B) reconstruction B of House of Ladies Maiden standing on platform and facing left, C) reconstruction C of House of Ladies Maiden stepping and facing right (Photos to scale by author, drawings by R. Ruppert and J. Acosta). Fig. 4.104a-c Experimental replication of heanos of House of Ladies Maiden: a) front, b) back, c) profile as in reconstructions (Modeled by D. Oktay). Fig. 4.105 Green outline of reconstructed maiden superimposed over model (Drawing by R. Ruppert; modeled by D. Oktay). Fig. 4.106 Photo composite of D. Oktay wearing costumes and posing as Bending Lady and Maiden. Fig. 4.107a Seal from Malia (CMS II.3, no. 145.2, Courtesy I. Pini). Fig. 4.107b Seal from Knossos (CMS II.3, no. 8.2, Courtesy I. Pini). Fig. 4.108a Sealing from Hagia Triada (CMS II.6, no. 26.1, Courtesy I. Pini). Fig. 4.108b Sealing from Zakros (CMS II.7, no. 7.1, Courtesy I. Pini). Fig. 4.109 Seal from Argos (CMS XI, no. 259.2, Courtesy I. Pini). Fig. 4.110 Plan of Room 1, House of the Ladies, Thera (adapted by author from MARINATOS 1972, Fig. 2). Fig. 4.111 Reconstruction A: perspective rendering of frescoes to scale on South wall and North corridor wall, Room 1, House of Ladies (Photos by author, drawings by R. Ruppert, S. White, J. Acosta, B. Jones). Fig. 4.112 Reconstruction B: perspective rendering of frescoes to scale on South wall and East façade of partition wall, and North wall, Room I, House of Ladies (Photos by author, drawings by R. Ruppert, S. White, J. Acosta, B. Jones). Fig. 4.113 Gold ring from Tiryns (CMS I, no. 179, Courtesy I. Pini). Fig. 4.114 Hagia Triada Kneeling woman, fragments 8-12 (Drawing by R. Ruppert and S. White after MILITELLO 1998, 101, 116, Pls. Fb.Vl, Fb.V2, C and Fa.V9). Fig. 4.115 Hagia Triada fragment 8 with earring (Drawing by R. Ruppert after MILITELLO 1998, Pl. Fa.V9). Fig. 4.116 Gold earrings from Shaft Grave III, inv. no. 61 (Courtesy National Archaeological Museum, Athens). Fig. 4.117 “Grandstand Fresco”, Knossos (After EVANS PM III, Pl. XVII). Fig. 4.118 Knossos seal overlay (Drawing by R. Ruppert and S. White after WARREN 1990, 193-206, Figs. 13-14. Fig. 4.119 Sealing from Hagia Triada (Courtesy PINI, CMS II.6, no. 4.1). Fig. 4.120 Seal in Ashmolean Museum (Courtesy PINI, CMS VI, no. 278.2). Fig. 4.121 Gold ring from Archanes (Courtesy I. Pini). Fig. 4.122 Gold ring from Sellopoulo (Courtesy I. Pini). Fig. 4.123 Gold ring from Phaestos (Courtesy PINI, CMS II.3 no.114.2). Fig. 4.124A-D Diagram of experimental replication of Hagia Triada Kneeler’s heanos (Drawing by R. Ruppert). Fig. 4.125a Linen band in warp-faced plain weave with design in warp pick-up, front (Woven by V. Bealle). Fig. 4.125b Linen band in warp-faced plain weave with design in warp pick-up, back (Woven by V. Bealle). Fig. 4.126a Experimental replication of Hagia Triada Kneeler’s heanos, front view (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by author). Fig. 4.126b Experimental replication of Hagia Triada Kneeler’s heanos, back view (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by author). Fig. 4.127 Experimental replication of Hagia Triada Kneeler’s heanos, viewed as on fresco (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by author). Fig. 4.128 Detail, Ivory Triad girl from Mycenae, inv. no. 7711, front (Courtesy National Archaeological Museum, Athens). Fig. 4.129 Fresco from Room 31, Cult Centre, Mycenae (Drawing by Anneka Poelstra Traga © Mycenae Archive, courtesy E. French). Fig. 4.130 Diagram of experimental replication of Mycenae Miniature Girl’s heanos (Drawing by R. Ruppert). Fig. 4.131 Experimental replication of Mycenae Miniature Girl’s heanos, front view. Fig. 4.132 Experimental replication of Mycenae Miniature Girl’s heanos, back view. Fig. 4.133 Experimental replication of Mycenae Miniature Girl’s heanos, side view as on fresco. Fig. 4.134 Diagram of Thera Bending Lady (Drawing by R. Ruppert). Fig. 4.135 Detail, Thera Bending Lady’s laces (Photo by author, courtesy C. Doumas, Archaeological Museum, Thera). Fig. 4.136 Detail, Thera Bending Lady’s skirt (Photo by author, courtesy C. Doumas, Archaeological Museum, Thera).

LIST OF FIGURES Fig. 4.137

xix

Diagrams of possible construction methods of Thera Bending Lady’s heanos/dress (Drawing by R. Ruppert). Fig. 4.138 Detail, Thera Bending Lady’s tassel (Photo by author, courtesy C. Doumas, Archaeological Museum, Thera). Fig. 4.139a Experimental replication of Thera Bending Lady’s heanos/dress, front view (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by M. Gammacurta). Fig. 4.139b Experimental replication of Thera Bending Lady’s heanos/dress, back view (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by M. Gammacurta). Fig. 4.139c Experimental replication of Thera Bending Lady’s heanos/dress, side view (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by M. Gammacurta). Fig. 4.140 Experimental Replication of Thera Bending Lady’s costume, view as on fresco (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by M. Gammacurta). Fig. 4.141 Diagram of Thera Wounded Woman (Drawing by R. Ruppert). Fig. 4.142A-D Diagrams of possible constructions of Thera Wounded Woman’s heanos/dress (Drawing by S. White). Fig. 4.143 Experimental diagram of construction of Thera Wounded Woman’s Girdle (Drawing by R. Ruppert). Fig. 4.144 Knossos faience girdle (Courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Fig. 4.145 Experimental replication of Thera Wounded Woman’s costume viewed as on fresco (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by M. Gammacurta). Fig. 4.146 Experimental replication of Mykenaia’s Heanos, front view (Modeled by S. Anthony, photo by T. Weber Gola). Fig. 4.147 Experimental replication of Mykenaia’s Heanos, back view (Modeled by S. Anthony, photo by T. Weber Gola). Fig. 4.148a Procession Fresco, Knossos (Photo, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion) Fig. 4.148b Procession Fresco, Knossos, detail Figures 1-7 (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Fig. 4.149a Procession Fresco, Knossos, detail figure 7 (After EVANS PM II:2, Pl. XXV, figure 7). Fig. 4.149b Tri-curved arch pattern on Knossos Processional figure 7 (Drawing by author). Fig. 4.150 Procession Fresco, Knossos, detail figure 14. (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Fig. 4.151 Procession Fresco, Knossos, tunic band on figure 14, Gilliéron drawing (After EVANS PM II:2, 729, Fig. 456a). Fig. 4.152 Fresco fragment with dress from Pylos (Restoration by P. De Jong of fragment 50Hnws[1], courtesy of The Department of Classics, University of Cincinnati). Fig. 4.153 Ivory figurine from the Argive Heraeum, Prosymna, National Archaeological Museum, Inv. no. 6580 (Courtesy National Archaeological Museum, Athens). Fig. 4.154 Possible construction of Prosymna dress (Drawing by S. White). Fig. 4.155 Possible constructions of Prosymna dress (Drawings by S. White and R. Ruppert). Fig. 4.156 Gold disc attachment with rosette motif from Shaft Grave III, Mycenae, National Archaeological Museum, Athens, Inv. no. 264. (Courtesy National Archaeological Museum, Athens). Fig. 4.157 Proposed reconstruction of Prosymna ivory figurine (Drawing by S. White). Fig. 4.158 Faience “Snake goddess” figurine, Knossos, HM 63, front view (Courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Fig. 4.159 Faience “Snake goddess” figurine, Knossos, HM 63, rear view (After EVANS PM I, 501, Fig. 359). Fig. 4.160 Faience “Snake goddess” figurine, Knossos, HM 63, side view (Courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Fig. 4.161 “Ladies in Blue” fresco, Knossos (Courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Fig. 4.162 “Ladies in Blue” dress pattern, Gilliéron drawing (After EVANS PM II:2, 731, Fig. 457b). Fig. 4.163 Fresco fragment with dress sleeve and beaded hair coiffure, Knossos (After EVANS PM II:2, 681, Fig. 431). Fig. 4.164 Reconstruction drawing of Lady B from fresco fragments from Pseira by Gilliéron fils (After EVANS PM III, 28, Fig. 15a). Fig. 4.165 Reconstructed fresco from Pseira with Lady A (Photo by C. Papanikolopoulos; courtesy INSTAPSCEC and Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Fig. 4.166 Ivory plaque with seated woman from Mycenae, National Archaeological Museum, Athens, Inv. no. 5897 (Courtesy National Archaeological Museum, Athens). Fig. 4.167 Goddess from Xeste 3, Thera, detail (Courtesy DOUMAS 1992, Pl. 125).

xx Fig. 4.168 Fig. 4.169 Fig. 4.170 Fig. 4.171a-c Fig. 4.172a-b Fig. 4.173 Fig. 4.174 Fig. 4.175 Fig. 4.176 Fig. 4.177 Fig. 4.178 Fig. 4.179 Fig. 4.180 Fig. 4.181 Fig. 4.182 Fig. 4.183 Fig. 4.184 Fig. 4.185 Fig. 4.186 Fig. 4.187 Fig. 4.188 Fig. 4.189a Fig. 4.189b Fig. 4.189c Fig. 4.189d Fig. 4.190 Fig. 4.191 Fig. 4.192 Fig. 4.193 Fig. 4.194 Fig. 5.1 Fig. 5.2 Fig. 5.3 Fig. 5.4 Fig. 5.5

LIST OF FIGURES Mature Lady B from Xeste 3, Thera, detail (Photo courtesy of the Akrotiri Excavation, Thera. The Archaeological Society of Athens). Mature Lady A from Xeste 3, Thera, detail (Photo courtesy of the Akrotiri Excavation, Thera. The Archaeological Society of Athens). Mature Lady D from Xeste 3, Thera, detail (Photo courtesy of the Akrotiri Excavation, Thera. The Archaeological Society of Athens). Terracotta torso no. 7.1 from Ayia Irini, Keos, front, back, and side views (Photos courtesy of The Department of Classics, University of Cincinnati). Terracotta statue no. 1-1 from Ayia Irini, Keos, front and back views (Photos courtesy of The Department of Classics, University of Cincinnati). Larnax from Tanagra (Courtesy Archaeological Museum, Thebes. permit DSCN8589). Linen cloth from Lefkandi (Photo courtesy H. Sackett). Proposed design of Tanagra and Lefkandi tunics (Drawing by S. White). Skeleton with gold breast caps in situ from Lefkandi (Photo courtesy H. Sackett). Terracotta figurine from Midea, Dendra (Courtesy Archaeological Museum, Nauplion). Terracotta relief from Kannia (Drawing by S. White after SCHACHERMEYR 1964, Pl. 52). Warrior Vase from Mycenae, National Archaeological Museum, Athens, Inv. no. 1426 (Courtesy, National Archaeological Museum, Athens). Wheat Goddess, detail from fresco from Room 31, Cult Centre, Mycenae (Drawing by Anneka Poelstra Traga © Mycenae Archive). Detail goat driven chariot, West end of Hagia Triada Sarcophagus (Courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Detail griffin driven chariot, East end of Hagia Triada Sarcophagus (Courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Chariot scene from Pylos (Restoration by P. De Jong of fragments 26 H 64, Courtesy of The Department of Classics, University of Cincinnati). Hunting scene from Pylos (Restoration by P. De Jong of fragments 17, 19-20 H 43, 13 C 43, Courtesy of The Department of Classics, University of Cincinnati). Male offering bearer from Pylos (Restoration of Fragments 9 H 5, Courtesy of The Department of Classics, University of Cincinnati). Reconstructed fresco with woman and child from Tiryns, detail (Courtesy MARAN, PAPADIMITRIOU and THALER 2011, 103, Fig. 27, montage and reconstruction drawing by U. Thaler, digital drawings by B. Konnemann). Diagram of experimental replication of Knossos Camp Stool Banqueter’s tunic (Drawing by R. Ruppert). Knossos Camp Stool Banqueter reconstruction (Drawing by R. Ruppert). Experimental replication of Knossos Camp Stool Banqueter’s tunic, front view (Modeled by E. Macdonald, photo by author). Experimental replication of Knossos Camp Stool Banqueter’s tunic, back view (Modeled by E. Macdonald, photo by author). Experimental replication of Knossos Camp Stool Banqueter’s tunic, right side view (Modeled by E. Macdonald, photo by author). Experimental replication of Knossos Camp Stool Banqueter’s tunic, left side (Modeled by E. Macdonald, photo by author). Sample of linen header band based on that of Camp Stool Banqueter (Woven by V. Bealle). Phi figurine from Mycenae, inv. no. 3101 (Courtesy National Archaeological Museum, Athens). Psi figurine from Mycenae, inv. no. 1569 (Courtesy National Archaeological Museum, Athens). Hittite gold pendant with seated goddess and child. H. 4.3 cm, W. 1.7 cm, D. 1.9 cm (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Norbert Schimmel Trust, 1989 [1989.281.12], photographed by Schecter Lee, Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art). Goddess Hepat on Yazilikaya relief, detail (Drawing by S. White after ORTHMANN 1975, Pl. 350). Old Babylonian seal from Platanos, HM 1098 (Courtesy PINI CMS II.1, no. 306). Old Babylonian seal of Awil-Ishtar from Jiophyrakia (near Herakleion), HM 132 (Courtesy PINI CMS II.2, no. 206). “Anatolian” lapis lazuli seal from Knossos (After EVANS PM IV:2, 424, Fig. 350). Old Syrian seal from Tyllissos (Courtesy PINI CMS II.3, no. 128.2). Syrian seal from Ras Shamra/Ugarit (After SCHAEFFER 1983, 34 [R.S. 9.888, Moul. Coll. France Musée du Louvre AO 19.423]).

LIST OF FIGURES Fig. 5.6 Fig. 5.7 Fig. 5.8 Fig. 5.9a Fig. 5.9b Fig. 5.10 Fig. 5.11 Fig. 5.12 Fig. 5.13 Fig. 5.14 Fig. 5.15 Fig. 5.16a Fig. 5.16b Fig. 5.17a Fig. 5.17b Fig. 5.18 Fig. 5.19 Fig. 5.20 Fig. 5.21a Fig. 5.21b Fig. 5.22 Fig. 5.23 Fig. 5.24 Fig. 5.25 Fig. 5.26 Fig. 5.27 Fig. 5.28 Fig. 5.29 Fig. 5.30 Fig. 5.31 Fig. 5.32 Fig. 5.33

xxi

Old Syrian seal (After Musées royaux d’Art et d’Histoire 1982, 61-2, Fig. 104). Plaque of Ur-nanshe, Telloh (Courtesy Département des Antiquités orientales du Musée du Louvre, AO 2344). Sealing from Ebla (Courtesy COLLON 1987, 38, Fig. 127). Alabaster priestess from the Temple of Ishtarat, Mari, Damascus Museum S 2072 (Courtesy KOHLMEYER 1985, 130-133, 156-161, cat. no. 64). Gypsum priestess from the Temple of Ishtar, Mari (Courtesy Département des Antiquités orientales du Musée du Louvre, AO18213). Ram at sacred tree, Royal Cemetery, Ur (Courtesy of the University of Pennsylvania Museum, film # 151000). Seal of the scribe Adda from the Akkadian period, BM 89115 (Courtesy COLLON 1987, 164, Fig. 761). Ishtar on seal of Ilaknuid in the Oriental Institute, University of Chicago A27903 (Drawing by S. White after WOLKSTEIN and KRAMER 1983, 92). Disc of Enheduanna, Ur (Courtesy of the University of Pennsylvania Museum, film # 150424). Copper or bronze figurines from Ur, Ht: 7.1 and 9.3 cm (Courtesy COLLON 1995, 101, Fig. 80). Ishtar from Audience Hall, Mari (Drawing by S. White after PARROT 1961, 283, Fig. 348b). Investiture Painting, Palace of Zimrilim, Mari. (Courtesy Département des Aantiquités orientales du Musée du Louvre, AO19826). Drawing of Investiture Painting, Palace of Zimrilim, Mari. (Courtesy Département des Antiquités orientales du Musée du Louvre, AO19826). Wall painting with captive Syrian women and children from Tomb of Rekhmire, Thebes (TT 100), Dynasty 18, reigns of Thutmose lll-Amenhotep ll (Photograph by Bruce White. lmage @ The Metropolitan Museum of Art). Wall painting with captive Syrian women and children, Tomb of Rekhmire (Drawing courtesy WACHSMANN 1987, Pl.XLI, det). Kassite plaster impression in British Museum inscribed Narubtum (Courtesy COLLON 1987, 150, Fig.653). Ivory panel with a male figure grasping a tree; winged sun disc above, Nimrud (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 1959 (59.107.6, image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art). Old Babylonian seal (After BUCHANAN 1981, 294-5, Fig. 1137, courtesy Yale Babylonian Collection). Syrian cylinder seal (After PORADA 1948, 118-119, Pl. CXXXVII, Fig. 910). God on Syrian cylinder seal (Drawing by S. White after PORADA 1948, 118-119, Pl. CXXXVII, Fig. 910). Experimental replication of front of Ancient Near Eastern garment with pleated cloth flounces held by author. Experimental replication of back of Ancient Near Eastern garment with pleated cloth flounces held by author. Construction diagram of Ancient Near Eastern pleated cloth garment replication (Drawing by M. Carvalho and L. Grisafi). Experimental replication of front of Ancient Near Eastern garment with fringed flounces held by author. Experimental replication of back of Ancient Near Eastern garment with fringed flounces held by author. Construction diagram of Ancient Near Eastern garment with fringed flounces (Drawing by M. Carvalho and L. Grisafi). Experimental replication of flounced pleated skirt on seated deities positioned as in art (Modeled by author). Experimental replication of flounced fringed skirt on seated deities positioned as in art (Modeled by author). Experimental replication of flounced fringed garment of Ishtar on seal of Ilaknuid, positioned as in art (Modeled by author). Experimental replication of flounced pleated garment of Ishtar on seal of Ilaknuid, positioned as in art (Modeled by author). Experimental replication of front of flounced pleated skirt of goddess on seal of Narubtum, positioned as on seal (Modeled by author). Experimental replication of back of flounced pleated skirt of goddess on seal of Narubtum (Modeled by author).

xxii Fig. 5.34 Fig. 5.35 Fig. 5.36 Fig. 5.37 Fig. 5.38 Fig. 5.39 Fig. 5.40 Fig. 5.41 Fig. 5.42 Fig. 5.43 Fig. 5.44 Fig. 5.45 Fig. 5.46 Fig. 5.47 Fig. 5.48 Fig. 5.49 Fig. 5.50 Fig. 5.51 Fig. 5.52 Fig. 5.53 Fig. 5.54 Fig. 5.55 Fig. 5.56 Fig. 5.57 Fig. 5.58 Fig. 6.1 Fig. 6.2 Fig. 6.3 Fig. 6.4 Fig. 6.4a Fig. 6.5a Fig. 6.5b Fig. 6.6 Fig. 6.7a Fig. 6.7b Fig. 6.7c

LIST OF FIGURES Experimental replication of front of flounced fringed skirt of goddess on seal of Narubtum, positioned as on seal (Modeled by author). Experimental replication of back of flounced fringed skirt of goddess on seal of Narubtum (Modeled by author). Construction diagram of Skirt A with fringes of “Snake Goddess” HM 65 (Drawing by M. Carvalho and L. Grisafi). Construction diagram of Skirt B with pleated and striped cloth of “Snake Goddess” HM 65 (Drawing by M. Carvalho and L. Grisafi). Construction diagram of Skirt C with striped cloth of “Snake Goddess” HM 65 (Drawing by M. Carvalho and L. Grisafi). Experimental replication of fringed flounced skirt of “Snake Goddess” HM 65 in front view, positioned as in art (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by author). Experimental replication of fringed flounced skirt of “Snake Goddess” HM 65 in back view, positioned as in art (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by author). Experimental replication of fringed flounced skirt of “Snake Goddess” HM 65 in side view, positioned as in art (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by author). Gold finial on silver pin from Shaft Grave III, Mycenae (Courtesy National Archaeological Museum, Athens). “Mother of the Mountain” seal impression from Knossos (Courtesy PINI, CMS II,8, no. 256). Seal in Harvard Museums Collection, Cambridge (Courtesy PINI, CMS XIII, no. 39). Seal impression from Zakros (Courtesy PINI, CMS II.7, no. 23). Seal impression from Knossos (Courtesy PINI, CMS II.3, no. 86). Carnelion seal from Vapheio (Courtesy PINI, CMS I, no. 221). Seal from Pediados (Courtesy PINI, CMS II.3, no. 218). Seal impression from Hagia Triada (Courtesy PINI, CMS II.6, no. 1). Agate seal from Mycenae (Courtesy PINI, CMS I, no. 159). Bronze statuette from Palaikastro (Courtesy VERLINDEN 1984, Pl. 32, Fig. 68). Seal impression from Hagia Triada (Courtesy PINI, CMS II.6, no. 22). Faience plaque from Knossos, HM 17 (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Faience plaque from Knossos, HM 17, drawing (After EVANS PM II:2, 702, Fig. 440). Faience plaque from Knossos, HM 18 (Photos by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Faience plaque from Knossos, HM 20 (Photos by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Experimental replication of flounced pleated skirt on faience plaques, positioned as in art (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by M. Gammacurta). Experimental replication of flounced fringed skirt on faience plaques, positioned as in art (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by M. Gammacurta). Bronze statuette in Berlin (Courtesy VERLINDEN 1984, Pl. 16, Fig. 33). Bronze statuette from Hagia Triada, HM 760 (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Bronze statuette from Hagia Triada, HM 761 (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Construction diagram of kilt with striped flounces of Hagia Triada Crouching Woman (Drawing by R. Ruppert). Left (A): loincloth from the fifteenth century BC tomb of Kha (After VOGELSANGEASTWOOD 1993, 12, Pl. 3a), right (B): loincloth from Theban Tomb 3 (After VOGELSANG-EASTWOOD 1993, 10-11, Pl. 1). Reconstructed kilt with striped flounces of Hagia Triada Crouching Woman, front held open (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by M. Gammacurta). Reconstructed kilt with striped flounces of Hagia Triada Crouching Woman, back held open (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by M. Gammacurta). Construction diagram of kilt with fringed flounces of Hagia Triada Crouching Woman (Drawing by R. Ruppert). Reconstructed kilt with fringed flounces of Hagia Triada Crouching Woman, front held open (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by author). Sample of quatrefoil pattern in supplemental weft float weave, front (Woven by V. Bealle). Sample of quatrefoil pattern in supplemental weft float weave, back (Woven by V. Bealle).

LIST OF FIGURES Fig. 6.7d Fig. 6.7e Fig. 6.8 Fig. 6.9 Fig. 6.10a Fig. 6.10b Fig. 6.11 Fig. 6.12 Fig. 6.13 Fig. 6.14 Fig. 6.15 Fig. 6.16 Fig. 6.17a Fig. 6.17b Fig. 6.18a Fig. 6.18b Fig. 6.19a Fig. 6.19b Fig. 6.20 Fig. 6.21 Fig. 6.22a Fig. 6.22b Fig. 6.22c Fig. 6.23 Fig. 6.24 Fig. 6.25 Fig. 6.26 Fig. 6.27 Fig. 6.28 Fig. 6.29 Fig. 6.30 Fig. 6.31 Fig. 6.32 Fig. 6.33a Fig. 6.33b Fig. 6.34 Fig. 6.35 Fig. 6.36 Fig. 6.37 Fig. 6.38 Fig. 6.39 Fig. 6.40 Fig. 6.41 Fig. 6.42a

xxiii

Sample of quatrefoil pattern in weft inlay weave, front (Woven by V. Bealle). Sample of quatrefoil pattern in weft inlay weave, back (Woven by V. Bealle). Construction diagram of kilt with fringed flounces on Mycenae Ivory Triad figure (Drawing by R. Ruppert). Reconstructed kilt of Mycenae Ivory Triad figure, front held open (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by M. Gammacurta). Reconstructed kilt of Mycenae Ivory Triad figure, front view (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by M. Gammacurta). Reconstructed kilt of Mycenae Ivory Triad figure, back view (modeled by D. Oktay, photo by M. Gammacurta). Construction diagram of kilt of Thera Crocus basket emptier (Drawing by R. Ruppert). Reconstructed kilt of Thera Crocus basket emptier, Thera, front held open (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by author). Construction diagram of kilt of Thera Bending Lady (Drawing by R. Ruppert). Reconstructed kilt of Bending Lady, front held open (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by M. Gammacurta). Construction diagram of kilt of Thera Necklace bearer (Drawing by R. Ruppert). Reconstructed kilt of Thera Necklace bearer, front held open (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by M. Gammacurta). Fresco fragments from Hagia Triada (Drawings by S. White after MILITELLO 1998, Pl. Fa, V5 and Fb, V7). Construction diagram of kilt of Thera Crocus gatherer with blue head (Drawing by R. Ruppert). Reconstructed kilt of Thera Crocus gatherer with blue head, front held open (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by M. Gammacurta). Reconstructed kilt of Thera Crocus gatherer with blue head, back held open (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by M. Gammacurta). Reconstructed kilt of Thera Crocus gatherer with blue head, front view (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by author). Reconstructed kilt of Thera Crocus gatherer with blue head, back view (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by author). Construction diagram of kilt of Thera Veiled maiden (Drawing by R. Ruppert). Reconstructed kilt of Thera Veiled maiden front held open (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by author). Reconstructed kilt of Thera Veiled maiden, front view (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by author). Reconstructed kilt of Thera Veiled maiden, back view (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by author). Reconstructed kilt of Thera Veiled maiden, side view (Modeled by D. Oktay, photo by author). “Sacred Grove Fresco”, Knossos, detail (Courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). “Grandstand Fresco”, Knossos (After EVANS PM III, Pl. XVI). “Grandstand Fresco”, Knossos, detail figures 6-10 (After EVANS PM III, Fig. 30). “Grandstand Fresco”, Knossos, detail figure 9 (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Dancing Girl fresco, Knossos (courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion) with superimposed outline of Thera Necklace bearer (Drawing by J. Acosta). Reconstruction of Dancing Girl, Knossos (Drawing by J. Acosta). Gold signet from Tholos B, Archanes, HM 1017 (Courtesy I. PINI). Sealing from Hagia Triada (Courtesy PINI, CMS II.6, no. 2). Gold signet from Knossos, Ashmolean Museum (Courtesy PINI, CMS VI, no. 281.2). Bronze ring from Knossos (Courtesy PINI, CMS II.3, no. 15). Sealing from Knossos (Courtesy PINI, CMS II.8, no. 268.1). Sealing from Zakros (Courtesy PINI, CMS II.7, no. 8.1). Sealing from Hagia Triada (Courtesy PINI, CMS II.6, no. 8.1). Sealing from Hagia Triada (Courtesy PINI, CMS II.6, no. 5). Sealing from Hagia Triada (Courtesy PINI, CMS II.6, no. 30.1). Sealing from Zakro (Courtesy PINI, CMS II.7, no. 127.1). Sealing from Zakro (Courtesy PINI, CMS II.7, no. 127.1 [2]). Sealing from Zakro (Courtesy PINI, CMS II.7, no. 127.1 [3]). Seal from Axos, British Museum (Courtesy PINI, CMS VII, no. 143.1). Phaestos Disk, side B (Courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Phaestos Disk, side B, detail woman A (Courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion).

xxiv Fig. 6.42b Fig. 6.43 Fig. 6.44a Fig. 6.44b Fig. 6.45 Fig. 6.46 Fig. 6.47 Fig. 6.48 Fig. 6.49 Fig. 6.50 Fig. 6.51 Fig. 6.52 Fig. 6.53 Fig. 6.54 Fig. 6.55 Fig. 6.56 Fig. 6.57 Fig. 6.58 Fig. 6.59 Fig. 6.60 Fig. 6.61 Fig. 6.62 Fig. 6.63 Fig. 6.64 Fig. 6.65 Fig. 6.66 Fig. 6.67 Fig. 6.68 Fig. 6.69 Fig. 6.70 Fig. 6.71 Fig. 6.72A-D Fig. 6.73 Fig. 6.74 Fig. 6.75 Fig. 6.76 Fig. 6.77 Fig. 6.78 Fig. 6.79 Fig. 6.80 Fig. 6.81

LIST OF FIGURES Phaestos Disk, side B, detail woman B (Courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Phaestos Disk, side A (Courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Phaestos Disk, side A, detail woman A (Courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Phaestos Disk, side A, detail woman B (Courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Drawing Phaestos Disk, side A, woman B (After EVANS PM I, 654, Fig. 485d). Terracotta head from Petsofas, Archaeological Museum, Hagios Nikolaos (Courtesy DAVARAS 1982, 39, Fig. 41). Ivory half-cylinder said to be from Knossos (Courtesy Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, inv. no. 1938.790b). Two gold cut-out female figures from Shaft Grave III, Mycenae (Courtesy National Archaeological Museum, Athens). Arrangement of fragments of the Mycenaia, Mycenae (Photos of fragments by C. Papanikolopoulos; courtesy INSTAP-SCEC; fragments arranged by author and digitized by R. Ruppert). Fragments 10-15, 26 of Mycenaia fresco (Photo author, courtesy National Archaeological Museum, Athens). Construction diagram of kilt of Mykenaia (Drawing by R. Ruppert). Fresco of processional woman from Tiryns (After RODENWALDT 1912, Pl. VIII). Fresco fragment with kilt from Tiryns (After RODENWALDT 1912, Fig. 31). Fresco of processional women from Pylos (Piet de Jong watercolor, Courtesy of The Department of Classics, University of Cincinnati, letters added by author). Construction diagram of kilt on Prosymna ivory figurine (Drawing by R. Ruppert). Ivory mirror handle from Chamber Tomb 55, Mycenae, National Archaeological Museum, Athens, Inv. no. 2899 (Courtesy National Archaeological Museum, Athens). Ivory mirror handle from Tomb of Clytemnestra, Mycenae, National Archaeological Museum, Athens, Inv. no. 2898 (Courtesy National Archaeological Museum, Athens). Drawing of ivory mirror handle from Tomb of Clytemnestra, Mycenae, National Archaeological Museum, Athens, Inv. no. 2898 (Courtesy National Archaeological Museum, Athens). Crocus gatherer with blonde hair, Thera (Courtesy DOUMAS 1992, Pl. 129). Gold sword pommel from Malia (Courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Seal from Vapheio (Courtesy PINI, CMS I, no. 220). Gold signet from Chamber tomb 91, Mycenae (Courtesy PINI, CMS I, no. 127). Gold signet from Chamber tomb 91, Mycenae (Courtesy PINI, CMS I, no. 126). Carnelian seal from Tholos tomb 2, Rutsi (Courtesy PINI, CMS I, no. 279). Gold signet from acropolis, Mycenae (Courtesy PINI, CMS I, no. 17). Detail of goddess fresco, Thera (Courtesy C. Doumas). Construction diagram of kilt of Thera goddess (Drawing by R. Ruppert). Ivory pyxis lid from Minet el Beida (Courtesy Département des Antiquités orientales du Musée du Louvre, AO 11601). Detail, ivory pyxis lid from Minet el Beida, Ugarit (Courtesy Département des Antiquités orientales du Musée du Louvre, AO 11601). Sealing from Hagia Triada (Courtesy I. PINI, CMS II.6, no. 36). Cup-Bearer fresco from Knossos (After EVANS PM II:2, color Pl. XII). Decorative motifs on kilts of Procession figures 20-22 and Cup-Bearer on frescoes from Knossos (After EVANS PM II:2, 729, Fig. 456). Fresco of Captain of the Blacks from Knossos (After EVANS PM II:2, 756, color plate XIII). Lion Hunt dagger from Shaft Grave IV, Mycenae. National Archaeological Museum, Athens, Inv. no. 394 (Courtesy National Archaeological Museum, Athens). Detail, lion Hunt dagger from Shaft Grave IV, Mycenae. National Archaeological Museum, Athens, Inv. no. 394 (Courtesy National Archaeological Museum, Athens). Gold signet from Shaft Grave IV, Mycenae (Courtesy PINI, CMS I, no. 16). Dancing women from Tomb of Anta, Deshasha (Courtesy VOGELSANG-EASTWOOD 1993, 70, Fig. 4.25). Fresco fragment with a loincloth from Knossos (Courtesy, Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Kassite clay tablet from Dur Kurigalzu (After BAQIR 1945,16, Pl. XIX, Fig. 22, o). Old Babylonian tablet from Susa (after SCHEIL 1930, 119, no. 105).

Kültepe impression (Courtesy N. Özgüç).

LIST OF FIGURES Fig. 7.1a-d Fig. 7.2a-d Fig. 7.3a-d Fig. 7.4.a-d Fig. 7.5a-d Fig. 7.6a-f

Fig. 7.7 Fig. 7.8a-f Fig. 7.9a-f Fig. 7.10a-h

Fig. 7.11a-d Fig. 7.12a-c Fig. 7.13a-d Fig. 7.14a-d Fig. 7.15A-C Fig. 7.16A-D Fig. 7.17A-C Fig. 7.18A-D Fig. 8.1 Fig. 8.2 Fig. 8.3 Fig. 8.4 Fig. 8.5 Fig. 8.6a Fig. 8.6b Fig. 8.6c Fig. 8.6d Fig. 8.7 Fig. 8.8 Fig. 8.9

xxv

Terracotta figurine from Chamaizi, HM 3489: a) front, b) back, c) right side, d) left side views (Photos by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum of Herakleion). Terracotta figurine from Piskokephalo, HM 9832: a) right side, b) front, c) back, d) left side (Photos by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum of Herakleion). Terracotta figurine from Piskokephalo, HM 9763: a) front, b) back, c) right side, d) left side (Photos by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum of Herakleion). Terracotta figurine from Piskokephalo with modern torso, HM 16446: a) front, b) back, c) right side, d) left side (Photos by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum of Herakleion). Terracotta figurine from Piskokephalo without modern torso, HM 16446: a) front, (b) back, (c) right side, (d) left side (Photos by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum of Herakleion). Terracotta skirt of figurine from Piskokephalo, HM 9759: a) front, b) back, c) right side, d) left side, e) front reconstructed in yellow with black bands, f) front reconstructed in yellow with red bands (Drawings by R. Ruppert and S. White; photos by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum of Herakleion). Terracotta skirt fragment from Keos (Courtesy of The Department of Classics, University of Cincinnati). Terracotta skirt of figurine from Piskokephalo, HM 9770: a) front, b) back, c) right side, d) left side, e) front reconstructed with red bands, f) front reconstructed with black bands (Drawings by R. Ruppert and S. White, photos by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum of Herakleion). Terracotta skirt of figurine from Piskokephalo, HM 9771: a) front, b) back, c) right side, d) left side, e) left side detail, f) bottom (Photos by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum of Herakleion). Terracotta skirt of figurine from Piskokephalo, HM 9771, reconstructed in red with red and blue stripes: a) front, b) left side, c) back, d) right side; reconstructed in red with black and blue stripes: e) front, f) right side, g) back, h) left side (Drawings by R. Ruppert and S. White, photos by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum of Herakleion). Bronze figurine from Hagia Triada, HM 759 (Courtesy VERLINDEN 1984, Pl. 41. no. 89). Bronze figurine of unknown provenance. Harvard University Museums 1975.60 (Courtesy VERLINDEN 1984, Pl. 32, Fig. 67). Bronze figurine of unknown provenance. George Ortiz Collection (Courtesy VERLINDEN 1984, Pl. 4, Fig. 13). Bronze figurine of unknown provenance. Metaxas Collection (Courtesy VERLINDEN 1984, Pl. 6, Fig. 17). Experimental construction diagrams of side-pleated skirt (Drawings by R. Ruppert). Experimental side-pleated wool skirt: A) front, B) back, C) right side, D) left side views (Modeled by S. Anthony, photos by T. Weber Gola). Experimental side-pleated wool skirt with top folded over the pleats at the waist: A) front, B) back, C) left side views (Modeled by S. Anthony, photos by T. Weber Gola). Experimental side-pleated wool skirt with top folded over the pleats and belted: A) front, B) back, C) right, D) left side views (Modeled by D. Oktay, photos by author). Faience statuette HM 64 from Knossos (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum of Herakleion). Drawing of faience “Snake goddess” HM 63 from Knossos (After EVANS PM IV, 176b, Fig. 139). Preserved fragments of front and back of faience “Snake goddess” HM 63 from Knossos (After EVANS PM IV, 176b, Fig. 139 and EVANS PM I, 501, Fig. 539, drawing altered by author). Drawings of faience “Snake goddess” HM 63 from Knossos (After EVANS PM I, Frontispiece). Faience figurines HM 63 and HM 64 from Knossos (Photo by author, courtesy Archaeological Museum of Herakleion). Faience “Snake goddess” from Knossos, HM 63, front and rear view drawings with snakes colored and skirt and apron deleted (Adapted from EVANS PM I, Frontispiece, 501, Fig. 359; 1902-1903, 76, Fig. 55). Reconstruction A, faience “Snake goddess” from Knossos, HM 63 (Left: altered from EVANS PM I, Frontispiece; right: adapted from photo courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Reconstruction B, faience “Snake goddess” from Knossos, HM 63 (Left: altered from EVANS PM I, Frontispiece; right: adapted from photo courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Reconstruction C, faience “Snake goddess” from Knossos, HM 63 (Left: altered from EVANS PM I, Frontispiece; right: adapted from photo courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Sealing from Knossos (Courtesy PINI, CMS II.8, no. 237). Sealing from Zakros (Courtesy PINI, CMS II.7, no. 17). Sealing from Hagia Triada (Courtesy PINI, CMS II.6, no. 9).

xxvi Fig. 8.10 Fig. 8.11 Fig. 8.12 Fig. 8.13 Fig. 8.14a-b Fig. 8.15 Fig. 8.16A-C Fig. 8.17A-B Fig. 8.18A-B Fig. 8.19 Fig. 8.20 Fig. 8.21 Fig. 8.22 Fig. 8.23a Fig. 8.23b Fig. 8.24 Fig. 8.25 Fig. 8.26 Fig. 8.27 Fig. 8.28 Fig. 8.29 Fig. 8.30 Fig. 8.31 Fig. 8.32 Fig. 8.33 Fig. 8.34 Fig. 8.35 Fig. 8.36 Fig. 8.37 Fig. 8.38 Fig. 8.39 Fig. 9.1 Fig. 9.2 Fig. 9.3 Fig. 9.4 Fig. 9.5 Fig. 9.6 Fig. 9.7 Fig. 9.8 Fig. 9.9

LIST OF FIGURES Sealing from Hagia Triada (Courtesy PINI, CMS II.6 no. 10). Sealing from Hagia Triada (Courtesy PINI, CMS 11.6 no. 13). Women water carriers, miniature fresco, West House, Thera (Courtesy DOUMAS 1992, 60, Pl. 28). Fresco fragment with female figure in blue garment from Keos (Courtesy of The Department of Classics, University of Cincinnati). Seal from Vapheio (Courtesy PINI, CMS I, no. 226.1,2). Fresco fragment of woman holding a blue cloth from Phylakopi, Melos (After EVANS PM III, 43, Fig. 26). A) diagram of experimental construction of A-shape skirt, B) wrapped around front, C) wrapped around back (Drawing by author). A) diagram of experimental construction of A-shape skirt with header band, B) wrapped around back with band in front (Drawing by author). A) diagram of experimental construction of A-shape skirt with center band, B) wrapped around front (Drawing by author). Experimental reconstruction of A-shaped skirt of HM 64 (Photo by author). Experimental reconstruction on mannequin of HM 64’s A-shaped skirt, Apron C and Replication B2.c of heanos/robe tapered by sewing, front, back and side views (Photos by author). Back panel (Bull Side) of Hagia Triada Sarcophagus (Courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Front panel (Deceased side) of Hagia Triada Sarcophagus (Courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Chieftain Cup, back detail (Courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Chieftain Cup, back (Drawing after EVANS PM II, 743, Fig. 476). Bull rhyton fragment from Skoteinos (After PARIBENI 1908, Fig. 4). Processional male figure from Pylos ((Fragment 7 H 5, courtesy of The Department of Classics, University of Cincinnati). Seal from Mycenae (Courtesy PINI, CMS I, no. 132). Sealing from Hagia Triada (Courtesy PINI, CMS II.6, no. 11). Sealing from Hagia Triada (Courtesy PINI, CMS II.6, no. 261). Sealing from Zakros (Courtesy PINI, CMS II.7, no. 18). Sealing from Malia (Courtesy PINI, CMS II.3, no. 146). Sealing from Zakros (Courtesy PINI, CMS II.7, no. 12). Sealing from Zakros (Courtesy PINI, CMS II.7, no. 13). Sealing from Zakros (Courtesy IPINI, CMS II.7, no. 14). Sealing from Zakros (Courtesy PINI, CMS II.7, no. 15). Fresco fragment of processional male figure from Knossos (Drawing by author after BOULOTIS 1987, Fig. 4a-b). Fresco fragment of two women in hide skirts from Keos (Courtesy of The Department of Classics, University of Cincinnati). Fresco fragments of two facing ladies wearing hide skirts from Pylos (Fragment PoNIIPIM-12H2, courtesy of The Department of Classics, University of Cincinnati). Fresco fragments of Lion and Griffin from Pylos (Fragment 21 C 46, courtesy of The Department of Classics, University of Cincinnati). Fresco fragments of male figure carrying animal pelt from Pylos (Fragment 58 H nws, courtesy of The Department of Classics, University of Cincinnati). Fresco of male figure holding cloth from Thera (Courtesy DOUMAS 1992, Pl. 109). Fresco of male figure holding cloth from Thera (Courtesy DOUMAS 1992, Pl. 109, outline drawing by author). Wall painting with dancers from Tomb of Nefer-Hotep (After DAVIES 1933, Pl. XVIII). Fresco of Ladies A and B from Thera (Courtesy of The Archaeological Society of Athens Photographic Archive of the Akrotiri Excavation). Drawing of fresco of Ladies A and B from Thera (Courtesy of The Archaeological Society of Athens - Photographic Archive of the Akrotiri Excavation). Fresco of Ladies C and D from Thera (Courtesy of The Archaeological Society of Athens Photographic Archive of the Akrotiri Excavation). Drawing of fresco of Ladies C and D from Thera (Courtesy of The Archaeological Society of Athens - Photographic Archive of the Akrotiri Excavation). Detail of Lady B from Thera (Courtesy DOUMAS 1992, Pl. 132). Detail of Lady A from Thera (Courtesy DOUMAS 1992, Pl. 134).

LIST OF FIGURES Fig. 9.10 Fig. 9.11 Fig. 9.12A-D Fig. 9.13A-C Fig. 9.14 Fig. 9.15 Fig. 9.16 Fig. 9.17 Fig. 9.18 Fig. 9.19 Fig. 9.20 Fig. 9.21 Fig. 9.22 Fig. 9.23 Fig. 9.24a Fig. 9.24b Fig. 9.25A-C Fig. 9.26 Fig. 9.27a Fig. 9.27b Fig. 9.28 Fig. 9.29 Fig. 9.30 Fig. 9.31A-C Fig. 9.32 Fig. 9.33 Fig. 9.34 Fig. 9.35 Fig. 9.36 Fig. 9.37 Fig. 9.38 Fig. 9.39 Fig. 9.40 Fig. 9.41 Fig. 9.42 Fig. 9.43 Fig. 9.44 Fig. 9.45 Fig. 9.46 Fig. 9.47 Fig. 9.48A-B

xxvii

Fresco of “Priestess” from Thera (Courtesy DOUMAS 1992, Pl. 24). Construction drawing of experimental mantle for the Camp Stool banqueter: A) band arrangement, B) assembled and banded (Drawing by L. Grisafi, R. Ruppert and author). Reconstructed mantle and tunic on standing model: A) right side, B) front, C) back, D) left side (Modeled by E. Macdonald, photos by author). Reconstructed belted mantle and tunic on seated model: A) front view, B) side view imitating Camp Stool banqueter, C) back view (Modeled by E. Macdonald, photos by author). Miniature fresco from Kea (Drawing by L. Morgan, courtesy of MORGAN 1990, Fig. 4). Drawing of charioteer from Knossos (After CAMERON 1967, Fig. 12). Seal from Knossos (Courtesy PINI, CMS II.8, no. 258.1). Seal said to be from Knossos (Courtesy PINI, CMS VI, no. 318.2). Seal said to be from Vatheia near Knossos (Courtesy PINI, CMS II.3, no. 198.2). Seal said to be from Knossos (Courtesy PINI, CMS VI, no 319.2). Seal from Malia (Courtesy PINI, CMS II.3, no. 147.2). Seal from Vapheio (Courtesy PINI, CMS I, no. 225.2). Seal from Vapheio (Courtesy PINI, CMS I, no. 223.2). Seal from Beirut (After DEMARGNE 1964, Fig. 361). Detail of Leader on Harvester Vase from Hagia Triada (Courtesy Archaeological Museum of Herakleion). Construction diagram of mantle of Leader on Harvester Vase from Hagia Triada (Drawing by R. Ruppert). Experimental replication of mantle of Harvester Vase Leader in A) front, B) back, and C) side view in imitation of Leader (Modeled by E. Macdonald). Male figure on ivory relief from Ebla (Courtesy Matthiae, Ebla Archaeological Expedition). Detail of two warriors on Silver Siege Rhyton from Mycenae (Courtesy National Archaeological Museum, Athens). Drawing of Silver Siege Rhyton from Mycenae (Courtesy National Archaeological Museum, Athens). Detail of male figure on Miniature Fresco, Thera (Courtesy DOUMAS 1992, 60, Pl. 28). Wall painting of Asiatic women from the Tomb of Knum Hotep, Beni Hasan (After MAZAR 1959, 130-131). Hittite charioteer on relief of Ramesses II, Battle of Kadesh (After LUTZ 1923, no. 136). Drawings of Egyptian mantle wearers: A) leopard mantle from Giza, B) Cloth mantle from Sakkara, C) cloth mantle from Thebes (Courtesy VOGELSANG-EASTWOOD 1993, Figs. 9.12-9.14). Figures holding three mantles from the mastaba of Kha’afkhufu, Giza (Courtesy VOGELSANGEASTWOOD 1993, Fig. 9.11). Detail, Meeting on the Hill, Miniature Fresco, Thera (Courtesy DOUMAS 1992, Pl. 27). Detail, Meeting on the Hill, Miniature Fresco, Thera (Courtesy DOUMAS 1992, Pl. 27). Detail, Warriors in Boat Cabin, Miniature Fresco, Thera (Courtesy DOUMAS 1992, Pls. 37-38). Detail men in cloth cloaks, Miniature Fresco, Thera (Courtesy DOUMAS 1992, Pl. 48). Detail rustics, Miniature Fresco, Thera (Courtesy DOUMAS 1992, Pl. 44). Detail men in fleecy cloaks, Miniature Fresco, Thera (Courtesy DOUMAS 1992, Pl. 38). Detail shepherd and sheep from Miniature Fresco, Thera (Courtesy DOUMAS 1992, Pls. 2829). La Parisienne from Knossos (Courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Fresco with woman holding a sword from Room 31, Cult Centre, Mycenae (Drawing by Anneka Poelstra Traga © Mycenae Archive, courtesy E. French). Sealing from Zakros (Courtesy PINI, CMS II.7, no. 16.1). Sealing from Hagia Triada (CourtesyPINI, CMS II.6, no. 12.1). Fresco with male figures from Pylos (Courtesy of The Department of Classics, University of Cincinnati). Fresco with lyre player from Pylos (Courtesy of The Department of Classics, University of Cincinnati). Blind musicians on Amarna relief from Hermopolis (Courtesy of the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, after COONEY 1965, p.75). Drawing of blind musicians on Amarna relief from Hermopolis (Courtesy VOGELSANGEASTWOOD 1993, Fig. 9.3). Diagram of experimental Bolero A construction (Drawing by R. Ruppert).

xxviii Fig. 9.49a-c Fig. 9.50A-C Fig. 9.51a-c Fig. 9.52a-d Fig. 9.53 Fig. 9.54 Fig. 9.55 Fig. 9.56 Fig. 9.57 Fig. 9.58 Fig. 9.59 Fig. 9.60 Fig. 9.61A-C Fig. 9.62 Fig. 9.63A-B Fig. 9.64A-B Fig. 10.1 Fig. 10.2 Fig. 10.3

Fig. 10.4 Fig. 10.5

LIST OF FIGURES Experimental replication of Bolero A in: a) front, b) side and c) back views (Photos by author). Diagram of experimental Bolero B construction (Drawing by R. Ruppert). Experimental replication of Bolero B in: a) front, b) side and c) back views (Photos by author). Experimental replication of Bolero B and Heanos of Mykenaia in: a) position in art, b) front, c) back, d) side views (Photos by author). Reconstruction A of fresco of Processional Women from Pylos (Drawing by S. White, adapted from Piet de Jong watercolor, courtesy of The Department of Classics, University of Cincinnati). Reconstruction B of fresco of Processional Women from Pylos (Drawing by S. White, adapted from Piet de Jong watercolor, courtesy of The Department of Classics, University of Cincinnati). Ivory looped scarf (“sacral knot”) from South East House, Knossos (After EVANS PM I, 430, Fig. 308). Ivory looped scarf (“sacral knot”) and double axe from Palaikastro (After EVANS PM I, 432, Fig. 310). Reconstructed looped scarf (“sacral knot”), fresco from Nirou Khani (Courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion). Jewel fresco with part of blue scarf (“sacral knot”) from Knossos (After EVANS PM I, 526, Fig. 383). Three looped scarves (“sacral knots”) from Shaft Grave IV, Mycenae (After EVANS PM I, Fig. 309). Drawing of reconstructed woman with looped scarf (“sacral knot”) from Mycenae (After RODENWALDT 1921, Fig. 26). Construction of Apron A: A) front and back, B) side, C) front and back joined (Drawings by M. Carvalho and L. Grisafi). Linen drawstring bag from Kahun (Courtesy of The Manchester Museum, University of Manchester). Construction of Apron B: A) front and back, B) front and back joined (Drawings by M. Carvalho, L. Grisafi and B. Jones). Construction of Apron C: A) front and back, B) front and back joined (Drawings by author). Figure reconstructed from fresco fragments from Room 14, Hagia Triada (Drawing by S. White). Reconstruction of North Wall, Room 14, Hagia Triada (Drawing by R. Ruppert and S. White). Reconstruction of three walls of Room 14, Hagia Triada, with crouching woman (goddess) facing right (Drawing of North and East walls to scale by R. Ruppert and S. White, reconstruction of South wall fresco by Cameron not to scale and adapted by B. Jones after EVELY 1999, 242, reproduced with the permission of the British School at Athens). Seal impression from Hagia Triada (Courtesy PINI, CMS II.6, no. 31.1). Perspectival reconstruction of three walls of Room 14, Hagia Triada, with crouching woman (goddess) facing left (Drawing of North and East walls to scale by R. Ruppert and S. White, reconstruction of South wall fresco by Cameron not to scale and adapted by author after EVELY 1999, 242, reproduced with the permission of The British School At Athens).

INTRODUCTION A substantially revised and enlarged version of my doctoral dissertation, this book deals with Aegean costume and textiles, which are among the least understood and most important of the major artistic achievements of the Minoan civilization and their transmission into the Aegean koine. Fancy in design and decoration, Minoan dress clearly rivaled that of its contemporary neighbors in Egypt and the Near East. In those palatial societies, costume took its place in worth alongside precious metals. From Old to New Kingdom Egypt, finished linen garments were deemed valuable enough to be stored along with precious metals in the “House of Silver.”1 In Syria, the Ebla archives of Royal Palace G (2340-2284 B.C.), concerned mainly with records of the textile industry, with shipments of textiles from Ebla to other cities in a network of international relations (Ebla controlled the metal supply routes from Anatolia to Syria), also reveal that fabrics and precious metals were stored in the “Wool Warehouse.”2 Tablets from Karana (Tell al Rimah, ca. 1850-1800 B.C.) describe the many (although insufficient in number) garments King Aqba-hammu brings as tribute to King Hammurabi of Babylon.3 Similar situations likely occurred in Minoan Crete since the Mycenaean royal archives from Knossos, Mycenae and Pylos reveal a complex textile industry which, according to Chadwick, produced special textiles designed either for the royal family and household or for export, and, in support of the latter, Egyptian tomb paintings show Keftiu carrying luxurious textiles side by side with precious gold vessels as gifts or tribute to the Egyptians.4 The fine quality and importance of Minoan textiles is nowhere more greatly emphasized than in portrayals of women’s garments. Yet the images offer more questions then answers. This study begins to address some of the questions; it attempts to define and to understand the construction of the garments, to seek foreign or indigenous sources for the designs, to chart influences abroad, to resolve issues of dating and, where possible, to determine the significance of dress and its identification with roles of women. In the absence of preserved Aegean textiles, it considers textual evidence and depictions of costume in all media: sculpture, painting and glyptic. It may seem that we should confine ourselves to Crete for representations of Minoan dress. But the paucity, poor preservation, and heavy reconstructions of representations of Minoan dress preserved in the archaeological record on Crete leave lacunae in our accounts of the designs. Fortunately, the evidence is supplemented by fine images of garments derived from Minoan models, especially the Minoan dress and the flounced kilt, on works of art found outside of Crete, in the Cycladic islands of Thera and Keos, and on the Greek mainland. These lands are culturally distinct from Crete but part of a “Minoan or Minoanizing artistic koine ... which consisted of geographically widespread similarities in special objects, techniques, iconography and style, often so uniform that it is sometimes extremely difficult to separate Minoan from Mycenaean from Cycladic art.”5 Some details enhance our understanding of Minoan dress; others speak for indigenous variations on Minoan designs. Some mainland portrayals derive from Cretan, even from Knossian prototypes, especially in the garments’ decorative motifs, elaborate bands, and the kilt’s multicolored tiers. Detailed carvings of garments in the round such as that on the Mycenaean Ivory Triad, possibly a Minoan heirloom, and others, fill in Cretan voids. One wonders why women were portrayed in garments based on Minoan design and engaged in Minoan-style ritual in the art of the Cyclades and the Mainland. Certainly it is a mark of the dominance of Minoan culture in the Aegean during its floruit. Questions, however, have been raised about whether the images represent Minoans or indigenous women portrayed in Minoan dress as either a reflection of reality or fantasy. The questions are particularly important since Minoan design, notably the open-front dress 1 2 3 4 5

ERMAN 1971, 448-9, 109-111. See ARCHI 1985, 146-7. DALLEY 1984, 40-43. CHADWICK 1976, 150-151. See a summary of these and other problems, which are outside the scope of this dissertation, by REHAK and YOUNGER 1998b, 139.

2

INTRODUCTION

with flounced kilt, continues to be depicted on the mainland until the destruction of the palaces at the end of LH IIIB. Further, the evidence from Egypt tells us that all dress designs are not represented in art and informs us of how limited the pictorial record can be. One can only wonder about what was ignored. Perhaps the Mycenaean dress with horizontal neckline that first appears in art on the mainland in LH IIIB existed there earlier. In this connection, one might ask whether Crete was to the Mainland anything like what Greece was to Rome. Zanker describes the relationship of the latter at the end of the Republic as follows: The ambitious but naive Roman treated Greek culture as if it were some sort of package deal. He outfitted his villa with Greek colonnades, rooms ... gardens and other areas nostalgically called by Greek names, such as gymnasium or palestra ... He pursued here a Greek cultural life, in the company of real-life Greek artists and philosophers, turning his private world into a complete universe of things Greek. ... Statues and busts of the great [Greek] poets, philosophers, and orators stood by the library, while in the colonnades known as the “gymnasium” were displayed statues of athletes, herms or figures of Heracles and Athena. ... As with sculpture, the subjects of ... paintings have nothing to do with life in Rome ... [but with] large-scale pictures of Hellenistic monarchs, a Greek philosopher ... landscapes in which mythological scenes are enacted or a Dionysiac initiation ritual, in which the owners of the villa are portrayed alongside the mythological devotees of the god. ... The escape into a Greek world of make-believe even included the wearing of appropriate costume. When cultivated Roman Senators reclined beside a portrait of Plato or Aristotle to philosophize or read poetry, they would often affect a Greek himation, Greek sandals, and a wreath in their hair (Cicero pro Rabirio Postumo 26). They imagined themselves artists and literati, Greeks in the company of Greeks (italics mine).6 So, too, the Mycenaeans and Therans? This study answers the question by consulting Mycenaean Linear B texts, an area omitted in my dissertation. It discovers that the Mycenaeans actually manufactured Minoan style garments and wore them at least for ritual purposes. The far reaching effects of this discovery greatly impact on the broader scope of Aegean studies. Indeed, since the Mycenaeans actually wore Minoan style ritual dress, aspects of Minoan religion were likely adopted by the Mycenaeans and presumably continued in the Homeric epics. One of the major problems encountered when evaluating garments where none are preserved is the total reliance on the artist’s depictions of them on the figure and the complications of artistic license. Implicit in the artist’s image are two known entities: the garment itself and the artist’s interpretation of it. What is presented to us is the interpretation, which always includes elements of exaggeration, among them in Aegean art the reduction of certain elements and the enlargement of others and an emphasis on or even an invention of curves. In addition, figures represented in profile exhibit a frontal view of garments below the waist. Except for the Linear B ideograms for dress, attire is generally portrayed on the figure. This further complicates matters because different fabrics, i.e. wool and linen, lie differently on the body and the anatomy itself is subject to the artist’s interpretation. Further complications arise when comparing varying aesthetics of artists, whether seal engravers, painters or sculptors, whether Cretan, Cycladic (Thera and Keos) or Mainlanders. The same considerations also apply to comparisons with Syrian or Egyptian representations of dress where totally different aesthetic sensibilities are at work. Minoan artistic convention portrays women with narrow torsos, full, firm breasts, tiny waists and full hips. How much of this is due to the Minoan propensity for stylized curvilinear lines is unknown. Such tiny waists certainly seem exaggerations. But sometimes what looks like an exaggeration turns out to reflect reality. Cases in point are the elongated crania of the Amarna family, which were proved real by the shape of the mummified head of Tutankhamen, and the tiny feet of Chinese women of the Sung Dynasty which were achieved by binding them at birth.7 To explain Minoan waistsize, believers could argue for binding or even exercise since we know that women participated in bull jumping. Sceptics, by contrast, could opt for aesthetics. As the depiction of the anatomy is open to question, so is that of its accompanying attire. On all but a few Theran 6 7

ZANKER 1990, 26-29. DESROCHES-NOBLECOURT 1963, 164, 223, Figs. 95, and 134; ROBERTS 1996, 159.

INTRODUCTION

3

representations, the upper parts (bodices), of women’s dresses are represented as tight fitting. Again explanations differ. Believers may regard them as cut and sewn, devised to emphasize the narrow torso and bare breasts; critics may interpret them as artistic constructs of loose garments rendered along anatomical lines to satisfy the Minoan aesthetic of emphasizing the narrow torso and bare breasts, and/or as a lighter fabric (linen) in contrast to a heavier fabric (wool) for the over-garment. Is artistic construct, or cutting and sewing, or variously arranging uncut length(s) of cloth on the body, or a combination of the three responsible for the above and, by extension, for kilts that fall in points down the center and for robes that form a high peak behind the neck? I believe that by combining a thorough investigation of each garment style with experiments on possibilities for achieving them, it may be possible to cut through the artist’s interpretation and unravel the threads that will lead to the real garments. Thus, the study examines every clothed figure represented in Aegean art for clues of seams, bands, laces, details of sewing, and warpweighted- loom cloth production. In my experiments, I have depended heavily on actual material remains of clothing from Egypt, the only contemporary of the Minoans for which evidence for construction of garments is available. Using modern textiles to imitate ancient garments, particularly where none are preserved, is risky business at best. But the alternatives, either to reject reconstruction because all details cannot be proven, or to describe what we see without understanding, or to hypothesize in the abstract, leave little hope for progress. Thus, I present my findings with the hope that they will contribute to our knowledge of Aegean dress, and that they will spur future scholarship on this important subject. The study begins with preliminary chapters on the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age to provide a background for early evidence for textiles in the Aegean. Subsequent chapters collect and analyze the corpus of Middle through Late Bronze Age clothes, consider foreign sources and influences, and propose explanations for their construction. Throughout, the book continues the tradition begun by Margarete Bieber for classical Greek dress8 by incorporating experiments in reproducing Aegean and pertinent ancient Near Eastern garments by using modern materials and arranging the clothes on live models who assume the various positions portrayed in art. This suggests which constructions offer the best comparisons with the visual material, illustrates how the clothes were arranged on the body, and brings the Aegeans and their costumes to life. Ultimately, the discoveries result in new restorations of the missing parts of fragmentary garments and figures in art, and in new digital reconstructions of Minoan, Theran, and Mycenaean sculptures and wall paintings.

8

BIEBER 1918, 49–75.

CHAPTER 1 BEGINNINGS: PALAEOLITHIC AND NEOLITHIC A. Introduction The recent discovery of worked wild flax fibers, of Palaeolithic 32,000 B.C.E. date, across the Black Sea from Greece, in the Dzudzuana Cave, Georgia, in the Caucasus, provides our earliest evidence for textile manufacture. The Georgian fibers were spun, twisted, knotted and dyed and thought to have been made into strings and ropes to haft stone tools, weave baskets, and/or sew.1 This discovery supports Barber’s earlier proposal that the string or cord made of three twisted two-ply fibers that first appear fossilized in the Palaeolithic caves at Lascaux, ca. 15,000 B.C., suggested that the incised decoration on the Palaeolithic female figurine from Lespugue, France, ca. 20,000 B.C., represents a stringed skirt,2 although its anatomical location precludes an identification as a skirt.3 The Neolithic period in Greece, however, heralds the beginning of the domestication of flax and the technological revolution that culminated in weaving and woven cloth and marks the end of animal hide as the sole means of clothing. Early evidence for weaving, tentative at best, relies heavily on pierced weights that, among myriad possible uses including cooking, may have served as warp weights for a loom.4 In her extensive survey of the scattered evidence for weights from Central European sites, Barber concludes that this loom developed in the Late Neolithic (ca. 3500 B.C.), with one site, the Tisza valley in Hungary suggesting a possible Early Neolithic date. She finds that the same situation holds for Anatolia, Italy and Greece, with many weights especially in Greece, but “aggravatingly little evidence for what craft we should associate them with - weaving or anything else.”5 The earliest real evidence in this region are fragments of linen cloth, some executed in complex supplementary weft stripes and brocades, from Robenhausen, Switzerland (ca. 3000 B.C).6 Our chief source for textiles in antiquity is Egypt, where the arid climate and funerary customs provided an unparalleled environment for excellent preservation of organic matter, and its high culture from the Dynastic period on demanded textiles of the finest quality, some pertinent examples of which will be considered in subsequent chapters. Textile technology in Egypt, according to Barber, probably spread from Palestine to Egypt shortly before it first appears there in the fifth millennium in a crude, plain-weave, linen deposit in the Faiyum.7 In the first half of the fourth millennium fragments of painted linen in colors of red, black and white with scenes of boating, hunting, fishing and funeral rites as well as fragments of fringed cloth were found in a Pre-Dynastic tomb at el-Gebelein. The earliest pleated garment is, in fact, the oldest extant complete one, a dress that has fine vertical pinstripes and is also fringed, from Tarkhan, dated to the 1st Dynasty, ca. 3000 B.C. (Fig. 3.84).8

1 2 3

4 5 6 7 8

KVAVADZE 2009, 1359; PATEL 2010, 11. BARBER 1991, 39-41. BARBER 1991, 39-41, Fig. 2.1; 176-183, Fig. 6.9; and BARBER 1994, 42-70, further theorized that these incisions represented Paleolithic ancestors of a string skirt, such as the one preserved in wool on a Bronze Age (fourteenth century B.C), body of a woman found at Egtved, Denmark and conjectured that the Danish string skirt had modern descendants in the folk costumes of Greece, Romania, Yugoslavia, and Albania. She further interpreted the string skirt as a fertility device, citing Homer’s description of the girdle of Aphrodite in Iliad XIV. Homer’s garment, however, is an unlikely parallel, not only because it is separated spatially and temporally from these garments, but also because its design is unknown. Thus, as tempting as these suggestions are, the lack of evidence for connecting links between cultures and through great intervals of time and space, leave them open to question. BARBER 1991, 91-100. BARBER 1991, 99. BARBER 1991, 133-144, esp. Fig. 4.10. BARBER 1991, 145-6 BARBER 1991, 146-148.

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In terms of woven material in the Near East, the very earliest evidence is in the form of impressions of both plain and basket weaves on two clay balls that date to 7,000 B.C. from the Iraqi site of Jarmo. From nearby Tell Shimshara an impression of a plain weave textile has survived from the sixth millennium. Among the earliest actual pieces of cloth, flax is documented in weft twining and knotted and twisted netting, not true weaving. These were found at Nahal Hemar in Israel (ca. 6500 B.C) and at Çatal Hüyük in Anatolia (ca. 6000 B.C). But carbonized textile fragments woven in tabby weave and plain weave were also discovered at Çatal Hüyük. In the fifth millennium other indications of weaving appear in Iran at Tepe Yahya, and in the late 4th millennium at Susa, where a print that appears on a copper axehead is interpreted by Barber as a striped textile.9 The earliest possible evidence for the warp weighted loom may appear in the sixth millennium at Çatal Hüyük, if the few pierced apple-shaped clay objects which Mellaart interpreted as clay weights actually were associated with a loom. Hard evidence appears in Iran in the 4th millennium: a woman spinning with a spindle is clearly represented on a late fourth millennium seal from Choga Mish, and women spinning and warping on a ground loom are indicated both on 4th millennium seals from Susa and a contemporary seal in the Newell collection.10 Having summarized the background for textiles and weaving in the lands surrounding the Aegean, we turn now to the evidence for textile impressions and weaving implements in Greece in the Neolithic period.11 B. Textile impressions The Middle Neolithic levels, c. 4,500 B.C., at Sitagroi possibly provide the earliest evidence for woven textiles in Greece. Here, an impression of woven cloth of the plain or tabby weave technique, appears on the base of a pottery vessel.12 In addition, in the Middle Neolithic levels in the Franchthi Cave traces of string wear have been preserved in the hole of a “loom weight”.13 In both cases, it is unclear whether the textile was linen or wool. Sheep remains are documented in Greece at this time,14 whereas flax seeds, used in the manufacture of linen, are unknown in Greece until the Early Helladic period at Lerna. In the Neolithic period outside of Greece, wool is known in the seventh millennium at Çatal Hüyük, and flax was cultivated in the sixth millennium in Mesopotamia and Iran, and the fifth millennium in Egypt where actual linen textiles are preserved15. In the Late Neolithic period in Kephala, Kea,16 impressions of finely woven tabby weave fabric17 occur on several pottery sherds. One textile impression revealed an error in weaving which suggests that a loom was used.18 According to Coleman, the simple tabby weave consisted of alternating under and over threads, and was probably made on either a semi-upright warp-weighted loom, or a horizontal ground loom or a vertical 2-beam loom.19 The finely woven cloth impressed on the sherds suggests great skills in 9 10 11

12

13 14 15 16 17 18 19

BARBER 1991, 126-133; MELLAART 1967, 219, Pls. 116-118. BARBER 1991, 56-7, 83-4, 99. The major work on Prehistoric Greek textiles remains CARINGTON-SMITH 1975, which includes a detailed account of the Neolithic period in Greece and Crete, 116-193. Also see TZACHILI 1997, and BARBER 1991, 99. RENFREW 1972, 351f, and RENFREW 1970, 131-2 for dating to ca. 4500. THEOCHARES 1973, 187-8, Fig. 122, dated the impression to c. 5000 B.C. EHRICH 1992, 207, Fig. 5, dated the Middle Neolithic levels at Sitagroi to ca. 5500-5300 BCE. JACOBSEN 1973, 277. EHRICH 1992, Fig. 5, dated the Middle Neolithic levels at Franchthi to ca. 56005300. For the cultivation of flax at Lerna see COLEMAN 1977, 118. COLEMAN 1977, 118. EHRICH 1992, 206, Fig. 4, dated the Late Neolithic in Kephala, Kea to ca. 4300-3700. BARBER 1991, 126-7, note 1, Fig. 4.1a defined tabby or plain weave as a simple alternation of over one thread, under the next, for both warp and weft COLEMAN 1977, 115, Pl. 90, no. 167. COLEMAN 1977, 115, Pl. 46E. CROWFOOT 1936-7, 36-47 and Fig. 1a provides the reconstruction of the vertical loom with warp weights, “the loom of ancient Greece and probably all Europe,” and an excellent description, discussion and reconstruction of the three types of looms used in the ancient world: the horizontal ground loom, known in Egypt from Predynastic times and still used today among Bedouin Arabs in Egypt,

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7

weaving.20 The fineness and smoothness of the threads impressed on certain sherds has led Coleman to tentatively suggest that the cloth may be of linen, but he does not discount the possibility that it may be of wool either.21 C. Weaving implements Although the earliest representation of the warp-weighted loom in Greece appears on a black figured vase from the sixth century B.C.,22 clay loom weights, found throughout antiquity in Greece, some from as early as the Neolithic period, attest to the long presence of that perishable wooden loom there. The last mention of this loom is as late as the fourth century A.D. with the statement of Servius that people of old “used to weave standing as today we see the linen weavers.”23 Possible evidence for the warp weighted loom first appears in Crete after 4000 B.C. Weights begin to appear then at Knossos along with other weaving related objects such as spindle whorls, spools, bone shuttles and needles. According to Arthur Evans, punches, perhaps for leather, were also found.24 Frequently found together in groups of six or more (convincing evidence for their placement in the context of the loom), the clay weights are sometimes domed with a flat base and two perforations near the top or roughly rectangular or oval with perforations at some or all of the four corners.25 On the Greek mainland, the earliest loom weight, of truncated pyramidal shape with string marks around the hole, from the Early Neolithic levels at Corinth, similar to those found in late Neolithic levels at Thebes.26 Sitagroi has yielded clay weights possibly used in conjunction with a loom in the Middle-Late Neolithic I-IV phases. Phase V (Early Bronze Age), however, yielded the earliest warp weights, which were used with a vertical loom. Of pyramidal shape, the clay weights were made in various sizes and with single perforations.27 Found also at Sitagroi in the late Neolithic period, c. 3500, were clay rings,28 which may have functioned as loom weights, and other objects related to weaving and garments like clay spindle whorls and hooks and stone buttons. Spherical clay weights also appear in Middle Neolithic levels in the Franchthi Cave. One heavy rough sphere, mentioned above because it bears traces of string wear in its hole, weighs 110 grams, which suggests that it functioned as a loom weight.29 The earliest examples of spindle whorls found in Greece are from the Franchthi Cave and date to the Early-Middle Neolithic period (ca. 6000-5300). They increase in numbers from the Middle to the Final Neolithic period (ca. 53003700) when they are most abundant. Thus, by the Middle Neolithic period, spinning and weaving possibly using the warp-weighted loom may have been techniques in use by the inhabitants of the Franchthi Cave.30 The early and continuous presence of the warp-weighted loom in Greece is significant inasmuch as it may have facilitated the eventual manufacture of the colorful patterned textiles associated with the

20 21 22

23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Jordan, Syria and Israel, and the vertical loom with upper and lower beams, documented in Egypt from as far back as the 18th dynasty. ELLIS 1976, 76-77, adds that the horizontal ground loom was also known in Iran in 3200 B.C., and the vertical loom with warp weights is undocumented in Mesopotamia before the NeoAssyrian period. See BARBER 1991, 79-125 for a thorough treatment of looms and weaving. CASKEY 1964, 316, Pl. 46g. Also see THEOCHARES 1973, 187. COLEMAN 1977, 118, Pl. 90, fragments 201a-d. The earliest representation of the warp-weighted loom appears in Hungary on an urn from the Halstatt period, ca. seventh century B.C. CROWFOOT 1936-7, 40-3, Pl. 6, Fig. 3, discusses women weaving on the warp weighted loom on a lekythos, ca. 550-530, by the Amasis painter (Fig. 4.29), and the model of the loom. For a detailed account of the lekythos, see VON BOTHMER 1985, 185, Fig. 48. Also see ELLIS 1976, 77. CROWFOOT 1936-7, 40. See EVANS PM, I, 42-3, Fig. 10 and EVANS 1964, 233-5, Fig. 56, Pl. 56. Also RENFREW 1972, 352-3. For dating see EHRICH 1992, 207, Fig. 5. EVANS 1964, Fig. 56, Pls. 56-7. See also REFREW 1972, 353. CARINGTON SMITH 1975, 122-123, 157. See RENFREW 1972, 353 and 76, Table 5.1 and RENFREW 1970, 131. EHRICH 1992, 207, Fig. 5 dated Sitagroi to MN: 5400-5300, LN I: 5300-4300, LN II: 4300-3200. HANSEN 1933, 48-9, Fig. 24, and THEOCHARES 1973, 189, Fig. 123. JACOBSEN 1973, 277. JACOBSEN 1973, 277. For dating see EHRICH 1992, 206-7, Fig. 4, 5.

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8

Minoan civilization.31 Colors were achieved by fixing dyes, a relatively simple process with wool but a much more difficult one with linen.32 D. Neolithic figurines The considerable corpus of clay figurines from Neolithic levels in the Aegean was first studied extensively by Ucko, subsequently by Hourmouziades, and recently by Talalay.33 Many of these figurines are decorated with painted or incised dots,34 spirals,35 straight, diagonal, wavy and zigzag lines and dashes,36 as well as V-shapes and triangles.37 Since the shapes of these figurines define the nude female anatomy rather than, for example, a conical shaped lower half that would imply a skirt, the designs seem to make more sense as decoration. In her study, Talalay notes that “figurines at Franchthi often share attributes with local MN, LN, and FN pottery, including clay fabric, surface treatment, and general color. Moreover the decoration selected for both classes of objects is markedly similar. Nearly every painted decoration or design element found on a figurine is found on sherds or vessels,” and provides the explanation that “the makers of those two ceramic forms wanted to create an explicit symbolic link between them.”38 Whether symbolic or other, Talalay rightly points out that it is impossible to know whether the decoration represents body paint, “clothing, tattooing, scarification, or merely pleasing aesthetic patterns with no representational meaning.”39 On the other hand, she recognizes that “some decorations are reminiscent of clothing” and cites what look like fringed belts on late Neolithic (5300-4300 B.C.) clay figurines from Franchthi Cave (Fig. 1.1), and from Corinth (Fig. 1.2). 40 If her latter interpretation is correct, it may add Greek Neolithic links to Barber’s “string skirt” theory discussed above.

Fig. 1.1a 31 32 33 34 35 36

37

38 39 40

Fig. 1.1b

Fig. 1.1c

BRANIGAN 1970, 89-90, Fig. 21. BARBER 1991, 223-243, lists evidence for colored textiles and discusses dye processes. UCKO 1968, HOURMOUZIADIS 1973, TALALAY 1983, TALALAY 1987 and TALALAY 1993. For Knossos, see UCKO 1968, Early Neolithic I, 257, Fig. 83, no. 13, HM 170-59; Late Neolithic, 230, Fig. 128, no. 58; and EVANS PM I, Middle Neolithic, 46, Fig. 12, HM 2715. For Middle Neolithic Sesklo, see Ucko 1968, Pl. LX); and for Sitagroi, ca. 4,500 B.C., see Gimbutas 1974, 203, Fig. 200-201. For Early, Middle and Late Neolithic Knossos, see UCKO 1968, 211, 260, Fig. 90, no. 20; 271, Fig. 117, no. 47; 276, Fig. 123, no. 53, Fig. 120; EVANS 1964, 234, Fig. 64; and EVANS PM I, 46, Fig. 12. For Middle to Late Neolithic Kato Hierapetra, see UCKO 1968, 246-8, Fig. 169, no. 99. For Middle Neolithic Lerna, see TALALAY 1987, 163, Fig. 2. For Early to Middle Neolithic Corinth, see TALALAY 1983, 401, Fig. 93 and PHELPS 1987, 242, Pl. 33, no. 3. For Middle Neolithic Franchthi Cave see TALALAY 1987, 164, Fig. 3. For Middle Neolithic Akratas, see TALALAY 1983, 407, Fig. 99A. For Late Neolithic Prodromos, see HOURMOUZIADES 1973, 45, Fig. 6a and 6b. For Middle Neolithic Franchthi Cave, see TALALAY 1983, Fig. 61, 63. For Early Neolithic Sesklo, see GRUNDMANN 1953, Fig. 35. For Middle Neolithic Corinth, see PHELPS 1987, Pl. 33.4. For Middle Neolithic Chaironea see SOTERIADES 1908, Pl. X’, and UCKO 1968, 498, Pl. LXXIV. For Middle Neolithic Asea, see TALALAY 1983, 366, Fig. 58. TALALAY 1993, 35. TALALAY 1993, 70-72. TALALAY 1993, 71, Pl. 1, p. 115. For dating see EHRICH 1992, 206-7, Fig. 4, 5.

BEGINNINGS: PALAEOLITHIC AND NEOLITHIC

Fig. 1.2

9

Fig. 1.3

Another decoration that makes sense as apparel is the cross-band that appears on the Mid-Late Neolithic (ca. 5500-4500)41 torsos of figurines from Franchthi Cave, M-LN (Fig. 1.3),42 from Corinth, MN (Fig. 1.4)43 and from Larissa, LN (Fig. 1.5).44 The bands, worn over the shoulders and diagonally down the torsos, intersect between the breasts in front and at the center of the back, and extend to a horizontal band at the waist. Talalay lists several possibilities for the bands including “some kind of straps or long crossing necklaces or ritual painted designs comparable to those used by the Nuba” (a modern primitive tribe from New Guinea or Africa).45 But there is reason to suspect that they belong to the category of attire if they relate to comparable cross-bands with a long tradition in the Near East beginning as early as the Ubaid 3 period, ca. 5,000-4,500 B.C., on a well preserved terracotta figurine from stratum XVII at Tepe Gawra (Fig. 1.6),46 and especially on a silver statuette adorned with cross-bands of gold from Hasanoglan, Anatolia (Fig. 3.55), dating ca. 2000 B.C.47

Fig. 1.4

41 42 43 44 45 46 47

Fig. 1.5

Fig. 1.6a

For dating see EHRICH 1992, 206-7, Fig. 4, 5. TALALAY, 1993, Pl. 7a; JACOBSEN 1969, 372, Pl. 99b, lower left; TALALAY 1983, 170, Fig. 67, FC 28. TALALAY 1993; 114; PHELPS 1987, 241, Pl. 33.2, Corinth Museum no. MF 8065. TALALAY 1993, 170. HOURMOUZIADES 1973, Pl. 73. TALALAY 1983, 170. TOBLER 1950, 164-5, Pls. LXXXIc and CLIII, Fig. 4. For dating, see EHRICH 1992, I, 90-91, and II, 967, Fig. 3, no. 11. AKURGAL 1962, 297, Pl. VIII, Fig. 22.

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Fig. 1.6b

Fig. 1.6c

Fig. 1.6d

E. Conclusions In sum, the evidence of loom weights and textile impressions for weaving in Greece and Crete suggests that the technology probably was in place by the end of the Middle to Late Neolithic period, ca. 4500 B.C. What kinds of textiles were being produced then, and what they were used for, remains unknown. It is interesting that we lack any reference to solid coverings for the body although such coverings were as essential as food and shelter. Thus, we are uninformed about when and if skins gave way to textiles in the Neolithic period. What we are presented with is the possibility of bands adorning the body in the way of fringed belts and cross-bands. These too give us little sure evidence for textiles since they could have been produced either by using any number of off-loom techniques including plaiting or by being made of other materials such as leather strips.

CHAPTER 2 DRESS IN EARLY BRONZE AGE GREECE AND PREPALATIAL CRETE A. Textiles, weaving and sewing implements, and attachments The earliest preserved Greek textiles date to the Early Bronze Age. They consist of two scraps of linen, one from Amorgos found adhering to a bronze dagger,1 and another from Cyprus.2 Lacking additional textiles, we rely on secondary sources for further information like the sixteen loom weights which surfaced in EB III levels in Agia Irini, Keos, and spindle whorls which were excavated at Thermi, Lesbos, and Poliochni, Lemnos, and the Heraeum at Samos.3 Weaving implements, including thousands of spindle whorls were excavated at Troy, a great number from Early Bronze Age levels II-IV (ca. 25002000), some of which, according to Balfanz, are similar in style and ornament to a whorl from Aigina, whereas others, decorated in a linear script, find parallels in Minoan Linear A.4 On the Greek mainland the only evidence for textiles is from Lerna where, in Early Helladic III, one spindle whorl was found and flax seeds first appear which may suggest the production of linen.5 Our information is better on Crete. Although traces of textiles from this period, either linen or wool, have yet to come to light on Crete, their existence is confirmed by the many loomweights of stone and clay excavated in Early Minoan levels at Knossos, Palaikastro, and Myrtos, and the spindlewhorls at Viran Episkopi, Melidhoni and Myrtos.6 Peter Warren, the excavator of Myrtos, which dates to EM II, believes he found a wool working complex there. He found bone samples of goats which, he suggests, were bred for wool as well as for meat, and large clay tubs which he believes were used for washing wool. He feels the peculiar building plan and its location on a hill were well suited for wool working. He even goes so far as to suggest a thriving textile industry at Myrtos, producing goods not only for home use but also for export.7 The latter seems quite ambitious for this village settlement. Indeed, as Branigan clearly states, “in the early (Minoan) Bronze Age the various crafts were practised as village industries and were all interconnected as part of the village economy. Production was principally for consumption within the village and its environs.”8 Metal sewing implements and attachments are preserved from Crete, the Aegean islands and the Greek mainland. In the Early Bronze Age, sewing needles of bronze, pierced with holes for threading gradually replace the earlier bone ones. They begin to appear in Crete at Platanos in EM I-MM II and Mallia in EM III-MM,9 as well as in Early Bronze Age levels in the Cyclades at Chalandriani, Amorgos, Poliochni and Thermi, and on the Mainland at Corinth, and in Anatolia at Troy.10 Bronze dress pins also appear. Some with hooked tops occur in Platanos (EM II-MM I) and Marathokephalon (EM I-MM I) on Crete,11 other pins with elaborate finials in bone, bronze and silver appear on Chalandriani on Syros (c. 2500-2200 B.C.).12 Two especially interesting ones with stems bent at right angles are the bronze pin with a seated dog finial (L: 22.5 cm), found in Palaikastro in an undated 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

ZISIS 1954, 587, note 2. PIERIDOU 1967, 25-9. BARBER 1991, 307-8, 388. BALFANZ 1995, 117-144, esp. 128 and 135-137. I am grateful to Guenter Kopcke for alerting me to this article. COLEMAN 1977, 118. BRANIGAN 1970a, 87, and WARREN 1972, 262. WARREN 1972, 262-3, and BRANIGAN 1970a, 87-8. BRANIGAN 1970a, 90. BRANIGAN 1974, 173, Pl. 15, and DEMARGNE 1945, Pl. LXIV. BRANIGAN 1974, 173, Pl. 15. BRANIGAN 1974, 178, Pl. 17. HIGGINS 1981, 63-4, Fig. 69.

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context but, according to Branigan, known throughout the Early and Middle Bronze Ages in the Aegean (Fig. 2.1),13 and the smaller silver pin with a ram finial (L: 3 cm) from the Dokathismata cemetery, Amorgos, dated to the Early Cycladic period (Fig. 2.2).14 Although we lack evidence for how they were used on Aegean garments, they possibly performed a similar function in the Aegean as they did at Mari, as represented on a shell inlay from the Early Dynastic III Temple of Dagan, where a similar pin was used to fasten a woman’s garment (Fig. 2.3).15 Gold and silver discs pierced with holes for sewing onto fabric begin to appear at various burial sites in Crete during the Early Bronze Age. Most notable are the twenty-one small (D: .018 cm), undecorated gold discs, each pierced with two holes, from Platanos, Tholos A, dated EM III-MM I.16 which presumably were appliqués sewn onto cloth.17 Gold stars and discs from the EM II communal tombs at Mochlos also may have been sewn onto clothes. 18 At Malia were found four fragmentary gold discs, three reconstructed here, all of the same size (D: 4.0 cm) and date, EM III-MM III (Fig. 2.4).19 Each disc is elaborately decorated with individual motifs, two of which are rosettes that find their closest parallels in larger gold discs, probably from Troy VI, equal to MM IB/IIA.20 Two instances of appliqué are in evidence at Troy II; one being the tiny gold beads which were found with the remains of a loom, possibly intended for weaving directly on the loom, and a linen cloth found in a terracotta box with six faience and five gold beads on bits of thread along with a wooden spindle.21 Taken together, it is possible to conclude from this evidence that linen (and probably woolen) textiles were woven on warp weighted looms in simple tabby weave patterns which may have served as garments. Some were luxuriously decorated with gold attachments and sometimes used as burial garb.

Fig. 2.1 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20

21

Fig. 2.2

Fig. 2.3

BRANIGAN 1974, 182, Pl. 19, no. 2085. HOOD 1978, 190-2, Fig. 187g, and BRANIGAN 1974, 37. This type of pin in gold, electrum and silver appears in the Early Dynastic III period at Mari and the Royal Cemetery at Ur, see WEISS 1985, 155-6, nos. 58 and 59. For the original publication of the inlays see PARROT 1962, where he identifies the inlay as ivory, 168, Pl. XI, Fig. 2 and reconstructs the frieze which includes women spinning, 164, fig 11. See further discussion by HANSEN 1975, 190-1, Fig. 93b. XANTHOUDIDES 1924, 111, Pl. LVII no. 486. XANTHOUDIDES 1924, Pl. LVII, no. 486. SEAGER 1912, 30f, Pl. II.18, 68, Pl. XVI.13; HOOD 1978, 189, 268, note 19. DEMARGNE 1945, nos. 589, 563, 564, Pls. XXII, LXVII, LXV and BRANIGAN 1974, Pl. 21. SCHLIEMANN 1881, 500, nos. 903-4 and SCHMIDT 1902, 240, no. 6030. Originally dated by the above authors to Troy II (contemporary with EM II), EASTON 1984, 166-168, has re-dated the gold discs to Troy VI or VII. See also TOLSTIKOV and TREISTER 1996, 226, 131, cat. 149. BARBER 1991, 172. The archaeological evidence for appliquéd cloth is confirmed in the Near East in the Middle Bronze Age, ca. 1800 B.C., by the earliest actual example of cloth with tiny pale and dark blue faience beads sewn on it excavated at Acemhüyük, Anatolia and by a letter, ca. 1750, from Karana (Tell al Rimah), Syria, requesting “garments, both with appliqué and without appliqué, which you have made.” See DALLEY 1984, 53.

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13

Fig. 2.4

B. Decorated anthropomorphic vessels22 Anthropomorphic terracotta vessels with female attributes, decorative motifs, and spouts, were containers and dispensers of liquids, presumably utilized at ceremonial events such as feasts or banquets, including those connected to funerals, as attested by the ones from Koumasa, Mochlos, Malia, and Archanes, which were found either outside or inside tombs.23 Dated from Early Minoan I to III, these vessels are decorated with designs that scholars including Warren, Branigan, Gesell, and Koehl, believe represent clothes and garment patterns.24 Although such interpretations are tempting, especially given the lack of evidence for dress in this period, there is little evidence to support them. Indeed, most of the designs, as Warren himself has recognized, are standard motifs on contemporary pottery.25 As such, whether the motifs represent anything more than pottery decoration is an open question. We thus look here for answers by comparing the anthropomorphic vessels to contemporary pottery, with a view to determining whether there are motifs specific to each, whether the placement of motifs relates to the vessels’ shape or to a garment, and whether the motifs betray aspects of garment designs, such as necklines, sleeves, hems, etc. The earliest piece discussed by Warren is an EM I clay kernos from the Pyrgos cave in Crete (Fig. 2.5).26 Warren and Xanthoudides before him have suggested that this object was intended as a schematic representation of an anthropomorphic figurine holding two bowls.27 However, no arms are apparent to me and the side bowls simply appear to be connected to the central element.28 Warren further sees the shape as a bell-shaped hollow body or skirt, the incised patterns on the body as dress patterns and concludes that it is the beginning of the image of the “Great Goddess of Nature.”29 But there seems little reason to believe that it is anything more than a kernos. Indeed, Nilsson interprets it, along with a threecup version from Pyrgos (Fig. 2.6), bearing identical designs, as a “simple prototype of a kernos.”30 Even if the raised central element was meant as an abstract reference to a figure, there seems little reason to interpret the pedestal of the vessel as a skirt because the vessel shape, with flared foot and flared goblets is standard on that of Pyrgos ware (Fig. 2.7),31 and the type is characteristic of contemporary two-cupped kernoi from Pyrgos (Fig. 2.8).32 The same argument holds for the incised zigzag design, which Warren believes may have been intended as a dress pattern.33 Tempting as it is to associate this motif with textiles since it is basic to weaving, the fact that it is a standard ornamental design used by potters to decorate the

22 23

24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33

See also JONES 2008, 39-45. The Phourni cemetery at Archanes in SAKELLARAKIS and SAKELLARAKI 1991, 135, and 1997, 540-541; Ossuary II at Malia in DEMARGNE 1945, 14; Tomb XII at Mochlos in SEAGER 1912, 6365, and SOLES 1992, 87-88, 91-92; and outside tombs in Area Δ at Koumasa, XANTHOUDIDES 1924, 39 and WARREN 1973, 138. WARREN 1973, 138-40; BRANIGAN 1970, 88, fig 21; GESELL 1983, 94; KOEHL 2006, 76-77. WARREN 1973, passim. NILSSON 1950, 137, Fig. 46; WARREN 1973, 139, Pl. XXII. WARREN 1973, 139, 140, 147; XANTHOUDIDES 1918, 154 and Fig. 8, no. 47 and Pl. A top right. WARREN 1973, 139, Pl. XXII. WARREN 1973, 139-140, 147. NILSSON 1950, 137, Figs. 46 and 47. ZERVOS1956, 123, Fig. 86. For Pyrgos ware vessels see EVANS PM I, 59, Fig. 19a and b. ZERVOS 1956, 125, Fig. 89. WARREN 1973, 139-140.

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14

borders and bodies of Pyrgos ware (Fig. 2.6)34 suggests that the potter of the kernos may simply be following the same decorative tradition.

Fig. 2.5

Fig. 2.6

Fig. 2.9a

Fig. 2.7

Fig. 2.8

Fig. 2.9b

The second vessel interpreted as depicting dress patterns or patterned robes was found among other grave goods outside the tombs at Koumasa and dated to EM II (Figs. 2.9-2.12).35 Interestingly shaped, the vessel’s front and back views (Figs. 2.9a,b, 2.10), illustrate very broad shoulders tapering down to a narrow base, whereas the side views (Figs. 2.11-2.12), betray the opposite: a broad base tapering upward to a very narrow neck. It has a head, a handle at the back, and in the front, two tiny applied pellets for breasts, and a spouted vessel in the shape of a small jug placed at its upper left side. The jug provides the only access into the vessel. An attached undecorated coil runs around the front of the neck. Two additional coils, painted in stripes, run across the shoulders and diagonally down toward the center; the one at the left placed in front of the shoulder, and the one at the right behind it, curving around the spouted vessel toward the front.36 Reddish-brown painted geometric designs decorate the front and back of the vessel.

34 35 36

See the triple goblet kernos in NILSSON 1950, 137, Fig. 47. XANTHOUDIDES 1924, 39, Pls. II and XIV; EVANS PM IV:1, 163, Fig. 121; WARREN 1973, 138, Pl. XVIII; and BETANCOURT 1985, 42, Fig. 23. BETANCOURT 1985, 42, interpreted the coils as snakes and the vessel as an ancestor of the later “snake goddesses.” Alternatively, they may be an abstract allusion to arms, particularly since the coils that hold the vase on the vessel from Myrtos discussed below are clearly arms (Figs. 2.16-2.19).

DRESS IN EARLY BRONZE AGE GREECE AND PREPALATIAL CRETE

Fig. 2.10

Fig. 2.11

15

Fig. 2.12

My examination and photos of the piece in the Herakleion Museum reveal that, besides the well known frontal designs, a red horizontal line stretches from the base of each applied coil or “arm,” in front and around the sides to the back where it becomes doubled with horizontal lines within, and moves diagonally up toward the neck. The direction and motif of these bands contrast with those on the front and make it unlikely that they relate either to each other or to dress designs. Nevertheless, Warren has interpreted the ones on the front as dress patterns.37 These same motifs, however, decorate vases that lack anthropomorphic features. In fact, crossed and diagonal line motifs like those at the center are characteristic of painted and incised pots of the EM II period as on a painted pot from the Lebena tholos in the Mesara (Fig. 2.13), and other painted pots from Koumasa and Porti.38 Warren believes that on the anthropomorphic vessel, the short diagonals with the double vertical lines flanking the breasts look like fringes. But these too appear as split-herringbone decorative motifs on pottery, represented horizontally on a pot from Porti,39 and on an incised pot from Koumasa (Fig. 2.14).40 Indeed, if they were fringes, the diagonal lines would not point up as they face inward from the vertical lines, but would point down in response to gravitational pull. The best parallel of all to the decoration on the anthropomorphic vessel, however, is an EM II, two handled jug said to be from the Mesara, and now in the Metaxas collection (Fig. 2.15).41 Both are decorated with three vertical bands: the center one exhibits a row of crossed diagonal lines, the flanking two contain diagonal lines. On both vessels, the vertical bands flanking the center one conform to the shape of the vessel, those on the narrow-bottomed anthropomorphic one taper in toward the center, those on the wide-bellied Mesara amphora extend outward, toward the flare of the pot. Both have neckbands, applied on the anthropomorphic vessel, and painted on the amphora. Both have painted stripes: on the handles of the amphora, and on the applied band or “arms” descending from the neck and shoulders of the anthropomorphic vessel. Thus, in motifs and composition, the decoration is consistent with that of contemporary pottery. As the decoration, so the shape of the vessel is related to its function as a pot. Its female attributes presumably relate to its special function as a container and dispenser 37 38 39 40 41

WARREN 1973, 138. BRANIGAN 1970b, 61, Fig. 10, left side, 2nd, 3rd and 4th from top for Lebena, Koumasa and Porti pots. BRANIGAN 1970b, 61, Fig. 10, top left. BRANIGAN 1970b, 63, Fig. 11, bottom right, and ZERVOS 1956, 145, Fig. 126. VON MATT 1968, Pl. 28 left.

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of liquid, perhaps associated with ritual. Unfortunately, its motifs seem not to relate to textiles, garment decoration or design, but only to the potter’s repertoire.

Fig. 2.13

Fig. 2.14

Fig. 2.15

The third anthropomorphic vessel interpreted as illustrating dress is the so-called “Goddess of Myrtos,” found in a household shrine and dated to EM II (Figs. 2.16-2.19).42 Like the Koumasa vessel (Fig. 2.9), this one has two applied pellets that indicate breasts, and its left arm encircles a jug, which provides the only access into the vessel. It is decorated with one triangular and three rectangular panels on the front, one above the breasts, and four rectangular panels on the back, all filled with a grid of horizontal and vertical lines in reddish-brown paint.

Fig. 2.16

42

WARREN 1972, 209, 262, Pl. 69, Fig. 92.

Fig. 2.17

DRESS IN EARLY BRONZE AGE GREECE AND PREPALATIAL CRETE

Fig. 2.18

17

Fig. 2.19

On each side of the vessel, a vertical line flanked by short diagonal dashes runs from below each arm to the base, a variation of the motif on the front of the Koumasa vessel (Fig. 2.9a-b). The excavator, Peter Warren, suggested that the panels represent clothing, 43 the vertical line with diagonal dashes probably indicates fringes, stitches, or seams (Figs. 2.18-2.19),44 and the reddish paint represents a red dyed garment.45 Gesell sees “a dress made of woven patches stitched together.”46 Several problems stand in the way of these tempting hypotheses. First, reddish-brown painted geometric ornament is characteristic of much of EM II pottery, according to Xanthoudides, even a hallmark of Koumasa ware.47 Thus, this criterion cannot be used as an indicator for the use of red dye for textiles. Second, the motifs that Warren associated with dress are actually traditional ceramic decorative designs. Although panels decorated in grids could, in the appropriate setting, indicate lengths of tabby weave cloth, their presence on this vessel is consistent with the way hatched panels decorate ordinary contemporary pots like the triangles on the pot from the Mesara (Fig. 2.15). Another example is on an ornamentally partitioned jug from the Mesara in the Metaxas collection where similar panels of crossed hatches decorate the belly and the spout (Fig. 2.20).48 A further comparison is on a bowl from an EM II tomb at Mochlos where horizontal and vertical hatched rectangles and double triangles and cross-hatched double triangles alternate with other motifs.49 Indeed, on the Myrtos vessel (Fig. 2.16), the same hatched motif also used for the pubic triangle is surely not representative of a woven textile. The same decoration but with a diagonal grid, also marks the pubic triangle of a crudely incised figure on an EM III jug from Malia (Fig. 2.21).50 Thus, in decorating his anthropomorphic vessel, the Myrtos potter has appropriately indicated the anatomical parts related to fertility, the breasts and pubic triangle. He then decorated the vessel as he would any pot, by arranging ornamental panels into the remaining available spaces. Thus, a line with 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50

WARREN 1972, 209 WARREN 1972, 210. WARREN 1972, 262. GESELL 1983, 94. See XANTHOUDIDES 1924, 15 and BETANCOURT 1985, 40-43, Fig. 22. VON MATT 1968, Pl. 28 right. BETANCOURT 1985, 42-3, Fig. 24. DEMARGNE 1945, 16, Pl. XXXI, Fig. 1 left; VAN EFFENTERRE 1980, 434, Fig. 574.

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flanking short diagonal lines, a sort of herringbone motif, is appropriately inserted at each side between the front and back panels (Figs. 2.18-2.19), as a decorative device. If this motif represented fringes, stitches or side seams, as Warren suggested,51 one would expect it to be joined to a garment and not an independent, self-standing design. Detached from dress, it is simply decoration. A similar motif occurs on the incised pot from Koumasa (Fig. 2.14). Thus, the Myrtos potter has decorated his vessel in accordance with its shape: thin vertical designs conform to the narrow sides, and broad rectangles emphasize the wide front and back.

Fig. 2.20

Fig. 2.22

Fig. 2.21

Fig. 2.23

The fourth anthropomorphic vessel cited by Warren as depicting dress is from a tomb at Mochlos dated to EM II-III (Figs. 2.22-2.23).52 Warren interpreted the motifs decorating its surface as elaborate white patterns suggestive of a patterned robe. 53 But, the horizontal and vertical placement of the ornamental bands, relate instead to the shape of the vessel, which has a wide, rather straight-sided body and a flat base, rather than defining the style of a robe, for which there is no indication. In the front, tubular arms bend at the elbow, with hands supporting two projecting breast-like spouts. Both the shape of the vessel and the placement of ornament on the front generally follows that of the “Myrtos goddess”, but the pubic triangle is here substituted with a horizontal band with a central zigzag motif. This band 51 52 53

WARREN 1972, 210. The vessel was excavated by SEAGER 1912, 64, Figs. 32, 34; EVANS PM II:1, 258, Fig. 153; WARREN 1973, 138-9, Pl. XIX; KOEHL 2006, 77, Pl. 4, no. 33. WARREN 1973, 138-9, 140, 143.

DRESS IN EARLY BRONZE AGE GREECE AND PREPALATIAL CRETE

19

continues around the sides to the back but is interrupted by four vertical bands decorated with S spirals; two flank the breasts in the front and two flank the handle in the back. The short, rectangular grid above the breasts on the Myrtos vessel is here replaced with a wide horizontal band not only above the breasts but extending to the sides of the vessel. It is decorated with convex over concave semicircles. Both the motifs and the technique of white paint on a dark ground are definitive aspects of EM III pottery of east Crete.54 We see this also on a white on dark ware teapot from Vasilike, where spirals accompanied by zigzag bands proliferate (Fig. 2.24H and M, and Fig. 2.25), and the semicircle motif is similar to the interrupted spiral ornament characteristic of EM III wares (Figs. 2.24L and 2.26).55 The one possible indication of clothing on this vessel is the applied clay strip coiled around the opening at the top of the head, which may represent a headband or some sort of headgear. Warren, however, identifies it as a snake, thereby a precursor of the snake on the headdress of the faience snake goddess from Knossos.56 Koehl sees it as a snake headdress. 57 Although the crudely rendered coil precludes a definitive identification, if it is a snake, it too, is unrelated to clothing.

Fig. 2.24

Fig. 2.25

Fig. 2.26

The fifth anthropomorphic vessel, also dated to EM III, is from a burial site at Malia (Figs. 2.272.28).58 Branigan, Warren, and Koehl have interpreted its painted decoration as clothing. Branigan reads it as a woven jacket like the ones sold in Greece today.59 Warren explains it as a richly decorated cloak worn over the shoulders and body.60 Koehl sees it as a floor length garment with 3/4 length sleeves decorated with impressed dots and notches at the edges.61 Indeed, both the shape of the vessel and its ornament seem, at first glance, to betray an awareness of dress. It is especially tempting to see the incised hands as emanating from “sleeves” edged with notches, a reading that implies that the lateral projections 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61

BETANCOURT 1985, 55-61. BETANCOURT 1985, 58, Fig. 37H, L, M, and further examples on Fig. 38; 59, Fig. 39; and Pls. 4H and 6d. WARREN 1973, 138-9, esp. 140, but on 143 he expresses doubt on the snake identification. KOEHL 2006, 77, 336, Pl. 5, no. 34. DEMARGNE 1945, 14, Pls. XXXI-XXXII. BRANIGAN 1970a, 90 WARREN 1973, 138. KOEHL 2006, 77.

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refer to bent elbows. Indeed, arms with projecting bent elbows and hands at breasts are hallmarks of contemporary figurines discussed below, particularly the ivories from Platanos, Hagia Triada, and Archanes (Figs. 2.37-2.39),62 whose shapes with incurved waists and flared skirts, and incisions marking a v-neck and a banded or flounced hem, provide the first real attempt at rendering details of dress. Unlike these, the Malia potter avoids references to the garment’s shape and omits sleeves or forearms between the hands and “elbows.” Nevertheless, one explanation for a garment that would satisfy both hands and ornament is a sort of cape, with the swags that curve between the breasts marking its center opening, and the swags that curve around the breasts’ lateral edges fitted with slits at the bottoms for openings for the hands. Such a costume, however, generates more questions than answers. If the hands have to emerge from the garment, do the spouted breasts also? Are we then to perceive slits for the breasts in the garment, or can we read the breasts/spouts as unrelated to the garment? In addition, if we read the swags as marking an opening in the front of the garment, so the matching swag at the back of the garment, on the right side, must mark another central opening, which results in a most unlikely design. Further, the multivaried, intersecting directions of the bands on the left side of the back are completely unrelated to dress. Thus, although aspects of the shape of the vessel and its ornament seem at first glance to portray a garment, the above discussion and the following comparisons with contemporary painted pottery argue that the designs cannot be taken as literal indications of clothing.

Fig. 2.27

Fig. 2.28

The bands of zigzags that proliferate on the vessel, especially those that curve in swags around the shoulders and down in front and back and give the impression of bands decorating the front of a garment, are in fact identical in placement and motif to the bands represented around the shoulders of a contemporary EM III jug from Gournia (Fig. 2.29).63 The way the bands of swags join to surround the breast-like spouts on the Malia vessel are also similar to the way the swags join bands on contemporary teapots from Vasilike (Figs. 2.25-2.26).64 Indeed, all of the motifs on the Malia vessel are characteristic of the contemporary East Cretan potter’s repertoire; see the swags with zigzags on the Gournia jug (Fig. 2.29) and the teapot from Vasilike (Fig. 2.25), and similar banded quirks on another teapot from Vasilike (Fig. 2.26). Even the temptation to interpret the band decorated in a diagonal ladder motif at the base of the Malia vessel as a garment border must be pursued with caution since a similar motif, although 62

63 64

See discussion in JONES 1998, 31-33. Figurine from Platanos: XANTHOUDIDES 1924, 122, Pl. XV, no 230; Hagia Triada: ZERVOS 1956, 168, Fig. 188, right; Archanes: SAKELLARAKIS and SAKELLARAKI 1991, 120, Fig. 96. East Crete white on dark ware jug from the north trench at Gournia in BETANCOURT 1985, 57, Fig. 36d. ZERVOS 1956, 149, Figs. 137 and 138. Also see the related swag curving from neck to belly on a jug from Mochlos in BETANCOURT 1985, 59, Fig. 39f.

DRESS IN EARLY BRONZE AGE GREECE AND PREPALATIAL CRETE

21

unbanded, decorates the bases of typical teapots from Vasilike (Fig. 2.25).65 Nevertheless, the vessel’s similarities to that of the Platanos figurine (Fig. 2.38), in the position of the arms, the band at the hem, and the allusion to an open front garment, should be recognized as an abstract reference to clothing within the vocabulary of the potter. The potter is, however, much more successful in depicting the headdress, which, in its shape and incisions, clearly refers to a decorative turban.

Fig. 2.29

Fig. 2.30

A sixth terracotta anthropomorphic vessel, discovered at Phourni, Archanes (Area of the Rocks), and dated EM III, is a back handled type (Fig. 2.30),66 akin to those from Koumasa, Mochlos and Malia. It includes one subsidiary vessel at its left shoulder like the ones from Koumasa (Figs. 2.9-2.12) and Myrtos (Figs. 2.16-2.19), and a unique second one, below the abdominal area, pierced through to the interior. Except for a large rectangular area at the chest, a dark slip covers the vessel including the smaller vessel at its left side and its feet. Sakellaraki interprets the vessel as a male dressed in a priest’s cap and long garment,67 Koehl sees it as a female with pyramidal shaped hair or a headdress, wearing a floor length garment decorated with parallel lines,68 and Marinatos believes it is a woman.69 Indeed, the dark slip that covers the piece does appear to offer some indication of a long garment, particularly since the potter has left a light, rectangular area at the chest devoid of the dark slip, perhaps indicative of a deep and wide opening at the top of a robe. Unlike the complex ornamental motifs that decorate the other anthropomorphic vessels, this one bears groups of white parallel diagonal lines on front and back. These, however, are also characteristic of east Cretan white on dark ware, such as an EM III bowl from Myrtos (Fig. 2.31), and a jug from Vasilike (Fig. 2.32),70 and thus, like the motifs on the other vessels, tell us little about dress. The diagonal band across the chest may indicate a strap that supports the vessel at its left. Like the Malia vessel, the one clear reference to clothing is its conical cap, molded and incised on the figure’s head. Although the cap and garment are too vague to be used as identifying features, 71 Sakellaraki’s proposal that the piece refers to a male is an interesting one, particularly since it is the only 65 66

67 68 69 70 71

VASILAKIS 2001, 50. SAKELLARAKIS and SAKELLARAKI 1982, 484-5, Fig. 6; SAKELLARAKIS and SAKELLARAKI 1991, 134, Fig. 112; and SAKELLARAKIS and SAKELLARAKI 1997, 540-541. Also see MARINATOS 1993, 23, Fig. 24, and KOEHL 2006, 76-77. SAKELLARAKIS and SAKELLARAKI 1997, 540-541. KOEHL 2006, 76-77. MARINATOS 1993, 23 and 252, note 60. See BETANCOURT 1985, 56, Fig. 35E, and 61, Fig. 40. MARINATOS 1993, 252, note 60, refers to a female parallel for the peaked cap.

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22

vessel that lacks breasts, and the central placement of the secondary vessel is suggestive. At the same time, except for these features, it still fits within the style and iconography of the corpus of female anthropomorphic vessels, and thus, the question of gender remains open.

Fig. 2.31

Fig. 2.32

In sum, in their shape and decoration, anthropomorphic terracotta vessels turn out to give little information about garments. If their blocky shapes do not mark their purpose as a vessel, they can possibly be construed as an abstract reference to loose and long attire. The motifs that decorate them, however, are simply standard decorations on pottery and provide no evidence for garments or their construction. Thus, as containers and dispensers of liquids, presumably utilized at feasts and banquets related to households (Myrtos) and funerals (Koumasa, Mochlos, Malia and Archanes), they unfortunately give us little information about what the participants wore. C. The figurines The concept of illustrating dress on women, in contrast to, for example, female marble figurines from the Cyclades (Cycladic idols), which are always carved in the nude, occurs for the first time in Minoan art on figurines which date to the late Prepalatial period (EM III-MM IA). The cursory carving of earlier figurines, ca. 2500-2000, however, omits details of dress. The blocky forms of two crude figurines, one in stone from Hagia Triada of EM II-III (Fig. 2.33),72 and another in ivory from Hagia Triada of EM III (Fig. 2.34),73 appear to serve as a vague reference to loose, full length clothes. The shape of these examples, with slightly flared lower parts are similar to two schematically carved ivory figurine pendants recently excavated from the Hagios Charalambos cave in east Crete, perhaps datable to EM III-MM IA. One, HNM 13909, is completely preserved (Fig. 2.35) whereas the other, HNM 13908, is headless (Fig. 2.36).74 Interestingly, the rather horizontal forearms of the Hagios Charalambos figurines meet at the center of the waist and thereby differ from the Hagia Triada examples which are raised toward the breasts.

72 73 74

DEMARGNE 1964, 49, Fig. 60; H: 2 3/4". ZERVOS 1956, 169, Fig. 190 erroneously cites origin as Koumasa; HOOD 1978, 90, Fig. 69B, cites origin as Hagia Triada. My thanks to P. Betancourt for bringing these figurines to my attention and for permission to publish them. See FERRENCE 2008, 570-573, Fig. 14, nos. 53, 56 and 57. Also see KRAUS 1992, 310.

DRESS IN EARLY BRONZE AGE GREECE AND PREPALATIAL CRETE

Fig. 2.33

Fig. 2.35

23

Fig. 2.34

Fig. 2.36

Although still summarily carved, the first real attempt at rendering details of dress occurs on three additional ivory figurines with slightly upturned forearms (Figs. 2.37-2.39). Deep horizontal incisions frame their hems. One groove appears on a simply carved EM III ivory from Hagia Triada (Fig. 2.37)75 that is otherwise shaped like the Hagios Charalambos figurines. Three grooves appear on two ivories with more pronounced shapes that look as if the garments are brought in at the waist and form a bell shape below: one an amulet from Tholos B, Platanos, dated EM II-MM IA (Fig. 2.38),76 and another, a seal from building 9, Archanes, dated archaeologically to MM IA (Fig. 2.39).77 The firm date of the Archanes figurine helps to anchor the dates of the similar ivories from Hagia Triada (Fig. 2.37) and Platanos (Fig. 2.38) to MM IA or late EM III at the earliest (ca. 2200-1900).78 The grooves may have marked wide stripes or decorative bands as the band painted with cross hatching on the contemporary terracotta figurine from Gonies (Kavrochori) (Fig. 2.40).79 75 76 77 78 79

ZERVOS 1956, 168, Fig. 188 right. XANTHOUDIDES 1924, 122, Pl. XV, no. 230. SAKELLARAKIS and SAKELLARAKI 1991, 120, Fig. 96. MANNING 1995, 217; CADOGAN 1983, 517. ALEXIOU 1967, 486, Pl. 360a, and HILLER 1977, 173, Fig. 18a. The photos are by the author. In

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24

Fig. 2.37

Fig. 2.39

Fig. 2.38

Fig. 2.40

The figurines from Platanos and Archanes give information, however marginal, about the upper parts of the garments. Double incised lines form a deep V-shaped neckline on the figurine from Platanos (Fig. 2.38). That neckline combined with the horizontal incisions on the skirt led Xanthoudides to suggest a flounced costume for the Platanos figurine.80 Although a tempting consideration, whether the incisions actually represent flounces on these early figurines remains an open question. According to Sakellarakis and Sakellaraki, the ivory from Archanes portrays a “Medici collar on its shoulder” as well as a “high bodice” (Fig. 2.39).81 Another likely early representation of the “Medici collar,” herein referred to as a peak-back robe appears on the clay figurine from Gonies (Kavrochori) discussed above, found with pottery dated MM IA (Fig. 2.40).82 Both Xanthoudides and Evans, have noted that two similar steatite figurines from Tholos B, Koumasa (EM III-MM IA), also depict the peak-back robe, published here in all four views (Figs. 2.412.42).83 Despite the summary carving, Evans correctly noted that the form suggested that the style reached high behind the necks. Probably related is a tiny amulet of ivory also from Tholos B, Koumasa of the same date.84

80 81 82 83 84

addition, a steatite seal, said to be of Prepalatial date, of unknown provenance in the Giamalakis collection, published by XENAKI-SAKELLARIOU 1958, 1, Pl. 1, no. 1, is decorated with six incised horizontal bands of varying widths that begin at the waist, continue to the hem and are variously decorated in alternating vertical lines and dots. This figurine, however, differs sufficiently from the rest as to cast suspicion on its authenticity. XANTHOUDIDES 1924, 122. SAKELLARAKIS and SAKELLARAKI 1991, 121. Unfortunately, the rear view is unpublished and I have been unable to acquire a permit to study this piece. ALEXIOU 1967 486, Pl. 360a; HILLER 1977, 173, Fig. 18a. XANTHOUDIDES 1924, 25, figs 128 and 129, Pl. IV; EVANS PM II:1, 32-3, Fig. 14c and Fig. 15. XANTHOUDIDES 1924, no. 135, p. 25, Pl. IV.

DRESS IN EARLY BRONZE AGE GREECE AND PREPALATIAL CRETE

25

Fig. 2.41

Fig. 2.42

D. Conclusions In sum, in their shape and decoration, anthropomorphic terracotta vessels turn out to give little information about garments, except perhaps that they were probably long. Precious metal pins and discs, however, appear to have fastened and decorated textiles. Figurines, for the first time in EM III-MM IA (ca. 2200-1900 B.C), reveal a new awareness of dress and, however summarily carved, seem to document a specific costume that is brought in at the waist and flared below in a bell shape, sometimes banded at the hem, and sometimes raised at the back of the neck. This, the peak-back robe, becomes the Minoan costume par excellence of the Middle Minoan period, discussed in Chapter 3.

CHAPTER 3 MINOAN MIDDLE BRONZE AGE DRESSES WITH EGYPTIAN AND NEAR EASTERN COMPARANDA A. The Minoan peak-back robe The beginning of the Middle Bronze Age on Crete saw the emergence of a sophisticated society with palatial architecture and courtly women wearing elegant-looking costumes that culminated in high pointed peaks behind the neck, flair skirts, and elaborate headgear. Although regarded as a hallmark of the Old Palace period, the peak back design, as noted in chapter 2, had its beginnings at the end of the Prepalatial period.1 1. The Corpus The costume is alluded to on at least thirty-three examples of terracotta female figurines and four figures on seals. In the corpus of Minoan female attire, this costume has been the least understood primarily because the figurines’ summary treatment yields little information and because many of the figurines are partially or poorly preserved.2

Fig. 3.1

Fig. 3.2

Fig. 3.3

Fig. 3.4

The best known of the figurines, from the peak sanctuary of Petsofas, HM 3431, serves as an example (Figs. 3.1-3.4).3 The four views of the figurine exhibit a full skirt decorated with painted vestiges of triple vertical stripes alternating with triple diagonals, a fitted waist, breasts that appear to be exposed, and a back that rises high behind the neck and forms a peak. As already recognized by Rutkowski, its peak 1 2

3

See the figurines from Koumasa of EM III-MM IA (Figs. 2.41, 2.42), Gonies (Kavrochori) of MM IA (Pl. 2.40), and, according to Sakellarakis, at Archanes of MM IA (Pl. 2.39). In addition to the examples illustrated here, the costume appears on the following fragmentary figurines: one from Xerokampos, Ampelos (DAVARAS 1982, 41, Pl. 45), and several unpublished examples on display in the Hagios Nikolaos Museum including one with a belt; four headless and three restored figurines from Petsophas (RUTKOWSKI 1991, 83, Pl. XXX, 1-3 [HM 3429] and Pl. XXX, 4-6 and Pl. XXXII, 1, 2-3, 4); five headless examples from Maza (PLATON 1951, 106-9, Pl. E', Fig. 1, nos. 1, 10, 12, 13, 14); and a torso and a headless figurine from Stous Athropolithous (BROWN and PEATFIELD 1987, 28, 30, figs. 3 and 6). Photos by author. Also see PEDLEY 1993, 50, Fig. 2.5; RUTKOWSKI 1991, 81, Pl. XXVII, Fig. 2; and ZERVOS 1956, Fig. 249.

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back is a modern restoration.4 The comparison of the figurine with Dawkins’ drawing of it published by Myers emphasizes his “reconstitution” based on elements taken from other figurines (Fig. 3.5).5 His drawing adds a double belt, looped at the center, a projected edging at the bodice that contours around the shoulders and breasts, forming a V as it reaches the waist, and a sleeve on the figurine’s right side. On the actual figurine no indication of a belt, sleeve or raised bodice edge around the shoulders and breasts appears to exist. When Dawkins drew the figurine, he treated its unacknowledged restored peak-back and left arm differently.6 The drawing acknowledges the left arm as missing by indicating it in dots but depicts the peak-back on the statuette as if it were original.

Fig. 3.5

Fig. 3.6

Fig. 3.7

Fig. 3.8

Fig. 3.9

Another figurine from Petsophas HM 3427 of similar shape preserves its high pointed peak which melds into the arms (Figs. 3.6-3.9),7 as does one from Gournia, HM 7079, whose peak is decorated with

4 5 6 7

RUTKOWSKI 1991, 81. DAWKINS in MYRES 1902-3, Pl. VIII. I am grateful to E. Davis for this observation. Photos by author. Also see RUTKOWSKI 1991, 81, Pl. XXVII, nos.4-6.

MINOAN MIDDLE BRONZE AGE DRESSES

29

dark stripes and skirt bares traces of horizontal stripes and wavy lines (Figs. 3.10-3.13).8 The upper part of the garment is particularly well illustrated in the detail of the back of a figurine from Petsophas HM 3439 which has a modern skirt (Figs. 3.14-3.17). 9 This figurine illustrates that as the garment continues downward from the peak, it widens and follows the contour of the shoulder line until we lose sight of it at about the end of the collar bone.

8 9

Fig. 3.10

Fig. 3.11

Fig. 3.14

Fig. 3.15

Fig. 3.12

Fig. 3.16

Fig. 3.13

Fig. 3.17

Photos by author. Also see ZERVOS 1956, 202, Fig. 248. Photos by author. Also see RUTKOWSKI 1991, 82, Pl. XXIX, nos. 1-3; ZERVOS 1956, 200, 201, figs. 246-7; DEMARGNE 1964, 105, Fig. 135.

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A figurine from Traostalos, HM 16444, echoes the peak back design and provides us with evidence for a belt (Figs. 3.18-3.21).10 We wonder whether actual dolman-like sleeves are imitated here or whether the shape is the result of the coroplast’s pinching of the clay. The rather crude figurine from Maza, HM 9862A, has a skirt that deviates from the bell shape and flares outward toward the hem (Figs. 3.22-3.25).11

Fig. 3.18

Fig. 3.19

Fig. 3.22

Fig. 3.23

Fig. 3.20

Fig. 3.24

Fig. 3.21

Fig. 3.25

One wonders whether the drape of the cloth translated into clay is better reflected in the bell or flare shape of the skirt. Another from Maza HM 9862B has a pronounced peak back (Figs. 3.26-3.29),12 as does an example from Juktas, the peak sanctuary related to Knossos (Figs. 3.30-3.31).13 Despite the restored skirt back and peak, based on preserved traces, another figurine from Petsofas, HM 4875, portrays dolman-like sleeves and another narrower skirt (Figs. 3.32-3.35).14 10 11 12 13 14

Photos by author. Photos by author. Photos by author. Photos courtesy of A. KARETSOU. See KARETSOU 1978, 256, Pl. 169e. Photos by author. Also see RUTKOWSKI 1991, 81-2, Pl. XXIX, nos. 4-6.

MINOAN MIDDLE BRONZE AGE DRESSES

Fig. 3.26

Fig. 3.27

Fig. 3.30

Fig. 3.32

Fig. 3.33

31

Fig. 3.28

Fig. 3.29

Fig. 3.31

Fig. 3.34

Fig. 3.35

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32

The most crucial evidence for dress, however, is provided by the painted torso from Phaestos, HM 2680, with white indicating the skin of a female figure and red marking its clothes (Figs. 3.36-3.39).15 Although the head is missing, the break is at the top of the neck just below where the top of the peak would have been. The preservation clearly reveals the rise of the peak-back, above the shoulders and necklace, to the top of the neck. Contrast the top of the contemporary V-neck garment that sits at shoulder level on a figurine from Juktas HM 21916 (Fig. 3.83). On the Phaestos torso, the garment is open at the front, exposing the breasts, and is brought together above the waist. Laces hold the center front edges together above the breasts, cross between them, and although no longer preserved, probably reached to the sides below as crossed breast bands. Thus, we learn that the peak-back garment exposed the breasts and served as a prototype for the open front garments in the subsequent New Palace or MM IIIB/LM period. Therefore, from the beginning of Minoan palatial civilization, the construction of these garments was likely dictated by the desire to expose and celebrate the breasts. The garments thus were a fancy frame for the breasts, whose importance probably goes beyond beauty into the realm of fertility, ostensibly emphasizing the crucial role of women as nurturers, providers of milk, sustainers of life.

Fig. 3.36

Fig. 3.38

Fig. 3.37

Fig. 3.39

Three contemporary seals also portray women wearing the peak-back garment. Two are from Kastelli Pediados: one portrays two figures flanking a circular object (Fig. 3.40),16 the other depicts a single

15 16

Photos by author. Also see LEVI 1976, Pl. 221b; DAVIS 2000, 64-70, esp. 64-65. Pl. 2. EVANS PM I, 124, Fig. 93, B1.

MINOAN MIDDLE BRONZE AGE DRESSES

33

figure holding a circular object (Fig. 3.41).17 A third seal, from the vicinity of Herakleion, illustrates one figure with hands raised above a curved object (Fig. 3.42).18 On all of them, the garment looks very much like a long robe, unbelted on the seals from Pediados and fastened with a tasseled belt on the seal from Herakleion. The robes on the two from Kastelli Pediados flare toward the hem like the one from Maza, instead of being bell shaped,19 and all flare with vertical folds toward the hem.

Fig. 3.40

Fig. 3.41

Fig. 3.42

2. Distribution of the peak-back robe From the corpus of figurines portraying this garment, only two are from palace sites, Phaestos and Gournia, whereas most are from peak sanctuaries, Petsofas, above Palaikastro, Ampelos/Xerokampos, near Sitias, Maza, on the summit of Korphi, Jouktas, associated with Knossos and Archanes, Kophinas, associated with Phaestos, and Traostalos, above Zakros. Others are from sites of which the significance as sanctuary or sacred enclosure remains undetermined: Kavrochori, Stous Athropolithous, and Kastelli Pediados, near Knossos.20 Thus, while the costume appears in the old palaces most representations are from their affiliate peak sanctuaries, as well as other sanctuaries and sacred enclosures. 3. Dating of the peak-back robe Dating of the figurines from the peak sanctuaries is problematic and largely based on style since the exact context of the material was not recorded. This problem is compounded by the fact that some of the peak sanctuaries were in use throughout the Old and New Palace Periods; that of Jouktas even through LM IIIB.21 As recognized by Peatfield, the figurines painted in Kamares style are the most easily datable to the period MM I-II.22 Thus, figurines from Petsofas (Fig. 3.1) that have Kamares style decoration are dated to MM IB-II.23 The remaining figurines are undated, but stylistically relate to the Petsofas figurines and therefore are considered contemporary. The seals from Kastelli Pediados are also dated by style to MM I.24 4. Previous scholarship and interpretations The garment has received various interpretations. According to Myres, it was a variant of the costume of the later faience snake goddesses from Knossos and consisted of separates, a bell-shaped skirt, a girdle and a bodice open at the breasts.25 Myres published an interpretative drawing by Dawkins of a

17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

EVANS PM I, 124, Fig. 93, C1. EVANS PM II:1, 33, Fig. 15; CMS VI, no. 92a. EVANS PM I, 124, Fig. 93, B1 and C1. On the nature of various sites see BROWN and PEATFIELD 1987, 31-33. PEATFIELD 1987, 89-93. PEATFIELD 1987, 92. PEATFIELD 1987, 92. Heads from the palaces of Malia and Phaestos, with headgear characteristically worn with the tunic are dated archaeologically to MM II. See DETOURNAY 1980, 103 and LEVI 1976, I.2, 154. EVANS PM I, 124. MYRES 1902/3, 367-370, 384, Pl. VIII.

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figurine (Fig. 3.5), which he labeled “Reconstituted from the series in the Candia Museum,”26 but omitted from his publication the actual figurines on which the drawings were based. The identical markings, and shape, however, even to the same three-quarter view in the photograph of a figurine from Petsophas (Fig. 3.3), indicate that it must have served as the prototype for the reconstruction.27 Note the same white striped design on the skirt with groups of triple vertical lines alternating with triple diagonal lines and the exact striped design on the headdress, even including the small, white ∩-shaped area in the center of the forehead, possibly the mark of a center part for the hair. The comparison of the figurine with the drawing also emphasizes the differences: the addition in the drawing not only of a double belt, looped at the center but also the projected edging at the bodice that contours around the shoulders and breasts, forming a V as it reaches the waist, and incorporating a sleeve on the figurine’s right side. On the actual figurine no indication of a belt, sleeve or raised bodice edge around the shoulders and breasts appears to exist (Figs. 3.1-3.4). Further, as Ellen Davis observed, when Dawkins drew the figurine, he treated its restored peakback and left arm differently.28 The drawing acknowledges the left arm as missing by indicating it in dots but depicts the peak-back on the statuette as if it were original. Myres combined the “costume of the faience (snake goddesses) and terracotta figures” in his diagram of the “Cretan bodice,” and explained the construction as a completely frontless bodice (Fig. 3.43).29 Such a design does not account for the fabric flanking the breasts on the Phaestos torso (Fig. 3.36). It is likelier that the construction involved side seams to join the front to the back as seen on the later, LC IA Bending Lady from Thera which explains the construction of the Knossian Snake Goddesses’ dress as well. These Late Bronze Age dresses lack peak-backs and thus are unrelated. Instead, they have bands across their shoulders best indicated on the bare-necked crocus-gatherer from Thera (Fig. 4.10). A method of construction was thus proposed for this dress design based on the similar dress portrayed on the veiled maiden from Thera in which the shoulder band is actually the header band on a warp-weighted loom, that naturally has warp threads that could be made into tassels and is an integral part of this particular loom’s weaving process.30 The rectangular cloth would be cut in half across the width, with the header band at the top of the back, which would be joined to the top of the two front panels taken from the bottom half.

Fig. 3.43 26 27

28 29 30

MYRES 1902/3, 367-370, 384, Pl. VIII. MYRES 1902/3, 367-370, 384, Pl. VIII, neither referred to the real figurine, nor discussed the figurines in the Herakleion Museum on which he based his additions and interpretation. See confirmation of this in the study of the Petsophas figurines, especially HM 3431 by RUTKOWSKI 1991, 81. I am grateful to E. Davis for this observation. RUTKOWSKI 1991, 81, also recognized that the peak-back was not original. MYRES 1902-3, 384, Fig. 4. JONES 2003, 441-450, esp. 443-5.

MINOAN MIDDLE BRONZE AGE DRESSES

35

By contrast, the dresses on the Middle Minoan figurines do not have banded horizontal necklines at the back, but instead form peaks or ˄-shapes, and thus argue for entirely different construction methods. Evans first concurred with Myres’ interpretation of the peak-back costume as separates,31 but later reinterpreted it as a one-piece mantle based on Egyptian prototypes like that on the predynastic ivory figurine from Hierakonpolis (Fig. 3.44).32 Based on the garments represented on the seals from Pediados and Herakleion (Figs. 3.40-3.42),33 Evans proposed, “a thick wrap … that rests in a cope-like fashion behind the neck … the Minoan woman fastened the cloak round the waist with a cord, sometimes ending in tassels and seems to have made sleeves or even short sleeves for the arms” (Fig. 3.45).34 Evans’ reconstruction, however, shows little affinity either to the Hierakonpolis cloak (Fig. 3.44), which seems worn on the bias and, unless hemmed, would have had a long point descending in the back, or to his proposed description which includes sleeves. The cloak he reconstructs omits sleeves and simply outlines the general contours of the right hand figure on the seal from Kastelli Pediados (Fig. 3.40), without considering either the complex arrangement of cloth that would result in a peak at the back of the neck, sleeves, a full skirt and a fitted waistline or to the ancient artists’ conceptualization of such a garment.

Fig. 3.44

Fig. 3.45

If a rectangular cloak is meant, the pronounced peak could, as Evelyn Harrison had suggested to me, be an aesthetic convention derived from a fold in the center of the width.35 My experiments with a rectangular mantle, however, produced unsatisfactory results.36 Other scholars favor a two-piece costume along the lines of Myres’ suggestion of a fitted bodice and a bell-shaped skirt. According to Barber, “… clay figurines around 1900 B.C. … show women in large bell-shaped skirts with open-fronted bodices. Not only are these flaring skirts and open bodices features we associate with the Minoans but they are clearly old within the culture and basic to a Minoan woman’s concept of normal clothing. One of the little statuettes [Fig. 3.5] is both complete and painted, in an outfit reminiscent of the flamboyant ladies of 1780 at the court of George III … her bodice sweeps up to a high peaked collar behind her neck, while her dress has an equally bold light on dark design.”37 31 32 33 34 35 36

37

EVANS PM I, 153. After EVANS PM II. 32-33, n.4, Fig. 14a, 1-2 . EVANS PM I, 124, Fig. 93B1 and EVANS PM II:1, 33, Fig. 15. EVANS PM II, 32-33, Fig. 14d. I am grateful to E. Harrison for this suggestion. My experiment with a fold in the center of the cloth resulted in the fold collapsing immediately. I alternatively folded a length of cloth into a triangle and arranged it around the body with one point of the triangle behind the neck and the other two points brought under the arms, under the breasts, and then around to the front where I secured the garment at the waist with a belt. This attempt also proved flimsy and unconvincing. BARBER 1994, 110-111.

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According to Rutkowski, “The bodice, having a Medici-type standing collar and probably short sleeves covered the body tightly from the shoulders to the waist and was open in the front, thus leaving the breasts partly or completely bare. It appears that the upper garment, the bodice as well as the skirt, were probably made of piece[s] of woolen cloth 0.50 m. wide at the most, since the construction of the Bronze Age vertical loom made weaving wider fabrics impossible. The skirt will thus have consisted of several pieces of cloth sewn together, which probably gave birth to the flounced skirt later on.38 Although with its elegant lines, the Minoan costume is undoubtedly commensurate with courtly, palatial luxury, this study avoids such references as “pointed collar” and “Medici collar”39 because they imply an attached piece of cloth and because later historical styles are not only technologically, temporally and spatially unrelated to Minoan garb, but they tend to confuse the issue of construction. This study simply refers to the garment as the Minoan “peak-back” robe. 5. Stylistic evaluation With the corpus taken together, the garments’ peak, varying in height and width, widens and follows the shoulder line until we lose sight of it at about the end of the collar bone. The breasts are always clearly indicated and the Phaestos torso tells us that they are surrounded by a garment open at the front. A full skirt is always indicated that reaches to the floor and serves as a stand for the terracottas but ends above the ankles on the seals. A few of the skirts preserve traces of painted designs, suggesting that the textiles were decorated, probably in woven diagonal stripes or horizontal undulating motifs. Although Myres originally stated that many of the clay figurines were wheel-made,40 Rutkowski’s recent analysis suggests that they were made by hand – the skirts made of clay strips turned around a finger.41 Obviously the proficiency of the craftsman, aesthetics, and the fact that the skirts functioned as stands for the figurines, must be considered when assessing whether the bell- or flair- skirt shapes reflect their actual form. Belts secure garments on the Traostalos terracotta (Figs. 3.18-3.21), and on the seal from Herakleion (Fig. 3.42), and Rutkowski recognized that white belts are painted at the waists of two figures from Petsophas (Figs. 3.1-3.4, Figs. 3.6-3.9).42 Thus, belts were probably responsible for the garment’s close fit at the waistline. Cords tied around the waists like those that appear later in Thera may have been used, and deemed by the coroplasts too insignificant to represent. 6. Egyptian comparanda: the bag tunic When looking for a solution to the problem of construction, it is useful also to consider the methods used in Egypt, where direct and indirect contacts with Crete existed since the Early Bronze Age,43 and where the greatest number of garments from antiquity are not only portrayed in the monuments but are also remarkably well preserved. Although its neckline is different from the peak-back robe, the ubiquitous Egyptian bag-tunic may shed some light on its construction. Since bag-tunics are not only represented in Egyptian tomb paintings and sculpture from the Middle Kingdom (contemporary with the MM Peakback robe), to the New Kingdom, 44 and are remarkably also extant, it is instructive to compare the real

38 39 40 41 42 43 44

RUTKOWSKI 1991, 45. EVANS PM I, 152; ALEXIOU 1967, 486, Pl. 360; DAVARIS 1982, 17, no. 45; KARETSOU 1978, 256, Pl. 169e. MYRES 1902-3, 367. RUTKOWSKI 1991, 29. RUTKOWSKI 1991, 81, cat. nos. 1 and 2. See WARREN 1969, 106, for the importation and imitation by Minoans from late EM II to MM I of Egyptian stone vases of Dynasties VI-XII. Although the earliest extant and pictorial representations of Egyptian bag-tunics date to the Middle Kingdom and possibly even as far back as the First Intermediate Period (ca. 2134-2040), these early examples are isolated beginnings of a garment that gained great popularity during the New Kingdom when it was even favored by the pharaohs, see VOGELSANG-EASTWOOD 1993, 144, 150-153.

MINOAN MIDDLE BRONZE AGE DRESSES

37

garment with the artist’s representation of it.45 A fine example is the heavy linen tunic from the Tomb of Kha and his wife Merit from Deir el-Medina of the mid-18th Dynasty, ca. 1405-1352 (Fig. 3.46).46 It consists of a length of cloth folded in half across the width with a cut-out key-hole shaped opening for the head in the center of the fold. Tapestry woven bands were applied to the seamed sides, around the armholes, the hemline and around the standard key-hole shaped head opening in this fancy tunic. Typically, plain bag-tunics were simply seamed and unbanded as the construction drawing by Vogelsang-Eastwood illustrates (Fig. 3.47).47 Although men wore both long and short versions of the bag tunic, women wore only long versions. The Egyptian artists portray the loose garment as if its shape conforms to the anatomical lines of the women on both a Middle Kingdom coffin from Mo’alla (Fig. 3.48),48 and a New Kingdom Cosmetic Vase.49 The difference between the actual loose Egyptian tunic and the artist’s portrayal of it as tightly fitted provides crucial evidence for translating Minoan garments rendered as torso-hugging into having been much fuller and looser in reality.50

Fig. 3.46

45

46 47 48 49 50

In Egypt both men and women wore the bag-tunic but it is perhaps significant to note that Egyptian women wore only the full-length version, whereas men wore both long and short ones, see VOGELSANGEASTWOOD 1993, 130-1. HALL 1986a, 36-38, Fig. 26; VOGELSANG-EASTWOOD 1993, 131-154. VOGELSANG-EASTWOOD 1993, 135, Fig. 8:2. VOGELSANG-EASTWOOD 1993, 144-5, Fig. 8.7 WATTERSON 1998, Color Pl. 1. GREEN 1995-1996, 34.

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38

Fig. 3.47

Fig. 3.48

7. Near Eastern comparanda and replications: the tunic of Ishtar Since the Minoans adopted the ancient Near Eastern flounced skirt of deities and the priesthood, presumably along with aspects of religion51 (discussed in chapter 5), it is important to consider its dress designs. As in Greece, so in the Near East, actual textiles and garments have perished and are only preserved in art. One garment that is worthy of consideration for our subject is a tunic that dates to the contemporary Old Babylonian period. The garment is portrayed in two ways. One, on the goddess Ishtar in the Investiture painting from the palace of Mari, ca. 1750 (Fig. 3.49),52 illustrates a V-neck tunic that appears to be thigh-length, decorated at the hem by a border of triple horizontal stripes. A tabbed band also edges the cloth at Ishtar’s right arm-hole, whereas a dark band edges the border at her left side. A long wrap-around skirt that appears to have white, red and yellow vertical stripes, portrayed as open at the side, is worn over the tunic and reveals what appears to be the hem of the tunic with its striped border.

Fig. 3.49 51 52

JONES 2001, 259-269. See JONES 2013a, 133-139. For color illustration, see PARROT 1961, 279, Fig. 346.

MINOAN MIDDLE BRONZE AGE DRESSES

39

Diagrams of a possible method of constructing Ishtar’s costume are illustrated in Figures 3.50 and 3.51. Figures 3.52 and 3.53 show experimental replications of the front and back of the tunic arranged on a model. Fig. 3.54 illustrates the model wearing the complete costume and posed as Ishtar. The experimental tunic is constructed from a rectangular piece of cloth folded in half with a V-shaped opening cut in the center of the fold. The right side of the tunic is seamed except for an arm hole opening which was bordered with a tab-fringe; the left side of the tunic, bordered with a plain narrow band, remained open as it is exhibited in the other version. Three blue bands were sewn at the hem of the tunic in imitation of probable horizontal stripes in the original.53

Fig. 3.50

53

STIEGLITZ 1994, 48, discusses the religious rulings concerning the use of murex to color blue stripes on the ceremonial Jewish tallit or prayer shawl. The tunic of Ishtar may illustrate an earlier example of a similar practice.

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40

Fig. 3.51

Fig. 3.52

Fig. 3.53

MINOAN MIDDLE BRONZE AGE DRESSES

Fig. 3.54

41

Fig. 3.55

Ishtar’s skirt (Fig. 3.49) appears as a striped length of cloth wrapped around the waist and secured by a separate belt as replicated (Figs.3.51, 3.54), but one wonders why the vertical red band in the front and another at the back on the painting hang lower than the remaining hem.54 Are they streamers, and if so, prototypes for those on the wounded woman from Xeste 3, Thera (Figs. 4.19, 4.141, 4.143, 4.145)? The crossed breast-bands probably were added separately and placed on top of the tunic as they were on a silver statuette with attached gold cross-bands from Hasanoglan, ca. 2000 B.C. (Fig. 3.55).55 In her role as the goddess of love and war on the Investiture painting, Ishtar’s weapons must have projected from a quiver attached to the cross bands in the back, similar to the one worn by the Asiatic archer from the Middle Kingdom tomb of Knum-Hotep at Beni Hasan.56 A different arrangement of what appears to be the same style tunic appears on the Syrian goddess who reveals her nudity. A particularly good engraving of the garment exists on a goddess, identified by Porada as Ishtar, on the seal of Ana-sin-taklaku, dated to the reign of king Zimri-Lim of Mari, ca. 17811758 (Fig. 3.56).57

Fig. 3.56 54 55 56 57

For color illustration see PARROT 1961, 279, Fig. 346. AKURGAL 1962, 41, Pls. VIII and 22. It is possible that the figurine was once fitted with clothing, now perished, in addition to the metal breast-band, nipples, and ankle bracelets. MAZAR 1958, 114, archer at bottom left. PORADA 1985, Fig. 19. For another good example of this tunic see PORADA 1957, 193, Fig. 1.

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As illustrated in my diagram (Fig. 3.57), the tunic probably is a full-length version of the one worn by Ishtar in the Investiture painting (Figs. 3.49, 3.52-3.53). In both tunics, the right side is seamed except for the armhole area, which is bordered with a tabbed fringe or striped band, and the un-seamed side is banded, likely to reinforce the edge. The un-seamed left side and the hem were bordered with what appears to be a striped band. In the replicated tunic (Figs. 3.58-3.59), striped bands were substituted for the band at the side, at the hem , and the area around the armhole. With the tunic placed on the model, its open left side was brought across to her right hip, in imitation of that of Ishtar revealing her nudity on the seal of Ana-sin-Taklaku (Fig. 3.60a).

Fig. 3.57

MINOAN MIDDLE BRONZE AGE DRESSES

Fig. 3.58

43

Fig. 3.59

Fig. 3.60a

Fig. 3.60b

Like that on the Investiture painting, Ishtar’s tunic on the seal of Ana-sin-Taklaku was presumably white. The tunics were likely made of linen, if we can judge by the textual evidence in The Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi, (or the Descent of Inanna), where the goddess preferred fine linen over coarse wool, and her bridegroom “Dumuzi waited expectantly” while “she covered her body with the royal white robe.”58

58

WOLKSTEIN and KRAMER 1983, 30-31, 33, 35.

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Further, the color and design of the Old Babylonian Mari tunics originated as far back as the Uruk period, c. 3300-3000 B.C. On the representation of Sumerian Inanna on the alabaster vase from Uruk (Fig. 3.60b), we see that she is wearing the identical tunic design that is portrayed on Ishtar from Mari (Figs. 3.49 and 3.56), especially the long version on the seal of Ana-sin-taklaku (Fig. 3.56). 59 The same banding appears on the open side and on the hem (compare Inanna’s tunic on the vase (Fig. 3.60b) with the diagrams of construction (Fig. 3.57) and the modeled tunic (Figs. 3.58-3.60a). On the seal (Fig. 3.56), the open side is pulled to Ishtar’s right hip to reveal her body; on the vase (Fig. 3.60b), Inanna pulls the open side of the tunic slightly to her left with her left hand. On the seal, she is clearly the goddess of sexuality and fertility; on the vase, at the gates of her storehouse, she embodies the same role as she greets her consort Dumuzi and begins to open her robe to expose herself at the advent of their sacred marriage.60 On both seal and vase she wears the long tunic, which, like the shorter version on the Investiture painting,61 was presumably white. Thus, the scene on the vase is likely the pictorial equivalent of the passage from the text of The Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi: “Dumuzi went to the royal house with milk. Before the door, he called out: ‘Open the house, My Lady, open the house!’ …… Inanna …… bathed and anointed herself with scented oil. She covered her body with the royal white robe [italics mine] …… She readied her dowry ……. Dumuzi waited expectantly.”62 Such connections between art and literature cannot be made in Middle Bronze Age Crete, where the earliest scripts, contemporary with the foundations of the first palaces and with women wearing peakback robes, are administrative and still in the process of being deciphered. 63 8. Peak-back robe replications With the data thus collected, and with my belief that the pronounced peak is an intentional design element, I would like to suggest some alternative possibilities to an attached triangular piece of cloth for the construction of the peak-back robe. Like the Egyptian bag-tunic and the Near Eastern tunic of Ishtar, my replication begins with a loom-shaped rectangular cloth folded in half. For the neck/head opening, instead of the Egyptian key-hole cut-out but similar to the Near Eastern V-shaped cut-out, two deep diagonal cuts in the center form a deep V as this diagram illustrates (Fig. 3.61). When the cloth was folded in half (Fig. 3.62A-D), and the side seams sewn together except for arm-hole openings at the top, it became a full length dress with a deep V-shaped flap that reached below the breasts and allowed for a head opening. When the flap was raised, a deep front opening resulted. The high triangular peak was then folded in on itself (like an envelope), and sewn, which doubled the cloth and resulted in a lower, sturdier, peak. Figure 3. 62 presents two versions: A and C, left top and bottom, are straight sided – A is closed down the front, and C open at the front, whereas version B and D, right top and bottom, have tapered sides with B closed in the front, and D open down the front. Replication A, made of a linen blend fabric, is modeled here in front and back views (Figs. 3.63-3.64), and four views of it with tasseled belt (Figs. 3.65-3.68), following the costume on the seal from Herakleion (Fig. 3.42). Replication B, with tapered sides, also made of a linen blend fabric, is modeled here unbelted in four views (Fig. 3.69-3.72), and belted (Figs. 3.73-3.76), as on the figurine from Traostalos (Figs. 3.18-3.21).

59

60 61 62 63

DE SHONG MEADOR 2000, 92 translated a passage of Enheduanna’s poem, Inanna and Ebih to read that Inanna “wear[s] the robes of the old, old gods.” Intriguing as it is, especially since Enheduanna, even earlier in the Akkadian period, would also be noting the great antiquity of the garment, and give textual support to the visual evidence, the translation may be incorrect since the passage is translated differently by ATTINGER 1998, 164-195. HANSEN 2003, 23-25, Figs. 9-10. For the Investiture Painting in color see PARROT 1961, Pl. 346. WOLKSTEIN and KRAMER 1983, 35. See REHAK and YOUNGER 2001, 422-3, for an overview of scripts with bibliography.

MINOAN MIDDLE BRONZE AGE DRESSES

Fig. 3.61

Fig. 3.63

Fig. 3.62

Fig. 3.64

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46

Fig. 3.65

Fig. 3.66

Fig. 3.67

Fig. 3.69

Fig. 3.71

Fig. 3.70

Fig. 3.72

Fig. 3.68

MINOAN MIDDLE BRONZE AGE DRESSES

Fig. 3.73

Fig. 3.74

Fig. 3.75

Fig. 3.76

47

The proposed solution is a simple but elegant garment, a robe that could be worn alone or in combination with an overskirt and belt. When worn alone without an overskirt, the robe would have been full-length to satisfy the representations. When worn under an overskirt, the lower part would have served as a petticoat, possibly providing the bulk to account for the sometimes “bell-shaped” depictions. We would do well to remember that the Minoan artists of the Middle Bronze Age excelled in curvilinear forms, and translated skirts into petaloid loop designs prevalent on Kamares ware pottery.64 These artistic 64

See the terracotta pedestal stand and bowl from Phaestos (Figs. 3.87-3.89), LEVI 1976, I.2, 90, 96, 204, Pl. LXV, LXVI, LXVIIa, and Fig. 20. IMMERWAHR 1990, 33, Pls. II, III, also notes that the “dancers, whose bodies have been developed from the ‘petaloid loop,’ sway and bend with extended arms and feet projecting below their skirts.” See also STAMOS 2001, 63-69.

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constructs are in evidence in the anatomy of the terracotta figurines whose wide skirts served a dual purpose: both to exaggerate the hips and thighs, and to serve as a firm stand for the figurines. We should remember, too, the more naturalistic depictions of the skirts on the seals that conformed to the anatomy in the area of the hips but flared toward the hem. Although possibly also exaggerated in their size and curvilinear forms, the peaks at the back of the robes appear to be a distinctive element of the garment rather than, for example, an exaggerated fold. My suggested replication not only allows for the peaks as a natural development of the arrangement of the rectangular cloth, rather than as a sewn on addition, but satisfies the requirement of open bodices with sleeves, and conforms to the basic method of construction of tunics folded in half crosswise in the length with the head opening cut in the center of the fold that existed in contemporary Egypt and the Near East. B. The high-neck (peak-back?) robe Five terracotta figurines from MM II Hagia Triada recently came to light during excavations by Vincenzo LaRosa (Fig. 3.77).65 Missing only their heads and hands, the otherwise well preserved figurines are narrow at the waists and bell shaped below. Rolled belts are attached at the waists of three of the five figurines. Black paint on the best preserved figurine indicates a garment with elbow-length sleeves, high neckline in front and back, and a long skirt (Fig. 3.78). A long belt indicated in terracotta color is tied at the waist and hangs down to just below the hem in center front. Its projecting ends are probably indicative of round tassels. Judging from the attached belts on the other figurines, the terracotta color belt presumably marks the area once covered by an attached rolled belt. Although lacking evidence for the front necklines, the garment and its particular tasseled belt seem related to that on the red jasper seal from Herakleion (Fig. 3.42), another fine red jasper seal recently excavated at Petras (Fig. 3.79),66 a stone seal from Knossos (Fig. 3.80) and a shell demon plaque from Hagia Triada (Fig. 3.81).67 The dark paint on our figurine omits any details of the garment’s construction but it suggests the possibility of a peak back. The shape of the high neckline in front is unclear but the fabric from the opening would presumably be enough to be flipped back to form a peak if manufactured similarly to that suggested for the peak-back robes with deep open fronts discussed above. Although no paint traces remain on a contemporary rhyton in the shape of a fine terracotta female figure from Phaestos (Fig. 3.82),68 its contours, especially the bell shaped skirt, mirror those of the Hagia Triada figurines (Figs. 3.77-3.78), and thus suggest a similar garment.

Fig. 3.77 65 66 67 68

LA ROSA 2010, 193, Fig. 18.4. I am indebted to L. Girella for kindly alerting me to these figurines and for facilitating permission with V. La Rosa for publishing them. KRZYSZKOWSKA 2012, 152-153, Cover and Fig. 7a. The tasseled belts were incised and painted dark blue. See PERNIER 1902, 129, Pl. VIII.1; ZERVOS 1956, Fig. 518; NILSSON 1950, 372-3; DEMARGNE 1964, 160, Fig. 217; HOOD 1978, 116, 257. LEVI 1976, Pl. 221d, e.

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49

Fig. 3.78

Fig. 3.79

Fig. 3.80

Fig. 3.81

Fig. 3.82

C. The Minoan double-V-necked dress Only one other Minoan dress design appears to have co-existed with the peak-back robe, and it is preserved in the archaeological record on a lone figurine. Alexandra Karetsou published the terracotta female figurine dated to MM II in 1977 after it was unearthed during her excavations of the terrace of the

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peak sanctuary at Mount Juktas.69 It is now in the Herakleion Archaeological Museum, HM 21916, depicted here with its left arm restored (Fig. 3.83).70 Despite missing its forearms, right leg and left leg below the thigh, the summarily formed figurine reveals a unique garment. Contrasting with the white head and neck of the figurine, the dark garment covers the breasts, has a high V-shaped neckline in front and back, at least elbow length sleeves, and reaches in length down to the break at thigh level. Encircling the waist is a thick belt of lighter color, looped in the front. Not only is the dress design unique in Crete, but it is completely different from the contemporary peak-back robe, discussed above, that appeared on another statuette from Juktas, found nearby at the ash altar (Figs. 3.30-3.31).71 Whereas the courtly peakback robe costumes are a fitting match for the sophisticated palatial architecture that emerges simultaneously at the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age on Crete, the tubular Juktas dress (without the flare at the thigh), that covers the breasts and lacks an accompanying headdress, appears to mark the figurine as of a different status. Nevertheless, one wonders how this intriguing garment, with V-neckline not only at front but also unexpectedly at back, was constructed.

Fig. 3.83

As discussed above, experiments with the multitude of modern possibilities that can achieve the design are of little help when we are trying to determine the ancient construction method. Thus, we turn again to the methods used in Egypt. Indeed, a survey of Egyptian dresses actually revealed a design with V-necklines at both front and back, sleeves, and cylindrical skirt which is remarkably similar to the dress on the terracotta female figurine from Juktas. It is preserved in linen on over fifteen examples ranging from the First to the Eleventh Dynasty72 including the earliest extant garment, from the First Dynasty (ca. 2800 B.C.), from Tarkhan (Fig. 3.84),73 and two from the Fifth Dynasty at Deshasha (Figs. 3.85a-3.85b).74 These are typically made of three pieces of linen fabric as illustrated in the diagram (Fig. 3.86).75 A large rectangular cloth seamed along one side to form a cylinder served as the skirt of the dress (Fig. 3.86d and b) and two shaped pieces of the same size served as the bodice and sleeves (Fig. 3.86a, c, and b). The two bodice and sleeve sections (Fig. 3.86a and c) were sewn along their lower edges to the top of the skirt with either a simple, open seam or an overcast seam, and under the arms (either an open seam or an overcast seam), but the short edges of the cloth are left open to produce the V-shaped neck opening at both the front and back of the garment (Fig. 3.86b-c). The openings were normally fastened using strings (various

69 70 71 72 73 74 75

Figurine from Juktas, Herakleion Archaeological Museum inv. no. 21916; KARETSOU 1977 B’, 419-420, Pl.222γ; and KARETSOU 1981, 147, 149, Fig. 18. For detailed discussion, see JONES 2011, 75-79. Drawing by R. RUPPERT after photos by author. Figurine from Juktas, KARETSOU 1978, 256, Pl. 169ε. VOGELSANG-EASTWOOD 1993, 112-125, esp. 114 and 124. VOGELSANG-EASTWOOD 1993, 115, Pl. 26 and jacket. VOGELSANG-EASTWOOD 1993, 116, Pl. 27. VOGELSANG-EASTWOOD 1993, 120, Fig. 7-20; 122, Fig. 7-22.

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lengths and numbers have been recorded) made from twisted flax (Fig. 3.86b-c).76 Because of the dress lengths, Petrie surmised that they would be belted, although no belts were preserved.77

Fig. 3.84

Fig. 3.85a

Fig. 3.86 76 77

VOGELSANG-EASTWOOD 1993, 119-21. VOGELSANG-EASTWOOD 1993, 116-17.

Fig. 3.85b

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This intriguing style, with V-necklines at both front and back, sleeves, and cylindrical skirt is remarkably similar to the dress on the terracotta female figurine from Juktas (Fig. 3.83). One wonders whether the Minoan double V-necked dress was constructed along the lines of the Egyptian and, if so, whether it was indeed, influenced by the Egyptian. Although an open question, this is a time when Egyptian contacts with Crete are most evident in the importation and imitation by Minoans of contemporary Egyptian scarabs,78 of Egyptian stone vases from Dynasties VI-XII, during late EMII to MM II,79 the MM adoption and transformation of the popular Egyptian hippopotamus goddess Taweret into the Minoan Genius.80 In addition, as Davis reminds us, the adoption by Minoans of the Egyptian color code of brown skin for males and white skin for females which arrived in Crete by the time of the Protopalatial period when it influenced the artists who made the terracotta figurines,81 of which the one from Juktas is a fine example. If all of these were adopted and imitated by the Minoans, there is little reason to doubt that something as obvious and portable as this dress was among them. In addition, believing that the Egyptians did not work with wool, Barber goes further to suggest that “foreigners, presumably women and probably Aegean, were busy weaving in the Faiyum in the 12th Dynasty” in order to explain the “hand-full of weaver’s waste of spun wool in three different colors,” found by Petrie in Kahun.82 Her suggestion that, “it is not necessarily the case that everything was imported from across the Mediterranean. Some of the people may have moved too,”83 can also be aimed in the reverse direction with the possibility of the double V-necked dress being brought to Crete on the backs of Egyptian women. Judging by the find spots of the dresses - Tarkhan just north, and Deshasha just south, of Kahun - such a scenario becomes quite tempting. It is also worth noting that although the preserved Egyptian double V-necked dresses span a period of at least a thousand years, from the First to the Eleventh Dynasty, there are surprisingly no depictions of it in Egyptian art, despite the variety of representations of Egyptian dresses in various media. 84 Interestingly, this situation correlates with the unique Minoan double V-necked dress, which stands alone against the plethora of iconic peak back robe costumes that appear on a multitude of Middle Minoan figures and found nowhere else, therefore completely indigenous to Crete. We are thus confronted with the curious situation where, in two different cultures, we get a glimpse of a similar dress style that is, for the most part, virtually ignored in art. Aside from the obvious explanation that we are dealing with the accidents of preservation, the fact that the Egyptian garments were excavated from provincial cemeteries85 might suggest that they were worn by ordinary women involved in the mundane chores of daily life, thus not worthy of recording. But the sophisticated design of the dress and the fact that the Egyptians recorded virtually every aspect of daily life in their tombs, including the far simpler, ubiquitous bag-tunic,86 garment of servant and pharaoh alike, argue against such an interpretation. By contrast, the Minoan figurine with double V-necked dress came from the same type of site as the numerous figurines with the peak-back robe: the peak sanctuary. The peak sanctuary at Juktas, the finest example of its kind with well preserved terraces and foundations of monumental architecture including a stepped altar, was likely “the public open-air sanctuary of the Knossos area in the Old Palace period,” 87 and is usually compared with the one from Petsofas, associated with the town of Palaikastro, where many figurines with the peak-back robe costume were found.88 Because of the Knossos connection with the Juktas sanctuary and because figurines depicted in the peak-back robe costume were also found at the MM palace at Phaestos,89 we know that those elegant garment wearers were members of the palatial elite. 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89

ARUZ 1987, 127-131, 133, 163-181a, 235, 243. WARREN 1969, 106. WEINGARTEN 2000, 114-119. DAVIS 2000, 64. BARBER 1991, 351-2. BARBER 1991, 351. VOGELSANG-EASTWOOD 1993, 122, 124. VOGELSANG-EASTWOOD 1993, 124. VOGELSANG-EASTWOOD 1993, 124, 153, 180-1. KARETSOU 1981, 145. KARETSOU 1981, 145, note 20; RUTKOWSKI 1991, 19, passim. LEVI 1976, Fig. 221b, Color Pl. LXIXc.

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At Juktas, the peak back robe statuette (Fig. 3.30) was found at the ash altar,90 virtually confirming the identification of it as a votive offering. The figurine wearing the double V-necked dress, one of “about 300 clay figurines of worshippers” (mostly male), was found on the terrace leading up to the altar,91 so clearly having a similar purpose. The two different dress designs on the figurines suggest the possibility that two different segments of the population were present at the sanctuary, both involved in similar rites. Whether the less elegant but still sophisticated double V-necked design indicates a different role or status for the wearer remains an open question. In sum, this small, fragmentary figurine with its unique design provides an important addition to the corpus of Cretan dress styles, especially in the Middle Minoan period. If its’ close Egyptian dress parallels hold, they may provide us with tantalizing information about its construction and origins. At the same time, the figurine raises more questions than answers in terms of the role of its wearer and its unique example. It is also interesting to note that if the construction conclusions presented here are correct concerning both Minoan designs and the tunic of Ishtar, along with the known designs of the Egyptian bag tunic and the double V-shaped dress, all are based on cloth rectangles folded at the shoulder. As we shall see in the next chapter, this is entirely different from dress designs in the subsequent Late Bronze Age/New Palace period where shoulder bands and side seams signal front and back cloth panels sewn together. The Late Bronze Age dress design will be replaced by the still different subsequent Daedalic dress, and the chiton and peplos which were all cloth rectangles wrapped horizontally around the body and fastened at the shoulders with pins or buttons. D. The petaloid loop “garment” An indeterminate garment, reduced to a curved oval ornament, the interior decorated with rows of stippling, is depicted on seven women painted on the top and base of a clay pedestal (Fig. 3.87),92 and the two flanking women painted on a bowl (Fig. 3.89),93 both from MM IIB Phaestos. Weingarten has identified the garment as a hide skirt,94 and Long has suggested that it may be the ancestor of the hide skirts, also with rounded hem and stippling, worn by women on the LM IIIA Hagia Triada sarcophagus.95 Walberg, however, has demonstrated that the curved oval with rows of stippling is simply a decorative motif, the “petaloid-loop,” which, characteristic of Kamares ware designs, is used here to represent the bodies of women.96 The feet sticking out of the bottom, however, suggest that the loop does allude to a garment, but caution must be exercised in attempting a specific identification, even if stylistically similar to the hide skirt discussed in detail in Chapter 8. Kamares ware artists often transformed objects into petaloid loops, for example, the whorl on the forehead of a bull-headed rhyton from Phaestos.97 More frequently however, the petaloid loop is simply a design, as it is on the base of a Kamares ware bowl from Phaestos, ca. MMIB-II.98 E. Cloaks and wraps Although there is little doubt that lengths of cloth were worn for warmth in this period, little is preserved. One wonders whether the schematically rendered garments on the figures decorating the rim of a pedestal stand (Figs. 3.87 and 3.88, detail) and the central figure on the interior of a bowl (Fig. 3.89) from MM IIB Phaestos are cloaks.99 The simple lines of the garments widen to the feet from a point at the neck, a kind of triangle bent at the top. This schematic treatment of reducing volume into a minimum of 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99

KARETSOU 1981, 146, note 30; KARETSOU 1978, 256, Pl. 169ε. KARETSOU 1981, 146. LEVI 1976, 90, 204, Pl. LXVI. LEVI 1976, 96, Pl. LXVIIa and Fig. 20. WEINGARTEN 1985, 178. For the hide skirt worn by men see NILSSON 1950, figs. 62-64; for women see EVANS PM I, 440, Fig. 317; LONG 1974, 37. WALBERG 1986, 17, 30, Fig. 13. LEVI 1976, Pl. XLVIIbc, and LXVIIIa. LEVI 1976, Pl. XLVIIb-c. LEVI 1976, 90-91, Pl. LXV and LXVI.

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lines looks forward to the shorthand technique of rendering cloaks on the miniature male figures from LC Ia Thera (Fig. 9.36).100 The dots on the Phaestos garments may indicate textile design as suggested by Immerwahr,101 or even beads. Yet, since dotted spirals, and curved and straight dotted lines proliferate on the rim they are just as likely to represent a simple Kamares ware motif like the stipples on Phaestos pottery.102 Like the other figures on the pedestal stand and bowl, the bending figures at the rim lack Minoan parallels. Most scholars interpret them as women bowing in worship before the goddess in the center of the top of the pedestal.103 Immerwahr goes so far as to suggest that they may be gathering saffron and thus possibly ancestors of the saffron gathering maidens from Thera.104 Their hair, however, is not rendered in curled locks like the Theran girls. Instead, it responds to their bent heads by falling down in a mass in front of their foreheads. Similar hairstyle, bent bodies and arms lowered are characteristic of Egyptian mourners, 105 which suggests that our figures, too, are mourners. Conforming to the figures’ bent bodies, the garments form a bent triangle. But are these garments different from the rest or is the artisan simply illustrating a profile view of the same, substituting the curved hemline of the petaloid loop with a straight one to conform to the horizontal edge at the rim of the vessel? Additionally, one could argue that the arms on the bent figures could emanate from a cloak with a center front opening (Figs. 3.87-3.88), and the red triangle could represent a cloak enclosing the arms of the figure on the bowl (Fig. 3.89).106 For the moment, these questions remain unanswered, but there is no reason to doubt that simple cloaks were worn by the Minoans in the Middle Minoan period. In the Near East, cloaks were worn by helmeted and armed soldiers at least as early as ED IIIA (ca. 2550-2400) on the Standard of Ur from the Royal Cemetery at Ur,107 their dress and headgear reminiscent of that of the warriors in the Theran ships (Fig. 9.35).

Fig. 3.87 100 101 102 103 104 105

106 107

DOUMAS 1992, 85, Fig. 48. IMMERWAHR 1990, 34. LEVI 1976, Pl. LXVIIIa and XXXIa. GESELL 1983, 186; IMMERWAHR 1990, 34. IMMERWAHR 1990, 34. Mourners at the mummy of Osiris. Stele C15 of Abkaou, XI Dynasty, from Abydos, in the Louvre (GAYET 1889, Pl. LIV), and mourner from Tomb of Amenemhat, Thebes (WERBROUCK 1938, 159, Fig. 182). See full discussion in JONES, METAPHYSIS (forthcoming). JONES, METAPHYSIS (forthcoming). HANSEN 2008, 98.

MINOAN MIDDLE BRONZE AGE DRESSES

Fig. 3.88

55

Fig. 3.89

Only one clear wrap appears in the archaeological record from this period and it is very poorly preserved. The crudely rendered cloth is wrapped across the front and back of the torso and around the right shoulder of a fragmentary male figurine from Tylissos (Fig. 3.90).108 Striated upper and lower edges are possible indications of fringes or of striped bands. The method of wrapping and edge decoration looks forward to the wrap on the Ivory Triad from Mycenae of LH IIIB discussed in Chapter 9 (Figs. 4.154.18).

Fig. 3.90

108

SAPOUNA-SAKELLARAKI 1971, 23-24, Fig. 4, no. 50, Pl. 16α-β.

CHAPTER 4 LATE BRONZE AGE DRESSES A. The Minoan open front dress Among the most fascinating garments in antiquity, the Minoan breast-baring dress has intrigued scholars since Evan’s first publication of the Knossos Temple Repositories’ faience “snake goddesses” HM 63 (Fig. 4.1), and HM 65 (Figs. 4.2-4.6), dated MM IIIB.1 Rare examples of sculptures in the round with preserved surface decoration, they provide important information for dress design. On both, the garment is open to below the waist in front and exposes the breasts. Beneath them, laces tie the center front edges together in looped knots. Raised bands appear across the shoulders and at sleeve and center front edges. On HM 65 (Figs. 4.2-4.6), the raised bands differ from the flat four blue stripes (two in front and two in back) that decorate the orange fabric.2

Fig. 4.1

1

2

Fig. 4.2

Fig. 4.6

EVANS 1902-3, 80-81; EVANS PM I, Frontispiece, 502-504, Figs. 360-362; MARINATOS 1967, A29-30; WARDLE 1988, 471, Fig. 1; 1979, 70-72; BARBER 1991, 315, 317-18, n. 6; JONES 2001, 259-269; JONES, Saluting E.N. Davis (forthcoming); LAPATIN 2002, 59-64, 76-81, Figs. 2.19, 2.20, 3.4; CHAPIN 2008, 66, 68. For additional color illustrations of the statuette see JONES 2000, 39 and VASILAKIS 1998, 85. The stripes, four in front and four in back, begin at the shoulder band. Two flank the neck and two are placed near the sleeve hems at back and front. Wide at the shoulder band, they all taper to narrow lines as they reach the waist. Those at the sleeve edges form acute diagonals as they run from the shoulders, under the arms, to the waist. FOSTER 1979, 72, has interpreted them as suspenders, but their diagonal directions and the presence of a belt to secure the skirt argue against suspenders. CHAPIN 2008, 66, 68, proposed a multiple seamed construction based on cutting and sewing strips of cloth to achieve the formed fit. In antiquity, however, cutting precious hand-woven cloth was surely kept to a minimum to avoid excessive unraveling. Therefore, other options for the bodice of HM 65 are considered here.

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58

Fig. 4.3

Fig. 4.7a

Fig. 4.4

Fig. 4.5

Fig. 4.7b

Traces of stripes and laces similar to HM 65 appear above the waist on a third fragmentary faience figurine from the Temple Repositories, HM 64 (Fig. 4.7a).3 The size of the reconstructed torso of HM 64 (Fig. 4.7b) was modeled after that of HM 63.4 The lateral contours of the center front bands and adjacent stripes of HM 64 are virtually identical with those of HM 65, and like them, presumably frame the exposed breasts and rise up similarly to the shoulders as reconstructed (Fig. 4.7b). The side stripes at the upper arms were reconstructed after both HM 65 and HM 58 (Fig. 4.8a-b). Joined to the torso was a faience left forearm (HM 66), which Panagiotaki and Evans associated with HM 64 because of its size, with Evans placing it in front of HM 64 in his assemblage of the Temple Repository material.5 Preserved 3 4 5

EVANS PM I, 523, Fig. 382. For detailed account of the reconstruction, see JONES, Saluting E.N. Davis (forthcoming). EVANS 1902-1903, 79-80 and 92, Fig. 63 for photo (at right in front of HM 63 and HM 64); PANAGIOTAKI 1999, 98, 101, Pl. 16e, far left, no. 213, Pl. 17; PANAGIOTAKI 1993, 58, Fig. 2 top, for drawings of the arm in profile view and its clenched hand in frontal view. The arm (L: 6.5 cm) was

LATE BRONZE AGE DRESSES

59

from part of the sleeve band to the clenched fist, the arm is un-flexed at the elbow and has an undulating bracelet at the wrist. A spotted snake lies across the knuckles of the hand and curves up to the break at the sleeve band. The reconstructed arm is based on Evans’ drawing which gives a clear view of the outstretched arm, clenched fist and snake which, like the arm of HM 63, reached to the center of the arm band at the front of the figurine.6 As on HM 63, the snake likely continued to curve up the sleeve and shoulder. The reconstruction includes a mirror image of it as the figure’s right arm. Reaching to her apron at the back, her hairstyle was presumably similar to that of HM 65 (Fig. 4.4), although narrower and shorter, and different from the upswept coiffure of HM 63 (Fig. 8.3).

Fig. 4.8a

Fig. 4.8b

Fig. 4.9

Similar bands and stripes adorn two faience dress plaques, HM 58 (Fig. 4.8), and HM 59 (Fig. 4.9), from the same site and the former illustrates that the open front can be brought together at the center to cover the breasts.7 Although the long hair of HM 65 obscures the back neckline (Fig. 4.4), the bare neck, visible on the contemporary Thera blue-headed crocus gatherer who wears the same style dress, shows that the shoulder band continued across the back of the neck to the sleeve edges (Fig. 4.10).8 Thus, it differs from the V-neck-back, and the peak-back designs of Middle Minoan dresses. It does maintain, however, the open breast-baring front of the peak-back robe. In order to arrive at conclusions as to the construction of this dress design, the study examines every clothed figure represented in Aegean art for clues of seams, bands, laces, details of sewing, warp-weightedloom cloth production, preserved Egyptian textiles and garment manufacture, and Linear B texts. It then experimentally replicates the best preserved examples in art of the garment and its variations. It begins with the finest examples from Thera: the long open-front dress design of the blue-headed crocus gatherer (Fig. 4.10), the veiled maiden (Fig. 4.11), the crocus basket-emptier (Fig. 4.12), and the necklace bearer (Fig. 4.13). Shorter versions, with their lengths/hems obscured by kilts or skirts, appear, among others, on snake “goddess” HM 65 from Knossos (Fig. 4.2), the crouching woman or “goddess” from Hagia Triada (Fig. 4.14a-c), the women on the Ivory Triad from Mycenae (Figs. 4.15-4.18), and the wounded lady from Thera (Fig. 4.19).

6 7 8

also found in the Temple Repositories along with two others and a hand. PANAGIOTAKI 1993, 58, Fig. 2 top. EVANS PM I, 506, Fig. 364a,b. DOUMAS 1992, 156, Pl. 120.

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60

Fig. 4.10

Fig. 4.12

Fig. 4.11

Fig. 4.13

LATE BRONZE AGE DRESSES

61

Fig. 4.14a

Fig. 4.14b

Fig. 4.14c

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62

Fig. 4.15

Fig. 4.16

Fig. 4.17

Fig. 4.18

Fig. 4.19

LATE BRONZE AGE DRESSES

63

A variation, closed at center front below the waist, appears on the kneeling woman from Hagia Triada (Fig. 4.20a), reconstructed from fragments from the North wall of room 14 (Fig. 4.20b), the little girls from the Southwest house (Fig. 4.2a-b, 4.22) and the Ivory Triad from Mycenae (Fig. 4.15), the bucket carrier on the Hagia Triada sarcophagus (Fig. 4.23), possibly the bending lady from Thera (Figs. 4.24), and the Mykenaia from Mycenae (Fig. 4.25). The dress is brought together to cover the breasts on the faience dress plaque from Knossos (Fig. 4.8), likely on the little girls from the Southwest house fresco (Figs. 4.21-22), and the Ivory Triad from Mycenae (Fig. 4.15), the bucket carrier and the lyre player on the Hagia Triada sarcophagus (Fig. 4.23), and clearly on the Mykenaia from Mycenae (Fig. 4.25).

Fig. 4.20a

Fig. 4.20b

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64

Fig. 4.21a

Fig. 4.21b

Fig. 4.22

Fig. 4.23

LATE BRONZE AGE DRESSES

65

Fig. 4.24

Fig. 4.25

1. Bands Although their decorative nature frequently belies their functional purposes, bands are among the most revealing indicators of construction. They cover seams, finish cut and raw edges, and mask the tops of applied flounces. In the case of Aegean dresses, they also likely provide evidence for how the cloth was woven at the loom and cut to create the open V-shaped front. Frequently, shoulder bands on Aegean dresses are different in manufacturing technique, width, and decorative motifs from bands at sleeve and center front edges. Well preserved examples from Thera include the necklace bearer (Fig. 4.13)9, the 9

DOUMAS 1992, 138, Pl. 101.

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crocus gatherer with black hair (Fig. 4.26),10 the goddess (Figs. 4.27-4.28),11 the crocus basket emptier (Figs. 4.12, 4.27),12 and, from Crete, Lady A from Pseira dated late LM IA or early LM IB (Fig. 4.165).13 This differentiation could simply indicate another vehicle for greater variety and richness in Minoan clothing design or even aesthetics. But, from the point of view of weaver Valerie Bealle, it likelier signals a specific manufacturing technique related to the warp-weighted loom.14

Fig. 4.26

Fig. 4.27 10 11 12 13 14

DOUMAS 1992, 154, Pl. 118. DOUMAS 1992, 162, Pls. 123, 125. DOUMAS 1992, 160-161, Pls. 123-4. SHAW 1998, color Pl. A and H (left fig). I am grateful to V. Bealle for permission to publish her idea.

LATE BRONZE AGE DRESSES

67

Fig. 4.28

2. Warp-weighted loom To prepare for weaving on the warp weighted loom, which was used by the Minoans and is clearly depicted on the Amasis Painter Vase, ca. 530 BCE (Fig. 4.29),15 the warp threads must emanate from the header band, which is tied to the beam at the top of the loom (Fig. 4.30).16 The header bands have their own warp fringes at their lateral ends. According to Bealle, the Theran shoulder bands with their tasseled fringes are similar to header bands and are likely one and the same. Indeed, in her book on the warpweighted loom, Hoffman describes two different types of headers, a “heading cord” and a “starting border” otherwise known as a header band.17 The twisted yellow cord on the dress of the necklace bearer from Thera (Fig. 4.13), could exemplify the former, whereas the decorative bands that appear on all other preserved Aegean dress representations could well typify the latter. If, indeed, the loom’s header band was used as a shoulder band for the Minoan dress, one method of dress manufacture is illustrated in Figure 4.31. Woven into and beneath the header band could be a cloth of double dress length from which, after being cut across the center and thereby yielding two halves, the top half would serve as the back of the dress and the bottom half would serve as the front (Fig. 4.31A). One of the distinct advantages of the warpweighted loom over other looms, the fact that it can produce cloth of great length,18 would support this hypothesis. The bottom half (front) could have been cut in half lengthwise to make two parts for the front of the robe. The dichotomy between the banded center front edges at the top of the robe (bodice) and the 15 16 17 18

VON BOTHMER 1985, 185-187. See HOFFMAN 1964, 41 for “heading cord” and 63-67 for header band called “starting border.” Also see TZACHILI 1990, 380-386 and BARBER 1991, 336. HOFFMANN 1964, 41 (heading cord) and 63-67 (header band or “starting border”). As the weaver weaves, s/he rolls the finished cloth over the header bar to allow for greater length.

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un-banded edges below it (under the kilts) on the necklace bearer, the veiled maiden, the blue headed crocus gatherer, the crocus basket emptier, and the crocus basket carrier could be explained by placing the selvages at center front. Thus, the upper parts would be diagonally cut and edged with bands for the opening at the chest and the lower parts would have naturally finished selvages that would not need bands. Further buttressing the technique of switching the front panels so that the selvages are at center front, is (as weaver V. Bealle recognized), the differing placement of the stripes on the front and back of the robe of the wounded woman from Thera (Fig. 4.19), as discussed below.19 On the other hand, the raw edges were presumably left at the center front when the entire center front edges were banded and closed together at the bottom as on the kneeling girl from Hagia Triada (Fig. 4.20a), the miniature girl from Mycenae (Fig. 4.22), and the bucket carrier on the Hagia Triada sarcophagus (Fig. 4.23). Based on the evidence for side seams on the robe of the Bending Lady from Thera (Figs. 4.24),20 and, partially preserved, on that of the Striding Lady from the same room (Fig. 4.32), the sides were sewn together. The fact that bands were not required at the side seams reinforces the argument for the special use of the header band to join the front to the back at the shoulder. The bands that finish the cut edges at the center front could be placed either over or under the header band. Because this method of construction left the bottom edge of the robe raw and unfinished (Fig. 4.31A), warp ends at the front panels and a cut edge at the back panel), it is not surprising that it was further cut so that the hem arched downward toward the center front edges in order to match the hem curves of the kilt on the Thera dresses. Finishing the raw edges of the hems are thin black bands on the blue headed crocus gatherer and the crocus basket emptier and gold bands on the black haired crocus gatherer. Since the bottom of the necklace bearer’s dress lacks a line, it presumably was either hemmed or rolled and whipped, judging from methods used in preserved Egyptian dresses.21

Fig. 4.29

19

20 21

Fig. 4.30

Although taking advantage of the selvages in this way is most practical, this could also have been achieved by weaving the lower half (front) into two panels, thus generating selvages at both sides of both panels. Of course, raw edges could always be finished by hemming, perhaps by rolling and whipping in the Egyptian technique (VOGELSANG-EASTWOOD 1993, 99, Fig. 7:2). DOUMAS 1992, 41, pl. 10 VOGELSANG-EASTWOOD 1993, 120.

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Fig. 4.31

69

Fig. 4.32

Since we know that the technique of cutting and tailoring linen dresses existed in the eastern Mediterranean in the third and second millennia in Egypt (Figs. 3.84, 3.85a-b), we are freed from thinking that the Minoans wore uncut rectangles of cloth like the Daedalic dress, peplos and chiton of the later Greeks. Nevertheless, Evelyn Harrison cautions us to beware of the ancient artists’ aesthetic constructs that frequently define anatomical lines at the expense of voluminous clothes.22 With this in mind, we can look for clues that reveal the actual construction of clothes that the Aegean artist renders as skin-tight. 3. Seams Crucial evidence for side seams appears on the dress of the Bending Lady from the House of the Ladies, Thera (Fig. 4.24) and, partially preserved, on that of the Striding Lady from the same room (Fig. 4.32). The importance of this detail cannot be overemphasized because it is the lone example of a seam recorded to date among all female garments depicted by Aegean artists. This implies that the garment has 22

HARRISON 1977, 39; note 10: “It is important to understand this reluctance of the early sculptor to break or falsify outlines of the solid body by more or less accidental projections of insubstantial clothing. Otherwise, we shall frequently have the impression that a garment is much more skimpy and close-fitting than was actually the case. Sceptics can educate themselves by comparing Egyptian statues and statuettes of the New Kingdom (including the Amarna period) with similarly dressed figures in painting and low relief. When the voluminous, fine-pleated thin linen robe is shown in two-dimensional art, the skirt flares out strongly and the outline of the body and the unpleated undergarment are clearly revealed inside. In the three-dimensional figures this pleated skirt clings close to the body, which would otherwise be lost in an opaque, inorganic mass of wood or stone. The sculptor has two aims, to show the body truthfully and to indicate the high quality of the garment, made of a great quantity of material of the finest weave. The painter can show transparency and voluminousness simultaneously. The sculptor, at this stage of art, must select. So the Egyptian sculptor working in the round may show voluminousness by projection at the shoulders and transparency by clinging to the legs and torso... Economy of material: wood, stone and metal, doubtless also played a part.”

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no other seams other than side seams. Although the seam follows the contours of her underarm so that the sides appear cut to create a close fit, we must also allow for artistic license which would outline the anatomy at the expense of the cloth. If so, the seam could run vertically down uncut sides. Like the Knossos “Snake Goddesses” HM 64 and HM 65 (Figs. 4.1-4.2), the Bending Lady’s dress incorporates a shoulder band, bands at sleeve and center front edges, and even multiple laces that tie the center front edges together in looped knots beneath the breasts. The Bending Lady’s robe, shown in profile, thus reveals that the front panels are seamed at the sides to a back panel and provides the evidence for the general construction of the Minoan-style, open front garments, exemplified by the Knossian Snake Goddesses.23 4. Linear B texts

Fig. 4.33

Ideogram *146, which appears on Linear B tablets at Knossos and Pylos (Fig. 4.33)24 and on tablet PY Un 1322, is a sign for we-a2-no (wehanos),25 a woven and possibly stitched “ready-made” fine linen garment that is being paid for in wheat to a net-maker and/or a weaver.26 The V-shaped mark at the top of the sign recalls the V-shaped front of the Minoan women’s dress and also appears deep enough to expose the breasts. Along with its straight sides, the ideogram bears a striking resemblance to the untapered Necklace Bearer’s robe (Fig. 4.13), and to the Minoan women’s robe before it is shaped, sewn, or cut in at the sides to form sleeves (Fig. 4.31b).27 Qualified as me-sa-to “medium sized” on Knossian Wm 23

24 25 26

27

By contrast, a multiple seamed construction for the HM 65’s “bodice”, and a seamless construction for the Xeste 3 Saffron Gatherer’s “bodice” were proposed by CHAPIN 2008, 66. The Saffron gatherer, however, wears a long dress (see below). OLIVIER et al. 1973, unnumbered page, table. On line 4 of the tablet, we-a2-no is indicated by the three syllabic signs at the left and the sign for *146 is inscribed at the right. See CHADWICK 1964, 24-5. I am grateful to John Killen for kindly bringing this information to my attention: KILLEN 1988, 180-183 and personal correspondence. The tablet was originally published by LANG 1958, pl. 49; and discussed in detail by CHADWICK 1964, 24-5. For a good discussion of this ideogram and the particularly religious contexts in which it occurs see DUHOUX 1974, 117-122. See a discussion of previous scholarship on construction of the Minoan woman’s dress as well as conclusions and replication of that of HM 65 from Knossos in JONES 2001, 259-262. For earlier replications of the dresses on the crouching woman from Hagia Triada, the Crocus Gatherer and Bending Lady from Thera, and the Ivory Triad from Mycenae, see JONES 2000, 36-41.

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nodules, Nosch and Perna believe that *146 was manufactured in several sizes,28 also in agreement with the made-to-measure aspect of the experimental replications. Although all *146 ideograms form a rectangle with a V at the top, some have additions like fringes at the bottom or a horizontal line across the top or a vertical line down the center, all seemingly alluding to variations in the garment’s design,29 which concurs with the variations we see in art cited above. Nosch and Perna have shown that *146 (and *166+WE [discussed below]) are most frequently mentioned on tablets specifically dealing with religion.30 If the robes reflected in art cited above are referred to in Linear B as *146, and thus we-a2-no, the question of whether the Mycenaeans actually wore the Minoan robe,31 or whether they simply used it as a mark of status to adorn their palaces thus seems answered in the affirmative.32 This is consistent with Palaima’s findings that “Many of the techniques and products of the Minoan cloth industry and the terms for them were adopted by the Mycenaeans.”33 In addition, if the Minoan robe as we see on these works continued to be produced and worn for cult purposes until the end of the Bronze Age, it is conceivable that it was described by Homer, especially since in Iliad 14, 178-186, the poet tells us that Hera fastened her heanos, kata stethos (at or below the breast), with evetai (fibulae, brooches or a clasp with pins [of gold]).34 Further, Homeric έανός (heanos) and Ήρη (Greek: Hera) derive from the Linear B we-a2-no (*146),35 and e-ra,36 respectively, and thus are the same words. Therefore, the robe is labeled heanos in the diagrams. Lorimer concludes that nothing in the Homeric period suits the poet’s description of Hera’s dress37 and suggests that it is something like “an Ionic chiton with an opening down the front closed by fibulae or something of the sort.”38 Could Homer have substituted familiar pins39 for forgotten laces of the Bronze Age open front we-a2-no, which were indeed fastened below the breasts, the tied loops between, as on the snake goddesses from Knossos,40 and the bending lady from Thera whose laces, like the “pins,” were golden?41 Cord belts accompany the robes (heanoi) on the little girls from the Southwest House (Fig. 4.22) and the Ivory Triad (Fig. 4.15, 4.128) from Mycenae. Evidence for such belts actually exists on Crete on Linear B tablets from Knossos. The ideogram *181 (Fig. 4.33), a loop with crossed ends, and its word, e-to28 29 30 31

32

33

34 35 36 37 38 39

40 41

NOSCH and PERNA 2001, 472. DUHOUX 1974, 117, Figs. NOSCH and PERNA 2001, 471, 473. The following are a few examples of Minoan robes (and kilts) portrayed in Helladic art: ivory plaque and ivory triad from Mycenae in MYLONAS 1983, 119, Pls. 90, 184-5; ivory statuette from the Argive Heraeum, Prosymna in BUCHHOLZ and KARAGEORGHIS 1973) 384, Fig. 1279; frescoes from Pylos in LANG1969, 86-89, Pl. O; Thebes in DEMAKOPOULOU1981, 21 top; Tiryns in IAKOVIDES 1979, 107, Fig. 68 and RODENWALDT 1912, 71, Fig. 27. LORIMER 1950, 365-7. She considered that since Mycenaean men were represented in indigenous garments which they undoubtedly wore, so Mycenaean women, who were depicted in Minoan style dress, must have worn it as well. PALAIMA 1995, 127, note 26 and 133, note 49. Palaima further notes that the Mycenaean term for king, wanax, and its ideology were introduced from Minoan culture, that the wanax alone at Knossos controlled the purple-dye industry, an industry initiated commercially by the Minoans, and that the link between the dye and the wanax went back to Minoan palatial culture. LORIMER 1950, 379. Docs² 590 connects it with the εανòν (robe) of Artemis in Iliad xxi, 507f. Docs² 544. Hera is mentioned on tablet PY Tn316, see CHADWICK 1976, 89, 95-6. LORIMER 1950, 378-380 and HARRISON 1977, 37, 46. LORIMER 1950, 380. Pairs of dress pins worn at the shoulders are unknown before the Subminoan and Submycenaean periods. For a good example of the placement of the two long dress pins down the length of each shoulder from a Subminoan burial, see HOOD 1968, 205ff, Fig. 3. The best overview for pins and fibulae is still LORIMER 1950, 336-358, 340-1. Also see DESBOROUGH 1964, 53ff; SNODGRASS 1971, 394, 439. Pins signal the appearance of later Hellenic garb such as the Daedalic dress and the peplos. For detailed accounts of the structure and history of early Greek dress see HARRISON 1977, 37-48 and LORIMER 1950, 112, 336-405. EVANS PM I Fig. 377. DOUMAS 1992, 38, Pl. 7 and detail 41, Pl. 10. For a detailed description, see JONES 1998, 264-7, and JONES 2000, 38-9.

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ro-qa-ta, appears on two tablets from the throne room and is interpreted by Melena as a twisted cord presumably of linen because it accompanies ideograms *166+WE and *146, both made of linen.42 Noting that it is associated with *166+WE (Fig. 4.33), which he perceptively interpreted as a male kilt, Duhoux went further to suggest that *181 is a belt.43 Indeed, the twisted cord belts on the similar female kilts of the Thera maidens and the other figures discussed above are perfect candidates for this ideogram. Knossos tablet Oa 878 lists eighteen *166+WE (kilts) and sixteen e-to-ro-qa-ta (belts), and Knossos tablet M 757 lists two hundred and fifty *146 (linen heanoi) and ten *181 (belts). The dichotomy between the number of kilts to belts versus the number of heanoi to belts is appropriate. Whereas kilts require belts to secure them at the waist, heanoi do not. Shown both with and without belts in art, heanoi are cinched at the waist with cord belts on the little girls on the Ivory Triad44 and the Southwest House, Mycenae,45 but are unbelted on all heanoi clad figures, both male and female, on the Hagia Triada sarcophagus.46 5. Fabrics In terms of the fabrics used, the chief Aegean textiles, linen and wool, are the likeliest candidates for the cloth of the heanos. Linear B identifies linen as the cloth of *146 (Fig. 4.33), a sign for we-a2–no, Homeric ἑανὸς (heanos), which appears to be the Minoan-style dress because of its open V-shaped front and similar shape to the Necklace Bearer’s dress (Fig. 4.13), thus before it is shaped, sewn or cut in at the sides (Fig. 4.31B).47 Sheer, fine linen cloth is preserved from the 18th Dyn. (c. 1466) Tomb of Hatnofer and Ramose in the Metropolitan Museum of Art,48 which parallels the diaphanous look of the Xeste 3 women’s heanoi. Indeed, a piece of irregular, loosely woven, fine, diaphanous linen fabric from Tarkhan, c. 2700 B.C. may possibly be the type of weave structure imitated by the streaked brushstrokes of the transparent heanoi from Xeste 3, Thera.49 Although preserved cloth in the Bronze Age Aegean is rare, actual preserved textile fragments from Akrotiri, Thera are shedding light onto the garments illustrated in the frescoes. Some linen fragments reveal textiles of very fine threads, a decorative hem, an embroidered pattern, and fringes. Another, possibly marking a linen sack, combines weaving and matt making techniques. Wool fibers were also found.50 On Crete at Kastelli, Chania, carbonized textile remains of a small strip of cloth consisting of linen fibers for the warp, goat’s hair for the weft and a supplementary thread of nettle fibers was found inside a tripod pyxis recently discovered at a LM IB level.51 Although we are unaware of the purpose of the cloth, it is important to observe that different fibers were combined to create it. Both linen and wool could easily satisfy the opaque heanoi we see in the art of Crete and the mainland. The Helladic sites of Mycenae, Salamis and Pylona on Rhodes have also yielded textile fragments.52 Textile fragments and an actual preserved robe, indeed, the earliest robe excavated in Greece, dated to ca. 1050-900 B.C., found in an amphora in a grave in a Heröon at Lefkandi, Euboea, is of ankle length, made of two sheets of linen sewn up the sides.”53 Archaeological evidence for the weaving of linen may be inferred from the discovery of rhyta with loom weights at several sites, including Akrotiri.54 Because linen is easier to work with when moistened,55 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54

MELENA 1975, 59-60, interprets it, however, as a strop to hold an oar, despite noting that in Homer (Od. 4 782), strops were made of leather. DUHOUX 1975, 122. MYLONAS 1983, 119, pl. 90. MYLONAS 1983, 209, pl. 165. LONG 1974, Pls. 6 and 30. JONES 2003, 444-5. ROEHRIG 1995/96, 22 I am grateful to V. Bealle for this observation. SPANTIDAKI and MOULHERAT 2012, 187-189. SPANTIDAKI and MOULHERAT 2012, 189; MÅRTENSSON 2006, Part 2.1. I am grateful to Malcolm Wiener for bringing my attention to the examination results in EVELY 2010, 195. SPANTIDAKI and MOULHERAT 2012, 192-194. POPHAM et al. 1982, 169-74, Pl. XXV; SPANTIDAKI and MOULHERAT 2012, 194. See further discussion of this robe below under Mycenaean Dress. See MACDONALD 1990, 85-86, Fig. 8, and KOEHL 2006, 334, table 17

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the rhyta could have been used as water sprinklers during the weaving process. Such vessels or others could also have contained olive oil, which Linear B tells us made medium weight linen soft, flexible and sheer,56 and perfumed oil which specifically made *146+we, or we-a2-no, Homeric ἑανὸς (heanos) fragrant and shiny.57 Nosch and Perna, however, rightly point out that the we-a2–no could also have been of wool,58 and wool can indeed be spun very finely. In addition, Panagiotakopoulou reminds us that silk is also probable since a wild silk cocoon was discovered in Akrotiri, and the “butterflies” depicted on many Late Minoan I and Mycenaean seals, on wall paintings from Knossos, and especially on ships on the Flotilla fresco from Akrotiri, are more characteristic of moths. She suggested that the presence of the moths on the ships and the cocoon are indicative of the exchange of precious textiles, that the cocoons were imported from another Mediterranean center and that the silk was processed on Akrotiri. She further pointed out that since cotton cloth was woven in the Indus Valley at Mohenjo-Daro in the early second millennium, and cultivated in Egypt ca. 2500 B.C., both silk and cotton may have been imports into Akrotiri.59 Indeed, during the Harappan civilization, ca. 2600-1900 B.C.E., Indus cities cultivated cotton, produced cotton cloth, and traded with the Mesopotamian cities of Susa and Ur,60 and we have evidence for Aegean contacts, including that of textiles, with Mesopotamia and Egypt in the Bronze Age.61 Furthermore, a recent excavation at Kolonna, Aegina, firmly dated to EB III has unearthed a horde of jewelry including carnelian and silver beads of types manufactured in Indus Valley cities, thus bringing the Aegean world firmly within the sphere of the extensive trade routes running from Mesopotamia across Asia into the Indus Valley.62 Like beads, cotton may have reached the Aegean from the Indus Valley, but its organic nature would have prevented its survival in the archaeological record. Thus, we cannot exclude cotton as a possible imported textile in the Bronze Age Aegean. 6. Previous scholarship The new evidence for construction painted in meticulous detail on the dresses from Thera, as recognized by Peterson, Televantou, N. Marinatos, Harrison, and the writer, 63 has radically altered the original views by Evans and others who thought that Minoan dress as exemplified by that of the Knossos Snake Goddess HM 65 was a short, tight-fitted jacket.64 Still, Wardle,65 Marcar,66 Barber,67 Barber and 55 56 57 58 59

60 61 62 63

64 65

BEALLE 2007, pers. comm.; TEDDER 2005, 43; and MÅRTENSSON et al. 2006, 14. ROBKIN 1981, 213. SHELMERDINE 1995, 103-4. NOSCH and PERNA 2001, 472–3. PANAGIOTAKOPOULOU 2000, 586-589. ZISIS 1954, 587f, noted the presence of cotton in 5th Century Attica and BARBER 2000, 6, said that cotton was unknown in the Minoan period but reached Greece in the Classical period (also BARBER 1991, 33). KENOYER 2003, 377-381 JONES 2005, 707-715 ARUZ 2006. 48-58. See early treatments by PETERSON 1981, 211; TELEVANTOU 1982, 113-123, Fig. 3α, β, γ for descriptions and diagrams of the fronts of the long Theran robes; MARINATOS 1984, 100-102, Figs. 67, 70, for a depiction of a long, loose robe that would cling to the body when belted; HARRISON 1991, 224-5, Fig. 10; LAFFINEUR 2000, 891-895 for catalogue of male and female Theran dress; and PETERSON 2004, 104-123. Also previous discussions in JONES 2000, 36-41, JONES 2001, 260-2, JONES 2003, 443-5, JONES 2007, 154-156, JONES 2009, 318-322, 326-331. MARCAR 2002, 156-8, 160-64, believes that the long dresses were worn only on Thera whereas short bodices were worn when skirts are not shown below kilts. EVANS 1902-3, 80, followed by MARINATOS 1967, A29-30. Wardle’s interpretation of the Minoan bodices on the Ivory Triad from Mycenae of LH IIIB consists of 9 pieces of cut fabric including gussets, worn over a chemise. See WARDLE 1988, 469-476, esp.477-2, Fig. 1; and WARDLE 1997, 86-88. For good illustrations of the Ivory Triad see WACE 1949, Pls. 101, 102c, d. Wardle’s bodice has attached, set in sleeves and a U-shaped neckline that meets at right angles under the breasts. This, however, is unrelated to the bodices on the Ivory Triad that are worn alone, have deep open fronts that bare the breasts and reach below the waists. Wardle’s bodice appears, instead, to be modeled after modern Cretan folk dress, where the jacket, worn over a dress, has the same U-shaped front opening that

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Lillethun,68 and Chapin,69 maintain this view, and some have proposed others.70 7. Experimental replications of the Minoan dress (heanos) with open front The following experiments were undertaken to test the accumulated data: a. The Snake Goddess, Knossos, HM 65 A close look at the stripes on HM 65 provides additional information for construction (Figs. 4.24.6). Against an orange cloth, blue stripes, four in front and four in back, begin at the shoulder band. Different from the raised bands in relief on the shoulder, center front, and sleeve edges, these are flat stripes that are presumably woven into the orange fabric. Two flank the neck and two more are placed near the sleeve edges at both front and back. Wide at the top where they begin at the shoulder band, they all taper to narrow lines as they reach the waist. Those at the sleeve edges form diagonals as they run from the shoulders, under the arms, to the waist. In order to explore possible methods for how these stripes were achieved, three experimental replications were created.

66

67

68

69

70

meets at right angles under the breasts and set in sleeves. See JONES 2001, 260, postcard in JONES 1998, 69, Pl. 4.4 and illustration in HARROLD 1978, 187, Fig. 45 left. MARCAR 2001, 160-164. MARCAR 2004, 226, agrees with BARBER 2000, 6-7, that reconstructions using modern fibers and tailoring techniques are doubtful, although instructive. BARBER 2000, 6-7, however, supports the commercial cloth reconstructions by LILLETHUN 2003, 18-21. BARBER 1991, 377-18, n. 6, stated that the bodice of HM 65 was tightly shaped, tailored, and cut on the bias. Subsequently (BARBER 1994, l4l-2, Fig. 5.5), she associated it with Balkan folk dress and linked the tradition of cutting and tailoring from Crete to the Balkans. There is no connection, however, in time, space or design between the two. The ornamental decoration on a Bronze Age clay figurine from Cîrna reveals little about dress design, and the 19th century A.D. Bulgarian folk costume is a jumper with a U-shaped neckline, sleeveless and loose, worn over a high-necked chemise with attached sleeves. The Minoan, by contrast, is worn alone, has an open V-shaped front down to below the waist and is self-sleeved. Barber further suggests that the basis for the Slavic chemise was the dress of Mycenaean women which was “... made from three tubes of cloth.” Evidence, however, for such a design is lacking both in the archaeological record and in Barber’s undocumented gold bracelets from the shaft graves at Mycenae (BARBER 1994, 134-137, Fig. 5.2c, esp. 1367, and BARBER 1991, 315). BARBER 2000, 6, and her student LILLETHUN 2003, 463-71, misinterpret the underarm contour line of the crocus gatherer from Thera (Pl. 4.10), as a garment fold and propose 6 possibilities for achieving it. But random folds from garments adorning figures are never indicated in Aegean art and there is no break in the sheer cloth’s diagonal grid pattern to indicate a fold (an example of a grid’s break can be seen in the overlapped edge of the kilt on the Necklace Bearer from Thera (DOUMAS 1992, pl. 103). Indeed, the consistency of the grid is more reminiscent of fabric laying on a flat surface, than responding to the curves of the anatomy (on patterned cloth grids see SHAW 2003, 185-6). Visible through the sheer fabric, as are the legs below, the line defines the anatomical contour from the armpit at the back of the underarm. Compare similar anatomical contour lines at the underarms of the bare torsos of the male vessel holders from Xeste 3 (DOUMAS 1992, Pls. 114, 115). Lillethun and Barber ignore the absence of sleeve seams (and thus, set-in sleeves) in Aegean art, overlook the presence of side seams (DOUMAS 1992, 10), and disregard the continuation below the crocus gatherer’s kilt of the same sheer grid patterned cloth with centered crosses that appears on the torso and identifies the garment as a long dress (see JONES 2000, 37-8, and esp. JONES 2001, 261, note 19). Thus, their argument for a bias cut for the bodice (also BARBER 1991, 31718, note 6), becomes one for a long dress, an unlikely prospect considering the resultant waste of cloth. Equally unconvincing are their experiments to measure the comfort of their bodices, made of heavy opaque modern commercial linen and wool with cotton bands, on a live model, and apply it to the ancient Therans, when the Theran dresses, by contrast, are made of hand woven fine, sheer, patterned cloth (whether linen, wool or silk), and the comfort level of Aegean women is unknown. CHAPIN 2008, 66, 68 proposed a multiple seamed construction for the dress of HM 65 based on cutting and sewing strips of cloth to achieve the formed fit. However, excessive cutting of Aegean precious handwoven cloth was surely kept to a minimum to avoid unraveling. NICKEL 2004, 120-1, Figs. 9-10, proposed a frontless topped long dress (Ur-chiton) that is unrelated to the visual evidence.

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The first experiment (Replication A) took the stripes as rendered on the figurine at face value as the weaver’s design.71 One of the ways a weaver could achieve the diagonally tapering stripes is by employing discontinuous weft technique. 72 In imitation, the fabric was dyed dark orange with eight blue stripes, four in front and four in back. On each face, two stripes flanked the neckline and two began near each armhole and curved diagonally under the arms and down toward the waist. All are broad at the shoulder and become narrower as they taper toward the waist. Without interrupting the stripes, the sides were cut inward to create sleeves and downward toward the waist, the front panels were sewn onto the back across the banded shoulders and at the sides, and bands were sewn onto the V-shaped opening in front and sleeve edges, see diagrams (Fig. 4.34), and modeled garment in front (Fig. 4.35), back (Fig. 4.36), and side (Fig. 4.37) views. This experiment conformed well to the depiction of the striped bodice on HM 65 (Figs. 4.2-4.6). Yet, one wonders why a weaver would not employ simply woven vertical stripes instead of expending so much extra work to create diagonal tapered stripes. In addition, diagonal tapers are not part of the usual ornamental repertoire of motifs, like grids, spirals, or scales, which usually decorate robes.

Fig. 4.34

71 72

See JONES 1998, 88, Pls. 4.42, 5.31; JONES 2001, 259-262; JONES 2000, 39. I am indebted to V. Bealle for sharing with me her insights into the construction of this garment from a weaver’s point of view and for dyeing the replications.

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Fig. 4.35

Fig. 4.36

Fig. 4.38

Fig. 4.37

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Thus, a second experiment was called for (Replication B), which employed a rectangular loomshaped cloth dyed orange with two vertical blue stripes that closely flank the V-shaped center opening in front and two vertical stripes near the side edges. The cloth was cut in half – the banded top part for the back panel, and the bottom part, divided vertically for the two front panels, their upper parts cut on diagonals to form deep V-shaped openings with bands applied to the edges to prevent fraying as illustrated in the diagrams (Fig. 4.38a-b). The back panel was sewn to the front panels across the shoulders (header band) and the vertical sides were seamed together below the openings for the arms (sleeve edges), the latter edges banded as shown in the diagram (Fig. 4.38c), and on the model in front (Fig. 4.39) and back (Fig. 4.40) views. Experiment B1 illustrates the sides cut inward to create sleeves and downward toward the waist to achieve a fitted torso as shown in the diagram (Fig. 4.38d), and on the model in front (Fig. 4.41), and back (Fig. 4.42), views. The result was that the stripes at the sleeve edges remained un-tapered and vertical and were cut away with the fabric under the sleeves. Since they failed to satisfy the acute tapering diagonals depicted on HM 65, this method was clearly not used by the Minoans, at least not for this garment. This technique was discarded.

Fig. 4.39

Fig. 4.41

Fig. 4.40

Fig. 4.42

We should thus consider another experiment (Replication B2), beginning with the same garment illustrated in Figs. 4.38a-c, 4.39 and 4.40. Here (Figs. 4.43 front, 4.44 back, and 4.45 side views), the vertical stripes remained intact and when the garment was put on the model, gathered at the waist and covered by the flounced skirt and apron, the stripes near the sleeve edges tapered as they ran diagonally toward the waist, and the stripes flanking the neck tapered but remained vertical as on the figurine, but the cloth formed dolman-like sleeves (Figs. 4.43 front, 4.44 back, and 4.45 side views). To achieve the contours of HM 65 (Figs. 4.46 front, 4.47 back views), the excess fabric under the arms was tapered toward the body as shown on the model by means of sewn tucks, gathers, and shirring. For the shorter sleeved version proposed for HM 64 (Fig. 4.7b), it was taken in even further with more sewn tucks and gathers as illustrated on the mannequin and discussed below (Fig. 8.20). We have evidence for shirring above the waist and at the armpit on the Bending Lady from Thera (Fig. 4.24). Further, according to Spantidaki and Moulherat, recently excavated textile fragments from Akrotiri provide evidence for “the sewing which must have existed to adjust the costume on the body.”73

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SPANTIDAKI and MOULHERAT 2012, 188.

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Fig. 4.43

Fig. 4.44

Fig. 4.46

Fig. 4.45

Fig. 4.47

Nevertheless, there is always an artistic component and, as in Egypt,74 it is probable that the Aegean sculptor also emphasized the anatomy at the expense of the garment by rendering it along anatomical lines. The Necklace Bearer (Fig. 4.13) from Thera75 wears just such a loose robe which is worn side by side with a fitted –looking robe on the Veiled Maiden (Fig. 4.11). Since the evidence for band overlap is obscured, the center front bands on both Replications were placed over the shoulder band since several garments on figures from Thera, including that of the goddess (Figs. 4.12, 4.26, 4.28), show this technique.76 74 75 76

VOGELSANG-EASTWOOD 1993, 6. Possibly also the Wounded Lady, Thera (Fig. 4.19). See the heanoi on the crocus gatherer with black hair, the crocus basket emptier, and the goddess in

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In imitation of that of the HM 65, the open front of the replicated dress on the model was pulled to the sides of the breasts to expose them, and laced together below them (Figs. 4.35, 4.43, 4.46). Alternatively, however, the dress could cover the breasts as depicted on the model (Fig. 4.39) and in art on the faience dress plaque from the Temple Repositories at Knossos (Fig. 4.8). There, the lateral stripes move diagonally toward the center, similar to those on HM 65.77 Similar striped dresses are also alluded to at Knossos on the preserved lower bodices of another faience dress plaque, HM 59 (Fig. 4.9), and faience figurine, HM 64 (Fig. 4.7a,b), both reconstructed. Striped dresses also appear on the veiled maiden from Thera (Fig. 4.11 and discussion below), emanating from the shoulder/header band on the wounded lady from Thera (Fig. 4.19) and clearly on two women on a balcony on the Miniature Fresco, Thera (Figs. 4.48-4.49).78 The latter stripes, as on the recreated heanos (Figs. 4.39-4.40) are horizontal and do not taper.

Fig. 4.48

Fig. 4.49

These three experiments point out the difficulties in attempting to determine the construction of garments no longer preserved and the problems encountered when relying on their representations in art, which, although based on reality, always have an artistic component. Because the outlines of the loose garment (Figs. 4.38b) are approximately the shape of Linear B ideogram *146 or wehanos/heanos (Fig. 4.33), we can be fairly certain that the garment was initially constructed that way. For the garment of HM 65, experiment B1 (Figs. 4.41-4.42) reveals that it could not have been woven with vertical stripes and cut and fit to the body. Experiment A works but may be too complex a weaving technique. Experiment B2 seems the most logical solution: the garment could have been loose and rendered along anatomical lines by the artist (Fig. 4.43-4.45) or the cloth could have been sewn and gathered in a variety of ways like tucks or shirring to achieve a body-hugging look (Fig. 4.46-4.47). For the practical purposes of pregnancy and weight fluctuations, the stitches could easily have been removed. b. Crocus Gatherer, Thera (Fig. 4.10 and diagram Fig. 4.50)79 The crocus gatherer’s dress (heanos) is visible above the kilt’s waistband and beneath its lowest white flounce on both legs. Since the outlines of the legs are visible through the fabric in the area between the kilt’s white flounce and the dress hem, the fabric was sheer and the dress was calf length. The dress has a deep V-shaped open front, contoured sides, bands across the shoulders and edges of the center front and sleeves, and tassels emanating from the shoulder bands. The orange-colored cloth is decorated with an overall diagonal black dotted grid pattern, with a black cross within each dotted square.

77 78 79

DOUMAS 1992, 154-5, Pls. 118-19; 160-1, Pls. 123-4 and 162-3, Pls. 125-6, respectively. EVANS PM I, 506, Fig. 364a. DOUMAS 1992, 79, Pl. 38. For earlier treatments of this costume, see JONES 2013b, 77-90; JONES 2000, 37-38, JONES 2001, 2602, esp. 261. For the figure’s iconography, see JONES, METAPHYSIS (forthcoming).

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Fig. 4.50

Fig. 4.51

Bealle suggested that the crocus gatherer’s dress could have been cut on the straight from a loomshaped rectangle of plain-weave cloth with the diagonal grid and crosses embroidered on.80 Alternatively, she noted that the dots on the diagonal grid, like the dots in many patterns on Minoan textiles including scales at Hagia Triada (Fig. 4.20),81 and spirals at Knossos (Fig. 4.51),82 and Pseira83 could well portray tiny beads of the types found on Crete.84 As beads decorated prized garments in the Near East, so they appear to have adorned the clothes of the Minoans and Therans. Dalley connects archaeological evidence for the tiny beads sewn onto a cloth from Acemhüyük in Anatolia with textual evidence in a letter from Iltani to her husband Aqba-hammu, a vassal of Hammurabi dated by Dalley to 1848-1806, which reads, “send me quickly the garments, both with appliqué and without appliqué, which you have made.”85 Other than on Thera, where the diagonal dotted grid pattern appears on another sheer bodice on the Wounded Lady (Fig. 4.19), with a centered diamond within on the opaque kilt of the necklace bearer (Fig. 4.13), and with a similar centered cross on that of the crocus gatherer with black hair (Fig. 4.26), its closest dress parallel on Crete is on the orange cloth with a diagonal grid intersected with white dots, presumably beads, on the Lady in Red, from LM 1A, Knossos (Fig. 4.52).

80

81 82 83 84 85

BARBER 1991, 317-318, n. 6, suggested that the pattern was achieved either by using a diaper weave with supplemental weft or possibly a plaid cut on the bias, which would better accommodate the tight fit of the bodice. The garment is not a bodice, however, but rather a long dress that, if cut on the bias, would result in an excessive waste of fabric. In addition, as weaver V. Bealle has pointed out to me, although a supplemental weft is appropriate for opaque fabrics, it is inappropriate for the diaphanous cloth of the Thera dress because the floats on the underside of the fabric, formed by the patterned threads, would show through the cloth and interfere with and compromise the surface pattern. JONES 2007, Pl. 18.1C. EVANS PM III, Fig. 20. SHAW 1998, 59, 63, 69-70, color pl. E EFFINGER 1996, 23-40, esp. 25, cites 2400 globular type beads (kugelförmige Perlen). DALLEY 1984, 53.

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Fig. 4.52

81

Fig. 4.53

The orange dress is trimmed with shoulder and center front bands of blue, decorated with alternating black zigzag and vertical lines between black borders. Zig-zags are known elsewhere on blue bands on the white heanoi of the Necklace Bearer (Fig. 4.13), and Crocus Gatherer with black hair (Fig. 4.26), on Thera, but at Knossos, on the Dancing Lady (Fig. 4.53), 86 and curved, on the Lady in Red (Fig. 4.52), the blue bands decorate orange heanoi, closer to that of the crocus gatherer. Red ocher cords emanate from the shoulder bands and end in double tassels ending in three to four pendant drops. The narrower sleeve bands are also blue, bordered in black, but with only a thin black stripe running lengthwise across the center. The latter pattern is the same as that on the bands on the veil of the veiled maiden from Thera (Fig. 4.11), and like them, was probably woven in a warp-faced plain weave, as reconstructed by Bealle for that veil (Fig. 4.54).87 Bealle has suggested that the sleeve band design was probably woven in warp-faced plain weave with the design in warp pick-up. This is similar to the technique Bealle employed for reproducing the dress band on the kneeling figure from Hagia Triada.88 The header (shoulder) band’s lateral warp fringes were worked into tassels. The diagram (Fig. 4.55) illustrates a possible construction technique whereby parts of the robe were cut from a double-length loom-shaped rectangle of cloth with the back of the robe cut from the top half and the front from the bottom half (Fig. 4.55A). Since the center front edges of the dress are banded at the torso but not below (that is, beneath the kilt), they were possibly selvages (edges naturally bound by the weave structure), unembellished below the waist but banded to prevent fraying where they were cut diagonally at the torso. Thus, the bottom half of the dress was possibly cut in half lengthwise to make two panels for the front of the dress with the front panels arranged so that the selvages were placed at center front, their upper parts cut on a diagonal for the opening at the chest, and banded. Since the shoulder/header band of the crocus gatherer overlaps the tops of the bands down the center front (Figs. 4.10 and 4.50), we can surmise that the back with its header band was joined to the front two panels after their diagonally cut front edges were banded, and that the sleeve edges were banded last (Fig. 4.55C).

86

87 88

The orange heanos on the half life-size dancing lady from Knossos is decorated with arched, dark, fine lines on the sleeves and bodice, and blue bands ornamented with a row of red zigzags centered with red dots cover the shoulder seam and edge the open front, and armholes (Fig. 4.53). Evans’ drawing reconstructs a short jacket worn over the flounced skirt, but we lack evidence for such a design. Evans had interpreted the thin line at her neck as the neckline of a diaphanous chemise but it could also depict a fine necklace. See EVANS PM III, 369-71, Pl. XXV; MATZ 1962, 88, Pl. 22, and CAMERON and HOOD 1967, 37, Pl. VII, Fig. 2 . JONES 2003, 442, Pls. 85a, 84c, d. JONES 2007, 156, Pl. 18.3.

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Fig. 4.54

Fig. 4.55

Based on visual evidence for side seams on the close-fitting robe of the bending lady from the House of the Ladies at Thera (Fig. 4.24),89 the sides were shaped and seamed, presumably to form sleeves and to curve inward toward the waist, then outward to the hips (Fig. 4.55C). Because this method of construction left the bottom edge of the robe raw and unfinished (warp ends at the front panels and a cut edge at the back panel, Fig. 4.55A), it is not surprising that it would have been further cut so that the hem arched downward toward the center front edges in order to match the hem curves of the kilt. The line at the 89

DOUMAS 1992, 41, Pl. 10.

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bottom appears to depict a narrow black band for finishing the hem, as that on the veiled maiden (Fig. 4.11) and the crocus basket emptier (Fig. 4.12). A yellow ocher band trimmed the robe’s hem of her partner, the black-haired crocus gatherer (Fig. 4.26).90

Fig. 4.56

Fig. 4.57

Fig. 4.58

Using the evidence for construction cited above, an experimental replication of the crocus gatherer’s heanos was made, using commercial fabric (Fig. 4.56 front, and Pl. 4.57 back). Diaphanous, undecorated, orange-colored, cloth was substituted for the grid-patterned one on the fresco. Despite the possibility that the sides may have been straight (Fig. 4.55B), and the tight fit may have been an artistic construct, the heanos was shaped to size (Figs. 4.56, front, Fig. 4.57 back),91 and, with the kilt on the model, to reflect the figure’s position in the fresco (Fig. 4.58). Painted to match the motifs on the originals, the bands are, like the crocus basket-emptier’s (Fig. 4.12), also decorated with narrow black stripes flanking a wider blue one. Whereas the blue stripe on the shoulder and front center bands is decorated with alternating zigzag and vertical black lines, the blue stripe on the sleeve bands has only a thin black stripe running lengthwise. Tassels of red threads (presumably added to the blue warp threads from the shoulder and arm bands), were imitated by Valerie Bealle and knotted intermittently to form pendant drops, as in the painting. The addition of red threads to the warp threads of the header band recalls the passage (Numbers 15:37-41), “Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the children of Israel and tell them to make a tassel (tsitsit) on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put on It a twined cord (patil) of blue… .so that you will remember all the commandments of the Lord and will obey them.” Bertman “translated the word as ‘tassel’ rather than ‘fringe’ to express a flower-like form, for other 90 91

The edge could also have been hemmed or rolled and whipped, judging from methods used in preserved Egyptian dresses (VOGELSANG-EASTWOOD 1993, 120). The replicated dress of the Crocus gatherer measures: Shoulder Width: 42½” Hem Width: 42½” Sleeve diameter: 6½” Sleeve Underarm taper: 13” Shoulder neck to sleeve: 17” Length down center back: 47½” Length down center front: 51”

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words which seem to come from the same root are used to refer to flowers,” and paralleled them with the tassels on the dress hem of a Syrian Tribute bearer from the Tomb of Menkheperraseneb, ca. 1475-1450 (Fig. 4.59),92 which look identical to the flower-like flare of the Theran tassels. The Syrian’s zig-zag bands also compare to those of the Crocus Gatherer. Flower-like tassels also terminate from the sleeve and kilt bands on the veiled maiden from Thera (Fig. 4.11),93 and on the belt cords that secure the kilts of the Keftiu in the Theban tombs of Rekhmire, ca. 1504-1450 (Fig. 4.60),94 and Menkheperraseneb, ca. 14751450 (Fig. 4.61).95 Sleeve tassels are rare on Crete, appearing in a different, blue network design on the Hagia Triada crouching woman or “goddess” (Fig. 4.14a,b), as plain blue and red threads on the kneeling woman from Hagia Triada (Fig. 4.20a), and as hanging beads on the woman on the right on the Isopata ring (Fig. 4.62). It would not be surprising if the Aegean tassels, like the biblical ones, had religious connotations. Likewise, the saffron-yellow color of her robe. 96 In historical Greece, yellow robes, krokopeploi, were worn by maidens, by Dawn in Homer and by Nymphs and Graces in Hesiod.97 In her study, Davis called attention to Artemis, in her role as kourotrophos, protectress of youth, who is mentioned in later Greek sources as a frequent recipient of hair dedications and of offerings before marriage, as well as to the arktoi (she-bears), the young Athenian girls who, in the service of Artemis at Brauron, wore dresses dyed with crocus saffron.98 The crocus stigmas that the girls are picking and presenting to the goddess likely produced the dye for the saffron-yellow heanoi, which may have marked specific roles for the wearers. In any event, Figure 4.58 illustrates the experimental heanos of the crocus gatherer arranged on the model who takes the position represented in art to see how it compares.

Fig. 4.59

92 93 94 95

97 98

Fig. 4.60

Fig. 4.61

BERTMAN 1961, 119-121, Fig. 16. Also see MAZAR 1958, 280 and WACHSMANN 1987 Pl. XXXV.B). JONES 2003, pl. 84a,b. VERCOUTTER 1956, 257, Pl. 19, Fig. 156. WACHSMANN 1987, Pl. XXXVIB, no. 11. Interestingly, tassels on a belt cord on the kilt of a Keftiu from the Theban Tomb of Rekhmire, ca. 1504-1450 (VERCOUTTER 1956, 257, Pl. XIX, Fig. 156), have the same fancy pendant drops as the Crocus Gatherer. In the Theban Tomb of Menkheperraseneb (ca. 1475-1450), directly in front of a procession of Keftiu, the Syrian Governor of Tunip is clad in a tunic seamed with similar bands decorated with zigzags, the warp ends forming similar tassels at the hem (MAZAR 1959, 280; for the entire procession see WACHSMANN 1987, Pl. XXXIV; also SMITH 1965, Fig. 92. Dawn: HOMER, Iliad, 8.1; 19.1; 23.227; 24.695; the Grace, Enyo: HESIOD, Theogony, 273; and the nymph, Telesto: HESIOD, Theogony, 358. DAVIS 1986, 403.

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Fig. 4.62

c. Veiled Maiden, Thera (Fig. 4.11 and diagram Fig. 4.63) Virtually identical in construction to others depicted on several figures from Thera99 including that of the blue-headed crocus gatherer, the robe’s similar deep open front, contoured sides, and calf length (note the curved hem of the robe beneath the kilt), bands at center front, shoulders, and sleeve edges and identical tassels, is of comparable construction, as clarified in the detailed diagram of the figure (Fig. 4.63). The robe was made of a sheer (note that the legs are visible from below the kilt to the hem), white, presumably linen cloth decorated above the kilt with pale purple crocuses with saffron-colored stigmas. Parallels appear on the heanoi of the Theran Goddess (Fig. 4.28), and Necklace Bearer (Fig. 4.13), whereas Minoan crocuses appear at MM IIIB Knossos, where they adorn skirts on two faience plaques (Figs. 4.84.9), and a faience girdle (Fig. 4.64).100 Several red stripes also decorate the heanos of the veiled maiden. One stripe runs just beneath and parallel to the shoulder band in front and back, and two stripes run vertically from it at the left side of the back (presumably two more match them on the right side); these would be easily woven on the loom. The diagonal red stripes that also run off of it toward the sleeve hems at front and back, and another, visible below the underarm but unconnected to the red shoulder stripe may be explained by employing discontinuous weft technique. The bands are all blue with black borders. The blue sleeve bands have a center horizontal black stripe, like the band on her veil, which Bealle has hand woven a sample of in linen, using a warp-face plain weave technique (Fig. 4.54). The shoulder (header) band has closely-set black horizontal stripes. An experimental sample of a header band, woven in linen by Bealle in a warp face plain weave with supplementary warp pick-up, is illustrated in Fig. 4.65. The band’s warp threads at the lateral ends become tassels, and its’ white weft threads extend below to become the warp threads that will be woven in to to produce the sheer white cloth for the body of the garment. Since we lack Aegean textiles, Bealle’s bands, woven in a warp-face technique, are based on an understanding of the weave structure of the bands in warp-face weaves preserved from the Syrian tunic of Tutankhamun,101 and the band from Lefkandi described by Barber.102

99

100 101 102

See earlier treatment of the costume in JONES 2003, 441- 447, and the iconography in JONES METAPHYSIS (forthcoming). See DOUMAS 1992, for the black haired crocus gatherer, 154, Pl. 118; the crocus basket emptier, 160, Pl. 123, the goddess, 159, Pl. 122; the crocus basket carrier, 166, Pl. 129; and the necklace bearer, 140, Pl. 103, who wears a looser version. Since the fabric of the garment is identical both above and below the kilt in all the above examples including the veiled dancer’s, each garment is undoubtedly a full-length dress. Contrast arguments for a bias-cut bodice by BARBER 1991, 317-318, n. 6; and 2000, 6-7 and LILLETHUN 2003, 18-21. The crocus design originates in MM I where it appears on pottery at Knossos (EVANS PM IV:1, Pl.XXVIII). On Aegean crocuses see DAY 2011, 337-379, and REHAK 2004, 85-100. VOGELSANG-EASTWOOD 1993, 80, and CROWFOOT and DAVIES 1941, 117. BARBER 1991, 197.

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Fig. 4.63

Fig. 4.64

Fig. 4.65

Using the evidence for construction cited above for the blue-headed crocus gatherer, an experimental replication of the veiled maiden’s robe was made, using commercial fabric and placed on a model (Figs. 4.66 front, 4.67 back, 4.68 right side, 4.69 left side). Stripes and crocuses were painted onto fine white cloth and black stripes were painted onto blue bands in imitation of the fresco pattern. The dress was shaped to size.103 The front panels were arranged so that the selvages were placed at center 103

The replicated dress of the Veiled Maiden measures: Shoulder Width: 42½” Hem Width: 42½” Sleeve diameter: 6½”

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front, their upper parts cut on a diagonal for the opening at the chest and banded. The header band was sewn onto the tops of the front and the hanging flower-like tassels, like those of the blue-headed crocus gatherer (Fig. 4.10), were made by Bealle. The front was sewn to the back at the top and sides and bands were sewn onto the sleeve edges. The lateral fringes of the shoulder (header) band were made by Bealle into decorative flower-like tassels like those of the blue-headed crocus gatherer (Figs. 4.10, 4.56-4.57). Figures 4.70 and 4.71 illustrate the heanos encircled by a kilt and covered by a veil, on a live model who takes the position of the figure on the fresco to see how it compares.

Sleeve Underarm taper: 13” Shoulder neck to sleeve: 17” Length down center back: 47½” Length down center front: 51”

Fig. 4.66

Fig. 4.67

Fig. 4.68

Fig. 4.69

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Fig. 4.70

Fig. 4.71

d. Crocus Basket Emptier, Thera (Fig. 4.12, diagram Fig. 4.72) The crocus basket emptier’s robe is analogous in construction to that of the blue-headed crocus gatherer and veiled maiden in its’ similar deep open front, contoured sides, and calf length (note the curved hem of the robe beneath the kilt), bands at center front, shoulders, and sleeve edges, and tassels. The only differences are that here, the center front bands overlap the header band, and the tassels are unworked, with threads hanging freely. The robe was made of a sheer yellow, undecorated fabric, likely linen (note the streaked brushstrokes that indicate transparency and the outlines of the legs through the cloth from below the kilt to the hem). All bands are blue with black borders; the shoulder (header) band has evenly spaced groups of three black diagonal lines within; the center front and sleeve bands have a black line down the center. The pale black and blue warp threads are bound below the sleeve edges and hang as loose tassels. Using the evidence for construction cited above for the blue headed crocus gatherer and veiled maiden, an experimental replication of the crocus basket emptier’s robe was made, using commercial linen fabric (Fig. 4.73). Black stripes were painted onto blue bands in imitation of those on the fresco. The dress was shaped to size. 104 The front panels were arranged so that the selvages were placed at center front, their upper parts cut on a diagonal for the opening at the chest and banded. The header band was sewn onto the tops of the front and tassels were made. The front was sewn to the back at the top and sides and bands were sewn onto the sleeve edges. The reconstructed robe, arranged on a live model, is illustrated in Figs. 4.74 front, 4.75 back, and 4.76 side views. The heanos is encircled by a kilt and arranged on a live model who takes the position of the figure on the fresco to see how it compares (Fig. 4.77). 104

All the replications were fitted to a 5’3 ½”, size 4-6 frame. The replicated dress of the Crocus basket emptier measures: Shoulder Width: 42½” Hem Width: 42½” Sleeve diameter: 6½” Sleeve Underarm taper: 13” Shoulder neck to sleeve: 17” Length down center back: 47½” Length down center front: 51”

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Fig. 4.72

89

Fig. 4.73

Fig. 4.74

Fig. 4.75

Fig. 4.76

Fig. 4.77

90

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e. Necklace Bearer, Thera (Fig. 4.13 and diagram Fig. 4.78) Although similar in construction to that of the blue-headed crocus gatherer, veiled maiden, and crocus basket emptier in its deep open front and bands, the robe of the necklace bearer differs in its longer, ankle-length and, most importantly, in its loose, dolman-like sleeves that hang down well below the outlined arms and torso depicted through the sheer cloth. These suggest that the sides were untailored or, based on the slightly arched fabric above the waist, at most, slightly tailored.

Fig. 4.78

The robe was made of a pale blue sheer fabric, likely linen. The outlines of the arms, torso, and legs are depicted through the transparent cloth. The blue streaked brushstrokes indicate transparency and direction of the cloth. Above the waist the fabric is decorated (likely embroidered) with faded crocuses with orange stigmas. Like that of the veiled maiden (Fig. 4.11), crocuses are lacking on the lower part of the dress that emerges beneath the flounced kilt to cover the legs. The partially preserved hemline curves downward toward center front, the shape emphasized by the curve of the brushstrokes’ blue streaks, and thereby follows the arched curves of the kilt (Figs. 4.13 and 4.78).105 The top of the open center front was edged with a blue band bordered in black and decorated down the center with black zig-zags filled with black dots on one side and black lines on the other.106 The sleeve edges were trimmed with blue bands bordered in black and vertical black lines in the center. A yellow ocher twisted heading cord served instead of a header band across the shoulders. Although this example is unique in Aegean art, Hoffman tells us that both heading cords and header bands were used as starting borders on warp weighted looms.107 Loose tassels of pale blue threads, probably from the sleeve bands and attached to the ocher cord, emanate from it.

105 106 107

CHAPIN 2008, 63, 59, Fig. 3b, misses the robe’s lower front opening located just to the right of, and below, the kilt’s split and thus misinterprets the robe as having a level hem and a seamed lower part. As noted above, parallels for the zig-zag bands appear on the Crocus Gatherer with black hair (Fig. 4.26), on Thera, and at Knossos, on the Dancing Lady (Fig. 4.53) and, curved, on the Lady in Red (Fig. 4.52). HOFFMANN 1964, 41 (heading cord) and 63-67 (header band or “starting border”).

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Fig. 4.79

Because this voluminous dress deviated from the conventional fitted-looking ones, two experimental replications were made. Each used commercial pale blue sheer108 fabric. The front panels were arranged so that the selvages were placed at center front, their upper parts cut on a diagonal for the opening at the chest and banded. The blue bands were bordered in black and decorated down the center with black zigzags filled with black dots on one side and black lines on the other. A yellow ocher twisted cord, made by Bealle, was sewn across the top (shoulders), seaming the front panels to the back, and the sleeve edges were trimmed with blue bands with vertical black lines. Plain tassels made by Bealle of blue threads pended from the shoulder cords. Replication A conformed to the image by being shaped and tailored at the sides only a slight 6” under the arms to form loose sleeves (Fig. 4.79). The upper two-thirds is decorated with painted yellow crocuses with orange stigmas, the lower third undecorated in imitation of that on the fresco.

Fig. 4.80

108

The replicated dress of the Necklace Bearer measures: Shoulder width: 38” Hem width: 38” Sleeve diameter: 6½ Sleeve underarm taper: 6” Shoulder neck to sleeve: 14” Length down center back: 49” Length down center front: 57”

Fig. 4.81

Fig. 4.82

92

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The replicated heanos is illustrated on a live model (Figs. 4.80 front, 4.81 back, and 4.82 side views). Figure 4.83 portrays the dress bound by a kilt on a live model posed as the necklace bearer, revealing modestly shaped sleeves arched as in art. This, however, may well have been an artistic construct for an untailored robe. Thus, experimental Replication B was left untailored at the sides (diagram, Fig. 4.84). The design is modeled alone in front (Fig. 4.85), and back (Fig. 4.86), views, and, encircled by a kilt and positioned as in art (Fig. 4.87). Unlike the art, here there is no arching of sleeves. The question remains, however, whether the arching is an artistic stylization. Either way, the significance of this robe cannot be overstressed, because it lends support to untailored Replication B2a-c for the robe of HM 65. Even more importantly, since it is portrayed on the same fresco as the veiled maiden, and just downstairs from the crocus gatherers, who are all represented in “fitted” heanoi, the artist is likely revealing that various amounts of shaping or gathering in at the sides were utilized in the manufacture of Heanoi.

Fig. 4.83

Fig. 4.84

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Fig. 4.85

93

Fig. 4.86

Fig. 4.87

f. Crouching Woman (“goddess”), Hagia Triada (Fig. 4.14a-c and diagram Fig. 4.88a) Although largely obliterated, an open front dress (heanos), that bared the breasts, is visible at the right upper arm and lower torso of the figure, above the kilt’s waistband. Traces of a dotted diagonal grid pattern on white ground, discernable between the center front bands and the waist band, mark the fabric’s pattern. The bands at the diagonally cut edges at center front are blue with red borders as are the narrower ones at the shoulder and sleeve hem(s). Emanating from the blue shoulder band and reaching to the curve of the figure’s hip are the remains of a series of blue X’s that once formed a

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network-patterned tassel (Fig. 4.88a-b).109 This recalls the fancy network tassels that hang from the kilts of the male processional figures from Knossos (Fig. 4.89a-c),110 and, however fragmentary, the Hagia Triada example provides a rare instance in painting for elaborate tassels on Minoan women’s sleeves. Another appears on the kneeling figure from Hagia Triada discussed below (Figs. 4.20, 4.114, 4.1244.127). These examples are a sign of Thera’s debt to Crete. Since so few tassels have come to light on Crete, the profusion of tassels on sleeves on Thera seems surprising. On Minoan glyptic, tassels appear only on the LM IIIA1 Isopata ring (Fig. 4.62), and on a LM IA carnelian seal (Fig. 4.90), both from Knossos.111 But this is another reminder of how very fragmentary our information is from Crete and of the dearth of sleeves preserved on large scale Cretan paintings of women. Of such works contemporary with Thera (MMIIIB-LMIA), only these and the “Ladies in Blue” from Knossos dated MM IIIB (Fig. 4.161),112 have their sleeves preserved and the paint on the latter is virtually obliterated. Although the sleeves on the “Dancing Lady” from Knossos of LM IB (Figs. 4.53, 6.27-6.28) are well preserved, they lack tassels, possibly because the figure is less than life-size.113

109 110 111 112 113

Fig. 4.88a

Fig. 4.88b

Fig. 4.89a

Fig. 4.89b

The tassel was also recognized by REHAK 1997, 167, note 21. These are described in detail in chapter 6. EVANS PM II, 723, Suppl. Pl. XXVII and Figs. 450, 453. CMS II.3, no. 16 2; DEMARGNE 1964, Figs. 244 and 248. HOOD 1997, 200-201; PAPAPOSTOLOU 1981, 22, Fig. 18. HOOD 1997, 203; PAPAPOSTOLOU 1981, 150, Fig. 127.

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Fig. 4.89c

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Fig. 4.90

Fig. 4.91a

For the replication, white cloth was shaped and tailored to measure, hypothetically made knee length, since its unknown length is hidden by the covering kilt (diagram Fig. 4.91a).114 Blue bands bordered with red stripes were sewn to the center front edges, and narrower blue bands that ended in a network of tassels, were sewn across the shoulders and around the sleeve edges. The model displays the dress in front (Fig. 4.91b), and back (Fig. 4.91c) views, and, with the covering kilt, imitates the slightly crouching position of the figure on the fresco (Fig. 4.92a with fringed flounces, and 4.92b with striped flounces). Since the figure’s upper torso is missing, it could have faced in either direction as previous 114

The replicated dress of the Hagia Triada crouching lady measures: Shoulder width: 33½” Hem width: 33½” Sleeve diameter: 6” Sleeve underarm taper: 9” Shoulder: neck to sleeve: 13½” Length: front and back: 41”

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reconstructions illustrated.115 One new reconstruction faces right, following the direction of her legs (Fig. 4.92c).116 But, the short, constricted waist curve on the figure’s right side (our left), countered with its stretched straight left side (our right) define movements better associated with a figure whose torso is turning left (Fig. 4.92d). Thus, the left facing position, for which there are also several parallels, should also be considered within the framework of the frescoed program on the surrounding walls, as discussed further in chapter 10.117

Fig. 4.91b

Fig. 4.92a

115 116

117

Fig. 4.91c

Fig. 4.92b

Cameron (EVELY 1999, frontispiece and 242) and JONES 2005, Pls. CLXXVIII-CLXXXI, reconstructed her facing right while MILITELLO 1998, Pl. 4, reconstructed her facing left. Added to both reconstructions were a fragment with a dark curved thick line, next to a strand of blue pendant beads, presumably a hair-lock next to a necklace, and fragments with red and blue connected papyrus-shaped beads interpreted as bracelets. For jewelry see MILITELLO 1998, Pl. Fa and 3B. Also see chapter 10 and detailed discussion in JONES 2014b, 493-496. For detailed discussion also see JONES 2014b, 493-496.

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Fig. 4.92c

Fig. 4.92d

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g. Ivory Triad figure, Mycenae (Figs. 4.15-4.18 and diagram Fig. 4.93) The dress’s raised bands across the shoulders, bordering the diagonally cut open, breast baring front, and along the sleeve edges of the women on the Ivory Triad betray the same construction as the above dresses and, like that of the Hagia Triada goddess, the lower part and hem are hidden by the covering kilt (diagram Fig. 4.93). Tassels are lacking, perhaps because they were too delicate for sculpture. The replication is thus the same as that of the Hagia Triada crouching woman except that it lacks tassels (Fig. 4.94 front). With a kilt wrapped around the heanos, the model posed as the sculpted figure in front (Fig. 4.95a), back (Fig. 4.95b), and left side (Fig. 4.95c) views.

Fig. 4.93

Fig. 4.94

Fig. 4.95a

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Fig. 4.95b

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Fig. 4.95c

h. Fragmentary figure, House of Ladies, Thera (Figs. 4.24 and 4.96) A rare mid-section of a robe, extending from its banded sleeve and open center front to the thigh area, is preserved on a female figure in profile facing right, along with another female figure’s forearm and hand, on a detached fresco fragment (Fig. 4.96: detail on left, and drawing on right), tentatively restored by the excavator, Spyridon Marinatos, to the right of the bending woman holding a kilt found in situ in the House of the Ladies (Fig. 4.24).118 Yellow ocher and streaked with darker, red ocher brushstrokes, the robe, like many from Thera, is diaphanous. Previous studies have attempted to explain the figure, her garment, and her connection with the bending lady. Nanno Marinatos reconstructed a seated priestess facing left by erroneously adding to the fragment a vertical blue band at the outside edge of the sleeve. This created an incorrect frontal torso and an impossible expanse of the robe at the left of the arm. 119 The Theran artist, as already pointed out in reconstructions, clearly painted an un-banded line which marked the back of the figure’s sleeved arm. 120 The sleeve is only banded (in five alternating black and blue stripes), around the armhole.121 The fabric to the left of the arm is at the back of the figure, who faces right with her back toward the bending lady. The thigh-length red-ocher vertical brush strokes mark her as standing and wearing a long robe. If she were seated, the brush strokes and outline would have curved under the buttock area. Betancourt, 122 and Peterson-Murray, in her detailed study, 123 subsequently reached similar conclusions independently. Peterson-Murray’s reconstructions, like mine, feature a long robe banded down the center on a large woman.124 Betancourt perceptively observed that her arm looked smaller than that of the bending lady.125 These early studies left several questions unanswered which hinge 118

119 120 121 122 123 124 125

JONES 2014, 51-73. Initially published by S. MARINATOS 1972, 40-41, Pl. G, who believed the bending lady was applying a garment on the fragmentary figure, possibly a seated goddess. Bending Lady H: 1.14 m, Fragment H: 36.5 cm. MARINATOS 1984 102-3, 121, Figs. 69 and 71; MARINATOS 1993, 144, Fig. 117; PETERSON 1981b, 211. JONES 1998, 263-269, Pls. 8.17b and 8.19; PETERSON-MURRAY 2004, 108. Compare the similar sleeve on the crocus basket emptier from Thera (Fig. 4.12). Betancourt, personal communication, 1998. PETERSON MURRAY, 1999, 315, and detailed discussion in PETERSON MURRAY 2004, 106-122. PETERSON MURRAY 2004, Figs. 6.10 and 6.12; JONES 1998, Pl. 8.19. Betancourt, personal communication, 1998.

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both on the dress and the figure, most notably: her unique barely curved back, lack of long hair, size, dress design, the relationship of the fragment within the context of the scene of the bending lady holding a kilt and the striding lady, and, indeed, in the room itself. After detailed examinations of the painting in both the National Archaeological Museum in Athens and the Archaeological Museum at Thera, 126 and comparative material, I would like to propose the following solutions along with an experimental replication of the robe and new reconstructions of the fresco.

Fig. 4.96

Fig. 4.97

126

Fig. 4.98

I am grateful to the Greek Archaeological Service and Christos Doumas for permits to examine, photograph and publish the paintings.

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Fig. 4.99

Fig. 4.100

Fig. 4.101

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The important discovery on the fragment of traces of a black outline that marks the pronounced curvature from waist to buttock at the back of the figure (Fig. 4.96 for fragment and drawing), provides several answers to our questions. The outline indicates the proportions of the figure within the sheer garment and identifies the garment as a heanos draping loosely down from the shoulder and projecting slightly left of the buttock. Thus, the slightly curved cloth edge does not define the figure’s anatomy as previously thought.127 The curvature of her torso and buttock (Fig. 4.97, B, B1, purple lines), compare well to that of the boxing boy, also in profile facing right, from neighboring House Beta (Fig. 4.97, C, C1, green lines).128 The outline of the boxer, superimposed on the fragment’s curvature, provided a good gauge for reconstructing the location of the shoulder, and the general anatomical proportions and height of the figure (Fig. 4.98). The comparably curved buttock area of the fisher-boy from the West House, 129 outlined in green along with his anatomy from the waist down, and overlaid on the fragment’s curvature provided a good model for the abdominal region, static stance and legs of the figure, which would be visible through the sheer robe (Fig. 4.99). Having determined the approximate location of the fragmentary figure’s shoulder, her curvature from shoulder to buttock measures 21 squares (Fig. 4.97, B, B1, purple line), which is 81% of, or 19% smaller than the bending lady’s curvature which measures 26 squares (Fig. 4.97, A, A1, red line). The fragmentary figure’s arm is noticeably shorter (Fig. 4.100, D, purple lines), and its width measures between 2 and 4 squares (Fig. 4.100B-C-D, purple lines), 1 square less, (about 20%) than the bending lady’s which measures between 3 and 5 squares (Fig. 4.100A, C, D, red lines). Finally, when juxtaposed on a grid with the bending lady raised upright, the fragmentary figure’s height is 69 squares (Fig. 4.101, purple), 84% of, or about 16% shorter than the bending lady who, raised upright, measures 82 squares (Fig. 4.101, red). An additional size gauge is the kilt held by the bending lady, outlined in pink, which is likely meant to be given to the fragmentary figure (Fig. 4.102). Now that we have the curvature of the fragmentary figure’s buttock, we can overlay the matching curve of the held kilt to get an idea of its length on the fragmentary figure, despite missing its upper edge (Fig. 4.102C). Its fit and length over the fragmentary figure and her robe is comparable with that of the veiled maiden and crocus gatherer with blue head from Xeste 3. Superimposing its curve over the similarly curved buttock on the bending lady illustrates that it is approximately 20% shorter than the bending lady’s kilt (Fig. 4.102B). Indeed, even Marinatos, who mistakenly thought that a body was beneath the kilt when he initially excavated the fresco, astutely described the kilt as smaller than the bending lady’s: “to the right [of the bending lady], a fragment of the skirted body [kilt] of another slightly smaller lady is preserved.” 130 Taken together, the fragmentary figure is approximately 18% smaller than the bending lady and thus, is likely a young girl, an identification that gains further support by her lack of long hair. Particularly striking in this regard is the fact that the small sizes of the girl and held kilt are perfectly compatible. By contrast, a large scale woman as originally proposed by myself and Peterson-Murray131 would have been far too disproportionately large for such a short kilt. A final detail in reconstructing the maiden is that she likely had red at the soles of her feet as those of the bending lady and the striding lady from the same room (Figs. 4.102 and 4.103A), presumably reflecting henna dye which Shelmerdine identified in the Linear B tablets at Pylos, and which is also known in the Near East.132 At Pylos,133 as at Thera,134 women with blue 127

128 129 130 131 132

JONES 1998, Pl. 8.19; PETERSON MURRAY 2004, Figs. 6.10 and 6.12 noted that “the left contour of her yellow dress traces the line of her back [which] does not display the pronounced curve…nor does she have the typical wasplike waist,” which was possibly de-emphasized by a loose dress without an overskirt. DOUMAS 1992, 112, Pl. 79. On the use of fixed anatomical curves in Theran painting, see BIRTACHA and ZACHARIOUDAKIS 2000, 163-171. The fisherboy (DOUMAS 1992, 52, Pl. 19) was reversed to face right. MARINATOS 1972, 40, Fig. 5. JONES 1998, Pl. 8.19; PETERSON MURRAY, 2004, Figs. 6.10 and 6.12. SHAW 1998, 59, 61 interpreted the red color lining the sole and heel on women’s feet from Pseira as a shoe having a leather bottom and a sock-like top or, less likely, a strap-less sandal. Ellen Davis (pers. comm.) believed that the red soles were natural. Since all of the feet are clearly bare, and the color unnatural, we might consider that the feet from Pseira and from Thera were painted, possibly with henna. SHELMERDINE 1985, 24-31, makes a convincing argument for identifying henna in the Linear B tablets at Pylos. She believes it was used as a coloring agent for perfume but it may also have served as body paint. Henna is attested in Ugaritic texts (DE MOOR 1971, 87), and the goddess Anath adorns herself with henna (GIBSON 2004, 9, 47; HOOKE 1963, 81-82). According to de Moor 1968, 212-215, esp. 212, note 4,

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hair have bright red ears, likely painted with henna. Henna may also have colored the cheeks and outlined the ears of women from Mycenae and Thera.135

Fig. 4.102

133 134 135

“Henna was a common cosmetic used to apply red colour to the hands, feet and hair.” In the Ugaritic tablets unearthed at Ras Shamra (GIBSON 2004, 9, 47, Div.B, lines 1-2; GINSBERG 1969, 136: Tablet V.B, lines 1-2), “The Palace of Baal,” records that “[Anat adorned with] Henna [enough] for seven maids.” In The Tale of Aqhat (GIBSON 2004, 121; GINSBERG 1969, 155: AQHT C, lines 204- 205), his sister Pughat “stains herself red with murex,” in imitation of Anat who stained herself with henna (DE MOOR 1968, 212-215). For henna as a cosmetic in Palestine, see JACOB 2011, 13-14, 61, 88-83. Also see SCURLOCK 2007, 494496, 498, 508 for henna as medicinal treatment for foot problems in Assyria. In Greece, in the festival of Demeter Thesmophoros, women walked barefoot with the idea that their feet will be unharmed forever (CALLIMACHUS, Hymn 6, 119-33, 3rd C. B.C. in LEFKOWITZ and FANT 1982, 117). Perhaps they, as well as the Pseira and Thera women, painted their bare feet with henna as medicinal and apotropaic protection. LANG 1969, Pl. C, Frag. 33HSW. DOUMAS 1992, 56-57, Pls. 24-25. See the limestone head from Mycenae (DEMARGNE 1964, 248, Pl. 343), and the striding lady and goddess from Thera (DOUMAS 1992, 38, Pls. 6-8; 162-3, Pls. 125-6).

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Fig. 4.103A

Fig. 4.103B-C

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Fig. 4.104

Fig. 4.105

Fig. 4.106

Comparable to the young girls in Xeste 3, who also have short hairstyles and wear diaphanous heanoi, the maiden from the House of the Ladies likely looked like them, either with her face turned left, looking back toward the bending lady, possibly coiffed as the blue headed veiled maiden (Fig. 4.11),136 or with her face looking to the right, perhaps coiffed as the black haired crocus gatherer (Fig. 4.12). As the bending lady’s upraised arm and hand touching the fragmentary figure’s back firmly positions her torso 136

PETERSON-MURRAY 2004, 116, Figs. 6.10 and 6.12), first explored the possibility of the figure facing in two directions, and noted the lack of long hair, but still concluded that she was a large-scale adult.

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and mid-section, so her upward gaze directs us diagonally to the location of the head of the fragmentary figure (Fig. 4.102, green arrow). Consequently, the fragmentary figure’s feet stood on a higher ground level than that of the bending lady, although we lack evidence for what it looked like (Fig. 4.102). Nevertheless, three hypothetical suggestions for reconstruction are offered here, each placed side by side and to scale with the striding lady fresco from the same room (Fig. 4.103). The first, Reconstruction A, considers the possibility that the maiden might have been standing on tiptoe which would allow her to remain otherwise identical in size and height with a slight rise to the ground line (Fig. 4.103A). This precarious stance might explain the bending lady’s hand resting on the maiden’s back as a means of support. Raised heels appear at Thera on the veiled maiden (Fig. 4.11) and blue-headed crocus gatherer (Fig. 4.10), and, interestingly, on Minoan women wearing heanoi with flounced hems and carrying kilts on seals from Malia (Fig. 4.107A) and Knossos (Fig. 4.107B), and a sealing from Hagia Triada (Pl. 4.108A). The seal from Malia is iconographically relevant to our scene as a large woman also offers a kilt to a smaller one who stands on tiptoe. Reconstruction B (Fig. 103B) considers the possibility that the figure stood on some sort of raised platform, here a simplification of the wooden beams that support the monkey and crocus basket emptier on the goddess fresco from Thera (Fig. 4.27).137 In this reading, the bending lady holds the kilt behind the young girl who stands still to receive it. Reconstruction C (Fig. 103C) suggests an alternative theory by G. Gesell proposing that the ground could have been a stepped rise, and that the figure was climbing steps, possibly those of an adyton in a ritual ceremony.138 To achieve this, Reconstruction C simply adds a step below and another above the existing one upon which the maiden’s right leg stands, and bends and raises the maiden’s left leg and dress at the right. This interpretation turns a static scene into one of motion. The upward movement of the maiden, generated by the steps, makes the bending lady’s posture more credible as walking forward with her, that is, following the young girl and supporting her with her raised hand while she climbs the steps, not unlike the Xeste 3 monkey, and ultimately to her destination. This presupposes an extension of the scene to the right, an idea explored further below. Let us now focus on the maiden’s garment. The long, open front, diaphanous heanoi on the young girls from Xeste 3 provide the best parallels for the robe on our maiden.139 Like theirs, her robe is banded at the sleeve and center front edges. Preserved to the thigh, it too was probably long. Unlike theirs, it was not yet covered by a kilt, and thus reveals the mid-section. Like theirs, the shoulder/header band was presumably placed at the right (front) of her arm, depicted at right angles to the striped black-blue-blackblue-black band at the sleeve edge. The center front striped black-blue-black band, covered by her forearm, had to emanate from the header band and thus was restored curving upward toward it. The white areas to the right of the center front band likely reveal her skin beneath the open robe, and the saffron colored area next to it presumably marks the other side of the robe, renders her in profile but slightly turned to the left, and requires the inclusion of her left shoulder. This position conveniently blocks her left arm from view and its unknown gesture. The reconstructed extensions of the lines of her arm and center front band converge at the point where the hand likely grasps the center front edges of the robe together. This gesture and the drape of her robe, fittingly in preparation for the kilt to be placed around her by the bending lady, are further supported by continuing the directions of the red-ocher streaks on her robe. Like the heanoi on the crocus bucket emptier, the blue headed, and black and blonde haired crocus gatherers, and the necklace bearer and veiled maiden, the center front edges of our girl’s robe, below the diagonally cut and banded opening, were restored as un-banded selvages as shown in Reconstructions AC (Figs. 4.103A-B).

137 138

139

See a similar platform on the ivory pyxis from Mochlos (SOLES and DAVARAS 2010). Consider, too, the simpler foot rests under the seated women from Knossos (Fig. 6. 33a) and Mycenae (Fig. 4.21). I am grateful to Geraldine Gesell for her valuable comments and discussion following my lecture, A New Discovery and Interpretation of the Fragmentary Figure Fresco from the House of the Ladies, Thera, given at the AIA Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, January 7, 2011. See the crocus bucket emptier (Fig. 4.12), the crocus gatherers with blue head (Fig. 4.10), black hair (Fig. 4.26), and blonde hair (Fig. 6.59; DOUMAS 1992, Pl. 129-30), which LAFFINEUR 2000, 897, note 11, suspects is faded from its original black color, as well as the necklace bearer (Fig. 4.13), and veiled maiden (Fig. 4.11).

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Using the design of the crocus gatherers’ heanoi (Fig. 4.55), an experimental replication of our maiden’s heanos was made and placed on a live model who illustrates the front and back views (Fig. 4.104ab), and imitates her profile position in art (Fig. 4.104c). Both painted and replicated robes drape similarly on the body, even to projecting slightly behind the buttock. Further, by superimposing the reconstructed maiden (in green outline) over the model, whose curved back, proportions, and size compare well not only to the preserved anatomy on the fragment, but also to the whole reconstruction (Fig. 4.105), it gains even greater credibility. Finally, a composite of photos of the model wearing the costumes and assuming the positions of the bending lady and the maiden bring the scene to life (Fig. 4.106).140

Fig. 4.107a

Fig. 4.107b

Fig. 4.108b

Fig. 4.108a

Fig. 4.109

In terms of iconography, the literature has already noted similar LM IA Minoan glyptic representations of ritual scenes involving kilt presentations.141 The closest parallel appears on a seal from Malia that also depicts a large scale woman holding a kilt out toward a smaller figure, presumably a young 140

141

A third reconstruction considered the lower part of the garment to be opaque, stippled and banded at the center like those of the bending and striding ladies from the same room. But four crucial arguments against this design were reasons for its rejection. One, it is extremely unlikely that a different fabric would begin below buttock level. Two, the design never appears on young girls on Thera. Three, the red-ocher streaked diagonal lines that parallel the arm provide hard evidence that the heanos is being pulled in the direction of the hand that will grasp it as shown in Replications A, B and C. A dress, banded in the center and closed, would require the streaks to respond vertically instead of horizontally. Four, with the dress closed, the position of the hand has no purpose: it neither holds the dress together, nor does it conceal the pubic area. PETERSON MURRAY 2004, 119 noted that the hand pose is unusual and difficult to explain because it is so close to the body in contrast with the similar pose of the veiled maiden’s arm which is held away from the body (Fig. 4.11). The comparison is apt because the artist is using similar arm positions to hold cloth. Just as the veiled maiden’s arm and hand are positioning the veil forward and around the body (Fig s. 4.11, 4.70-4.71; JONES 2003, LXXXIVc, d; and JONES 2000, 41), so that of the fragmentary figure holds her heanos close together as in Reconstructions A, B, C. NIEMEIER 1986, 78-81, Figs. 3-8, includes a plaster impression of a seal of unknown origin (originally published by BOSSERT 1923, 232, Fig. 323d), likely a forgery that depicts two flounced skirts at right angles to a woman in a flounced skirt. Also see MARINATOS 1993, 143-145; JONES 1998, 261; PETERSON-MURRAY 2004, 113-114.

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girl, who extends her arm out to receive it (Fig. 4.107a). Others show the carrying of a kilt. On a seal from Knossos, a woman carries a kilt in one hand and a double axe in the other (Fig. 4.107b), on a sealing from Hagia Triada, a woman carries a “snake frame” over her shoulder with a kilt tied to it (Fig. 4.108a), and on a sealing from Zakros (Fig. 4.108b), a figure (man or woman wearing a hide skirt like those on the Hagia Triada Sarcophagus, Fig. 4.23), carries a kilt, while another, to the left, carries a double axe. Although these miniatures are shorthand compressions of large-scale Minoan paintings that likely depict a similar rite to the one painted in the House of the Ladies, a comparison may shed some light on the ritual as it applies to both Thera and Crete. Unlike the kilted Theran bending lady, the Minoan figures are kiltless, wearing only heanoi, banded or flounced at the hems, or hide skirts. Based on our House of Ladies maiden, however, the girl receiving the kilt on the Malia seal, although looking nude, is probably wearing a sheer heanos. The woman on the Hagia Triada sealing, compares with the Theran Bending Lady not only by carrying a kilt but also by having a similarly huge pendulous breast. The inclusion of a double axe with the kilt on the Knossos (Fig. 4.107b), and Zakros (Fig. 4.108b) representations is also noteworthy, prompting one to wonder whether the Theran striding woman on the South wall (Figs. 4.103 left, 4.32), moving eastward and presumably taking part in the same ceremony, possibly carried a double axe in her missing hand, upraised like the one on the Zakros sealing (Fig. 4.108b).142 The representation of the carried kilts as if folded in half and curved at the top on the Malia and Knossos carvings (Figs. 4.107a-4.107b), provide good analogies for the one on the fresco that terminates at its banded and fringed edge.143 The reconstructed extensions of the curve at the top of the kilt, the diagonal direction of the banded fringes at the right side, the cord belt, and the right arm of the bending lady, converge to portray the hand of the bending lady holding the kilt and its likely looped cord belt. The kilt thus presumably matched the left half of the similar kilt of the bending lady. It also abutted the edge of the heanos of the maiden, and precisely bridged the gap between her and the bending lady. In addition, it further avoided overlapping the maiden’s heanos, which would have occurred if both sides of the kilt were portrayed, as in earlier reconstructions.144 Taken together, the study concludes that the fragment forms the mid-section of a young girl who holds the center front edges of her heanos together while a bending lady, standing on lower ground, touches her shoulder with her left hand and lifts a kilt from below with her right one, presumably preparing to wrap it around her. Identified as a young girl by her smaller size and short hair, she is likely similar in age to the crocus gatherers in Xeste 3. The identification of her as a maiden, rather than a mature woman, gives greater credibility to the suggestion by Ellen Davis that the fresco shows the ceremony of the donning of the kilt that precedes the coming of age stage marked by the girls in Xeste 3.145 If this theory holds, our girl should be a little younger than the Xeste 3 girls, who already wear their kilts. The religious significance of the kilt cannot be overemphasized since it is not only carried in processions and represented alone as a cultic symbol, but the shape of the kilt, as I have already argued and shall discuss below, is that of a double axe.146 Thus, the maiden in this ceremony is likely about to be wrapped in the “double axe” and thereby become initiated into its cult. Further, since the kilt appears frequently with the double axe in cultic processions as at Knossos (Fig. 4.107b) and Zakros (Fig. 4.108b), it 142

143

144 145

146

In addition, a red double axe hanging from three “snake frames” atop an elaborate staff, is similarly held in the upright hand of a male leader of thirty men in procession on a fresco from a staircase in Xeste 4, Thera, which was illustrated in a lecture by VLACHOPOULOS 2009 (unpublished). PETERSONMURRAY 2004, 116, also envisioned a double axe in the scene but carried by an imagined third figure approaching the fragmentary figure on the same wall. Also see the two “folded” kilts flanking a bucranium and a double axe on a seal from Argos (Fig. 4.109; EVANS PM I, Fig. 312) and the three “folded kilts” incised in a bronze double axe from Vorou in the Mesara (BUCHHOLTZ 1962, 166-168). See reconstructions by MARINATOS 1984, Pl. 71, and JONES 1998, Pl. 8.19. PETERSON-MURRAY 2004, 113-114 also notes reasons for the likelihood that only half of the kilt was depicted. Personal communication, 1997 and mentioned in JONES1998, 260-261. DAVIS 1986, 399-406, built on Marinatos’s suggestion that the blue heads represent shaved heads and, based on their hairstyles, argued for four stages of development for the figures in Xeste 3. LAFFINEUR 2000, 895-899, cited problems with Davis’s proposal and argued instead that the blue surface reflects either very short cut and blue-dyed hair, or an artistic convention. JONES 2003, 445-447; JONES 2005, 709-714; JONES 2009, 321-323, 331-334, JONES 2013b, 83-86.

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is possible that the striding lady, in procession on the South wall, is, like the male processional leader in Xeste 4, carrying the double axe in her outstretched missing left hand. In either scenario, we are presented with the magnitude of the double axe/kilt in Minoan religion.147 The spatial context of the fresco with the painting of the striding lady on the South wall of the room, taken to scale, is of further interest (Fig. 4.103). If the base borders of these two scenes was accurately restored by Marinatos, displayed in the museum, and illustrated by Palyvou, then the base of the striding lady is at a higher elevation than that of the bending lady. It is higher than the base beneath the maiden on tiptoe (Fig. 4.103A), and virtually level with both the elevated rise of the platform reconstruction, and the second step in the stepped one (Fig. 4.103B-C). The bending lady alone is on a lower strata (Fig. 4.103 left).148 Palyvou suggested that the striding lady’s high level or “iconographic horizon” was a conscious decision by the artist to allow the observer to appreciate the picture naturally and easily, and that “the eye to eye contact explains why figures on a raised base are commonly reduced to approximately two-thirds of real size.” She also illustrated that the bending lady, also two-thirds life-size and reconstructed with a lower base was out of range for the eyes of the observer looking straight ahead.149 With the fragmentary figure raised at a height commensurate with the striding lady however, the fresco now fits into Palyvou’s “iconographic horizon.” Furthermore, comparanda exist on Thera for other figures at lower levels than the rest at the start of scenes. Indeed, the lower base of the bending lady corresponds to that of the Xeste 3 necklace bearer in the adyton fresco and the crocus basket emptier in the goddess fresco; both begin the narratives on their respective walls on a lower level than the rest.150 This then supports Marinatos’ low base reconstruction and argues against raising the base beneath the bending lady. Although the striding lady fresco was found partly in situ on the South wall of room 1 (Fig. 4.110, A), the location of the bending lady fresco is in dispute, with S. Marinatos, Doumas, and N. Marinatos locating it on the north corridor wall (Fig. 4.110, B) and Televantou and Michaelidou placing it on the east facade of the partition wall (Fig. 4.110, C). 151 Both frescoes shown in perspective reconstructions 147

148

149 150 151

See the discussion with extensive bibliography by PETERSON-MURRAY 2004, 113-128, that examines previous interpretations of the scene as one of robing, offering, and initiation, and argues the plausibility of interpreting the figure as a priestess, goddess, statue or initiate. PALYVOU 2005, 165, Fig. 242. MARINATOS 1972, 15, Pl. 11a mentioned that the lower body of the striding lady was found “practically in situ” but “detached from the wall it slid along its surface towards a lower level.” Less secure is the placement of the bending lady fresco whose fragments were totally disconnected from their wall (MICHAELIDOU 2001, 187-194, 247, Figs. 95-99, 158) with jagged bottom edges unrelated to its lower periphery. One wonders whether the two-tone border in red and black beneath the striding lady and the presumably solid black border beneath the bending lady are meaningless differences or marks of different locales during the ritual. MARINATOS 1984, Fold-out B Fig. 69, opp. p. 96, reconstructed hypothetical equal heights for both fresco bases and re-colored as blue and white both the black and red base of the striding lady and the black base of the bending lady. She manipulated the equal 1.14 m heights of both ladies by making the bending lady much shorter than the striding lady, but generally maintained the size of the reconstructed starred network canopy over her head. PALYVOU 2005, 163-165, Fig. 242; 2000, 419, Fig. 5, also believed that by having to look down at a figure, the viewer would feel superior. DOUMAS 136-7, Pl. 100; 158-159, Pl. 122; VLACHOPOULOS 2007, Pls. XXVI, XXVIIa-b. See S. MARINATOS 1972, 40-41, Pl. G, Fig. 3 for find spot and assignment of the bending lady painting to the north wall. DOUMAS 1992, 35, assigned the fresco to the north wall. DOUMAS 1983, 81-82, Fig. 11, and reiterated in personal conversation on October 21, 2011, stated that the fresco decorated a mud brick wall at a right angle to the partition wall that separates the western sector of the room with its sea lily plants from the eastern sector (Fig. 4.110, B, grey). Doumas’s mud brick wall is herein called the “north corridor wall” because it forms a corridor with the south wall of the room upon which the Striding Lady fresco was found partly in situ (Fig. 4.110, A). Comparable frescoed corridor walls appear in Xeste 3, room 3 with mature women in procession (VLACHOPOULOS 2007, Pl. XXVI, XXX). N. MARINATOS 1984, 97-99, Fold out B, Fig. 69; Fig. 65, placed the fresco both on the north wall and Doumas’s north corridor wall. MICHAELIDOU 2001, 187-194, 247, Figs. 95-99, 158, diagrammed the main fragments’ find spots, chiefly clustered around Fig. 4.110, B at Doumas’s corridor wall, and argued that the fragments fell there from an origin on the East facade of the partition wall (Fig. 4.110, C) based

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based on Marinatos’ plan and measurements estimate how they would have appeared in the corridor of Room 1 with the striding lady on the south wall (left), and the bending lady and fragmentary figure on the opposite north mud-brick corridor wall (right), their bodies all facing west and envisioning the latter standing on a hypothetical rise (Fig. 4.111).152 According to Marinatos’ plan and Doumas’ recent estimate (Fig. 4.110),153 the length of the north corridor wall B should measure ca. 1.27 m, just a little longer than the 1.19 m length of the bending lady and reconstructed climbing maiden and the 1.14 m length of the bending lady and reconstructed standing maiden. The opposite eastern portion of south wall A is of similar size, so that the length of the striding lady fresco at 1.33 m should end at the beginning of the door at the east end. Based on these measurements, we appear to have the limits of both frescoed walls.154 If we regard the fresco as a self-contained two-figured group, the standing maiden facing backward seems most convincing because she further bonds with the bending lady, forms a balanced scene, and serves as a terminus, whereas a forward facing maiden anticipates a continuing scene that lack of wall space renders unattainable. However, a comparable two-figured scene with the advanced figure, a youth holding a cloth looking back toward a little boy, appears on the far south wall on the ground floor of Xeste 3, room 3b.155 As our scene is balanced by the striding lady on the opposite wall, so the two boys are balanced by another on the opposite north wall who also strides toward the west wall which is decorated with an older male tilting a large vessel.156 A similar arrangement for our maiden facing right appears on the first floor of Xeste 3, room 3, where each facing wall of a corridor is decorated with two mature women facing and walking toward the east wall where a fresco perhaps with a fifth woman appears. 157 Moreover, Doumas’s suggestion that a lost fresco on the east wall of the room of the ladies completed the narrative,158 allows for a forward facing figure. Thus, the maiden on the corridor wall could have faced in either direction.

152

153

154

155 156 157 158

on a fragment with painted marbling on the reverse which she relates to marbling possibly from the west façade of the partition wall – a location initially suggested by TELEVANTOU 1992, 156. In agreement with Michaelidou, although open to reinterpretation, PETERSON-MURRAY 2004, 102-4, notes 3-5, gives a comprehensive review of Michaelidou’s study and the state of research to date. In her reconstruction of the Bending Lady fresco, PALYVOU 2005, 83-85, 162-165, Fig. 242, extended the striped lintel continuously across a long wall of unidentified location. But neither Doumas’s corridor wall nor the west partition wall could have extended beyond the maiden (Fig. 4.110, B, C). The fresco could, however, have continued at a right angle along the North wall of the room. The fresco was located on the top floor of a three story building consisting of a half basement (ground floor/first story), second, and third story. Unclear stratigraphy caused by the destruction in parts of room 1 of the third story has resulted in compressed (and sometimes conflicting) plans largely based on the clearer stratigraphy of the lower floors, see MARINATOS 1972, 11-15, 38-41; 1974, 8-11; DOUMAS 1983, 81-82; 1992, 32-35; MICHAELIDOU 2001, 177-197, 246-7; PALYVOU 2005, 83-85, 165; summary in PETERSONMURRAY 2004, 102-4, notes 3-5. Without a definitive plan, the one with clear measurements of walls and flagstones given by MARINATOS 1972, Fig. 2, largely followed by MICHAELIDOU 2001, esp. Figs. 97, 158, is used here. The frescoes were measured to scale by the author in the Archaeological Museum, Fira, Thera. The measurements of the walls and corridor were taken from Marinatos’ plan, especially by comparing his measurements of the stone slabs in the western sector of room 1. MICHAELIDOU 2001, 187-194, 246247, Figs. 95-99, 158, esp. Fig. 97, largely follows Marinatos’ measurements and adds the floor levels and walls, Fig. 158, sometimes based on the floor below. Although DOUMAS 1983, Fig. 11 terminated the corridor wall at the East wall of the room (shared with room 2), in personal communication with me in October 2012, he drew it shortened to allow for a door at its East end as given in gray on the plan (Fig. 4.110, B). The drawings of PALYVOU 2005, Fig. 242; 2000, Fig. 5, substantially extend the frescoed walls of both bending and striding ladies but she omitted an identification of the location of the walls and the evidence for the extensions. VLACHOPOULOS 2007, Pls. XXVI, XXVIIIa. These males may in turn have some connection with the nearby adyton scene. VLACHOPOULOS 2007, Pls. XXVI, XXX-XXXI. These flower carrying women may also relate to the nearby goddess fresco. According to Marinatos (Fig. 4.110) and DOUMAS 1992, 32 and 35, the east wall opposite the corridor in room 1 of the House of the ladies was solid. It may have housed a door as on the floor below marked level A on the plan by MICHAELIDOU 2001, Fig. 158.

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Fig. 4.110

Fig. 4.111

111

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Fig. 4.112

Alternatively, Michaelidou and Televantou provided evidence that the bending lady fresco was on the east facade of the partition wall (Fig. 4.110, C), 159 similar to the way it is exhibited in the Archaeological Museum, Fira, Thera. The partition wall is the length of the largest slab on Marinatos’ plan (1.27 m), comparable to the length Doumas suggested for his corridor wall (Fig. 4.110, B). Both perfectly accommodate the bending lady and reconstructed maiden. In this interpretation, the scene could well continue on a right angle along the north stone wall of the room. 160 According to Televantou, fragments with the wavy band and star pattern and at least one female figure were depicted on the north stone wall.161 Peterson Murray has already suggested that at least two figures on the north stone wall, possibly in procession and carrying a necklace or double axe, could have approached the fragmentary figure.162 She cited the crocus goddess and the wounded lady as parallels for a central figure flanked by facing figures in frescoes from Xeste 3. These frescoes are apt comparisons and illustrate the difficulties entailed in attempting a reconstruction of the north stone wall as a continuation of the bending lady and fragmentary figure fresco, especially since the kind of base that the fragmentary figure stands on is unknown. Nevertheless, like the bending lady and maiden, the figures on those frescoes are set on multiple levels and different grounds, and like the bending lady, the first figures in the narratives (at left) on both the adyton fresco (necklace bearer) and the goddess fresco (crocus basket emptier) are on a lower level than the rest.163 Both frescoes also continue onto a right angled wall and maintain the preceding ground-line. Thus, 159 160 161 162 163

MICHAELIDOU 2001, 187-194, 246-247, Figs. 95-99, 158, TELEVANTOU 1992, 156. See PETERSON MURRAY 2004, 115-116. Based on Marinatos’ measurements (Pl. 4.110), the north stone wall should measure ca. 1.60 m. TELEVANTOU 1992, 156. Since these fragments have not been published, I have estimated what they may have looked like in my reconstructions of the north stone wall below. PETERSON MURRAY 2004, 115-116. Although involved in the same narrative on a single wall, each of the three figures in the adyton fresco is a different size, on a different level and a different kind of ground suggestive of three different locations (DOUMAS 136-7, Pl. 100; VLACHOPOULOS 2007, Pls. XXVI, XXVIIa-b). Reading the scene from left to right, the necklace bearer is tallest and stands on the lowest level although her base is not preserved; the wounded woman of equally large size is on higher ground but seated and on a rocky terrain; standing

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the black border band beneath the veiled maiden continues beneath the shrine in the adyton fresco, and the rockwork beneath the crocus gatherer continues at a right angle beneath the two additional crocus gatherers. With these examples as guides, we can postulate that the base on the north wall possibly aligned with that of our maiden on the east façade of the partition wall and was closer to the base height of the striding lady. And, since the base of the striding lady is level across the wall, we can hypothesize the same for the north stone wall as illustrated in the perspective rendering of Reconstruction C (Fig. 4.112). In sum, although we await further evidence to determine which wall housed the fresco of the bending lady and maiden, what her base was, and whether she was facing left or right, the discovery of the back outline on the maiden has allowed us to reconstruct her anatomy and identify her as a young girl; and especially pertinent to this study, to understand her dress as a loose, sheer open front heanos that, unobstructed by a covering kilt, reveals the underlying hip and buttock area and its overlying heanos for the first time in Aegean art. Moreover, it adds to our corpus of rituals involving little girls in the art of Thera and the Aegean world. 8. Experimental replications of the Minoan dress (heanos) with partly closed front The heanos, closed below the waist, appears on the following figures: the kneeling woman from Hagia Triada (Fig. 4.20a), the little girls from the Southwest house (Fig. 4.22) and the Ivory Triad from Mycenae (Figs. 4.15, 4.128), the bucket carrier (with added bolero/frontless over-blouse discussed below), the male lyre player on the Hagia Triada sarcophagus (Fig. 4.23), and the goddess on the gold ring from Tiryns (Fig. 4.113).164 This design follows the above except that it is closed at least below the abdomen on all the figures. Because all the figures are rendered in profile with their arms concealing their chests, we lack evidence for whether the top opening remained open to expose the breasts or was brought together to cover them.

Fig. 4.113

164

on the same level but on a solid black base is the much smaller veiled maiden. The fresco continues on the right angled wall with the same solid black base, probably at the same level, supporting a shrine. Also on a single wall, the ground levels, sizes and terrains of the three figures in the saffron gatherer fresco are equally different (VLACHOPOULOS 2007, Pls. XXVI, XXIXa-b). Starting from left to right, a small crocus basket emptier stands on the lowest level of a platform; a tall monkey steps up on the platform’s next tier; a very large goddess is seated on the highest tier backed by a griffin; and a short crocus gatherer continues but on very high rockwork. The same rockwork with two additional crocus gatherers continues on the right angled wall. A wide black band runs across the wall and provides a base for the platform and the rockwork. CMS I, no. 179. The Tiryns figure’s dress, with double bands with diagonal hatching down center front and vertical striations across the hem is decorated with overall vertical stippling. Missing are the usual shoulder and sleeve bands which were presumably omitted in the miniature engraving. REHAK 1992, 47 and 1984, 539-40, misinterpreted the dress as a mantle similar to that of the Mycenaean sword holder whose cloak is discussed below (Figs. 4.129, 9.42).

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a. Kneeling figure, Hagia Triada (Fig. 4.20a-b)

Fig. 4.114

Fig. 4.115 – 4.116

The garment is preserved on three fragments, 9-11 (Fig. 4.114).165 Two more fragments that likely belong to the figure are added here: fragment 8 (Fig. 4.115), with parts of a side hair-lock and chin facing right against a dark background, an ear and earring, comparable and contemporary with those on frescoes at Thera (Fig. 4.26), and especially in gold from Shaft Grave III, at Mycenae (Fig. 4.116); as well as fragment 15 with part of a red beaded bracelet.166 On display in the Herakleion Museum (Fig. 4.20a-b), 165

166

MILITELLO 1998, Pls. Fb, V1 and 2, recognized that the scale motif on the larger of the newly found fragments (Pl.4.114, no. 9), matched that of the cloth covering the kneeling legs on the largest fragment (Pl.4.114, no.12). The curve of its border band led Militello to interpret the fragment as the front of the sleeve on the figure’s left upper arm (MILITELLO 1998, Pls. Fb, V12). This more appropriately depicts the back of the right shoulder area. The band is decorated with red and blue stripes, a dark flame motif, red and blue squares, and blue loops against a brown ground. The smaller fragment (MILITELLO 1998, Pl. Fb, V2), preserves a slightly curved stretch of an identically patterned band at the abdomen, the red florets of a plant growing vertically next to it (not horizontally as Militello suggested), and an unknown element with red and blue lines, all against a white ground with areas of brown (Pl. 4.114, no. 10). See JONES 2007, 151-158, for detailed discussion. The fragment contains the lower part of a hoop-shaped earring framed by scallops, their points surmounted by crescents. The fire-damaged colors of the hoop have been painted by Barosso (MILITELLO 1998, 104-7, Pl. 4; 120, Tav Fa. V9), as alternating cream and green rectangles (probably referring to gold inlayed with lapis lazuli), and the scallops and crescents as maroon (likely pertaining to carnelian). The crocus gatherer (Fig. 4.26) wears similar gold hoop earrings framed by red (probably carnelian) scallops and crescents. The shaft grave earrings are gold hoops framed with gold scallops but without crescents. PORTER 2000, 607, has compared the scallop and crescent design to the pointed teeth of the natural corona with its crescentiform anthers of the sea lily plant best portrayed at Thera in the House of the Ladies (DOUMAS 1992, 36, Pls. 2-5). This convincing comparison suggests that the motif depends on and refers to the flower and thus may imbue the earring with symbolism. For the Shaft Grave earring, ANM no. 61, see KARO 1930, 52, Pl. XX and XXXII. LAFFINEUR 2000, 904-905, also paralleled the Shaft Grave earrings with the Theran example. MILITELLO 2000, 992-994, Fig. 3,

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the largest fragment 12 depicts the figure’s legs, bent in a kneeling position, covered by a long white garment that is decorated with an overall red scale pattern (Fig. 4.114). Within each scale is a red diamond shape and without is an arched frame of red dots. A wide, blue-red-blue, triple-striped band runs down the center front, between the legs, and a narrow blue band marks the ankle-length hem. Fragment 9, has the same overall red scale pattern on white ground as does fragment 12, and is bordered by a curved elaborate band consisting of a narrow red stripe on the left side, a wider blue stripe decorated with a dark flame motif running down the center, and a stripe of alternating blue and red squares edged with projecting blue loops on the right. This depicts the garment at the back of the figure’s right shoulder and sleeved arm seen in profile facing right. Fragment 10 bears traces of the red scale pattern on white ground bordered in a slight curve with the same elaborate band that appears in fragment 9, and red and blue lines opposite the band. This depicts the garment at the abdominal area, and its red and blue sleeve tassels, on a figure in profile facing right. Together, the fragments portray the upper, mid-section and lower parts of a clothed, kneeling woman in profile facing right (Fig. 4.20a).

Fig. 4.117

and MILITELLO 1998, 104-7, Pl. 4; 120, Pl. Fa. V9 (chin and earring); and 118, Pl. Fa. V6 (red beaded jewelry), noted that these are among a group of fragments of unknown placement from room 14, and hypothetically reconstructed fragment 8 as the head of the crouching woman (“goddess”) on the East wall, in profile facing left. Several details, however, suggests that Fragment 8 belongs to the Kneeling figure. First, the upper part of the crouching woman is set against a light background, which even Cameron reconstructed as white (EVELY 1999, 242). The chin on fragment 8, by contrast, is placed above a dark area described as green both by Militello and in Barosso’s watercolor reconstruction, the same green that they describe and portray the cat from the same room (see MILITELLO 1998, 120, 108-110, Pl. G, fragment 1: forelegs and head, and Pl. G, fragment 2: arched back and tip of tail, and reconstruction in Fig. 29). The cat, however, is clearly brown, as attested by the original fragments (SAKELLARAKIS 1978, 121; DEMARGNE 1964,147, Pl. 198), and reconstruction by Cameron (EVELY 1999, 242). Because it is the same color as the cat, brown is likelier the background color of fragment 8. And, since brown is precisely the background color of fragments 9, 10 and 12 of the kneeling woman on the North wall, fragment 8 probably belongs to her. Second, Militello interprets a small brown curved element within the earring and a thick brown line outside of it as the front of the figure’s hairline. In order to do this, Militello removed the brown element from its original location and placed it at the opposite side. The white neck area behind the earring further argues against his interpretation. Instead, with the fragment turned upside down and the face in profile looking right (Figs. 4.20a, 4.114-4.115), the brown lines are more convincing as parts of a wavy lock of hair that curves down from the hairline above the ear, in front of the ear, through the earring (the brown curved element), to the neck, similar to the side hair-locks from Knossos on the Dancing Lady (Fig. 4.53) and the ladies in the Grandstand fresco (Fig. 4.117).

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In order to reconstruct the missing portions of the figure, which are mostly on the left side, a similar figure that is kneeling before two baetyl rocks on a seal from Knossos,167 was digitally scaled to the size of the fragments, rotated, and superimposed over them (Fig. 4.118). Because the Knossos figure is also in complete profile, her abdomen is depicted with a slight curvature, which compares well with the curve of the dress band on the fragment and validates its place at the abdominal region of the Hagia Triada figure. The Knossos figure also provides evidence for the contours of the back and buttocks of the figure on the fresco. The coiffure on the Knossos figure - long, hip-length hair looped at the nape of the neck - also appears on the figure kneeling at a baetyl on the gold ring in the Ashmolean Museum.168 The finest example of this coiffure is depicted on the necklace bearer from Thera (Fig. 4.13),169 which provided the prototype both for the hairstyle and for the head of the kneeling figure. The foot was taken from that of the crouching woman (goddess) on the adjoining East wall.170 The leafy stems of the vetch plant beneath the red buds preserved in the smaller fragment (Fig. 4.114, no. 10), were based on the ones in the Blue Bird fresco from Knossos.171 Taken together, these elements result in a new reconstruction of the kneeling figure from Hagia Triada (Fig. 4.20a).

Fig. 4.118

The Hagia Triada kneeler, with both forelegs on the ground and wearing a dress without a kilt, was also likely kneeling before a rock172 just as those represented in glyptic art from Hagia Triada (Fig. 167 168 169 170 171 172

WARREN 1990, 193-206, Figs. 13-14; JONES 2007, 152, Fig. 18.1. SOURVINOU-INWOOD 1971, 60-69. DOUMAS 1992, 101-2. JONES 2005, Pl. CLXXVIIIb-d. EVELY 1999, 222-3, 264. Like MILITELLO 1998, Pl. 2, I believe that the figure’s position and dress identify her as one who leans on a rock (JONES 2007, 152; JONES 1998, 96-98, Pls. 4.55-4.57). Cameron and Smith previously suggested that she was picking flowers but figures kneeling with both legs on the ground while picking

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4.119),173 Knossos (Fig. 4.118) and on a seal in the collection of the Ashmolean Museum (Fig. 4.120).174 Further iconographic parallels are the male figures that also kneel and lean on rocks on the gold rings from Archanes (Fig. 4.121), Sellopoulo (Fig. 4.122) and Phaistos (Fig. 4.123).175 Indeed, the leaning position of the figure on the Phaistos ring provides a very close parallel to the position of our figure.

Fig. 4.119

Fig. 4.120

Fig. 4.121

Fig. 4.122

Fig. 4.123

173 174 175

flowers are unprecedented in Aegean art. Indeed, the crocus gatherers from Thera (DOUMAS 1992, 156) and Knossos (EVELY 1999, 120-1) do not kneel, but climb with one leg advanced or raised above the other. In addition, the Thera crocus gatherers are dressed differently: they all wear flounced kilts over their dresses (DOUMAS 1992, 152-166). NIEMEIER 1989, 175-7, Fig. 5,7. EVANS PM II, 842, Fig. 557. NEIMEIER 1989, 175, Figs. 5.2, 5.5, 5.6.

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The presence of fabric with the same scale motif covering the arms, abdomen and legs likely identifies the item of clothing as a single dress (Fig. 4.114). Because all contemporary Late Bronze I dresses on Aegean frescoes are covered with kilts, skirts or mantles, this is a rare painted example of a dress worn alone which, even fragmentarily, exposes the mid-section. Only one other fragment, restored next to the Bending Lady, Thera, provides another glimpse of the mid-section of a dress worn alone, albeit a sheer, open-front heanos (Figs. 4.24, 4.96, 4.103a-c, 4.111-4.112).176 Details of the construction of the Hagia Triada kneeler’s dress are gained not only from the fact that identical cloth appears at the top, middle, and bottom of the garment, but also from the placement of the bands across the shoulders, down the open front at the torso, and down the center front of the lower part of the dress. These details are generally consistent with the open front dresses (heanoi) discussed above and that proliferate in Aegean art. Since the fancy bands with the dark flame design across the shoulders and down center front torso differ from the wider blue-red-blue band between the knees, the band down the center front of the lower part of the kneeler’s dress probably functioned as a covering for a seam that closed the center front panels below the waist. The best contemporary parallel for the lower part of the kneeler’s dress with bands down the center front and across the hem appears on the striding lady from Thera (Fig. 4.32).177 The diagram in Fig. 4.124 exhibits how the garment on the Hagia Triada fresco may have been fashioned from a cloth produced on a warp-weighted loom, which necessitated a header band at its top (Fig. 4.124A). The header band would accommodate the garment’s width and serve as a shoulder band complete with lateral fringes that were subsequently made into decorative tassels, which explains the red and blue lines on the smaller fragment (Fig. 4.114, no. 10). Fig. 4.124B-C illustrate unshaped and shaped front possibilities for the dress. Fig. 4.124C shows the application of attached bands to the sleeve ends and to the raw edges at the hem and down center front. Finally, Fig. 4.124D presents the fin

Fig. 4.124

176 177

JONES 1998, 257-261, Pls. 8.17-8.19; PETERSON MURRAY 2004, 106-128. MARINATOS 1984, 100-102, Figs. 67,70.

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In terms of the pattern, the red scale motif was either woven into or embroidered onto the fabric and the framing dots could well indicate beads. We are better informed about the construction of the elaborate shoulder and torso bands with patterned stripes (Fig. 4.114, nos. 9-10). These feature a wide central stripe with a dark (reddish-black) flame design on a blue ground that is flanked by a narrow red stripe on the inner side, and by a narrow stripe of alternating red and blue blocks edged with raised blue loops on the outer side. Preserved textiles from Egypt provide clues as to the manufacture of the band and its looped edging. Some elements of the pattern are similar to those on the more elaborate band on the extant “Syrian” tunic of Tutankhamun, 1326 B.C.178 The band, in natural pale blue, and dark blue linen, has horizontal geometric stripes and blocks as a pattern, but zigzags at the edges instead of finishing with the Minoan style loops. The Egyptian band is woven in a warp-face weave with the pattern on the front and floating threads on the back.179 Because the underside of the band with its floating threads faced the underlying cloth to which the band was attached, the floats were completely concealed and covered. Inlayed loops were also used for edging on linen cloth preserved in the tomb of Tutankhamun and others.180 Weaver V. Bealle used these techniques to experiment with the duplication of the Hagia Triada band. The front of the band is illustrated in Fig. 4.125a, the back (underside) in Fig. 4.125b. Bealle added to the alternating blocks of colors common to both bands the Minoan’s flame design and open loops, which are indicated by the changing brown and white background colors within the loops, especially clear on the smaller fragment (Fig. 4.114, no. 10). Bealle wove this piece in linen on a band loom in warp-faced plain weave with the design in warp pick-up. Tightly woven and very strong, the band was well suited to perform its function as either a header or as an element to finish and strengthen the raw, cut edges of the garment. When used as a header band, the loose warp threads of the band would subsequently be made into decorative tassels.

Fig. 4.125a

Fig. 4.125b

The next step was to reproduce a modern version of the dress. Similarly patterned commercial fabric was tailored as the pattern illustrates (Fig. 4.124), except that all the bands and the tassels (made by Bealle), were sewn on separately. Deniz Oktay models front and back views of the dress (Figs. 4.126a-b), 178 179 180

VOGELSANG-EASTWOOD 1999, 78-82. CROWFOOT and DAVIES 1941, 17-19. PFISTER 1937, 216, Fig. 4, Pl. LIVd; BARBER 1991, 151-3, Fig. 5.5.

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and imitates the kneeling position of the figure in the Hagia Triada fresco (Fig. 4.127), thereby providing information about how the dress was worn as well as experimentally bringing both the dress and the figure to life.

Fig. 4.126a

Fig. 4.126b

Fig. 4.127

This dress was probably worn on female figures depicted in outline on seals that have been interpreted by Warren and others to be nude or to wear tight-fitting trousers.181 But the same outline applies to our kneeling figure. On both the Knossos seal (outline on Fig. 4.118), and the fresco, the anatomy of the figure is outlined. The only difference between the two is that the artist of the fresco 181

WARREN 1990, 198.

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painted the patterns of the cloth within the anatomical outlines. Both on the seal and the fresco, the volume of the cloth itself is not portrayed. Fabric folds on Aegean clothed figures are also never depicted. But hints of clothing, however minimal, are present on a few examples on seals and sealings. Kyriakidis has already observed that incisions for hems on seals and sealings argue against nudity.182 Indeed, a dress is suggested on the female figure on the Hagia Triada sealing not only by the dress hem but also by incisions for a waistband, and possibly shoulder bands (Fig. 4.119),183 and on the female figure on the Ashmolean ring by raised bands at the sleeves, shoulders and ankles (Fig. 4.120).184 These small details indicate that the figures in glyptic are presumably clothed in robes of the same design as the figure in the fresco. Thus, just as the seals provide evidence for the figure’s position and style, and point to the presence of baetyl rocks on the fresco, so the details of the dress on the fresco supply evidence for clothing on the seals. Reflections of such robes worn by women carrying kilts are represented on seals from Hagia Triada (Fig. 4.108A),185 Malia (Fig. 4.107A)186 and Knossos (Fig. 4.107B),187 dated MM III to LM IB. Apart from the hem bands, the summary execution of the robes as they conform to the anatomy, like the one on the Hagia Triada kneeler, reveal little more than an elusive garment, perhaps diaphanous as the examples from Thera.188 The pendulous exposed breast on the figure on the sealing from Hagia Triada (Fig. 4.08A), indicates that the dresses had the usual open front.189 b. Miniature Girl, Mycenae (Fig. 4.21-4.22) Except for the addition of a cord belt, the same design robe with partial front closing is worn by the little girl from the Southwest House (also called the House of the High Priest), Mycenae, dated LH IIIB end/LH IIIC beginning.190 The figure is preserved in four fragments, two portray the dress. Yellow ocher with overall clusters of three red dots, presumably carnelian beads, the main fabric is banded in red at the shoulders, sleeve edges, down center front and across the hem, and girded at the waist with a red cord belt. Another little girl, on the Ivory Triad, also from Mycenae (a surface find dated LH IIIB), wears the same style robe, complete with cord belt, bands at the hem, down center front, and sleeve edges (Fig. 4.128). 191 The placement of the vertical dress band and looped belt ties at the front of the ivory child explains where they should be on our girl, but the painter of our girl conflates the front and side views by depicting the red band down the little girl’s side, and follows the Aegean convention of rendering lower parts of dresses frontally on profile figures also seen on the Hagia Triada Sarcophagus’s bucket carrier and lyre player (Fig. 4.23).192 Thus, the little girl’s red band emerges from under her arm at the front (left) and curves right in skewed perspective to the center of the waist cord (side of the figure rendered frontally) and

182 183 184 185 186 187 188

189

190 191

192

KYRIAKIDIS 1997, 119-126. NIEMEIER 1989, 175, Fig. 5.7. EVANS PM II, 842, Fig. 557. CMS II.6, no. 26. CMS II.3, no. 145.2. CMS II.3, no. 8.2. One may also question whether one is to read women as nude or clad diaphanously on: two gold signet rings from the Kalyvia cemetery, Phaistos of LM IIIA (CMS II.3, nos. 103 and 114); a seal impression from Hagia Triada (LEVI 1925/6, 139 No. 137); two seals from the stratigraphical museum excavations, Knossos (WARREN 1958, 16, Pls. 8,9). The subject matter on these seals has been explored by MARINATOS 1993, 143-4, and NIEMEIER 1986, 78-81. They believe that the flounced kilt is being transported by the carriers to an unseen goddess, who will ultimately be dressed in it. Alternatively, the kilts may belong to the carriers since they wear only dresses. Thus, one wonders whether they are presenting their kilts to another or whether they will be dressed in the kilts. For a detailed discussion see JONES 2009, 317-321. Note the sleeve band in raised relief beneath the abraded surface at the lower arm of the Ivory Triad girl (MYLONAS 1983, 119, Fig. 90). Since boys were depicted nude in Aegean art, the dress identifies the child as a girl (JONES 1998, 93; JONES 2000a, 41; JONES 2000b, 352; JONES 2009, 318-319; also recognized by REHAK and YOUNGER 1998, 240, and YOUNGER 2009, 209). LONG 1974, Fig. 37.

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continues vertically to the hem. The red band should not be mistaken for a side seam,193 depicted here as a contrasting thin black line that extends from sleeve band to armpit. A parallel for the upper part, particularly the robe’s header band at the shoulder and arm appears on a woman at the right, holding a staff, on a fresco from Room 31 at the Cult Centre, Mycenae (Fig. 4.129).194 Her exposed breasts indicate that the dress opened at the front, providing evidence for the dress design on our prepubescent girl. Thus, the center front edges of the girl’s dress from shoulder to hem were bordered with red bands open at least from the level of the armhole up (a level which is anatomically higher than the breasts), suggesting they formed a high V-neckline which appears to have covered the breasts and were seamed closed below them to the hem, like that of the Mykenaia (see below), from the same find spot.

Fig. 4.128

Fig. 4.129

Thus, as Fig. 4.130 indicates, the dress was likely constructed from a rectangular length of linen cloth topped by a header band woven on a warp weighted loom, cut in half across the width to create the back panel from the top half, and the front from the bottom half. The front panel was probably cut in half lengthwise and diagonally at the top to form the open front and cut in at the sides to form sleeves, contour to the torso and flare toward the hem. Bands were sewn along the sleeve edges and center front edges to prevent fraying, the latter sewn together to close the front below the neckline. The back panel likely utilized the header band at its top to serve as a continuous shoulder and sleeve band and was sewn onto the top of the front panels, covering the tops of the center front and sleeve bands. A generic reconstruction of the heanos of the little girl and the Ivory Triad using commercial cloth, and modeled on a mannequin experiments with how it likely looked in reality in front, rear and side views (Figs. 4.131, 4.132, 4.133).195

193

194 195

PETERSON 1981, 202, also described the red band as located down the center of the skirt. MARCAR 2002, 159–62, interprets it as a horizontal neck, two-part dress divided by a banded seam at the waist. But the identical fabric above and below the band argues against a divided dress, and bodices with horizontal necklines lack centered vertical bands below them in the Aegean (see the wheat holder from Mycenae and the women on the Tanagra larnakes (JONES 1998, 105–7 and below). Drawing: ANNEKA POELSTRA TRAGA © Mycenae Archive. See FRENCH 1981, 44–47, Fig. 12, and reconstruction by WARDLE 1999, 193. Parallels for this basic Minoan design are ubiquitous in Aegean art, the earliest on dress plaques where the front edges are brought together between the breasts and cover them (Fig. 4.8, and EVANS PM I, 506, Figs. 364a-b).

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Fig. 4.130

Fig. 4.131

Fig. 4.132

Fig. 4.133

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c. Bucket Carrier and Lyre Player, Hagia Triada Sarcophagus (Fig. 4.23) Dresses of similar design as those of the little girls from Mycenae are possibly worn by the bucket carrier and lyre player on the Hagia Triada sarcophagus, dated LM IIIA2 (the beginning of the Mycenaean hegemony on Crete), although they both lack a cord belt (see the generic replications in Figs. 4.130-4.133).196 The main yellow ocher fabric of the lyre player’s dress has white-dark-white stripes at the shoulders, and dark stripes at sleeve edges, black-white-black stripes down center front and a wide blackocher-black striped border at the hem. The main blue fabric of the bucket carrier’s dress is banded in black-ocher-black stripes down center front and at the hem in a wide multiple striped border of blackwhite-black-white/ocher-black-blue-black-white/ocher-black-ocher-black. The shoulder and sleeve bands are covered by a bolero-like, frontless over-blouse (discussed below).197 d. Bending Lady, Thera198 (Fig. 4.24 and diagram Fig. 4.134)

Fig. 4.134

196

197 198

See comprehensive publication by LONG 1974, fig. 37, and La Rosa’s re-dating of the sarcophagus to LM IIIA2 based on pottery in BLACKMAN 1998, 111; LA ROSA 2000, 90. The Minoan design of the garments is in keeping with the conclusion (with full bibliography), by BURKE 2005, 419, that “the iconography of the sarcophagus is a hybrid of Minoan and Mycenaean elements creating a powerful continuity between a Minoan past and the Mycenaean present.” JONES 2009, 326-330. DOUMAS 1992, Pls. 7, 10, 12.

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Fig. 4.135

Fig. 4.136

Fig. 4.137

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The main cloth on the upper part (bodice), of the dress is plain white and sheer with rows of yellow laces visible through it around the lower torso (Fig. 4.135), whereas the lower part (skirt), is white and opaque (note that the legs are not visible through it), and decorated with horizontal rows of tiny blue lines (Fig. 4.136). Since the overlying flounced kilt shields the evidence, we can only hypothesize as to how this duality in cloth was achieved. There are any number of possibilities, some of which are outlined in the diagrams on Fig. 4.137. A long, sheer dress (as in Fig. 4.55) could have been covered by a separate opaque skirt (Fig. 4.137C, D). Alternatively, a sheer bodice (Fig. 4.137A, B) could have been sewn onto an opaque skirt (Fig. 4.137C, D). Although Marinatos does not discuss its construction, her drawing generalizes the dichotomy and interprets the garment as a dress.199 A dress comprised of two weave structures in a single cloth actually finds a parallel in the preserved ankle length linen robe from Lefkandi, ca. 1050-900 B.C, described as “made of two sheets of linen [one at back and one at front] sewn up the sides, with each sheet’s bottom half and borders in plain weave, but its upper part in shaggy pile weave.”200 As I shall argue below, this design originally appeared in LH IIIB. Thus, there is no reason to doubt that diverse weave structures within a single cloth could have existed earlier in the Aegean. According to Bealle, a fine weft thread could have been used for the upper diaphanous parts and a heavier weft thread, beat harder in place, would have created a denser, more opaque fabric for the lower parts. A straightforward method of achieving this on the-warp weighted loom is to weave a single section of fine cloth (for the top of the back panel), followed by a double section of the opaque cloth (for the bottom of the back panel and the bottom of the front panel), followed by a single section of fine cloth (for the top of the front panel). The horizontal rows of blue dash-lines would have been easier to achieve during the weaving process than embroidery but both were possible.201 This ultimately would result in the usual single panel for the back and double panels for the front as described above.

Fig. 4.138

This is the most revealing depiction of the upper part of a dress in Aegean art. For the first time, a side seam is rendered, providing clear evidence for front panels sewn to a back panel. The bands at 199 200 201

MARINATOS 1984, 102, fig. 70 reconstruction drawing by PAPAGEORGIOU. POPHAM et al. 1982, 169-74, Pl. XXV. I am grateful to Valerie Bealle for this information.

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shoulder/header, center fronts, and sleeve edges are all blue with black borders. Projecting from the shoulder/sleeve band(s) are strands of yellow tassels combined with two blue beads. The yellow threads split into two groups, each decorated with two sets of evenly spaced double blue beads and a single set of double red beads at the ends (Fig. 4.138). These are reminiscent of the much longer, beaded tassel, at the sleeve of the woman at the left on the Isopata ring (Fig. 4.62),202 and the fancier beads that pend from the kilts of the Processional figures from Knossos (Fig. 4.89). Visible through the sheer white cloth are five rows of tiny diagonal yellow lines that run horizontally across the front of the lower part of the bodice, stopping before the bodice’s center blue band and emerging after it in little loops with pending ends that yield five yellow laces (Figs. 4.134-4.135).203 The top yellow line begins behind the dark vertical side-seam line, whereas the four lines below begin at a fine yellow vertical line in front of the seam (indicated by a dark line to the left that runs up to the sleeve edge). They all continue toward the front of the figure and are covered at the edge of the bodice by the blue band. They emerge in front of the blue band as five looped strings that join together the two front edges of the bodice beneath the breasts. The laces are probably made of linen threads, not only because they seem identical to the fine laces preserved on Egyptian dresses that, according to Vogelsang-Eastwood, are made from twisted flax,204 but also because they are sewn onto diaphanous cloth that is presumably linen. The vertical yellow line that marks the start of the stitching of the laces to the right, is also the foremost in a series of closely spaced parallel vertical lines to the left, that continue toward (and presumably around) her back. One of many possible explanations for them is shirring which would gather the fabric close to the body, and secure a tight fit. The yellow laces are analogous with the dark ones on the bodices of the faience figurines at Knossos in their looping, location below the breasts, and spacing one above the other (Figs. 4.1, 4.2, 4.7).205 Compare the three pairs of stacked and looped laces preserved on the spiral motif dress of snake goddess HM 63 (Fig. 4.1),206 the single pair of looped laces on the striped dress of snake goddess HM 65 (Figs. 4.2-4.3), and the remains of two pairs of laces on the fragmentary striped dress on faience figurine HM 64 (Pl. 4.7a,b), all from Knossos. When comparing the greater thickness of the laces of the snake goddesses to that of the House of the Ladies figure, one must bear in mind not only the possible differences in consistency of fabric whereby thicker laces would be appropriate for thicker fabric but also the differences inherent in depicting laces in sculpture and in paint. All of the above suggestions should be considered for construction. The replication presented here relies on commercial cloth and joins white diaphanous fabric for the bodice to opaque white linen fabric for the skirt (Fig. 4.137).207 Triple striped bands, blue in the center and black at the sides were applied to the center front edges, across the shoulders and around the sleeve edges. Blue and red glass beads were added to yellow tassels that pend from the sleeves.208 In the area between the breasts and the waist, at both sides of the front of the bodice, five yellow laces were stitched horizontally to the inside of the fabric in rows separated by 1” intervals. Each was anchored to a lace, 4” in length, sewn vertically at either side. The laces were stitched for six of their eighteen inches, leaving twelve inches pending for tying in loops. Horizontal rows of blue stitching were painted on the opaque cloth which was seamed closed and covered with a blue band bordered in black, and hemmed. The experimental replication is modeled alone in front, back and side views (Figs. 4.139a-c), and combined with the kilt with the model posed as on the fresco (Fig. 4.140). 202 203. 204. 205 206 207

208

DEMARGNE 1964, Pl. 248. I am grateful to Ellen Davis for pointing out to me that yellow curls project in front of the bands at the front of the bodice. VOGELSANG-EASTWOOD 1993, 119-20. HM 65: EVANS PM I, 502, Fig. 360a,b, HM 64: EVANS PM I, Fig. 382, and HM 63: EVANS PM I, Frontispiece and 501, Fig. 359. EVANS PM I, Frontispiece and 501, Fig. 359. The replicated bodice of the Bending Lady measures: Shoulder width: 37” Shoulder neck to sleeve: 16” Sleeve diameter: 6” Sleeve underarm taper: 10” Length: 57” I am grateful to Valerie Bealle for making the tassels.

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Fig. 4.139a

Fig. 4.139c

Fig. 4.139b

Fig. 4.140

The same construction appears on the Striding Lady from Thera (Fig. 4.32), where the cloth on the upper part of the dress is yellow ocher and sheer (note the darker ocher streaks). The cloth’s lower part is dark yellow ocher and opaque (note that the legs are not visible through it), decorated with horizontal rows of tiny blue dash-lines and seamed and banded down center front in a wide white-red-white stripe. Unlike the bending lady’s plain hem, this has a wide hem border decorated in black-ocher-black-blueblack-ocher-black stripes.

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e. Wounded Lady, Thera (Fig. 4.19 and diagram Fig. 4.141)

Fig. 4.141

Fig. 4.142

The Wounded Lady from Thera wears a loose robe, similar in design to that of the necklace bearer, made of white fabric with pale blue streaks that, along with the outline of her arm visible through it, denotes sheerness. Several stripes of a pale tan color emanate from and flank the header cord at the sleeve and curve down the torso, reminiscent of the stripes on the heanos of HM 65 (Fig. 4.2). The cloth is further decorated in a diagonal dark dotted grid pattern, the dots likely indicating tiny sewn-on beads. The garment extends below her armpit and forms a kind of dolman sleeve. Its header cord, of twisted ocher on red, ends in loose tassels of the same colors. The cord differs from the band decorated in five alternating stripes of black and ocher edging her sleeve. Her ocher skirt is decorated with a red diagonal dotted grid pattern, each grid centered with a red X. One wonders whether it was sewn onto the hem of the top or whether it was a separate skirt. It is secured with a wide blue belt bordered in black and decorated in

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facing undulating lines with an oval leaf design within. Emanating from it are four sets of three streamers, each set composed of two pale tan ones,209 flanking a blue one. Over this is a black cord belt wound twice around the waist and looped. By copying the two sets of three stripes on the back of the bodice onto the right side of a loom shaped rectangle, and creating a mirror image of them on the left side, we can get an idea of the decorated cloth used for the bodice of the robe, with a hypothetical length, since that is unknown. The lower half would be used for the front, cut in half lengthwise to form two panels (Fig.. 4.142A). In order to take advantage of the naturally bound selvages at the robe’s center front edges, the right panel would be switched to the left and the left panel would be switched to the right when arranged at the front (Fig. 4.142B). Thus arranged, the stripes at the front are closer to the sides (sleeve edges), than those at the back, just as the artist of the wounded lady depicts them (Fig s. 4.19, 4.141).210 The stripes’ diagonal thrust and taper from “sleeve” to torso, could be the result of sewn tucks or gathers in the cloth, or an artistic construct that adapts the loose cloth to the contours of the body. As with that of Knossos HM 65, it is unlikely that the stripes were woven into the cloth as tapered diagonals or that the fabric was cut to conform to the anatomy since cutting into the sleeve would cut off the stripes (Fig. 4.38D). The loose bodice was recreated in a sheer blue fabric, left unstriped and unbeaded.211 Terminating in yellow-ocher loose tassels, bands of the same color, decorated with red diagonal lines and red borders, were applied to the shoulder seam and down the center front edges. The shoulder band motif was hypothetically used for the center front bands since the latter were omitted in art. Yellow ocher and black striped bands were sewn to the sleeve edges.

Fig. 4.143

Since we lack evidence for the manufacture of the skirt and a myriad of possibilities exist, including the separate A-shape design discussed in chapter 8, a hypothetical skirt was made in yellow-ocher opaque fabric decorated with an overall large red-dotted diagonal grid with a red X in the center of each lozenge.

209 210 211

This color is the same as the “stripes” on the heanos, both possibly faded purple. Many thanks to Valerie Bealle for this perceptive and convincing explanation. For the figure’s iconography, see JONES, METAPHYSIS (forthcoming). The replicated bodice of the Wounded Lady measures: Shoulder width: 46” Length to the navel: 21”. We are uninformed as to the length of the dress and how the skirt part relates to it.

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The skirt was seamed together at the long ends to form a tube.212 The seam may have been banded but, since that area is not depicted, the band was omitted in the replication. The skirt could either have been worn over a shorter heanos or attached to it. The latter possibility was used for the replication. An elaborate wide girdle with four pending sets of three streamers was recreated based on the visual evidence (diagram Fig. 4.143). The pattern of facing undulating lines is paralleled on a contemporary Knossos faience girdle (Fig. 4.144), but instead of the Theran oval leaf design within, the Knossos example has six-pronged star and cross designs. The cloth translation of the Theran painted belt can be applied as well to the faience belt, which may have been fastened across its center by a thin cord, like the double wound one at Thera. The experimental costume was then arranged on the model posed as in art (Fig. 4.145), to gain a greater understanding of the costume and to bring the complicated image closer to life.

Fig. 4.144

Fig. 4.145

f. Open front dress covering the breasts: the Mykenaia The earliest representations of the dress covering the breasts appear on the Minoan faience dress plaque from Knossos of MMIIIB/LM IA (Fig. 4.8) The style continues to be worn into the Mycenaean period, where it is depicted on the Mykenaia, dated LH IIIB-C, arguably the finest painting from the mainland (Fig. 4.25). Recently reconstructed as a standing figure, the Mykenaia wears a sheer orange dress (note that her nipples are visible through it), constructed as a typical heanos (Fig. 4.31), with white-redwhite bands down center front.213 The center front panels, however, are brought together between the breasts to cover them.214 Over the dress, the Mykenaia wears a bolero-like frontless blouse (discussed in chapter 9). The cloth of the lower part differs in its tiny yellow grid pattern on white ground and is hemmed by three tiers of multicolored flounces. Partially covered by a kilt, one can only guess as to whether this cloth was sewn onto the hem of the top (bodice) or whether it was a separate over-skirt. Sheer yellow-ocher cloth was used for the experimental heanos. Since the “bolero” covered the header and sleeve 212

213 214

The recreated skirt of the Wounded Lady measures: Length: 30
” Diameter: 34” JONES 2009, 309-338. EVANS PM I, 506, Figs. 364a,b.

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bands, they were hypothetically recreated in red. The model illustrates the experimental heanos in front and back views (Figs. 4.146, 4.147).

Fig. 4.146

Fig. 4.147

9. Decorative motifs and fragmentary upper and lower dress parts Although we lack the evidence for the upper parts of some dresses, lower parts, seamed and banded down the center on figures 1-6 from the Procession fresco, Knossos of LM IA-LM II, provide evidence for a variety of decorative bands (Figs. 4.148a,215 4.148b)216. The center bands are decorated with rosettes or chevrons and the wide multi-striped bands at the hems with chevrons. The main colors are yellow, blue and white.

Fig. 4.148a

Figure 7 wears a dress decorated at the hem with three horizontally arranged flounces (Fig. 4.148b). Evans interpreted the top flounce’s pattern as rows of "sacral ivy" (Fig. 4.149a).217 Close scrutiny reveals that the motif is instead, a tri-curved arch in a grid pattern (Fig. 4.149b),218 similar to the motif executed 215 216. 217 218

HOOD 1997, 203-204 dates the fresco to LM II but DAVIS 2000, 69, dates it LM IA; EVANS PM II:2, Suppl. Pl. XXV. Photo by author. EVANS PM II:2, Pl. XXV, figure 7. Drawing by B. JONES.

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on the kilt of the headless figure in the Ivory Triad (Figs. 4.15, 4.16, 4.18). The arches are white against a blue ground. The two lower flounces are decorated with alternating straight and wavy vertical lines. The wavy lines and especially the tri-curved arch are unusual patterns for Minoan flounces. Remnants of two more women in the Procession Fresco suggest that they wore similar costumes, a kilt hemmed with two flounces in blue and white stripes and two dress hems with double bands or flounces consisting of wide vertical stripes in blue and white and narrow ones in red as restored by Cameron.219

Fig. 4.148b

Fig. 4.149a

Fig. 4.149b

An equally elaborate dress hem appears on figure 14 in the Procession Fresco, Knossos (Fig. 4.148a and details Figs. 4.150-4.151).220 Its complex design consisted of a central row of blue and yellow dots flanked by triglyph and half rosette friezes in red, blue and yellow between blue/black and yellow/red barred bands. Morgan observed that some of the dots are actually rosettes which led her to identify figure 14 as a goddess.221 But rosettes appear on male garments as well (i.e. Procession fresco figures 4, 20, 21, (Figs. 4.148a, 4.89a), and thus cannot be used as a criterion for identification. Whether dots or rosettes, 219. 220 221

CAMERON 1987, 323, Fig. 6, top. EVANS PM II:2, Pl. XXVI and 729, Fig. 456a for Gilliéron drawing of tunic’s band. For further reconstructions of the figures see BOULOTIS 1987, 154, Fig. 8. MORGAN 1987, 328.

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however, their yellow color may reflect gold attachments. Whether a flounced kilt was worn over the dress as Evans conjectured remains an open question.222

Fig. 4.150

Fig. 4.151

A fine descendant of this hem band appears in LH IIIB, from Pylos on the mainland on a tunic in white with bands down the center and at the hem elaborately decorated with zigzags and circles in alternating colors of blue and gold, the latter possibly representing gold ornaments (Fig. 4.152).223

Fig. 4.152

Perhaps the most luxurious hem decoration of all appears on an ivory statuette from the Argive Heraeum, Prosymna (Fig. 4.153). 224 Although the overlaying kilt conceals the undergarment’s construction, and leaves us wondering whether it is a heanos (Fig. 4.154A-B), a separate bodice and a skirt (Fig. 4.155C-F), or a joined bodice and skirt (Fig. 4.155G-H), its hem is decorated with a row of six preserved large petal rosettes set between undulating lines. Two more rosettes were likely hidden by the dipping kilt in center front (indicated by dotted lines). Earlier, at LH I at Mycenae, large gold rosettes (D: 17 cm), once attached to cloth, are preserved from Shaft Grave III (Fig. 4.156),225 and from Shaft Grave

222

223 224

225

EVANS PM II:2, Pl. XXVI. If BOULOTIS 1987, 150, 153, Fig. 8, is correct in his interpretation that a long fringed textile is being presented to her, it would perhaps be more appropriate for her to wear only a dress in anticipation of it. LANG 1969, 224, Pl. N, D. National Archaeological Museum Inv. no. 6580. See Gilliéron’s detailed drawing in BLEGEN 1937, Fig. 731. Also BUCHHOLZ and KARAGEORGHIS 1973, 384, Fig. 1279, and NILSSON 1950, 313, Fig. 151. See also JONES 1998, 175; and especially KONSTANTINIDI-SYVRIDI 2012, 265-270 for reconstructions including facial features and hairstyle. Athens National Archaeological Museum Inv. No. 264, KARO 1930, 77, Pl. XL.

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IV, gold belts are decorated with rows of rosettes in repoussé .226 From Chamber Tomb 10 at Dendra, ca. LH II (ca. 1450), eight gold rosettes were fitted with gold loops at back to accommodate a leather belt.227 Such a belt but in red with red rosettes is captured in fresco on Lady X at Pylos of LH IIIB (Fig. 6.54 left).228 The tradition of gold rosettes within undulating lines as seen at Prosymna appears also on belts earlier in Minoan Crete on the LM I Knossos Procession fresco on figures 20 and 21 (Figs. 4.89a, 4.148a).229 From LM IA Pseira, rows of small white rosettes embellish bands placed at the shoulder and sleeve of a heanos richly decorated in an overall grid pattern of tiny white rosettes (Fig. 4.165).230 Indeed, as we have seen, gold rosette attachments appear at Malia as early as EM III-MM III (Fig. 2.4). We get a sense of the richness of the Prosymna garment’s hem from this drawing that also emphasizes the bodice’s raised bands across the shoulders and at sleeve and center front edges, and reconstructs the figure’s missing right arm to align with its preserved fingers (Fig. 4.157).

Fig. 4.153

Fig. 4.154

226 227 228 229 230

KARO 1930, 76, Pl. LVIII. PERSSON 1942, 75, 84, Fig. 93a-b, 94, Fig. 105, Pl. III. LANG 1969, Pl. O. For color detail, see SAKELLARAKI 1971, Pl. B. SHAW 1998, color Pls D and H.

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Fig. 4.155

Fig. 4.156

Fig. 4.157

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Faience “snake goddess” HM 63 from the Temple Repositories, Knossos, ca. MM IIIB, with only its upper part preserved, underwent a complete reconstruction by Evans of its lower part (Figs. 4.1, 4.1584.160 ),231 based on the faience skirt of HM 64 (Fig. 4.7). Decorated probably with embroidery in a fine dark brown interlocking S-spiral design, the short-sleeved orange colored bodice is edged at the armholes, shoulders and deep open front with dark bands. It is secured at the base of the breasts with a series of pairs of knotted laces similar to that of the faience figurine HM 64 (Pl. 4.7), and that of the faience “snake goddess” with flounced skirt, HM 65 (Figs. 4.2-4.3). Whereas the high waistband of the apron of the latter figure conceals all but one pair of laces, the low girdle of this statuette reveals three. Evans' restoration of the lower part of HM 63 will be dealt with in chapter 8.

Fig. 4.158

Fig. 4.159

Fig. 4.160

From Crete, orange bodices with blue bands at the shoulders, V-neckline and armholes were restored from fresco fragments from Knossos, ca. MM IIIB-LM IA. These depicted three life-size female figures, misnamed “Ladies in Blue,” by Evans who mistakenly described them as wearing “blue short sleeved bodices” (Figs. 4.161-4.162). 232 The orange fabric is embellished with a fine tricurved arch network with solid and dotted arch fillers in red; the blue bands are decorated with snail-shell spirals in black. Techniques proposed by Barber are supplemental warp floats for the bands and supplemental weft for the larger cloths.233 Similar spirals, which formed part of the motifs on a more elaborate band, decorated another dress from this group (Fig. 4.163).234

231 232 233 234

Archaeological Museum Herakleion Inv. no. 63. EVANS PM IV:1, 177, Fig. 139; EVANS PM I, 501, Fig. 359; EVANS 1902-3, 75, 78, 80, Fig. 54a,b. EVANS PM I, 545-7, Fig. 397; EVANS PM II, 731, Fig. 457. BARBER 1991, 317-320. According to Evans, this fragment belongs to the “Ladies in Blue,” EVANS PM II:2, 681, Fig. 431.

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Fig. 4.161

Fig. 4.162

Fig. 4.163

In addition, a “red” dress with blue bands at shoulders, V-neckline and armholes is worn by another life-size female figure, the “Lady in Red,” which, according to Evans and Cameron, also belonged to this group (Fig. 4.52).235 The main cloth is elaborately embellished with a lozenge network half filled with stripes and with white dots at the junctions, a motif that also decorated the apron of the faience “snake goddess” HM 65 from Knossos (Figs. 4.2-4.3).236 The blue bands are decorated with a 235 236

EVANS PM II:2, 731, Fig. 457a. See a photo of the original fragment in black and white and a reconstruction drawing of it in color in CAMERON 1971, 37, 40-1, 43 and front cover. The lozenge network motif in Crete as well as in Egypt to the South and Syria to the East was likely achieved the way it was for millennia in Italy to the Northwest, woven into straight lengths of cloth. Networks of crossed diagonal lines “formed by floating successive warp threads over a few weft” have a precedent on opaque cloth preserved from Lago di Ledro in northern Italy, datable to the third millennium (BARBER 1991,175, Fig. 6.4). An identical lozenge pattern with the same diamond fillers appears on the cloak of an Egyptian king on an ivory statuette from Abydos of Dynasty I, ca. 3200 B.C. (BARNES and MALEK 1980, 38; GROENEWEGEN-FRANKFORT and ASHMOLE 1987, 18, Fig.

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flame design. There is some controversy surrounding the original color of the bodice. In a note to Evans, Gilliéron sketched the fragment and described the dress as having originally been yellow but subsequently burned to red. In Evans' drawing of the pattern, he described it as dark orange with darker orange bars.237 Cameron thought that the textile was always red, that there was no evidence for heavy burning despite acknowledging traces of smoke stains.238 Further glimpses of women's textile patterns are provided by fragments of painted stucco reliefs from Pseira (Figs. 4.164 239 and 4.165240), an island just off the Northeast coast of Crete in the Bay of Mirabello, dated to late LM IA or early LM IB.241

Fig. 4.164

Fig. 4.165

The fragments were originally published by Seager as one seated woman, subsequently identified by Rodenwaldt as belonging to two figures, followed by Kaiser’s postulation that the figures were facing one another and, most recently Shaw’s detailed and comprehensive study that explores reconstructed sitting and standing positions for both figures and labels them as A and B.242 Although the lack of crucial

237. 238 239 240 241 242

4), and a network of diagonal lines with dot fillers decorates the dress of Hathor portrayed in the Tomb of Nefer-Hotep, Thebes, at the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty, c. 1322-1292 (de GARIS DAVIES 1933, Pl. XXX). A similar grid of lozenges also appears in Syria during the fourteenth to twelfth century on the robe of a bronze female figurine from Ras Shamra, Ugarit (FRANKFORT 1954, 150, pl. 143). EVANS PM II:2, 730-1, Fig. 457a. CAMERON 1971, 37-43 and front cover. Drawing by Gilliéron fils, EVANS PM III, 28, Fig. 15a. Photo by C. PAPANIKOLOPOULOS, courtesy INSTAP-SCEC and courtesy Archaeological Museum, Herakleion. SHAW 1998, 72. SEAGER 1910, 32, Pl. V; RODENWALDT 1923-4, 272-276, Figs. 1, 2; KAISER 1976), 298-302, Pl. 24, 24B. SHAW 1998, 55-76, Pls. 20-44, color Pls. A-H.

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joins precludes any definitive reconstruction, enough is preserved to identify both costumes as heanoi worn under flounced kilts. One figure, Lady B (Fig. 4.164), is clothed in a Minoan dress with a sleeve in an overall pattern succinctly described by Barber as “opposing nested zigzags with 4-pointed stars between and scattered dot rosettes and spirals” in yellow and blue.243 Fragments of another figure, Lady A (Fig. 4.165), comprising the upper part of a right arm with elbow flexed preserve the sleeve of a tunic decorated with a grid of white circles or rosettes against a blue ground that alternatively forms a grid of blue fourpointed stars (Fig. 4.164). The shoulder band consists of a row of white rosettes against a blue ground flanked by blue borders. Edging the neckline is a wider white band bordered by blue stripes and decorated in the center by a rapport of blue four-pointed stars, each with a white rosette in the center, the interstices between the stars filled with orange semicircles. Gilliéron’s drawing (Fig. 4.164), and the reconstructed figure in the Herakleion Museum (Fig. 4.165) are clearly based on a seated ivory figure from Mycenae, probably LH IIIB (Fig. 4.166a-c).244 The robe on the Mycenaean figure is unique in its treatment of the header band, clearly marked in raised relief that extends beyond the top of the back and sleeve to double back and edge the front at the top (where it is presumably sewn to the back), and down center front. It abuts a necklace that is decorated with diagonal lines.

Fig. 4.166

From the Cyclades, additional motifs appear on heanoi from Thera. From the West House, the socalled “priestess” wears a heanos decorated in an overall white four petal rapport, with a blue four pointed star within (Fig. 9.10).245 The same design appears on Thera on the main fabric of the kilt of the necklace bearer from Xeste 3 with petals in black and stars in yellow ocher (Figs. 4.13, 6.16). A MM III precedent

243 244 245

BARBER 1991, 319. National Archaeological Museum, Athens inv. no. 5897; POURSAT 1977, 19, no. 48, Pl. IV. DOUMAS 1992, Pl. 25.

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decorates the hem band of the kilt of the acrobat on the Malia gold sword pommel (Fig. 6.60). The four petals with all points connected, automatically produces the four pointed stars within.246 From Xeste 3, Thera, an elaborate heanos adorns the goddess (Fig. 4.167). Its faded colors have been restored by Porter and Vlachopoulos.247 The main pale blue cloth with darker blue streaks that allude to its sheerness is decorated with a plethora of purple crocuses all facing in different directions. By contrast, upright purple crocuses, slightly slanted as they emanate from the edges one above the other, adorn the whitish bands along the center front, while upright black ones decorate the Egyptian blue shoulder/sleeve (header) band. The well preserved orange stigmas of the crocuses mark their directions. Lady B from Xeste 3 wears another heanos with purple crocuses and orange stigmas but on pale yellow cloth, restored with a purple header band by Vlachopoulos (Fig. 4.168).248 These are additions to the corpus of garments decorated with crocuses.249 Lady A, clasping a bouquet of wild roses, also wears a yellow heanos but with an overall red lily pattern and purple header and sleeve bands (Fig. 4.169). 250 The most intriguing of all is the unique heanos of Lady D, who holds a bouquet of white lilies with long green stalks (Fig. 4.170).251 Of purple cloth with purple header and sleeve bands, according to Vlachopoulos,252 the heanos is ornamented with two small blue birds, one above the other, with wings outstretched, overlayed with an overall uneven red diagonal grid pattern with small red dashes on the red lines. These dashes look like stitches that secure a net to the cloth, the whole giving the impression of birds caught in a net.

Fig. 4.167

246

247 248 249 250 251 252

Fig. 4.168

According to BARBER 1991, 317, when the petals form a circle over the stars, it is difficult to know which color is pattern and which is ground. The four pointed star appears alternatively on textiles on Thera at the intersections of a grid pattern in the House of the Ladies (Figs. 4.103A-B), and alone on Crete as early as the Old Palace period (SAPOUNA-SAKELLARAKI 1971, 155, Fig. 64ι). At LM IB Knossos, the star appears within cruciform patterns on the kilt of processional figure 22 (Fig. 4.89a; EVANS PM II:2, Fig. 450 no. 22; SAPOUNA-SAKELLARAKI 1971, Fig.70γ), and a textile on a fresco fragment (SAPOUNA-SAKELLARAKI 1971, Fig.70α, Pl. Fβ). See color restorations in PORTER 2000, 621-2, Fig. 11; VLACHOPOULOS 2007, Pl. XXIXb. See restoration in VLACHOPOULOS 2007, 114, Pl. XXXa, right. Other Theran heanoi with crocuses are those of the Necklace Bearer (Fig. 4.13) and Veiled Maiden (Fig. 4.11), discussed above. For Aegean crocus studies, see DAY 2011, 337-379 and REHAK 2004, 85-100. See restoration in VLACHOPOULOS 2007, 114, Pl. XXXa, left. See restoration in VLACHOPOULOS 2007, 114, Pl. XXXb, right. See restoration in VLACHOPOULOS 2007, Pl. XXXb, right.

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Fig. 4.169

Fig. 4.170

From Ayia Irini on Cycladic Keos, fragmentary terracotta statues, dated MM III-LM IB/II (Fig. 4.171),253 bear remnants of heanoi of typical Minoan style, with a raised header band across the shoulders, and bands edging the sleeves and open center fronts.254 One of the bodices with a shoulder band marked in relief bears a trace of yellow color on the upper arm which indicates that the heanos was originally painted yellow.255 The rolled neck garland, also a Minoan feature, appears with the costume on other Keos statues (Fig. 4.172),256 comparable with that on the bronze figurine from Palaikastro in the same pose (Fig. 5.51 below).

Fig. 4.171

253 254 255 256

After CASKEY 1986, statue no. 7-1, 71-2, Pl. 41a,c,e. Also see GOROGIANNI 2011, 635-655, esp. 640. CASKEY 1986, 33-34, 44-8, 71, 76-7, especially statue no. 5.1, 71-2, Pls. 33-35, 71; statue no. 5-2, 72-73, Pls. 36, 73; and statue no.7-2, Pls. 41-42, 72. CASKEY 1986, 34, 78-9, Pls. 44-45, and 27, 36, 55 and 61 for yellow paint indicative of yellow heanoi on several other statuettes from Keos. CASKEY 1986, statue no. 1-1, 45-46, Pls. 4-5, 69; also statue no. 1-2, 46-48, Pls. 8-10; and statue no. 3-1, Pl. 23-24.

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Fig. 4.172

From the Greek mainland additional evidence for a similar Minoan style dress on a fresco fragment of a female figure from Pylos dated LH IIIA, the main fabric in yellow with an elaborate border band across the shoulders and sleeve in white, blue and black barred pink.257 Open front dresses may also be supposed for the yellow garments covering only the left sides of two women at a balustrade on a fresco fragment from Mycenae dated from the end of LH II to the beginning of LH III.258 B. The Mycenaean tunic with horizontal neckline 1. Corpus The upper part of a tunic with “banded” horizontal neckline appears clearly, if crudely, on women on several Mycenaean larnakes from Tanagra near Boeotian Thebes, dated to the end of LH IIIB or beginning of LH IIIC, ca. 1200-1100 (Fig. 4.173).259 The term “tunic” is applied here to this garment because it has a high neckline and presumably was put on over the head, like the Egyptian “bag” tunic, in contrast to the Minoan open front robe or heanos. It forms a U-shape from underarm to waist as if, as Immerwahr observed, it was pulled out loosely at the waist above a Minoan style flounced skirt. Most are decorated with horizontal rows of U-shapes or stipples above an undecorated area. From the pictorial evidence, one could only speculate as to the construction of these sketchy garments. However, a preserved robe, indeed, the earliest robe excavated in Greece, dated to ca. 1050-900 B.C., found in an amphora in a grave in a Heröon at Lefkandi, Euboea, just across the narrow Euripus strait from Tanagra, may provide clues (Fig. 4.174).260 According to the excavators, it is a “robe of ankle length, made of two sheets of linen sewn up the sides. The borders and bottom half are plain, but the upper part is of shaggy weave, resembling on a much smaller scale the modern Greek ‘flokata’.”261 From her inspection of the garment, 257 258 259

260 261

LANG 1969, fragment 4 H nw, 64, 224, Pls. B and 121. Fresco found by Schliemann from the Ramp House is dated before the rebuilding of 1350 B.C. by WACE1949, 64-5, Pl. 98a. Also see EVANS PM I, 444, Fig. 320; EVANS PM II, 410, Fig. 236. SPYROPOULOS 1970, 192-4, 197, Figs. 10, 12 and 13; LORANDOU-PAPANTONIOS 1973,171, Fig. 2. Recent discussion and bibliography in IMMERWAHR 1990, 154-158, 220 who interprets the garment as a high necked blouse pulled out loosely at the waist and a Minoan flounced style skirt. VERMEULE 1965, 7, believes the dress is “in mainland style with a broad collar, a triangular dickey over the breasts, a full fold or kolpos falling in a rippled V toward the belt, a flaring skirt with diagonal flounces meeting at a centre seam.” Also see MYLONAS 1983, 186, Fig. 140. My thanks to Hugh Sackett for kindly permitting me to illustrate this photo. POPHAM et al. 1982, 169-74, Pl. XXV.

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Barber concluded that the shaggy weave was “apparently produced by weft looping.” 262 Under conservation in the National Museum of Athens, we await its publication. In the meantime, the descriptions and published details give the impression that the garment looks generally like this sketch (Fig. 4.175). Such a design also fits the depiction of the garments on the Tanagra larnakes. The bordered horizontal necklines and sides and the lack of a central line down the front of the top of the Tanagra dresses (in contrast with the skirts), argue for two sheets of cloth sewn together at the sides - as on the Lefkandi tunic. In addition, the shaggy top half and plain- weave bottom half of the Lefkandi tunic bears a striking resemblance to the decorative U-shapes and stipples on the upper part and the undecorated area below (area loosely pulled out above the waist) on the Tanagra tunics. In this reading, the shaggy weave or weft looping of the cloth is transformed into art as U-shapes and stipples. This situation reminds us of the extreme difficulties faced and caution that must be exercised when evaluating the artist’s representations of garments that are no longer preserved. It is practical that the part of the cloth destined to be covered by an overskirt would be undecorated while the part exposed would be decorative, especially in cases where the decorative cloth has texture and volume.263

Fig. 4.173

Fig. 4.174

Fig. 4.175

If the Lefkandi tunic provides an example of the weave structures and design of the Tanagra ones, it adds to the evidence for continuity from LH IIIC through to the Proto-Geometric period.264 Indeed the 262 263 264

BARBER 1991, 197. Similarly, the top part of the Thera necklace bearer’s ankle length heanos is decorated with crocuses but not the bottom part which is mostly covered by the kilt (Fig. 4.13). HITCH 2009, 36-37, 150- 154, offers convincing evidence for greater parallels in Mycenaean cult practice in Homer than in Classical Greece, contra BURKERT 1985, 43-47.

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gold caps that once covered the breasts of the female skeleton interred with the amphora containing the robe (Fig. 4.176)265 also find prototypes on Mycenaean terracotta female figurines from LH IIIC-middle at Tiryns,266 an earlier example from LH IIIB2 Midea (Fig. 4.177),267 and ultimately shows its origins on a Minoan terracotta relief from Kannia dated LM IB (Fig. 4.178).268 Again, the Lefkandi gold breast caps269 identify the artist’s translations of them into terracotta. These analogies buttress Immerwahr’s observation that the Mycenae Warrior Vase has its closest parallels in Lefkandi and even “suggests an exodus [to Lefkandi] of some artists in the period following the destruction of the Argive palace sites.”270

Fig. 4.176

Fig. 4.177 265 266 267 268 269

270

Fig. 4.178

Photo courtesy H. Sackett. Also see POPHAM et al. 1982, 172, Pl. XXIIIb. MOUNTJOY 1993, 25, Fig. 16. BLACKMAN 1998, 31 and cover. SCHACHERMEYR 1964, 210, Pl. 52, opp. 193. Breast caps seem to have their ultimate origins in Greece in Late Neolithic Larissa (Fig. 1.5), and in the Near East in gold at Hasonoglan, ca. 2000 (Fig. 3.55). In Egypt, gold breast caps also appear on a silver female statuette inscribed on its wooden pedestal with the cartouche of Tuthmosis III (ca. 1450) in Rijksmuseum van Oudheden 1981, 68, Fig. 13. For a painted version from el-Bersheh see VOGELSANGEASTWOOD 1993, 39, Fig. 3.10. IMMERWAHR 1990, 152.

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On the Tanagra figures, the over-skirts flare out from the waist and have a vertical line (seam or likelier an overlap) down center front. Some with horizontal or diagonal lines meeting at the center line imply flounced skirts (Fig. 4.173).271 whereas others, with the same U-shape design as the upper, suggests that both top and skirt were made from the same fabric.272 All of the skirt hems are fringed, a device unknown on Minoan dresses and flounced kilts, but well known on the garments of Mycenaean warriors as those on the Warrior Vase from Mycenae of ca. 1200 B.C. (Fig. 4.179). Although Barber believes that the tunic on the larnakes looks Minoan,273 it clearly departs from the breast-bearing, open-front Minoan design and signals, in its high, straight neckline that covers the breasts, a Helladic aesthetic that continues to manifest itself in subsequent periods in attire even constructed differently like the Daedalic dress, the Dorian peplos and the Ionian chiton.274

Fig. 4.179 271 272 273

274

See additional examples in SPYROPOULOS 1970, 193-4, Figs. 12-13, and LORANDOU 1973, 171, Fig. 2, and JONES 1998, Pls. 4.72b and 4.74. SPYROPOULOS 1970, 193-4, Figs. 12, 13. According to BARBER, the women on the Tanagra larnakes wear “strikingly Minoan-looking dress” and “Minoan-looking flounced skirts at a time [13th century] when all others in Greece were ... wearing baggy chemises and tunics” such as the “Mycenaean and Slavic type made from three tubes of cloth,” proposed as one large tube for the body and two small ones for the sleeves (Pl. 4.6) based on the Bulgarian folk costume of the nineteenth-twentieth century. “This sleeved and rather long garment, which I will refer to as a chemise, became the basis of clothing in much of the Balkans, central Europe, the steppelands, and the Caucasus.” (BARBER 1994, 125, 134, Fig. 5.2c , 137, 142, Fig. 5.5, right). Although it exists today in the Balkans, evidence is lacking for a garment made of three such tubes or with attached sleeves or with a round, center slit neckline for women or men not only in Greece in the Mycenaean period but through to the Classical era as well. Barber’s evidence for it in Mycenaean Greece is not compelling; not in the undocumented “short-sleeved tunics [that] appear in Mycenaean palace murals of 1400-1200 B.C.” nor in the undocumented “very thin gold foil [from the Shaft Graves at Mycenae, that] surrounded the wrists of the deceased - foil so thin that it could not have held shape alone but had to have been supported by a cloth sleeve” (BARBER 1994, 136-7), which a search failed to reveal. Equally unconvincing is her hypothesis that this chemise, was “a simple version of the Egyptian shirt,” which she stated (without documentation), had been adopted by the Western Semites and passed on to Syria, Anatolia and to Mycenaean Greece along with the word chiton to refer to it (BARBER 1994, 136). Far from being a chiton, this Egyptian dress, with bodice open in front and back, self sleeves and attached tubular skirt bears no resemblance to her proposed chemise. See discussion in JONES 1998, 69-72. For the Daedalic dress see HARRISON 1977, 37-48. For the peplos and chiton see BOARDMAN 1978, 68.

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A similar horizontal necked tunic design was worn beneath the mantle on the wheat goddess from Mycenae of LH IIIB (Fig. 4.180).275 A thin black line marks the band across the neck and shoulders, and is met at right angles to the bands at the sleeve edges. It is surmounted by the black wavy lines of her divided hair locks.

Fig. 4.180

Fig. 4.181

Fig. 4.182

Tunics with horizontal necklines appear earlier on Crete on the two female chariot passengers in the foreground, i.e., at the right, on the West (goat) end (Fig. 4.181), and the East (griffin) end (Fig. 4.182), of the Hagia Triada sarcophagus.276 The passenger on the West (goat), end wears an orange tunic with blue bands across the top (Fig. 4.181), and the passenger on the East (griffin), end wears a blue one with gold and white bands across the top (Fig. 4.182). The length is obscured by the chariot box. The passengers hold in their left hand ‫ ך‬shaped objects that run horizontally from the front of the waist to the hand and then vertically down towards the top of the chariot box: blue/green on the goat chariot passenger and red-white-red striped on the griffin chariot passenger. Long interpreted the vertical parts as the garment’s side seams, but since they continue horizontally toward the front, that proposal is 275 276

MARINATOS 1988a, 246-7. SAKELLARAKIS 1978, 114.

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unfeasible.277 Long and Paribeni interpreted the horizontal parts separately as chariot reins, and thus the figures as charioteers,278 but the “reins” end at the front of their tunics. The background figure (left) on the East end, wearing a different, diagonally striped garment, probably a wrapped mantle,279 clearly holds two white reins (above the top of the curled tail of the griffin), in her hand, which project at waist level (Fig. 4.182). On the West end, the background figure (left), also wears a garment, likely a mantle with stripes rendered diagonally (Fig. 4.181). She is clearly the charioteer with hands extended holding reins and whip. Thus, the two background figures on both ends are charioteers and the two foreground figures are passengers. In support of this reading, Evelyn Harrison informed me that this arrangement of charioteer riding in the right side of the chariot and passenger riding in the left is a customary one in later Greek art.280 Now, we can trace a charioteer and rider taking these positions from the Bronze Age, from an earlier mainland representation dated LH IIA (1500-1450), on a seal from Vapheio,281 to the early fourteenth to the late thirteenth century on Mycenaean chariot kraters from Mycenae and Enkomi, Cyprus,282 through to the Classical Period, most notably on the Parthenon Frieze, and beyond.283

Fig. 4.183

Fig. 4.184

Even the fragmentary remains of a LH IIIB fresco from Tiryns suggested to Rodenwaldt this garment arrangement for the female charioteer and passenger.284 His reconstruction is likely correct because the charioteer's banded sleeve edge curved at the shoulder, and the passenger's trace of a vertical (dark blue?) band on the lower part of the pink garment (near the upper left edge of the fragment), are elements that appear on the garments of warriors, grooms, and charioteers from the same palace,285 as well as from Pylos (Figs. 4.183-4.184),286 and, if my reading is correct, on the passengers on the Hagia Triada sarcophagus. 277 278 279 280 281

282

283

284 285 286

LONG 1974, 30. LONG 1974, 30. PARIBENI 1908, 63, Fig. 20. See the fresco fragment from Knossos of a charioteer wearing a shoulder fastened mantle (Fig. 9.15), restored by CAMERON 1967, Fig. 12. I am grateful to Evelyn Harrison for this information. CMS I, no. 229. The same arrangement is likely but unclear on an even earlier, LH I, gold signet ring from Shaft Grave IV, Mycenae, because the charioteer and archer lack telling overlapping (CMS I, no. 15). Good examples are the chariot scenes on a krater fragment from Mycenae in TAYLOR 1983, 136, Fig. 123 and kraters from Enkomi from the fourteenth and thirteenth centuries in KARAGEORGHIS 1976, 164, Pl. 121; 165, Pl. 123; 170-1, Pls. 127-9. I am grateful to Evelyn Harrison for reminding me of this arrangement for the charioteer and apobates on the Parthenon frieze. See North frieze, Slab XVII in ROBERTSON and FRANTZ 1975, Pls following page 16. RODENWALDT 1912, 98, Fig. 40; IAKOVIDES 1979, 106, Pl. 67; THEMELIS nd, Pl. 30. THEMELIS nd, 29; HAMPE and SIMON 1981, Pls. 24 and 26. LANG 1969, Pl. 123, and Pl. M.

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Let us return to the ‫ ך‬shaped element, held by the passengers on the Hagia Triada sarcophagus, which is neither a seam, nor reins, nor part of the garment, nor, according to Joost Crouwel, related to the chariots.287 Only one parallel is known to me, on a signet ring of agate from Avdu tomb, near Lyttos, Crete, dated LM II/IIIA1-2.288 There, as on the Hagia Triada Sarcophagus, it is also held in the left hand of a passenger standing next to a charioteer in a chariot driven by goats. Held in front of the figure it simply hangs down on a slight diagonal, clearly separate from the tunic. The pronounced rendering on the seal in two vertical strands, also signals its importance, surely related to the ritual of the dead. On the sarcophagus, one is blue and the other red and white, perhaps an indication of dyed fibers. Lacking Aegean textual evidence, we might turn to the Near East for help in identifying this object. There we find the Hittite Sallis Wastais ritual lament (with probable Hurrian origins) for the king and queen who become gods after their death.289 Among the events of the thirteen day funeral ritual, an effigy of the deceased was placed in a chariot, a special grapevine was adorned with a belt, fruit, and wool, and a cord was smeared with oil – all elements similar to those seen on the Hagia Triada sarcophagus. Can we imagine that the Hagia Triada ritual had some connections with the Near Eastern one? Could the chariot’s passengers be holding a cord? Could the passenger in the goat-driven chariot represent the living and the passenger in the griffin-driven chariot represent the deified? All of this is beyond the scope of this paper, but the Near Eastern analogies are certainly intriguing. The design also characterizes short tunics on male warriors and hunters from Tiryns both from the later palace, ca. LH IIIB,290 and the earlier palace, ca. LH IIIA2,291 and the tunics with horizontal necklines on the charioteers and warriors from Pylos (Figs. 4.183-4.184).292 The clearest representation of the design on a male figure appears at Pylos on a long tunic with a horizontal neckline and banded side seam on a male figure in a combination profile and three-quarter view (Fig. 4.185).293 It has a high front (presumably with a horizontal neckline) banded seams at the sides, and bands at shoulders, sleeve edges and hem. The band at the underarm follows the arched curve of the armpit and descends vertically to the hem. This likely masks a side seam. Contrast the telling thin black line at the underarm of the miniature girl from Mycenae (Fig. 4.22) that marks a side seam and differs from the red band that emerges at the armpit and descends down to the hem and masks the center seam of a heanos. The Pylos figure’s tunic is likely a long version of the horizontal-necked tunics from Tiryns,294 and Pylos (Figs. 4.183 - 4.184), discussed above. The fanciest tunics with side bands are depicted on a newly excavated fragmentary fresco from Tiryns that portrays a procession of at least eight figures.295 One of them, an adult woman, holds in her right hand a female child or statuette that wears a flounced kilt costume and holds in her raised right hand stemmed red pomegranates and, in her left, stemmed yellow quinces (Fig. 4.186).296 The child’s gesture is 287 288 289 290 291

292 293

294 295 296

Crouwel (pers. comm. January 27, 2010). CROUWEL 1981, 158, Pl. 15 (G7). RUTHERFORD 2008, 54-59 HAMPE and SIMON 1981, Pls. 24 and 26; JONES 1998, Pl. 4.77a,b. THEMELIS n.d., 29; JONES 1998, Pl. 4.76. The decorative white dotted (gold discs?) neckline band on the tunic on the right figure looks forward to the ornamental bands on the neckline on the female figure holding a pyxis also from the later palace at Tiryns (IAKOVIDES 1979, 107, Fig. 68; RODENWALDT 1912, 76, Fig. 31; JONES 1998, Pl. A20a-c). These decorative bands all follow the earlier Minoan style seen on the hem band on female Processional figure 14 from Knossos (EVANS PM 2:2, 729, Fig. 456 and Suppl. Pl. XXVI. LANG 1969, Pl. 123, and Pl. M. Also see IMMERWAHR 1990, 197, Pl. 67. LANG 1969, Pl. 120. In his discussion of the construction of the male tunic, REHAK has proposed that it was made of two to three lengths of cloth sewn along their vertical edges (REHAK 1996, 42, Fig. 3). He illustrated bands across the neck and shoulder edges. He envisioned a garment cut in under the arms to form sleeves or with added sleeves. Since we lack evidence for added sleeves in the Aegean, tailored sides are likelier, if we can believe the artist’s renderings To be consistent with evidence from the Aegean, Rehak’s reconstruction should eliminate the short vertical band at the neck (for which there is no evidence), widen the horizontal neck opening and add bands around the armholes. THEMELIS n.d., 29; JONES 1998, Pl. 4.76. MARAN, PAPADIMITRIOU and THALER 2011, 102-103. MARAN, PAPADIMITRIOU and THALER 2011, 103, Fig. 27, detail.

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comparable with that on the fresco from Mycenae (Fig. 4.22), although the latter’s attribute is lost. The women’s garment fragments clearly indicate a wide light-dark-light vertical band running down center front and curving into the armpit, presumably indicating the covering of a side seam, and a wide, multistriped band running across the top (neck) and down the sleeve. Iconographically, the Tiryns fresco gives greater credibility to the reconstruction of a standing woman holding the female child or statuette from Mycenae originally suggested by Peterson and later expanded upon by this author (Figs. 4.21a-b), the child’s unsupported foot closer to Peterson’s proposal and this author’s reconstruction A (Fig.. 4.21a).297

Fig. 4.185

Fig. 4.186

2. Experimental reconstruction of Camp Stool Banqueter, Knossos and replication of tunic with horizontal neckline The woman’s dress design could have been achieved by constructing two single lengths of cloth woven on the warp weighted loom with header bands joined at the top and sides seamed (and tailored?) and banded, or by constructing one double length of cloth woven on a warp-weighted loom, the back from the top half and the front from the bottom (Fig. 4.187A-B), as suggested for the Camp Stool Banqueter on the fresco from Knossos of LM IIIA1 (Fig. 4.188).298 In the modern replication made of linen cloth and arranged on a live model in front , back, left and right side views (Figs. 4.189a-d), the sides were shaped, tailored, and seamed, bands were applied at the tops and sewn together except for the head opening, and bands were applied to the sleeve edges and hem. A sample of a linen header band as that on the tunic, hand woven by V. Bealle, in warp-faced plain weave with supplementary warp pick-up is illustrated in Fig. 4.190. If the Camp Stool banqueter did indeed wear the horizontal necked tunic as suggested, the garment makes its earliest appearance on Crete in the period of the Mycenaean hegemony in LM IIIAI, followed by that of the chariots’ passengers on the Hagia Triada sarcophagus in LM IIIA2, and continues on both women and men on the mainland from LH IIIA2 through to the Proto-Geometric period in Lefkandi. This Mycenaean design may also be the dress that Herodotos termed “Carian,” which, according to Harrison, “is a linen chiton with the upper edges sewn together to form sleeves and with a neck-opening 297 298

JONES 2009, 314-318, Figs. 13-14; PETERSON 1981a, 130, 202, Fig. 65. EVANS PM IV, 379-391. See the full discussion for the reconstruction of the costume and fresco in JONES 2003, 447-449.

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left in the center,” which is “essentially the same as Mycenaean dress, which the monuments would in fact suggest.”299

Fig. 4.187

Fig. 4.188 299

HARRISON 1977, 48, further explains that “the dress [chiton] that we call ‘Ionian’ developed as a contamination of these two.” That is, the “Carian” or Mycenaean chiton and the Daedalic dress.

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Fig. 4.189a

Fig. 4.189b

Fig. 4.189c

Fig. 4.189d

Fig. 4.190

Lorimer was the first to question whether ordinary Mycenaean women, which she felt were depicted on objects such as the Phi (Fig. 4.191), and Psi (Fig. 4.192), figurines and the Warrior Vase (Fig. 4.179), all from Mycenae, wore a simpler dress, an indigenous garment with origins in the Middle Helladic period, in contrast to the elaborate Minoan costumes which she felt were reserved for the Minoan elite.300 Lorimer's discussion of the dress of the woman on the Warrior Vase from Mycenae (Fig. 4.179), black except for a white/yellow panel part way down the center front, is inconclusive, stating at the end that it may be a “clumsy reflection of Minoan costume.”301 But since the style is unparalleled on Crete, and first appears on this vase at Mycenae at ca. 1200 B.C., it likelier reflects a Helladic design. Since the Phi and Psi figurines reduce both the anatomy and its attire into abstract forms - the torso into a circle (Fig. 4.191), or crescent (Fig. 4.192), the hips and legs into a pedestal – the dress is difficult to discern. The coroplasts depict a high-necked, long, belted garment, wide above the waist and narrow below.302 Could this be an abstraction of the untailored dress design seen at Lefkandi and Tanagra, worn with or without, an overskirt? Could the curves under the arms refer to dolman-like sleeves that would project above the belted waist of an un-tapered rectangular dress or skirt, like the un-tapered heanos of the necklace bearer from Thera (Fig. 4.13)? Harrison has called attention to the fullness of the garment around the torso of these figurines and paralleled the effect with the attire of contemporary Hittite goddesses on a 13th century relief from Yasilikaya.303 Another representation on an enthroned goddess on a contemporary Hittite gold statuette shows that this dress shared other

300 301 302 303

LORIMER 1950, 366. LORIMER 1950, 367-8. MYLONAS 1983, 166, Fig. 127. HARRISON 1991, 224.

LATE BRONZE AGE DRESSES

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features with Mycenaean dress such as a shoulder band and high neckline (Fig. 4.193).304 Indeed, the billowing sleeves are very naturalistic as are the soft vertical folds of the skirt of the goddess Ḫepat on the Yazilikaya relief (Fig. 4.194). 305 The translation of these folds into a modern line drawing, sometimes turns them into stripes. 306 This emphasizes the problems in interpreting the artist’s rendering of cloth, be it the Yasilikaya sculptor, the modern artist, or the Mycenaean coroplast of the Psi and Phi figurines. According to Hood, many of the Psi and Phi figurines are crowned and seem also to represent goddesses and their dress, rather than that of ordinary women.307 Nevertheless, they, along with the robes on the Tanagra larnakes and the preserved one from Lefkandi, provide us with some understanding of indigenous Helladic dress design.

Fig. 4.191

304 305 306 307

Fig. 4.192

Fig. 4.193

For a side view see DORMAN, HARPER, and PITTMAN 1987, 123, Pl. 88. ORTHMANN 1975, 104-5, 429, Pl. 350. LLOYD 1967, 66, Fig. 62. HOOD 1978, 110.

Fig. 4.194

CHAPTER 5 THE FLOUNCED SKIRT The flounced skirt, among the most important and frequently represented garment of women in Minoan art, is depicted in two variations, a long skirt, as depicted on the Knossos snake goddess, HM 65 (Fig. 4.2-4.6) and a shorter kilt, as shown on a Hagia Triada fresco (Fig. 4.14a-c). This chapter deals with the long, multiple-tiered Minoan skirt, beginning with a survey of its Near Eastern origins, and continuing with suggestions for its manufacture and iconography. 1 A. Near Eastern flounced garments and their appearance in Crete The Old Babylonian and Old Syrian full-length flounced garments and skirts, represented in sculpture, wall paintings and seals from the Akkadian to the Kassite and Mitannian periods (ca. 2340 1300 B.C.),2 began to appear in Crete on imported cylinder seals in Middle Minoan IB-II. The following five Near Eastern cylinder seals, all manufactured in the Old Babylonian/Old Syrian period and subsequently found in Crete, illustrate native Near Eastern flounced garments. 1. The well-known hematite cylinder seal from Tholos B, Platanos not only provides the best representation of the Mesopotamian flounced garment worn by a suppliant goddess but it is the only seal whose arrival on Crete can be approximately dated (Fig. 5.1).3 The main period of the tholos was MM I, according to its excavator Xanthoudides, who thought that it “may have been built at the end of EM III... and it must have stood for centuries after that.”4 Evans originally identified the seal as Old Babylonian and, noting its contextual associations with MM IA polychrome pottery and Egyptian Twelfth Dynasty scarabs, concluded that its date approximately corresponded to the foundation of the palace of Knossos.5 Aruz confirmed Evans’ earlier hypothesis that the seal was of Mesopotamian manufacture and was made in the early Old Babylonian period, the early 19th century, which “corresponds with MMIB on Crete although it could have come to the island in MM II when Kamares ware is found at Ugarit and when men of Kaphtor went east to receive tin supplies from Mari.”6 The appearance of the Platanos seal on Crete therefore, is the result of the network of trade, perhaps including textiles, that radiated out of centers like Sippar and Mari and extended directly or indirectly to Crete.7

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

See earlier discussion in JONES 2001, 259-265. STROMMENGER 1971, 52-3. See COLLON 1987, 58-65 for Kassite seals: Figs. 235, 236, 245, and Mitanni seals: Figs. 266, 268, 275. CMS II.1, no. 306, Herakleion Museum 1098. XANTHOUDIDES 1924, no. 1098, pp. 92, 116-117. EVANS PM, I, 197-199. ARUZ 1987, vol. II, 311-314. MØLLER 1980, 86-89, discussed similar seals found in Mari and Kültepe II. The dissemination of this seal type is further described by COLLON 1987, 45-6: “Seals of this type came to influence the whole of Mesopotamia and it is difficult to isolate regional styles. [One] seal, for instance was found at Carchemish in northern Syria. At this period many high-born women, including the daughter of Zimri-Lim of Mari and Iltani of Karana’s sister were sent as naditu priestesses to Sippar near Babylon. These foreign princesses brought their entourage, and Sippar, on the main north-south Euphrates trade-route, became an international centre. The local seal-cutting workshops adopted many new iconographical ideas and Babylonian iconography spread northwards, possibly carried by Sippar craftsmen. These naditu priestesses took part in trade and business transactions and the seals and seal impressions of many have survived. We know that Iltani was involved in running weaving workshops at Karana [Tell al Rimah, Syria]. The impressions of the seal of Zimri-Lim’s sister have been found at Acemhöyük in Turkey.” Impressions of a Babylonian seal and of a Syrian seal on an envelope fragment from Sippar, dated to 1779 B.C. records a sale of land by a naditu priestess and depicts a suppliant goddess wearing a flounced robe (COLLON 1987, 160-1, Fig. 730).

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Fig. 5.1

Carved on the seal are a standing male and female figure facing each other. The male holds a mace and wears a fringed mantle over a kilt and the rolled-brim cap of a king. A suppliant goddess, perhaps, as Spycket believes, the goddess Lama,8 wears a multi-tiered costume, the top of which covers her upper arms and flares above the lower part which reveals five tiers, seemingly a dress worn beneath a hip-length cape open in the front so that her forearms project in front of it. The flounces are marked with vertical striations, perhaps stripes or pleats. In addition, she wears a multiple horned mitre, necklaces and a counterweight. 2. A suppliant goddess wearing a similar full-length flounced costume, but with zig-zag incisions on the tiers, is represented on a late Old Babylonian hematite cylinder seal found by chance at Jiophyrakia, west of Herakleion (Fig. 5.2). 9 Inscribed Awil-Ishtar, it was dated by Møller to the period between Hammurabi and Samsuiluna (ca. 1750) and attributed to Sippar.10 Because it comes from an unstratified context, its date of arrival in Crete is unknown.

Fig. 5.2

3. A goddess wearing a flounced garment is represented on a lapis lazuli seal purportedly from Anatolia which was found at Knossos (Fig. 5.3).11 She wears a six-tiered skirt, with a diagonal band that reaches from her waist at the left side, over her opposite shoulder, and presumably down her back to her waist, supporting the skirt. Vertical striations, possibly signifying stripes, decorate the tiers and the band. According to Aruz, the goddess was part of the original carving on the seal, which dates to ca. 1790-1740. The seal was found in a MM IIIB level at the North Lustral Basin, Knossos. At that time it was fitted with new gold caps and perhaps also recut. Whether the seal arrived in Crete earlier than MM IIIB, however, remains undetermined.12 8 9 10 11 12

SPYCKET 1960, 73f. CMS II.2, no. 206, Herakleion Museum 132. MØLLER 1980, 90-91; EVANS PM II, 265, Fig. 158; ARUZ 1987, 732-3 for additional bibliography. CMS II.2, no. 29, Herakleion Museum 238; JONES 1998, Pl. 5.3. ARUZ 1987, 618-632, Fig. 1166, although Evans (PM IV, 423-4, Figs. 349-350), located it below the MMIIIA stratum.

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Fig. 5.3

4. Two goddesses seated opposite one another wear flounced skirts on a severely worn Syrian seal from Palaikastro.13 According to Møller, the top row of figures was cut in the Old Syrian period whereas the main figures in the lower row, including the goddesses with flounced skirts, were recut in the second half of the second millennium.14 Although the date of arrival on Crete is unknown, it is possible that the recutting took place during MM IIIB/LM IA, the main period of occupation of the town. 5. Long skirts with vertical striations marking the tiers but missing the ground lines, are worn by two Syrian women on an Old Syrian hematite cylinder seal made in the period of Zimrilim, ca. 1800-1750. The seal was found at Tylissos in an unstratified context and therefore has an unknown date of arrival in Crete (Fig. 5.4).15

Fig. 5.4

Just as Old Syrian seals made their way west to Crete, so contemporary Kamares ware traveled east to Ugarit and Byblos,16 reflecting a lively trade in the Middle Bronze Age. In fact, a hematite cylinder seal from tomb LVII at Ras-Shamra/Ugarit that portrays a female figure almost identical to that on the Tylissos seal, with comparable flounced skirt, but with horizontal lines marking the tiers, and similar coiffure, was found along with imitations of Middle Minoan pyxides (Fig. 5.5).17 Thus, Syrian flounced skirts seemingly with nude torsos were worn by priestesses such as those making offerings over an altar on the Tylissos seal (Fig. 5.4), another holding a vase on the abovementioned Ras-Shamra seal (Fig. 5.5),18 and goddesses, notably one wearing a crown on another Old Syrian seal (Fig. 5.6, ca. 1900-1750).19 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

CMS II.2, no. 335, Herakleion Museum 592; JONES 1998, Pl. 5.4. CMS II.2, no. 505; MØLLER 1980, 96-7, Fig. 11. ARUZ 1987, 734, agrees with this hypothesis. CMS II.3, no. 128.2; HAZZIDAKIS 1934, 105f, Pl. XXX3b; MØLLER 1980, 94, Fig. 7; ARUZ 1987, III, 732. KENNA 1968, 329-30, Pl. 107, Fig. 10; JONES 1998, Pl. 5.5a,b. ARUZ 1987, 290, 380, n. 46. SCHAEFFER 1983, 34 (R.S. 9.888, Moul. Coll. France Musée du Louvre AO 19.423); JONES 1998, Pl. 5.6. SCHAEFFER 1983, 34 (R.S. 9.888, Moul. Coll. France Musée du Louvre AO 19.423); JONES 1998, Pl. 5.6. Hematite cylinder seal bought in Syria. Musées Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire 1982, 61-2, Fig. 104: JONES 1998, Pl. 5.7).

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Fig. 5.5

Fig. 5.6

Although the above-mentioned seals were all manufactured in the Old Babylonian/Old Syrian period, the date of import (MM IB-II) into Crete is provided only by the seal from Platanos. When the rest were imported is unknown either because they came from unstratified contexts or because their style places their date of manufacture at a much earlier period than that of their find spot - a situation suggesting that they were heirlooms. Nevertheless, the Platanos seal is sufficient to provide firm evidence for direct Minoan contact with the Near Eastern garment as early as MM IB-II. The precursor of the Old Babylonian flounced skirt is portrayed on the plaque of Ur-Nanshe, ruler of Lagash in ED IIIA (ca. 2520), on the king and his sons and, on his daughter, with a flounced cape draped over one shoulder (Fig. 5.7).20 Fine examples of this garment dated to ED III are preserved in sculpture from both Mesopotamia and Syria. A sealing from royal palace G at Ebla (ca. 2400-2250), illustrates Syrian male and female figures wearing such flounced skirts, which, according to Porada, were of fleece, made of tufts of wool shaped like large leaves and arranged in flounces (Fig. 5.8).21 Similar interpretations of the garment have been suggested by Strommenger, who called it “Zottenstoff” (tufted material), and by Kohlmeyer, “so-called Kaunakes... styled from a woven material which was tufted and/or tasseled to resemble a sheep’s fleece.”22 The costume on an alabaster seated priestess from the ED III Temple of Ishtarat at Mari seems to support Kohlmeyer’s theory (Fig. 5.9a).23 A fringed border is revealed at the lower part of the long mantle worn over her headdress, which may indicate the warp fringes at the edge of a cloth onto which rows of tufted or tasseled fleece appear to be applied. A gypsum Priestess wearing a ceremonial headdress from the Temple of Ishtar, Mari, c. 2500 B.C. wears a similar costume, except here a shorter cape is worn over the shoulders and closed at center front (Pl. 9b).24 A comparison of the tufted garments on the Mari priestesses (Figs. 5.9a-b), and on Ur Nanshe and his family (Fig. 5.7) with the contemporary representation of fleece on the ram from the Royal Cemetery of Ur, ED IIIA (ca. 2550),

20 21 22 23 24

FRANKFORT 1970, 70, Fig. 73. For further discussion and bibliography see HANSEN 1975, 179-181, 188, Fig. 85; JONES 1998, Pl. 5.8. COLLON 1987, 38, Fig. 127; PORADA 1985, 92, Fig. 14. STROMMENGER 1971, 48; KOHLMEYER 1985, 157. KOHLMEYER 1985, 130-133, 156-161, cat. no. 64, JONES 1998, Pl. 5.10. CAUBET and BERNUS-TAYLOR 1991, 22.

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reveals that its fleece, carved from shell and set into bitumen, is identical in style to them (Fig. 5.10).25 Just how severely stylized the artist’s rendering of the fleece was is immediately apparent when comparing natural fleece from actual rams.26

Fig. 5.7

Fig. 5.9a

Fig. 5.8

Fig. 5.9b

Fig. 5.10

At the beginning of the Akkadian period, the new style of flounced garment, such as that which appears on cylinder seals later in Crete (Figs. 5.1-5.4), replaces the fleece garments. The new style is worn by male and female deities including Ishtar on Akkadian works such as the seal of Adda (Fig. 5.11),27 and the seal of Ilaknuid in the Oriental Institute (Fig. 5.12),28 and priestesses on relief sculpture, notably, a woman of the highest rank, princess Enheduanna, daughter of King Sargon of Akkad and priestess of Nanna, the Moon God of Ur, on the Disc of Enheduanna (Fig. 5.13).29 Enheduanna’s costume, like that 25 26 27 28

29

WOOLLEY 1939, 121ff and 264ff. For further discussion see HANSEN 1975, 158-161, 170, Fig. 41. MAZAR 1959, 182. Akkadian seal of the scribe Adda, British Museum 89 115, after COLLON 1987, 164, Fig. 761; MOORTGAT 1969, 54, 333, Pl. F, no. 5. Black stone Mesopotamian seal, Akkadian period, c. 2334-2154 B.C. Oriental Institute, University of Chicago inventory number A 27903 (after WOLKSTEIN and KRAMER 1983, 92). Also see Ishtar on the seal of the scribe Adad from the Akkadian period, British Museum 89 115, in COLLON 1987, 164, no. 761; MOORTGAT 1969, 54, 333, Pl. F, no. 5; and PARROT 1961, 193, Fig. 237. AMIET, 1975, 193-197, Fig. 101; JONES 2013a, 128-133.

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on the Platanos (Fig. 5.1), and Awil-Ishtar (Fig. 5.2), seals, consists of a short flounced shawl worn over a flounced dress.

Fig. 5.11

Fig. 5.12

Fig. 5.13

The material of the tiers has received various interpretations. Moortgat describes Enheduanna’s robe as: “a flounced garment of several layers of ruches [strips of pleated material] which are cut off horizontally, while the tufts on the layers are vertical and wavy...and they are of equal length throughout.30 In her study of Mesopotamian dress, Strommenger described the material as organized in pleated flounces in steps one above the other but lamented being unable to reach a clear reconstruction because of the lack of representations in sculpture in the round.31 Indeed, even when all views are represented as on two Old Babylonian copper or bronze statuettes from Ur, still little information as to the manufacture of the tiers is provided (Fig. 5.14).32 Nevertheless, the figurine on the left clearly wears a short, hip-length flounced shawl, held open at center front by raised forearms, over an eight-flounce dress, reaching from neck to ankles, each flounce incised with vertical wavy lines. The rear view of the figurine at the right, exhibits the same costume, plus a necklace counterweight which hangs down to the hem at the center of the back. Collon believes the tiers were made either of a pleated or fringed fabric, the latter possibility in imitation of the earlier sheepskin garment.33 According to G. Kopcke, fringed flounces are likely portrayed on the garment of a presentation goddess in gold foil relief from Kāmid el Lōz, Lebanon, of the mid-eighteenth century.34 Sculptures in the round provide a better idea of the costumes rendered in relief on the Platanos (Fig. 5.1), and Awil-Ishtar (Fig. 5.2) seals, and on Enheduanna on her Disk (Fig. 5.13).

30 31 32 33 34

MOORTGAT 1969, 48. STROMMENGER 1971, 52-3. COLLON 1995, 101, Fig. 80. COLLON 1995, 101. G. Kopcke, pers. comm. BOESE 1983, 109, Cat. no. 92.

THE FLOUNCED SKIRT

Fig. 5.14

161

Fig. 5.15

Fig. 5.16a

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Fig. 5.16b

Painted depictions of the tiered dress and short shawl costume on paintings from the palace of King Zimrilim of Mari, ca. 1781-1758, of Ishtar in the Audience Hall, stylistically dated to Ur III (Fig. 5.15), and the presentation goddesses in the Investiture painting from the Old Babylonian period (Figs. 5.16a-b, detail 3.49),35 show that it is comprised of a variety of colors: black, bluish grey, ocher, and dark brown. Whether these portray the actual colors of the textile or the palette available to the painter is an open question. Nevertheless, the importance of colored clothing and especially its connection to Ishtar cannot be overstressed because it is cited in texts. Indeed, in Inanna and Enki, and a Balag hymn, Inanna is the “Queen of the multi-colored robe,”36 presumably referring to those worn by Ishtar in the Audience Hall and Investiture paintings from Mari. As some scholars suggested, the multicolored “stripes” may have been pleated. Pleating with wool, however, is difficult to achieve and hard to retain.37 If fringes, as Collon has proposed, the variations in color may indicate either the subtleties of hues inherent in natural wool or dyed strands, especially since wool takes dyes easily. D. Hansen believed that the wavy lines of color were likely a painterly convention for fringes.38 Alternatively, the cloth could simply have been striped. Wavy stripes could have been achieved by alternating loose and close weave structures for the stripes, similar to the technique of crimping preserved on the bodice of a linen dress from Fifth Dynasty Deshasheh, UC 31183 (Pls. 3.85).39 Linen, however, is easy to pleat and as noted in chapter 3, actual pleated linen garments are not only preserved in Egypt, but are favored from as early as the First Dynasty in the horizontally pleated bodice and sleeves on the dress from Tarkhan (Fig. 3.84).40 A Sixth Dynasty example of a completely horizontally pleated linen dress is preserved from an adult female burial at Naga ed-Der.41 A Twelfth Dynasty painted example is the horizontally pleated cattle driver’s tunic from the Tomb of Amenemhet at 35 36 37 38 39 40 41

For a color plate, see PARROT 1961, 279, Fig. 346. KRAMER 1981, 4, line 11; KRAMER 1989, 61, 223, and WOLKSTEIN and KRAMER 1983, 16. There is also a reference to multicolored strands of Ishtar’s skipping rope, see SJŐBERG 1976, 212. HYDE 1988, 561; AUSTIN 1944. D. Hansen, pers. comm. HALL 1986b, 38-9, Figs. 2-3. HALL 1986a, 28, Fig. 15. HALL 1986a, 31, Fig. 20.

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Beni Hasan.42 According to Hall, the pleats were achieved by placing the wet fabric into wooden crimping boards such as the one preserved in the British Museum.43 Boards with straight grooves yielded straight pleats, and curved or serrated grooves yielded wavy pleats.44 In contrast to the elaborate flounced skirts of Near Eastern deities and priestesses, much simpler versions, not striated, but of solid fabric, are worn by Syrian women of the 15th to 13th centuries as recorded both in the Near East and Egypt. Skirts with three horizontal tiers are worn by captive Syrian women in the Tomb of Rekhmire, ca. 1450 (Figs. 5.17a-b),45 and on a seated Syrian woman on a fragment of an alabaster jar found in the stone foundations of the Middle Assyrian palace of Adad-nirari I (1307-1275) at Assur.46 A four tiered skirt is worn by the wife of a Syrian prince in the eighteenth dynasty Tomb of Nebamon, ca. 1411-1397.47

Fig. 5.17a

Fig. 5.17b

42 43

44 45 46 47

HALL 1986a, 32, Fig. 21. According to HALL 1986a, 52, Fig. 40. Pleating was performed while the cloth was still damp. The garments would have been inside out, this being the most professional manner in which to wash and dry clothing... Pleating gauges are nowhere depicted on the reliefs, but an example survives in Turin with serrated grooves cut into the upper surface of the hardwood. Slightly damp unmade-up cloth could be quickly pressed by the dressmaker into these indentations, and the resulting knife pleats were then additionally pinched with the fingers. Rows of constant running stitches held the pleats while working on adjacent sections, and pressing was presumably effected with stones. Surviving garments reveal additional side seams securing the pleats, which could simply be repinched (without requiring the gauge) after each wash. A board in the British Museum (Fig. 40) was used by the washermen for the time-consuming crimping of festival clothes. Experiments conducted by the author on exact reproductions of both objects have shown that they respectively produce evenly spaced pleating, of the knife or herringbone types, or crimping. Only finest quality linen can be used. Deft hand pinching creates a firm finish which requires no additional fixing with a gelatinous sizing. HALL 1986a, 52, Fig. 40. WACHSMANN 1987, Pl. XL; MAZAR 1958, 276. SMITH 1965, 29, Fig. 42; JONES 1998, Pl. 5.26. SMITH 1965, 29, Fig. 41; BOSSERT 1923, 245, Fig. 339; JONES 1998, Pl. 5.24a,b.

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As clearly as the Egyptians in their tombs distinguish the flounced garments of the Syrian women from their own female attire, so the solid white, flounced garments of the Syrian woman are distinguished from the striated, multi-colored, flounced attire of the Syrian goddesses and priestesses. The flounced skirts with striated tiers have a very long life in the Near East, beginning in the Akkadian period and lasting through the Kassite and Mitannian periods as indicated on the Kassite impression of Narubtum, dated ca. 1400-1350 (Fig. 5.18),48 and even into the Assyrian period (750-720 B.C.), as a garment with flounces seemingly made of looped fringes depicted on an Assyrian ivory plaque from Fort Shalmaneser, Nimrud, ca. 858-824 (Fig. 5.19).49

Fig. 5.18

Fig. 5.19

Although we lack the actual Near Eastern garments, the rich visual material and the techniques used in Egypt summarized above provide some insight into the possibilities for the textiles. For their construction, a rectangular flounced robe is wrapped around the body and open in the front to expose a leg on Ishtar on the Akkadian seal of Ilaknuid (Fig. 5.12), the same design for a skirt is worn by a god on an Old Babylonian seal in the Yale Babylonian Collection (Fig. 5.20),50 and, although much later, on the male figure on the Assyrian ivory from Fort Shalmanesr (Fig. 5.19). The latter clearly reveals the cloth’s unadorned underside and tiers arranged one above the other on its front. This technique is documented much earlier in ED IIIB on the large flounced shawl draped over the ED IIIB female figure from Mari (Fig. 5.9a),51 and therefore seems to have been in use for millennia. Taken together this information provides sufficient evidence for experimental recreations of the garments of Ishtar on the seal of Ilaknuid (Fig. 5.12), and the seated god on an Old Syrian seal, c. 1750 (Fig s. 5.21a,b).52 Based on the multicolored stripes on the presentation goddesses and Ishtar on the Audience Hall and Investiture paintings from the palace of King Zimri-Lim of Mari (and snake goddess HM 65), two versions were constructed. 48 49

50 51 52

Kassite plaster impression inscribed “Narubtum, daughter of Bazi, sister of Nabu-dayan, servant girl of gods Shamash and Amurru.” See COLLON 1987, 150, Fig. 653. WILKINSON 1960, 261-262, Fig. 21; MALLOWAN and HERRMANN 1974, 21-27, 80-85, Pls. XXXIV, XL, XLII, XLIV, debate whether the flounces on comparable robes are made of heavy linen or scale armour. BUCHANAN1981, 294-5, Fig. 1137. KOHLMEYER 1985, 130-133, 156-161, cat. no. 64, JONES 1998, Pl. 5.10. PORADA 1948, 118-119, Pl. CXXXVII, Fig. 910. Also see JONES 2013, 128-139.

THE FLOUNCED SKIRT

Fig. 5.20

165

Fig. 5.21a

Fig. 5.21b

The split robe shown by the raised leg of Ishtar on the Chicago seal (Fig. 5.12), and a split skirt illustrated on the raised leg of the god in ascending posture at the right on the Yale Old Babylonian seal, ca. 18th C. (Fig. 5.20), suggest that the garments were rectangles of cloth, left open at one side and wrapped around the body. 53 Therefore, one garment is made of striped and pleated flounces to satisfy the “metope and triglyph” design of the skirt of the god on the Old Syrian seal (Fig. 5.21a,b), where the hemlines undulate, arching below the striations (“triglyphs”), as if marking pleats, and, alternatively, curving downward below the blank spaces (“metopes”), as if marking plain fabric. Seven flounces (L: 7”), were stacked one above the other and sewn onto a white piece of cloth (W: 54”, L: 38”), front (Fig. 5.22), back (Fig. 5.23), and diagram of construction (Fig. 5.24). Strings were sewn onto the top corners for tying the garment around the body, as was done with Egyptian loincloths. The second garment was constructed in the same way, but with seven multicolored fringed flounces (L: 6 ½”), sewn one above the other onto a white cloth (W: 50”; L: 38”), front (Fig. 5.25), back (Fig. 5.26, and diagram of construction (Pl. 5.27), to test the cited theories and possibly satisfy such images as the wavy stripes on Ishtar’s skirt on the Audience Hall painting (Fig. 5.15). The experimental striped and pleated (Fig. 5.28) and fringed (Fig. 5.29) skirts, arranged on the author, seated in imitation of the god on the Old Syrian seal (Fig. 5.21a-b), and Ishtar from the Audience Hall (Fig. 5.15 reversed), inform us of the enormous artistic license of the ancient artist. On the garments on the seal (Fig. 5.21a-b), and on Ishtar from the Audience Hall painting (Fig. 5.15), the flounces run in length from waist to knee with the striations/stripes represented vertically on both lap and legs, whereas in reality, on the experimental garments, the flounces run around the waist and both stripes and fringes respond naturally, running horizontally at the lap and vertically at the legs. Visually, the striped and pleated garment (Fig. 5.28), seems the best match for the skirt on the seal (Fig. 5.21a-b), and, if we can judge by fragment 13 from a fresco from Mycenae, which clearly illustrates stacked striped cloth flounces on the kilt of the Mykenaia, 54 stripes, possibly pleated, may be the likelier solution. The experimental fringed flounces (Fig. 5.29), may explain the wavy stripes on the skirt of Ishtar from the

53 54

BUCHANAN 1981, 294-5, Fig. 1137. The garments’ colors were kindly dyed by V. Bealle. JONES 2009, 333, Figs, 19, 20, 28.

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Audience Hall (Fig. 5.15), although all the flounces there too, have clear horizontal ground lines that appear to mark woven cloth hems.

Fig. 5.22

Fig. 5.23

Fig. 5.24

Fig. 5.25

Fig. 5.26

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167

Fig. 5.27

Fig. 5.28

Fig. 5.29

Fig. 5.30

Fig. 5.31

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When the model assumed the standing position of Ishtar on the Chicago seal (Fig. 5.12), wearing the same experimental garments: fringed version (Fig. 5.30), and striped/pleated version (Fig. 5.31), wrapped around her as robes tied at her right side above the chest and reaching to the ankles, the seven tiered robes draped exactly as depicted on the seal. Here the artist did not alter reality. Since the flounced skirt as illustrated on the Old Syrian seals in the Musées Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire (Fig. 5.6), Ras Shamra (Fig. 5.5), and the one found at Tylissos (Fig. 5.4), and the Kassite seal of Narubtum (Fig. 5.18), is the design adopted by the Minoans and Mycenaeans, it is appropriate to have both cloth (Figs. 5.32-33), and fringed (Figs. 5.34-35) versions modeled in imitation of the one on the Narubtum seal.

Fig. 5.32

Fig. 5.33

Fig. 5.34

Fig. 5.35

Since in all cases, both versions agree well with the art, it is difficult to determine whether the artist’s striations on the seals marked striped pleats, simple stripes, or fringes, although their groundlines likely mark striped or pleated cloth. And though all possibilities should still be considered, the modern experimental garments take the theories out of the abstract and into the realm of material reality. Of all the oriental versions of flounced garments, it appears that only the skirt and kilt are adopted by the Minoans, possibly also as appropriate dress for their own goddesses and priestesses. B. The Minoan flounced skirt 1. Minoan flounced skirt The best example of the Minoan flounced skirt is on the well known, although heavily restored, faience statuette HM 65 from the Temple Repositories, Knossos, dated to MM IIIB (Figs. 4.2-4.6).55 Depicted in similar earth colors to the flounced garments of the goddesses on the Investiture painting from Mari (Figs. 5.16a-b),56 the skirt on the Knossos figurine has six tiers made of alternating blocks of color in tones of natural tan, purplish-blue and dark ocher.57 These blocks of color are further marked by four 55 56 57

HM 65. PAPAPOSTOLOU 1981, 138. The statuette was originally published by EVANS 1902-3, 77-80; also EVANS PM I, 501-505 and EVANS PM III, 440-442. The colors in the Investiture painting have deteriorated through time (MARGUERON 2008, 28, Fig. 13), but once were much brighter (PARROT 1961, 279, Fig. 346). The colors, also deteriorated through time, are based on my observation of the figurine in the Herakleion Museum. According to EVANS 1902-3, 78, the jacket is dark orange with purplish brown bands and the dress has designs of purplish brown on pale ground. HOOD 1978, 133, notes “details added in orange, shades of purple, purplish-brown and black.”

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169

vertical lines, red lines on tan and dark lines on the rest, one at each edge and two at the center. These are more clearly visible on the lighter tan and ocher blocks than on the dark blue. Thus, each tier forms a pattern reminiscent of metopes and triglyphs. With the tiers arranged one above the other, the colors alternate so that the whole forms a kind of checkerboard design. The resultant pattern is similar to that on the garment of the god on a Syrian seal from the period of Hammurabi (Figs. 5.21a,b)58 which, as noted above, serves as an example of the sort of oriental prototype upon which the skirt of “snake goddess” HM 65 from Knossos was based. The top-most tier of the skirt of HM 65 differs from the rest inasmuch as it has two horizontal stripes and a fringed hem. The evidence for the details on the tier is sketchy because in Gilliéron’s drawing, showing the extensive restoration of the back of the figurine, nothing remains of the tier on the figurine’s left side (Figs. 4.4, 4.6), and only a trace of it remains at the top of its right side (Figs. 4.4, 4.5).59 Evans omitted publishing useful drawings of the restorations for the front and sides of the figurine. The restored back60 and side views (Figs. 4.5, 4.6)61 leave us uninformed as to its original state as well as to the extent of restoration. Recent x-ray radiography by Müller detected a modern metal reinforcement rod inserted vertically from the center of the modern base plate to the top of the fourth tier from the bottom. He mentioned that the lower part of the skirt preserves larger joining portions of the original, was bellshaped and hollow, with [walls?] about 1cm thick, 62 but provided no information about the surface restoration to the top tier. As it stands, this questionable plain tier on the HM 65’s skirt is the only departure from other Minoan as well as oriental ones where the tiers rendered in relief are striated, and the painted ones are striped. Taken together, the evidence for reconstruction considers that the modulating colors of the stripes on the Knossos statuette suggest fringes but the horizontal ground line implies woven cloth. The flaring of the tiers appears to call for pleats or gathers, but alternatively may simply be striped cloth. The conical shaped skirt and its Aegean parallels (listed below) lack evidence for seams or overlapping. The Near Eastern parallels cited above, however, provided clues. In response to the evidence, two replications were made, one fringed and one striped and pleated,63 adapted from the Near Eastern ones (Figs. 5.22-5-35).64 A top white flap with two dark horizontal stripes was added as the top tier over six tiers of fringes, diagram A (Fig. 5.36), and six tiers of striped fabric with alternating pleated blocks of color, diagram B (Fig. 5.37). Diagram C illustrates the third possibility, made of plain stripes (Fig. 5.38). Since it is largely covered by the apron on the figurine, the fringed version wrapped around the model and overlapped at the back will serve to illustrate how the top white tier with horizontal stripes looked in front, back, and side views (Figs. 5.39-5.41). Both without and with the covering apron (discussed in chapter 9), only the replicated fringed tiers differ in that they have an irregular groundline (Figs. 4.35-4.37). Although the overlapping is not obvious on both replicated skirts, the fringed version masks it better than the pleated (Figs. 4.43-4.46) and thus conforms better to the statuette, but the sculptor may simply have ignored recording the overlapping. The narrow side view rendering of HM 65’s skirt is reflected in both replications. Since both striped and fringed flounce replications conformed to the representation, either one was possible. But since similar tiers, clearly made of multicolored striped cloth, are depicted on Thera (Figs. 9.6-9.7)65 and Mycenae (Pl. 4.25),66 cloth flounces for the figurine are likeliest. Further, since the flounced garment was the garb of priestesses and goddesses in the Near East, the flounced skirt doubtless marked a similar role for the Minoan figurine. 58 59 60 61 62 63 64

65 66

PORADA 1948, 118-119, Pl. CXXXVII, Fig. 910. EVANS PM I, 503, Fig. 361. Also see ZERVOS 1956, 289, Fig. 413. EVANS PM I, 502; EVANS PM III, 442, Fig. 306. MÜLLER 2003, 151-153, Pl. XXXV. I am grateful to V. Bealle for dying the cloth. For a color illustration of the replicated skirt and costume see JONES 2000, 39. My first experiment, a tubular skirt with graduating tiers sewn together at the top, designed to satisfy the lack of a visible join on the skirt of the statuette, failed to achieve its look. I am grateful to E. Harrison for suggesting the wrap-around design. The lady on the right in VLACHOPOULOS 2003, p. 522, Fig. 22; VLACHOPOULOS 2007, Pl. XXXb. The Mykenaia in JONES 2009, esp. p. 333 and Fig. 20, fragment 13.

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Fig. 5.36

Fig. 5.37

Fig. 5.39

Fig. 5.38

Fig. 5.40

Fig. 5.42

Fig. 5.41

Fig. 5.43

THE FLOUNCED SKIRT

Fig. 5.44

Fig. 5.45

171

Fig. 5.46

The “metope and triglyph” flounced skirt as worn by HM 65 (albeit without the top horizontally striped tier) appears on only one other figure in the Aegean, the gold repoussé cut-out that serves as the finial of a silver hairpin from Shaft grave III, Mycenae, dating to LH I (Fig. 5.42).67 The dress design, the style of the figure and the style and material of the silver pin to which it is attached are essentially Minoan although its summarily executed workmanship possibly suggests Mycenaean manufacture,68 or possibly, as Davis suggested, Cycladic, by analogy with a pin of similar design worn by the wounded woman from Thera (Fig. 4.19).69 The costume consists of the usual banded and open-fronted bodice, this one narrow, hence with short “sleeves.” Over the bodice is a skirt with seven flounces. The flounces, stacked so that the striations alternate vertically comprise a skirt with a pattern like the examples from Knossos (Fig. 4.2) and Syria (Fig. 5.21). Both flounced skirt and headgear combine to make this figurine one of the most orientalising in the corpus and, with this attire, one that can be identified with some confidence as divine.70 67 68

69 70

KARO 1930, 54-5, 182, 187, Pl. XXX, no. 75. For a discussion of the profound impact of Minoan religious and status symbols in the Shaft Graves, Mycenae, see PALAIMA 1995, 126-7, note 24. Also see HOOD 1978, 100-201, Fig. 198A, for a comparable Minoan silver pin from Mavrospelio cemetery, Knossos. I am grateful to E. Davis for this suggestion. The elaborate headgear consists of double volutes which spring from her head and from their midst emerge nine papyrus plants in clusters of three. One short stemmed cluster rises to the center top whereas three long stemmed ones, each terminating in a circular bud, fall in graceful curving arches on either side of the figure. Papyrus stalks and volutes or single whorls are elements that are combined in various ways in representations of sphinxes and griffins in the Aegean and Anatolia. Related in style, inasmuch as curved plumes emanate from a central stylized papyrus lily, is the crown, probably of contemporary LM IA date, in painted relief from Knossos, perhaps mistakenly interpreted by Evans as the headdress of a “priest king,” and now thought to be the crown of a sphinx, priestess or goddess (see DAVIS 1995, 12-13; NIEMEIER 1987, 65-98; COULOMB 1979, 29-40, who provides good evidence for the “Feathered Crown” to have once adorned the head either of a female sphinx or a priestess or a goddess and not to a “Prince” as originally reconstructed by EVANS, PM II, 685, 774-90, color plate XIV. A later, LM IIIA comparison, is the griffin from the throne room at Knossos with headgear consisting of a row of single volutes or whorls, the top two encircled by a plume. The large whorl with a rosette in the center and the flanking papyrus blossoms which decorate the shoulder as well as the papyrus reeds in the field are also iconographically related (see EVANS PM IV, 910, color Pl. XXXII). Shoulder whorls form a similar volute, although inverted, on a griffin associated with a goddess from Xeste 3, Thera of contemporary LM IA date (See DOUMAS 1992, 164, Pl. 128). It is also on a wall painting from Thera (DOUMAS 1992, 142-3, Figs. 105-6), that the only parallel for this pin exists, depicted in gold but with a lily or iris finial, stuck into the hair of a wounded woman from Xeste 3 (here, Fig 4.19). The closest parallel, however, appears on a monumental stone sphinx from Boghazkoy (ca. 1400-1200), where the crown is surmounted by three tiers of volutes, each with a rosette in the center (ORTHMANN 1975, Pl. 338a). Except for the rosettes, the upper two volutes are identical to the ones from Mycenae, whereas the additional lower one curves in the opposite direction. Such headgear appears to be an elaboration of the simpler individual curls in rows that crown the heads of Middle Bronze age sphinxes such as those from Malia of MM II, and from Acemhöyük, dating to 1825-1750 (see HARPER 1969, 158, 161, Fig. 4), the Minoan likely deriving from Anatolian prototypes. The connection was first proposed by

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Several additional representations of the flounced skirt deserve mention despite their summary treatment. One is the full-length flounced skirt worn by a woman on a seal impression from an LM II level at Knossos (Fig. 5.43).71 The poorly preserved impression omits any trace of the heanos or headgear.72 Another multi-flounced skirt is worn by a goddess on a seal of unknown provenance in Cambridge (Fig. 5.44).73 Positioned atop a date-palm tree which surmounts an altar flanked by griffins, the goddess seems iconographically related to the deities both on the Knossos sealing (Fig. 5.43) and on the Shaft Grave pin (Fig. 5.42). The wavy elements comprising her headgear are possibly “snake frames” as Niemeier has proposed.74 This flounced skirt, shown with vertical striations on Crete and without at Mycenae, is worn in sacrificial scenes by women carrying goats over their shoulders.75 Vertically striated flounced skirts adorn the women on a seal impression from Zakros dated MM III-LM IA (Fig. 5.45),76 and two contemporary sealings from Knossos (Fig. 5.46).77 A double belted skirt with seven flounces is depicted on a woman on a finely carved carnelian lentoid seal from the tholos at Vapheio dated to LH II (Fig. 5.47).78 Besides her attire, her activity and possibly even her identity may have Near Eastern roots in the Syrian huntergoddess Anat who traditionally is represented holding an animal in her hand.79

Fig. 5.47

71

72

73 74 75 76 77 78 79

Fig. 5.48

POURSAT 1974, 111-1114, Pl. xi, 3. In a detailed treatment of this material, ARUZ 1987, 349, concluded that “Asia Minor may then be the immediate source for Crete - although infused with motifs deriving from Syrian and Egyptian iconography”. Schematic versions of the curls (often mistakenly interpreted as snakes) also occur on figures painted on pottery from Phaistos, Malia and Phylakopi (see LEVI 1976, I.2, 90, 96, Pls. LXV, LXVI-IIa, and Fig. 20; VAN EFFENTERRE 1980, 43, Fig. 572; and BOSSERT 1923, 192, Fig. 263). CMS II.8, no. 256. EVANS PM II:2, 808-9, Fig. 528. JONES 1998, Pl. 5.44. For a survey of the literature including dating problems on this seal impression see KRATTENMAKER 1995, 49-59, esp. 49-50, note 2. She believes that the sealing (a composite based on several fragmentary impressions recovered from an LM II level), could date earlier than its find spot, which may serve as a terminus post quem. The scene, actually a composite taken from several fragments of impressions probably from a lost gold signet, was first interpreted by Evans as, “the Minoan Mother goddess with lion supporters standing on her holy mountain, perhaps Juktas and her shrine with Sacral Horns.” (See EVANS PM II:2, 808; GILL 1965: 58-98. In addition, PALAIMA 1995, 136-7, has associated the staff she holds in her outstretched arm as the prototype for the sceptre or skeptron described by Homer, (Iliad 2, 100-109), a religious symbol that transfers religious authority from the divine to the human sphere. CMS XIII, no. 39. NIEMEIER 1986, 84, 86-7, Fig. 17, JONES 1998, Pl. 5.45. NIEMEIER 1986, 86. Women engaged in this activity also wear the Minoan kilt. CMS II.7, no. 23; SAKELLARAKIS 1972, 246f, Pl. 95; Hogarth 1902, Pl. VI, Fig. 5, no. 5. CMS II.3, no. 86; SAKELLARAKIS 1972, 246f, Pl. 94. CMS I, no. 221; DEMARGNE 1964, 195, Fig. 273; EVANS PM IV, Fig. 545. A classic Syrian style seal, ca. 1750, in the de Clercq collection illustrates the goddess Anat in this role, albeit wearing a different style skirt and holding the goat in reverse, i.e. by its hind legs (JONES 1998, Pl. 5.50; PORADA 1977, 3-4, Fig. 5). Looking forward in time, the Minoan and Mycenaean huntress may even have served as a prototype for the classical Greek deity Artemis, especially since the goddess is mentioned by name in Linear B tablets at Pylos (see CHADWICK 1976, 99).

THE FLOUNCED SKIRT

Fig. 5.49

173

Fig. 5.50

Additional glyptic representations of the long flounced skirt appear on an interesting trio of figures, one large centered female flanked by two diminutive ones, all similar in style and gesture. A lentoid seal from Pediados, ca. MM III-LM IA, omits the vertical striations on the flounces (Fig. 5.48),80 whereas a sealing from Hagia Triada, dated to MM IIIB-LM IA, (Fig. 5.49)81 and a lentoid agate seal from a chamber tomb at Mycenae, dated LH II, clearly depict striated flounces (Fig. 5.50).82 Although its summary carving led Weingarten to see a bee-lady flanked by a bird and scorpion, a lentoid jasper seal from Knossos, dated to MM IIIB, appears instead to have portrayed a similar scene with three women dressed in vertically striated flounced skirts.83 The iconography of this three-figured scene has received various interpretations84 and although the evidence is lacking for a definitive answer, both the presence of the shrine and the fact that all three share the same hands on hips posture as well as identical attire, it appears that they are all taking part in a particular dancing ritual, the largest and centered figure possibly older and/or more important than the others. On the seal from Mycenae, she is further distinguished by lateral projections at either side of her neck (Fig. 5.50). Sakellariou suggested that they are wings.85 But other possibilities, more consistent with other representations, should be considered, such as hair or, even more appropriate, sashes emanating from a sacral knot, especially since such knots are consistently located at the nape of the neck.

Fig. 5.51

80 81 82 83 84

85

Fig. 5.52

CMS II.3, no. 218; EVANS PM II:1, 341, Fig. 194b. CMS II,6, no. 1; EVANS PM II:1, 341, Fig. 194a. CMS I, no. 159; EVANS PM II:1, 340, Fig. 194c. WEINGARTEN 1983, 94, Pl. 12a. Evans (PM II:1, 340) originally interpreted the figures as two handmaidens flanking a central goddess. BURKERT 1985, 50, subsequently suggested that they are perhaps connected with the two young girls Arrhephoroi - who serve in their temple on the Acropolis, Athens and begin weaving the peplos which will be presented to Athena at the Panathenaia. MARINATOS 1993, 188, has argued that the central figure is a high priestess instructing two young novices into the secrets of the cult. SAKELLARIOU 1964, no. 159, p. 179.

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A comparable flounced skirt, and the identical gesture as the trio of figures discussed above, is represented on a bronze statuette from Palaikastro (Fig. 5.51).86 Accompanying the costume is a necklace with a counterweight that hangs down her back, which, like the flounced skirt, depends on prototypes in the Near East (see Fig. 5.14). According to Dalley, the purpose of the counterweight in the Near East was to alleviate pressure on the back of the neck from the very heavy necklaces often made of several rows of beads.87 Dawkins, the excavator, preferred to date the piece to LM III because it was found in a region with MM-LM I-LM III material, however, Verlinden places it stylistically into her MM IIIB-LM IA category,88 which agrees with its close relationship to the women on the similar seals mentioned above. The multi-flounced skirt with wide belt is also worn by a female figure on a seal impression from Hagia Triada dated to LM IB (Fig. 5.52).89 A Minoan seal of unknown provenance, dated ca. MM III-LM IA, portrays a summarily carved but particularly interesting representation wherein the figure at the left wears the vertically striated flounced skirt and faces and gestures toward two skirts with double belts that lie horizontally in the field .90 As Davis observed, these two skirts look fleecier, with details more softly modeled. They lack both the horizontal lines that separate the tiers and the sharp, regular, vertical striations of the skirt on the left. Niemeier has argued about the sacred character of such skirts, suggesting that when clothed in these garments in rites of epiphany, the wearer was transformed into a deity.91 2. Minoan flounced skirt: fastened in front Three tiny faience figural plaques found near the early propylaeum at Knossos, dated MM III, with flat backs characteristic of attachments, but no holes, provide examples of the long, striated, multiflounced skirt wrapped around and fastened in the front, HM 17 (Figs. 5.53-54), HM 18 (Fig. 5.55), HM 20 (Fig. 5.56).92 Only HM 17 bears traces of a dress in the bands in raised relief on its arms (Figs. 5.53-54), while HM 20 preserves only its skirt (Fig. 5.56). When the same pleated (Fig. 5.57), and fringed (Fig. 5.58), replicated skirts are overlapped in front on the model who imitates the pose of these figurines, they also conform well to the images.

Fig. 5.53

86

87 88 89 90 91 92

Fig. 5.54

Fig. 5.55

VERLINDEN 1984, Pl. 32, Fig. 68. Also see drawing in BOSANQUET and DAWKINS, 1902-1906, 122-3, Fig. 103. Ellen Davis has observed that the Palaikastro statuette is similar in position to many Keos statues (pers. comm.), compare the hand on hip gesture on Keos 1-1 (Pl. 4.172), CASKEY 1986, Pls. 4-5. In addition, both figures wear huge necklaces, the Palaikastro one with a counterweight down the back. DALLEY 1984, 106-7. BOSANQUET and DAWKINS, 1902-1906, 122-3; VERLINDEN 1984, Pl. 32, Fig. 68. CMS II.6, no. 22; BOARDMAN 1970, 94, Fig. 78. BOSSERT 1923, 232, Fig. 323d. NIEMEIER 1986, 78-81. EVANS PM II:2, 702, Fig. 440; ZERVOS 1956, 271, Fig. 388; and FOSTER 1979, 78, Fig. 11.

THE FLOUNCED SKIRT

175

Fig. 5.56

Fig. 5.57

Fig. 5.58

CHAPTER 6 THE FLOUNCED KILT Differing significantly from the long, continuously tiered skirt discussed in chapter 5, the flounced kilt is shorter, usually constructed of patterned cloth that is embellished at the center and hem with groups of two to three flounces that curve downward and, when worn, form a V at center front. It is the most frequently represented item of clothing in the Aegean repertoire, coming into view on Crete at the beginning of the Neopalatial period,1 approximately contemporaneous with its first appearance on the Greek mainland, an appearance that lasts there until the end of the Late Bronze Age. It also arrives at the same time in the Cyclades (Thera and Keos) and becomes a mark of Aegean presence and/or trade in Egypt (Tell el-Dabᶜa), and Syria (Ugarit). The finest representations of the garment appear on Crete, Thera and the Greek mainland in painting and sculpture. Our best painted example from Crete is on the slightly crouching woman (goddess) on a LM IB fresco from Hagia Triada (Figs. 4.14a,b-c, 4.88a-b, 4.92a-d); 2 and from Akrotiri, Thera on the LC IA Crocus Gatherer with blue head (Figs. 4.10, 4.50, 4.58), Crocus Basket Emptier (Figs. 4.12, 4.72, 4.77), Necklace Bearer (Figs. 4.13, 4.78, 4.83), Bending Lady (Figs. 4.24a-b, 4.134, 4.136, 4.140) and Veiled Maiden (Figs. 4.11, 4.63). Sculpture in the round provides the most complete views of the kilt. The finest are in ivory, from the Greek mainland: the two seated female figures that form part of the Ivory Triad (LH IIIA1, 1400-1350), from the citadel of Mycenae, a work of such fine quality that some scholars believe it to be a Minoan heirloom dated before ca. 1450 (Figs. 4.15-4.18, 4.95a-c),3 and a standing ivory statuette from LH III, Chamber tomb 51, the Argive Heraeum, Prosymna featuring the abraded remains of an unusually elaborate kilt (Figs. 4.153 and 4.157).4 From Crete are LM I standing statuettes in bronze in Berlin (Fig. 6.1)5 and two from Hagia Triada: HM 760 (Fig. 6.2) and HM 761 (Fig. 6.3).6 1

2 3 4

5 6

As noted above, earlier versions of the flounced kilt are possibly referred to in the parallel horizontal lines on the garments schematically rendered on ivory figurines from Hagia Triada (Fig. 2.37) Platanos (Fig. 2.38) and Archanes (Fig. 2.39). Istituto della Enciclopedia italiana 1958, 64; HALBHERR 1903, 55-60, Pl. 10. VERMEULE 1964, 220; HOOD 1978, 124-6, Fig. 114; WACE 1949, 83-4, 115, figs. 101-2; for further discussion and bibliography see MYLONAS 1966, 155-6. For the Prosymna example see BLEGEN 1937, 461-463, Figs. 573, 729-731, POURSAT 1977, 121-122, Pl. XXXIX, no. 375, National Museum, Athens, inv. no. 6580. Also see BUCHHOLZ and KARAGEORGHIS 1973, 384, Fig. 1279 and NILSSON 1950, 313, Fig. 151. VERLINDEN 1984, Pl. 16, Fig. 33; BUCHHOLZ and KARAGEORGHIS 1973, 373, Fig. 1224a-d. For Hagia Triada examples see VERLINDEN 1984, Pl. 17, figs. 34 and 35. The Minoan bronze statuettes are among the earliest, dated ca. MM III-LM II (VERLINDEN 1984, 190-191, Fig. 33; Pl. 17, figs. 34-35). They are generally interpreted as worshippers because of the elaborate gestures which can be paralleled on Minoan seals (EVANS PM I, 159-60, Fig. 115; NIEMEIER 1986; CMS 3, 169-70, Fig. 2, no. 1). The best of the bronzes, in Berlin, said to be from the Troad (Fig. 6.1), is so similar to the two examples from Hagia Triada, Figs. 6.2 and 6.3 that it may well have been made there. The bodice is indicated by the raised band at the shoulders and arms; the kilt appears to have three or four subsidiary flounces. Due to its partial preservation, it is unclear whether the lowest tier is the bottom of the tunic like the ones from Hagia Triada, or a fourth flounce. Fastening the kilt just below the waist is a wide girdle possibly with its ends hanging down the front. Closely related in style, a bronze figurine from Hagia Triada features a long tunic with raised bands marking the shoulder seam and open V-shaped front. Over it is a double flounced kilt fastened at the top of the hips with a double rolled belt (Fig. 6.2). Another related statuette from Hagia Triada also portrays a long dress with a long narrow border marking the shoulder seam under a triple flounced kilt (Fig. 6.3). A third statuette from the same site, of inferior craftsmanship and perhaps a later date of LM II, nevertheless features in a long dress and, over it, a double flounced kilt - the lower flounce showing the remnants of vertical

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Fig. 6.1

Fig. 6.2

Fig. 6.3

A. Introduction: the Minoan flounced kilt Early studies of this part of the costume, as that of Spyridon Marinatos, provided a general overview of the imagery.7 Stylized representations led such scholars as Hogarth,8 Smith,9 and Foster, to interpret the garment as wide trousers.10 Peterson was the first to recognize, on the detailed depictions of garments on the newly excavated frescoes from Thera, that the flounced skirt was a separate garment

7

8 9 10

striations (VERLINDEN 1984, 136, 204, Pl. 55, Fig. 122 and ZERVOS 1956, 346, Fig. 504a). Other bronze figurines of cursory workmanship that exhibit this costume are: 1) A figurine from Psychro (BOARDMAN 1961, 12, 24, Pl. IV; VERLINDEN 1984, 76, 186, Pl. 6, Fig. 19), that has no visible traces of a bodice, but the front of the kilt is depicted with three or four vertically striatedflounces forming Vs as they meet in the center. The back of the kilt has more, narrower, and unstriated tiers. A thick, double rolled belt, clearly knotted at the side, fastens the kilt. 2) A figurine said to be from Tsoutsouros, portrayed with a long dress and a kilt with three to four flounces (MITTEN 1967, 31; VERLINDEN 1984, 130-1, 202, Pl. 50, Fig. 109). 3) A figurine from Psychro with faint diagonal lines that reveal the flounces of a kilt with a rolled girdle at its waist, worn over a long dress (VERLINDEN 1984, Pl. 46, Fig. 100). 4) A statuette said to be from Lyttos (VERLINDEN 1984, Pl. 45, Fig. 99). The bottom portion of the V-front of the dress is represented as well as a triple flounced kilt with a slightly rolled girdle at the waist. The flat back of the figurine identifies it as an attachment. In his work on clothing, MARINATOS 1967, A26-A28, citing garments on the Knossian miniature frescoes, and “similar monuments” stated that: “A brightly colored skirt formed the main garment. Next to a rich trimming or embroidery on the borders and flounces, it is decorated with flowers, animals and fantastic creatures such as griffins and sphinxes. These can be applied or woven in, possibly also pressed on gold plates. This can be an explanation for the gold ornaments from the women’s shaft grave III from Mycenae. A practical brightly colored fancy or figured jacket with exposed breasts and short sleeves and a splendid girdle completes this garment... [He also rightly recognized] a type [that] deals with a fabric whose overlapped ends fall apart by striding or by rapid movement...” Marinatos also quoted Karo’s description of the costume on the Shaft Grave ornaments: “Deep cut-out jacket, wide, thick belt, bell-shaped skirt which was gathered together between the legs to a point.” In 1971, when Marinatos (1972, 39-40) discovered the frescoes in the House of the Ladies on Thera, he described the garments as follows: “... the lady’s skirt is fastened with a flexible rope ending in a button ... [and] another [lady] is clad in a skirt and `sleeved’ jacket.” HOGARTH 1902, 79. SMITH 1965, 79. FOSTER 1979, 78.

THE FLOUNCED KILT

179

worn over a dress.11 Nanno Marinatos offered fine drawings by Papageorgiou of a flounced kilt fastened at the waist with a cord, worn over a long tunic,12 which follow the general outlines of an example from Thera,13 but omitted a description of the method of manufacture. A study by Diana Wardle concentrated on the costumes on the Ivory Triad.14 She concluded that the kilts consisted of a trapezoidal shaped lining onto which six bands (flounces) were sewn horizontally.15 The trapezoid was cut on the bias for Lillethun’s interpretation of the kilts on the Isopata signet (Fig. 4.62).16 In her analysis of the manufacture of Theran kilts, Televantou suggested that the flounces were cut and sewn to satisfy the pointed and curved shapes on the frescoes, and were made of “two or three rectangular pieces of fabric, the bottom ending in a curve which they piece together horizontally.”17 My doctoral dissertation18 approached the problem from the practical point of view that held that 11 12 13 14 15

16

17

18

PETERSON 1981b, 211. MARINATOS 1984, 100-102, Fig. 70. See “Lady B” from the House of the Ladies, Thera in MARINATOS 1984, 101, Fig. 68. WARDLE 1988, 472-3, figs. 1, 2. According to WARDLE 1988, 471, the lining was made of rectangular strips of cloth sewn together vertically with triangular pieces at each end, presumably to achieve the V-shaped points that form down the fronts of kilts. Two solid and four vertically striated bands which she interpreted as pleated (flounces), were applied by “starting with the first band at the bottom of the skirt and overlapping upwards rather like laying the tiles on a roof.” Wardle’s construction drawing (1988, 473, Fig. 2) omitted the third striated band in each group, the bands at the top of each group of triple striated bands and an explanation of how the kilt was fastened at the waist. Her cloth reconstruction appropriately arranged on live models in crouching and standing positions, however, shows a more accurate rendition with a band atop each three “pleated” flounces (Pl. 30a; www.artsweb.bham.ac.uk/aha/kaw/palsoc/costume.htm, left). Because the ends must converge at the center of the waist to achieve the points down center front, the trapezoidal shape fails to relate to Aegean kilts where one side overlaps the other at the waist and is brought off-center to the figure’s side, not clear on the Ivory figures but marked on the most detailed depictions: Hagia Triada “goddess” (Figs. 4.14a-c, 4.88); Thera crocus gatherers (Figs. 4.26 diagonal line down from waist at left side and Figs. 4.12, 4.72, 4.77); Bending and Striding ladies (Figs. 4.24, 4.134, 4.140, 6.13-6.14 and 4.32); and Necklace Bearer (Pls. 4.13, 4.78, 4.83, 4.87; 6.15-6.16). The inflexible narrow waistline of the trapezoid is also impractical compared with the wide overlapping waist of the double axe pattern which allows for expansion and contraction due to fluctuations in women’s weight during pregnancy, etc. Finally, the trapezoid’s horizontal flounces fail to achieve the arched curve at the hems. The same arguments against the trapezoidal shape given in the note above pertain here. Except for Wardle, LILLETHUN 2012, 251-254, Pl. LVII, ignored all previous scholarship on kilt reconstructions listed above. Lillethun’s claim that her kilt “spiral about the lower legs” like those on the Pylos and Isopata seals is unconvincing. Instead, the Aegean seals’ kilts’ flounces fall in a single arched curve toward center front. Also unlike Lillethun’s kilt, they lay over long undergarments with horizontal hems (with closed front on the Isopata seal and open front on the Pylos seal like that of the Thera blue headed crocus gatherer (Figs. 4.10, 4.50) which affect their behavior. Lillethun ignores the crucial fact that the seals’ kilts also respond to the bent leg pose and instead arranges her kilt on a dress form with stiff erect legs. Also, by illustrating her kilt in “side” rather than the seals’ kilts frontal view, a proper comparison is impossible. Further, Lillethun misinterprets the top layer of the kilt as horizontal pleats, but the interior area of the top layer of all three kilts on the Isopata signet reveal no horizontal lines for pleats (see drawing and details in CMS II.3, no. 51.1-4). Instead, it consists of an irregular zigzag pattern which, along with the lateral projections implies a roughly textured fabric like a shaggy pile weave or fleece (hairy animal skin). Contrast the parallel horizontal lines on the skirt of the kilt-less figure and those under the kilts of the flanking figures. These lines are also not pleats but horizontal stripes as REHAK 2000, 272, accurately pointed out. In sum, Lillethun’s kilt is unrelated to those from the Aegean. TELEVANTOU 1982, 121-2, figs. 3δ, στ, ε. The interpretation of a rectangular cloth with its hem cut in an arched curve is also the view held for the manufacture of Cretan male kilts as those in the Procession Fresco, Knossos by SAPOUNA-SAKELLARAKI 1971, 116-117, figs. 56-57; as well as by VERCOUTTER 1956, 279-82, figs. 91, 92, 93, who originally proposed this design and applied it to the kilts of the Keftiu. For a different interpretation of the male kilt (although he omitted mention of the above opinions), see REHAK 1996, 40-51, Fig. 2, who proposed that the kilt is “a rectangular piece of cloth worn around the waist … sometimes secured by a belt.” JONES 1998, 169-211, 235-246, and, a brief summary of my early conclusions in JONES 2000, 36-41.

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cutting cloth in antiquity would have been kept to a minimum to prevent fraying. The uncut loom-shaped rectangles arranged to form the Daedalic dress of the 7th century,19 and the chitons and peploi of Archaic and Classical Greece,20 provided support. It proposed that Minoan kilts were constructed of rectangular cloths with added flounces, their dipping points achieved by manipulating their arrangement on the figure. Wrapped around a live model with the edges overlapped in the front, the kilt replications were raised higher in the back and lower in the front. The waist edge was then rolled over and rested comfortably at the hip, and the whole, with the model imitating the positions of the Minoan figures, looked similar to those in art.21 Attributed to artistic license were the lack of a rolled waist on some of the Theran kilts, the flare of the flounces, and the arched curves of the Minoan kilts’ hems (in contrast to the straight hems of my replications), which were further ascribed to the Minoan propensity for curvilinear shapes. Subsequently, however, two new important pieces of evidence have surfaced that shed light from the Bronze Age directly on the subject and point to a different design for the construction of the Minoan kilt. One is the Linear B ideogram *166, (Fig. 4.33),22 which appears on tablets from Knossos and Pylos.23 The shape of the ideogram, similar to a double-axe, curves inward at the top and bottom edges, and has straight or slightly incurved sides. Scholars have identified it as an ingot, an animal skin, a double axe, a textile, or some kind of equipment. 24 Judging from the contexts from which it appeared, Palaima concluded that it seems to be an article of cloth.25 Nosch and Perna further identified it as one of two cloths (the other is *146 or wehanos) specifically concerned with cult. They interpreted it as another garment of the type of wehanos.26 Long before, however, Yves Duhoux argued persuasively that it forms the shape of a male kilt and compares well to the kilts of the Cupbearer from Knossos (Figs. 4.148, 6.71), and the Keftiu from the Tomb of Rekhmire (Figs. 4.59-4.60).27 One glance told me that it would also satisfy all the requirements of the Minoan women’s kilt. The other piece of evidence for the contoured waist is provided by actual preserved Egyptian linen loincloths, for example one from the fifteenth century BC tomb of Kha (Fig. 6.4a, left),28 and another from the fourteenth century tomb of Tutankhamun.29 Their top edges are cut and shaped into similar incurved arches, the raw edges neatened with simple hems. Strings are usually attached to the two top corners of Egyptian loincloths to fasten them around the waist. On an example from Theban Tomb 37 (Fig. 6.4a, right), located beneath the temple of Hatshepsut and dated to the Late Middle Kingdom to First Intermediate period, “the two cords … were made from a yarn (2-3mm; S-plyed) … and knotted to the two top corners of the garment.” 30 Found with this loincloth was a long, linen cord belt (5-7mm; Z-plyed), knotted and fringed at the visible end (and probably the other), which likely secured the garment around the waist. This serves as a prototype for the cord belts that secure kilts and a girdle on the women in Xeste 3, and the House of the Ladies, Thera (Figs. 4.10, 4.12, 4.19, 4.24, 4.26, 4.32).31

19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

31

HARRISON 1977, 37-48. BOARDMAN 1978, 67-68. JONES 2000, 36-41. OLIVIER, GODART, SEYDEL, SOURVINOU, 1973, Tableau des idéogrammes. SACCONI 1973, 202-204. For bibliography see DUHOUX 1974, 128-129. PALAIMA 1999, 455. NOSCH and PERNA 2001, 471-477. DUHOUX 1974, 116-132, esp. 117, 122-132. VOGELSANG-EASTWOOD 1993, 12, Pl. 3a. VOGELSANG-EASTWOOD 1993, 13-14, Pl. 2. VOGELSANG-EASTWOOD 1993, 10-11, Pl.1. Also see the cord belts that secure the wrap around skirts of the dancing women from the Old Kingdom Tomb of Anta, Deshasha (Fig. 6.77) in VOGELSANG-EASTWOOD 1993, 70, Fig. 4.25. DOUMAS 1992, Pls. 6, 7, 105, 118, 120, and 123.

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Fig. 6.4a

Further evidence for cord belts actually exists on Crete on Linear B tablets from Knossos. The ideogram *181 (Fig. 4.33), a loop with crossed ends, and its word, e-to-ro-qa-ta, occurs on two tablets from the throne room and is interpreted by Melena as a twisted cord presumably of linen because it accompanies ideograms *166+WE and *146, both made of linen.32 Noting that it is associated with *166+WE, which he perceptively interpreted as a male kilt, Duhoux went further to suggest that *181 is a belt.33 Indeed, the twisted cord belts on the kilts of the Thera maidens and the other figures discussed above are perfect candidates for this ideogram. Knossos tablet Oa 878 lists 18 *166+WE (kilts) and 16 e-toro-qa-ta (belts), and Knossos tablet M 757 lists 250 *146 (linen dresses/heanoi) and 10 *181 (belts). The dichotomy between the number of kilts to belts versus the number of dresses (heanoi) to belts is appropriate. Whereas wrap-around kilts require belts to secure them at the waist, dresses (heanoi) do not. Shown both with and without belts in art, heanoi are cinched at the waist with cord belts on the little girls on the Ivory Triad (Figs. 4.128, 4.15)34 and a wall painting from Mycenae (Fig. 4.22),35 but are unbelted on the female bucket carrier and male musicians, on the LH IIIA2 Hagia Triada sarcophagus (Fig. 4.23),36 the latter contemporary with the Knossos Linear B tablets.37 Interestingly, similarly looped and tasseled cord belts secured the kilts of the Keftiu from the Theban tombs of Rekhmire, ca. 1504-1450 (Fig. 4.60)38, and Menkheperraseneb, ca. 1475-1450 (Fig. 4.61),39 mentioned above. The oval ornaments on the Keftiu’s hem on the tomb of Menkheperraseneb even parallel those on the Procession Fresco males from Knossos, ca. LM II (Figs. 4.148a, 4.89a-c).40 This provides further evidence for connecting the Keftiu with Minoans and Therans and for using the Keftiu belts as examples for those on Aegean costumes. In the art of Crete, Thera and mainland Greece, the kilt and heanos combination is usually portrayed in the context of cult. Indeed, Nosch and Perna have shown that *166+WE and *146 are most frequently mentioned on tablets dealing with religion.41 Pylian tablet Ua 1413 lists one 166+WE and seven *146 sent from the palace store-rooms to a sanctuary outside the palace. Pylian tablet Un 6.6 lists 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41

MELENA1975, 59-60. DUHOUX 1975, 122. WACE 1949, Pls. 102c. JONES 2009, 312-321. JONES 2009, 316, Fig. 11. DRIESSEN 2003, 2. VERCOUTTER 1956, 257, Pl. 19, Fig. 156. WACHSMANN 1987, Pl. 36.B, figure 11. HOOD 1997, 203-204. NOSCH and PERNA 2001, 471-476.

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both 166+WE and *146 as offerings to the goddess Pere and the god Poseidon, and Knossian tablet KN Oa 745 lists 22 linen 166+WE delivered to Potnia of the Labyrinth. B. Experimental replications of the flounced kilt In order to test this hypothesis, experimental replications were made of seven of the best preserved representations of kilts, all rendered in different positions on figures in the art of Crete, Thera and mainland Greece. Each is double-axe shaped with incurved arches at top and bottom (shaped as Linear B ideogram *166+WE), with added flounces following the hem curve. Since Minoan clothes are missing in the archaeological record and modern experiments in manufacturing Minoan textiles are lacking, the replications were made of commercial wool, linen, and cotton cloth with the decorative motifs painted on. The finished product aims to duplicate the pattern or shape of the garment and determine how it is arranged on the body; it does not aim to duplicate the ancient woven and patterned textile. 1. Crouching Woman (“goddess”), Hagia Triada (Pls. 4.14a-c, 4.88a-b 4.92a-d) For the replicated kilt of this figure, a rectangular piece of white cloth (W: 52”, L: 40”) was used, onto which was painted a quatrefoil interlock pattern in blue and red. Incurved arches were cut into the top and bottom (diagram Fig. 6.4). Sewn to the top was a blue band flanked with red stripes (L: 2”).

Fig. 6.4

This band prevented the raw, cut upper edge from fraying. Because they are not banded, the side edges were, presumably, the naturally bound selvages. To allow for overlapping, each of the bottom flounces (nos. 2 and 4, L: 5”), were made an inch longer than the top flounces (nos. 1 and 3, L: 4”). The flounces were placed on the kilt in double rows following the arching curve of the hem, two across the center and two at the hem (Figs. 6.5a-6.5b). On the fringed flounces (Figs. 6-6, 6.7a), the end block of color at the lateral ends flared out as in art. When the lateral ends of each cloth flounce was cut diagonally to conform to the edge of the kilt, the striped blocks of color remained vertical instead of flaring out as in art. The top row of each set of flounces was then covered with a narrow white band decorated with a row of red c-spirals and flanked by red stripes. The kilt was then arranged on the model, with the top of one short side-edge placed at one side of her waist, then wrapped around the front, the back, and around the front again so that it overlapped itself and terminated with the other short side-edge at the other side of her waist. Each side-edge ultimately formed a diagonal from each side of the waist to the center front at the hem (although the upper part of one side was hidden by the overlapping) and thus resulted in the requisite V-shape design. The replication’s concave upper edge conformed to the shape of the waist or hip and laid flat against it, the flounces flared, and the arch of

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the lower edge formed curved points at the hem’s center front. When the model assumed the slightly crouching position of the Hagia Triada figure, with the front of the kilt brought between the legs (Fig. 4.92b for cloth, and 4.92a for fringes), the kilt conformed well, particularly following the contour of the back of the leg as in art.42

Fig. 6.5a

Fig. 6.5b

Fig. 6.6

42

Without bringing the kilt between the knees, the back of it (the left side) would not conform to the back of the leg but would fall straight as illustrated in JONES 2005, Pl. CLXXIXg and CLXXXg.

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Fig. 6.7a

In an attempt to reconstruct the weave structure of the quatrefoil interlock pattern on the Hagia Triada kilt, weaver Valerie Bealle had explored two techniques. The first is based on an unpublished sample of the design woven and exhibited by Barber.43 In keeping with Barber’s conclusion that the Aegean textile industry falls within European rather than Oriental traditions, her sample was done in a supplemental weft float technique at home in Europe from the Swiss Neolithic to the Iron Age and different from techniques used in Egypt and the Middle East.44 She reduced the pattern to miniature scale and wove the white threads in linen and the colored threads in wool. Because it was done in miniature, the floats on Barber’s sample were short and the pattern crisp. When Bealle wove a sample (Fig. 6.7b-c), in the same supplemental weft float technique, although entirely in linen because Linear B identifies linen as the cloth used in kilt ideogram *166,45 but with the pattern scaled to a life-sized kilt like that on the painting and on the reconstructed kilt, the weft floats, by contrast, became so long on both the front (Fig. 6.7b) and back (Fig. 6.7c) of the cloth, that the floats would snag, break or pull, thus rendering the cloth impractical, and Barber’s solution unlikely. The solution will likelier come from the East, where the many “foreign-style” garments and the motifs decorating them in the wardrobe of Tutankhamon and others46 provide information about the possible construction of garments in other regions of the Eastern Mediterranean at this time, especially for Crete, the apparent source for the quatrefoil interlock pattern. Thus, the second technique explored by Bealle (Fig. 6.7d-e) is based on one preserved on Tutankhamon’s linen duck-tunic, with walking and flying ducks woven into the cloth with a discontinuous weft inlay technique in red and blue.47 Reproduced in linen by weaver Christina Rinaldo, this tunic revealed the clear rendering of the ducks on both the front and the back of the cloth.48 In Bealle’s sample of this technique for the Hagia Triada kilt, the pattern is

43 44 45 46 47

48

Although Barber and Lillethun were co-exhibitors in the poster session, “The Reconstruction of Aegean Cloth and Clothing,” only Lillethun’s work was published in METRON 2003, 463-472. BARBER 1991, 313, 317, 319, 320. Many thanks are extended to V. Bealle for collaborating with me on questions of cloth technology and for weaving the samples. For Linear B ideogram *166 as linen, see NOSCH and PERNA 2001, 471-476. RIEFSTAHL 1944, 28-33. For Egyptian garments of foreign style see VOGELSANG-EASTWOOD1999, 79-91, Figs. 4:10a,b for the duck tunic. For the duck tunic’s weave structure, the white ground cloth is woven in plain weave (under one thread and over one thread), and the colored thread is inserted in the open shed with the white ground weft thread to form the pattern. LANCASTER 2003, 26.

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clear and crisp with no floats on front (Fig. 6.7d), or back (Fig. 6.7e), clearly a better solution, but still, according to Bealle, an unsatisfactory one since the cloth lacks the density and intensity of color characteristic of kilts in art.49 That depends, of course, on whether the colors available in paint reflect the dyes available for cloth. Nevertheless, a third possibility is embroidery, the technique used in another of Tutankhamon’s tunics, also reproduced by Rinaldo, with an overall quatrefoil design, both diagonal and upright, although not interlocking, and with X’s resembling maltese crosses,50 actually a simpler version of the elaborate design on the Ivory Triad kilt (Fig. 4.16, figure with head).51 The tunic’s extant row of nonEgyptian style multicolor linen fringes in red, blue, and natural yarns attached to its hem, its upper edge covered by an elaborate band,52 are similar to that of the attached flounces and bands on the Ivory Triad and Hagia Triada kilts. According to Vogelsang-Eastwood, these fringes are rare in Egypt, only paralleled by a similar multicolored band on the Syrian tunic of Tutankhamun.53

49

50 51 52 53

Fig. 6.7b

Fig. 6.7c

Fig. 6.7d

Fig. 6.7e

In this technique, the “sett” (the number of warp threads per inch) has to be open enough so that the colored threads (the secondary weft) shows through. The resultant cloth is light and airy and the colors muted. By contrast, kilts in Aegean art, including that from Hagia Triada, are always depicted as opaque and weighty, suggestive of a densely woven fabric with rich colors and clearly defined motifs. VOGELSANG-EASTWOOD1999, 57, figs. 4:11 and 4:12. WACE 1949, Pl. 101, top right and bottom left. VOGELSANG-EASTWOOD 1999, 57, figs. 4:11 and 4:12. I am grateful to G. Vogelsang-Eastwood for this information (pers. comm.). She further informed me that “multi-coloured fringes can be found on other tunics, but only where there were coloured stripes/bands in the selvedges.”

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2. Ivory Triad, Mycenae (Pls. 4.15 -4.18; 6.9, 6.10a-b)

Fig. 6.8 Like the kilt on the Hagia Triad crouching woman, those on the Ivory Triad have two sets of flounces, one at the center and another at the hem. The Ivory Triad kilts are more elaborate, however, with three rows of flounces in each set instead of two (Figs. 4.15-4.18). A six-petal rapport decorates the kilt on the complete figure and a tri-curved arch network adorns that of the headless figure. The replication utilized a piece of cloth with a similar woven arch network pattern. Incurved arches were cut into the top and bottom (Fig. 6.8).54 Although the flounces vertical striations could well have marked stripes, they are recreated here as fringes.55 Thus, two sets of three rows of fringed flounces, 54 55

Width: 53” Length: 42½”. WACE 1949, 84 initially identified the flounces as pleats and WARDLE 1988 reconstructed them as such. On the other hand, BASSANO-CURRAN 1988, 34, regarded them as fringes. If the latter, they are applied fringes and not fringes that are natural by-products of the warp ends. The Ivory Triad, as a whole, incorporates and distinguishes between the two techniques in the fringed edge of the shawl and the striated flounces of the kilts. In sculpture and in paint, Aegean artists were adept at rendering fringes hanging from the warp ends of textiles - in random, irregular diagonal incisions such as that at the short end of the Ivory Triad’s shawl. Wace noted several problems in interpreting the shawl, among them its “curious shape.” As it turns out the shape of the shawl is the least puzzling. Arranged across the left hip of the headless figure, the short end of the shawl, rendered with a straight vertical edge, clearly terminates in right angles, divulging its rectangular shape. This shape should hold for the other end, which is shown tapered (presumably as the result of gathering), and held in the hand of the other figure who clasps it at her shoulder. The shawl is clearly bordered at its short edge with a hanging fringe, incised in close, long, diagonal lines of slightly irregular lengths, presumably representing the natural warp ends of the textile, which appears to be woven in a grid pattern. At the same time, the shawl’s selvages (selvedges or lateral edges), which naturally lack fringes but are clean and crisply bound, are also bordered but differently, with short, straight lines spaced farther apart and of uniform length, very similar to the striped flounces on the kilt. Wace described it as the stiff edge and pondered over whether it represented tassels, beads, fringes or pleats. Other examples of warp fringes are the irregular lines that appear on the “sacral knot” of “La Parisienne”, at the side of the mantles on the figure with a sword from room 31, Mycenae, and the figure from the Camp Stool fresco, Knossos, at the ends of the mantle at the shoulder of another figure from the Camp Stool fresco, and from Thera, at the side edges of two kilts from the House of the Ladies, and the

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one at the center and one at the hem, were applied following the arched shape of the hem. A band covered the upper edge of the top flounces of each set. Figures 6.10a and 6.10b illustrate the model wearing the kilt in a standing position, whereas Figures 4.95a-c show her in the front, side and rear view positions of the Ivory Triad figure.

Fig. 6.9

Fig. 6.10a

Fig. 6.10b

wrapped mantle on the Priestess. What is important to observe in all media is the accurate airy rendering of the warp fringes with space between and under the threads. By contrast, horizontal lines consistently define the lower edges of the flounces. These defined edges either mark something more solid like pleats or stripes or are an artistic convention for the more regular edges of applied fringes.

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3. Crocus Basket Emptier, Thera (Figs. 4.12, 4.72) The most telling of all the kilts is that of the Crocus Basket Emptier from Xeste 3, Thera. The kilt proper is white with a black horizontal stripe, onto which three flounces were attached (Figs. 4.12, 4.72). For the kilt proper the replication consists of a white wool cloth (W: 52” x L: 34”) with a black horizontal stripe nine inches below the upper edge of the cloth (Figs. 6.11, diagram, and 6.12). Incurved arches were cut into the wide top and bottom edges and then layered and sewed onto the kilt, following the hem curve: three wool flounces, each in black, ochre and blue, from top to bottom, respectively.56 Their lateral edges were cut on a diagonal so that they would conform to the side edges of the kilt. Black bands covered the edges at the waist and the top-most flounce. With the kilt wrapped around the model as described above, and secured with a yellow cord belt as in art (Figs 4.12, 4.77), it behaved much as it did in the painting, particularly the way the black stripe at the top of the kilt (not on the flounces) dipped in a curve despite the fact that it was horizontal. Sewn onto the kilt in an arching curve, the flounces and their stripes responded accordingly. This fine wool kilt draped similarly to its depiction on the Crocus Basket Emptier, and to the draping of my other replicated kilts made of various modern fabrics. We can only wonder about how they would compare with the draping of an actual Minoan kilt.

Fig. 6.11

Fig. 6.12 56

Top flounce: black with horizontal ochre stripe, 60”x 9”. Center flounce: ochre with horizontal red stripes, 60” x 10”. Bottom flounce: blue with black horizontal stripes, 60” x 10”.

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4. Bending Lady, Thera (Figs. 4.24a,b; 4.134; 4.136) The double axe-shaped kilt of the Bending Lady’s main cloth is white with three stacked and overlapping flounces attached (Figs. 4.24a-b, 4.134, 4.136). The tops of the flounces are striped. Wide black-blue-black stripes decorate the top flounce, double red stripes ornament the center one and double black stripes adorn the lowest. These can either be stripes woven into the flounces or striped bands that secured the tops of the flounces to the main cloth. Black bands cover the lateral edges of both the white kilt and the flounces. Fringes emanate beyond the laterally placed black bands in the areas of the striped band and flounces. Fringes, however, do not appear above the top black-blue-black stripes, that is, in the area of the white main cloth. Thus, it appears that, like most kilts from Thera, 57 the main cloth had clean lateral edges. The fringes were likely the warp ends of the attached flounces and possibly their striped bands. The diagrams (Figs. 4.134, 6.13), and photo (Fig. 6.14), of the reconstructed kilt demonstrate that a white piece of cloth was tailored into a double axe shape (Fig. 6.13A).58 Three flounces with fringed warp ends (Fig. 6.13B) were decorated with horizontal stripes as in art: a wide blue stripe flanked by narrow black ones for the top flounce, two red stripes for the center one and two narrow black stripes for the bottom one. Following the curve of the hem, the three overlapping flounces were sewn onto the kilt, while the upper edge of the top flounce was covered with a narrow black band.59 Once the flounces were secured, black bands were sewn onto the lateral edges of the kilt (Fig. 6.13C-D). The bands bound and covered the lateral edges of the flounces and prevented further fraying of the fringes. The fringes were then tied by V. Bealle as in art, in groups of a few threads apiece (Fig. 6.14). Wrapped around the model as described above, the kilt was secured with a black cord belt wound twice around the waist as on the fresco (Figs. 4.140, 4.106).

Fig. 6.13

57

58 59

Apart from the kilt of the Striding Lady (Fig. 4.32), all of the kilts from Thera are shown with clean side edges (probably indicative of the selvages produced at the weft edges) and bands at the waist edge (presumably revealing that the warp edges were at the top and bottom). The fringes that appear at the side edges of the kilt of the Striding Lady could indicate that they were either the warp edges or a weft fringe (i.e. woven with a discontinuous weft), or an attached fringe. The kilt measures: Width: 60” and Length: 35”. As mentioned above, alternatively, the black-blue-black stripes atop the top white flounce, and the double red stripes and the double black stripes atop the lower flounces could have been separate bands sewn onto them.

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Fig. 6.14

5. Necklace Bearer, Thera (Figs. 4.13; 4.78) One of the fanciest of the decorated kilts preserved from Thera is that of the Necklace Bearer from Xeste 3 (Figs. 4.13 and 4.78). The main cloth is black with an overall diagonal grid of yellow ochre dots (likely beads or gold discs) and a four-pointed yellow ochre “star” centered within each grid (Fig. 6.15). Woven in the original, the motif in the reconstructed version was painted onto a plain cloth with arched curves cut into the top and bottom, and trimmed it along its top edge with a waistband in yellow with red vertical stripes which was edged at the bottom with a black and beige horizontally striped band (Fig. 6.16).60 With spaced intervals between each, and following the arched hem curve, three flounces were applied, yellow ochre at the top, blue at the center, and beige at the bottom, all decorated with a row of black X’s with angled bars.61 This motif is embellished with thin horizontal lines either extending from one bar to another on the top flounce or connecting the interior upper and lower diagonals of the X’s on the one. Black four-pointed “stars” further fill the upper and lower interior areas between the diagonals on the top flounce. Another black and beige horizontally striped band covers the upper edge of the top flounce. The upper edges of the other two flounces were presumably also trimmed with narrow black bands not visible against the black fabric of the kilt. The finished kilt was donned by the models who imitated the pose of the Necklace Bearer in the fresco (Figs. 4.83, 4.87).

Fig. 6.16 60 61

Kilt measures: 51” x 41”. Top yellow ochre flounce measures: 58” x 5” Center blue flounce measures: 58” x 4½” Bottom beige flounce measures: 58” x 3½”.

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Fig. 6.15

6. Crocus Gatherer, Thera (Figs. 4.10; 4.50) The main fabric of the kilt is orange with a red diagonal grid, each square centered with a red dot. This pattern finds an exact parallel on Crete at Hagia Triada, on a fresco fragment that may also have depicted a kilt (Fig. 6.17a).62 The main fabric of the kilt is embellished with three overlapping flounces: a narrow orange one at the top decorated with three black horizontal stripes across the center and covered at its upper edge with a black band, a wide blue flounce in the center and another wide white flounce under it, the latter two decorated with black split-lozenges and inner angled bars with four horizontal lines within. To reproduce the kilt (Figs. 6.17b, 6.18a-b), fabric with a similar woven pattern was used, incurved arches were cut into the top and bottom, and, following the curve of the hem, three flounces were applied, in orange, blue, and white, from top to bottom respectively, which were painted to resemble the motifs in art.63 Although this pattern makes a rare appearance on Crete, it is unknown on flounces there.64 Narrow bands that end in tassels were added to the hems of the flounces to reflect the tassels that hang from the inside corner of the white flounce at the figure’s left leg, and the partly preserved one from the corner of the blue flounce. Another tassel presumably once decorated the top, orange flounce.65 These tassels are 62 63

64

65

Drawing by S. White after MILITELLO 1998, Pl. Fa, V5 and Fb, V7. See Chapter 10 for possible reconstruction of Hagia Triada fresco figure. Kilt measures: 51” x 35”. Orange flounce measures: 57” x 5” Blue flounce measures: 57” x 8” White flounce measures: 57” x 8”. A more complex version of this pattern, where similar V-shapes with inner angled bars alternate with horizontal fillers in interlocking triangles, appears on Crete on a faience inlay piece from Knossos of uncertain date (FOSTER 1979, 98, Fig. 28). A more distant angled pattern appears on Crete on the rows of red triangles, open on one side and arranged in alternating upright and reverse positions, that decorate a yellow loincloth on a male figure from Knossos (Fig. 6.78; EVANS PM II:2, 751, Fig. 485). I am grateful to Ellen Davis for sharing with me her insights into the problems of this tassel. Although unclear, the remnant of the tassel may be indicated by the smudge that continues below the point of the top orange tier. It may once have continued downward and melded with the preserved red line that defines the vertical edge at the bottom of her dress at the inside edge of her right leg because what appears to be a red tassel there would not have belonged to the dress. The red line that runs along the inside edge of the blue tier at the figure’s left leg likely defines the inside edge of the white tier at the figure’s right leg.

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simple versions of the far more elaborate ones that decorate the kilts on the male processional figures from Knossos, especially figure 20 (Figs. 4.89a-c).66 Whereas the thin Theran hem band emanates in a simple tassel with a single pendant, the wide patterned Knossian hem band emanates in two oval weights (one at each end to ensure that the ends of the kilt dip down center front),67 along with an extraordinary network of fringes with bead pendants (Fig. 4.89c). The comparison emphasizes that although the Theran kilts are modeled after Minoan ones, the details are greatly reduced from the far more intricate Minoan examples. Placed on the model in a standing position (Figs. 6.19a-b) and as in art (Fig. 4.58), the kilt was secured at the waist with a black cord belt terminating in a tassel and tied in a loop at her back as in the painting and on other figures on frescoes from Thera.68

Fig. 6.17a

Fig. 6.17b 66 67 68

EVANS PM II, 723, Suppl. Pl. XXVII and Figs. 450, 453. The weights are rendered in correct perspective with the one in front overlapping the one behind. See cord belts securing kilts on the striding and bending ladies from the House of the Ladies, the wounded maiden, and the crocus gatherers from Xeste 3 in DOUMAS 1992, Pls. 6, 7; 142, Pl. 105; 154, Pl. 118; 156, Pl. 120; and 160, Pl. 123.

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Fig. 6.18a

Fig. 6.18b

Fig. 6.19a

Fig. 6.19b

7. Veiled Maiden, Thera (Figs. 4.11, 4.63) Over her heanos, the veiled maiden wears a kilt or short wrap-around skirt. Blue with black angledlozenges, its main cloth is embellished across the center and hem with black flounces (narrow strips of cloth) decorated horizontally with a row of ocher split-angled lozenges. Attached narrow ocher bands mask the joins at the tops of both flounces. Applied bands finish the hems of the flounces, ocher on the upper one and black on the lower, their warp ends made into tassels. The hem of the kilt curves downward toward the center front. The kilt of the veiled maiden was reconstructed by cutting incurved arches into the top and bottom edges of a rectangular cloth as illustrated in this diagram (Fig. 6.20) and the kilt held by the model (Fig. 6.21). Strings were attached to both top ends. Following the arched curve at the bottom, two flounces made of strips of fabric, their hems edged with tasseled bands, were sewn onto the kilt, one at the center

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and one at the hem. Bands were sewn onto and covered their top edges. The curved top resulted in a close contoured fit at the waist. This is clearly illustrated by the model in standing position showing front, back and side views of the kilt (Figs. 6.22a-c). Similar to the fresco, the kilt is visible through the veil (Figs. 4.704.71).

Fig. 6.20

Fig. 6.21

THE FLOUNCED KILT

Fig. 6.22a

Fig. 6.22b

195

Fig. 6.22c

C. Flounced kilts in Crete from MM IIIB to LM IB 1. Wall paintings a. Sacred Grove and Grandstand, Knossos Additional information on the colors and patterns of the flounced kilts can be ascertained from painted examples worn by the women in the “Sacred Grove” (Fig. 6.23) and “Grandstand” (Figs. 4.117 and 6.24) miniature frescoes from Knossos of MM IIIB-LM II.69

Fig. 6.23 69

HOOD 1997, 202.

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Fig. 6.24

In the “Sacred Grove Fresco”, flounced double axe shaped kilts descending in points down the front, are worn by three maidens: figures 3, 8, 10 and 11 (Fig. 6.23). The kilts’ main cloths are saffronyellow (figure 3), blue (figures 8 and 11) and yellow (figure 10) and the short and long flounces are white with black stripes and blue with black stripes.70 The horizontal flounces on figure 2 argue for a rectangular kilt. Flounced kilts are worn by the large scale women, seated with lower legs folded under them, prominently arranged on either side of the tripartite shrine on the so-called “Grandstand Fresco” from Knossos dated between MM IIIB-LM II (Figs. 6.24, 4.117).71 The most completely preserved examples are on a large fragment depicting five women (numbers 6-10), to the right of the tripartite shrine (Figs. 6.24-6.25).72 The kilts comprise a variety of color combinations, the main cloths either in red, blue or yellow fabrics, some decorated with black stripes or grids. The flounces are decorated with black stripes on white, red and yellow cloths. Figure 9’s main kilt cloth is red with thin black diagonal stripes trimmed with black bar-striped white and red flounces (Fig. 6.24-6.26). The area below, the black-striped blue panel above a white and a red flounce with black stripes (both yellow in Gillieron’s reconstruction), and the black-striped yellow panel (white in Gillieron’s drawing), with black striped white and red flounces, is difficult to coordinate with the red kilt. Is it part of a separate skirt worn underneath the kilt or is it part of the kilt? If the latter, are the blue and yellow panels also flounces like that on Knossos Processional figure 7 (Figs. 4.148a-4.149a), or were they sewn onto the top red cloth? As we shall see below, long flounced kilts made of different fabrics are known from Mycenae, Pylos and Tiryns. Figure 10 wears a blue kilt with a black diagonal grid pattern ending in white and yellow blackstriped flounces. Figure 8, less preserved, appears to wear a black-striped blue kilt with black-striped red flounces. In contrast to that of the “Sacred Grove,” the costumes on the women in the “Grandstand Fresco” are more elaborate with the addition of garlands and the color red for boleros and kilts.73 70 71 72 73

Although fanciful, it is tempting to associate the dancing young women in the fresco with Telesto, and the “three thousand light stepping daughters” of Tethys and Okeanos (HESIOD Theogony, 364). HOOD 1997, 202; EVANS PM III, 51-57, figs. 29-34, color Pl. XVII; CAMERON and HOOD 1967,18, Pl. B, Fig. 1a. EVANS PM III, Fig. 30. According to Ellen Davis (pers. comm.), the artist of the women in the “Sacred Grove” uses the color convention of only blue or yellow for garments and saves red for details on yellow. The artist of the “Grandstand Fresco” does all the outlining with black, and so uses red for garments. Noteworthy, too, is that

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Fig. 6.25

Fig. 6.26

b. Procession, Knossos Fragmentary fresco remains only hint at the intricate motifs that decorated the extraordinary textiles. Figure 7 from the Procession fresco, Knossos of LM IA- LM II, wears a blue kilt with a red band over a blue and then a red flounce over a dress with three horizontally arranged flounces (Figs. 4.148b, 4.149a). The tri-curved arch pattern at the top of the kilt in Evan’s restoration (Fig. 4.149a) is lacking on the original fresco (Fig. 4.148b). Remnants of two more women in the Procession Fresco suggest that they wore similar costumes, a kilt hemmed with two flounces in blue and white stripes and two dress hems with double bands or flounces consisting of wide vertical stripes in blue and white and narrow ones in red as restored by Cameron.74

74

they all have full heads of hair with fore- and side-locks, the rest bound in a back lock, its long thick tress hanging down the back. All (according to Davis, including the males) add a narrow fillet across the forehead (Fig. 6.24, figures 6 and 9). DAVIS 1986, 401-403, has suggested that this hairstyle on Theran maidens (with the exception of the Cretan lock in front of the ear) is a mark of later youth, a passage into puberty. If so, it may also pertain to Cretan girls. CAMERON 1987, 323, Fig. 6, top.

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c. Lady B, Pseira Among the fanciest kilt patterns is the one worn by Lady B from Pseira (Fig. 4.164).75 The main cloth of the kilt is elaborately decorated in a fine network of yellow and blue lozenges connected at each corner with a yellow rosette; the yellow interiors are outlined with white dots and centered with a white quadruple spiral cluster with blue dots in the middle of each spiral; the blue interiors have a design in darker blue or black of nested, opposed chevrons; the waistband appears to have a blue horizontal stripe in the center flanked by white ones. A tiny but crucial fragment provides evidence for a highly decorative band, restored correctly above the knee, that consists of a central stripe in blue with a row of sacral ivy outlined in white, flanked by narrower yellow stripes each with a row of white dots, which are, in turn, flanked by blue stripes against a bit of the main cloth on one side. Like the bands on the Hagia Triada kilt and the Ivory Triad kilts (Figs. 6.4b-6.10), this too was attached to the main cloth on its upper side, while the lower side (where fragment A4 is) likely surmounted two to three flounces, probably with typically Minoan multicolored, barred stripes, similar to that from Hagia Triada. The same applies to Lady B, where a band and two flounces are preserved on fragment A3 and either a band and a flounce or two flounces are preserved on fragment A4 (Fig. 4.165). 76 Although fragment A3 is correctly restored above the knee, fragment A4 likely belonged higher, forming the kilt’s hem below the knee like that on the Hagia Triada figure and the Ivory Triad. The Hagia Triada figure provides the closest Minoan parallel in time, LM IA-B, and space with the Pseira figures, also noted by Shaw.77 Thus, its kilt, with two sets of flounces surmounted by fancy bands (Figs. 6.4-6.5), should be used as a model for the Pseira reconstructions, giving the kilts two instead of three sets of flounces, the latter based on a prototype made about 200-300 years later and on the Mainland, the kilt on the LH IIIB ivory plaque from Mycenae, with either three sets of flounces, or two sets of flounces and a long dress underneath (Fig. 4.166). 78 Not simply decorative elements, the purpose of the bands on kilts is to hide the upper edges of flounces. Since bands never appear by themselves on Minoan kilts, the Pseira kilt must have had two to three flounces beneath the bands. Fragments of a miniature fresco from Tylissos of LM I reveal the typical barred stripes of a kilt’s three flounces, and fragments of the lower parts of two figures, the left and possibly the center ones wearing kilts over long heanoi.79 d. Dancing Lady, Knossos: reconstruction On the right edge of the fresco fragment depicting a half life-size woman, the so-called “Dancing Lady ” from the Queens Megaron at Knossos of LM IB, the top blue flounce of a kilt is preserved (Fig. 4.53).80 Evans interpreted it correctly as the mark of a flounced skirt,81 but omitted the upper part of the edge in both of his reconstructions: the facsimile reconstructed in the Queens Megaron, which depends on that of the women in the “Sacred Grove Fresco”, presumably that of figure no. 2, the only one with flounces arranged horizontally,82 and the other,83 a reconstruction followed by Niemeier, that placed a new contoured edge of the flounce to the left of the fragment.84 75 76 77 78

79 80 81 82 83 84

Pseira Lady B. Drawing by Gilliéron fils after EVANS PM III, 28, Fig. 15A. Restored fragments in Archaeological Museum, Herakleion. Numbers added to concur with SHAW 1998, color Pl. B. Pseira Lady A. Restored fragments in Archaeological Museum, Herakleion. Photo by C. PAPANIKOLOPOULOS. Numbers added to concur with SHAW 1998, color Pl. A. SHAW 1998, 72. See SHAW 1998, 72-75, Pl. H, and Pls. 20B-20C, Pls. 21A-21B for the latest and previous reconstructions, detailed discussion, and bibliography. Rodenwaldt drawing by Gilliéron (RODENWALDT 1923, 273, Figs. 1-2; Evans drawing by Gilliéron fils (EVANS PM III, 28, Fig. 15A; and KAISER 1976, Pl. 24B). SMITH 1965, Fig. 114. For color restoration, see SHAW 1972, Fig. 13. HOOD 1997, 203; EVANS PM III, 369-71, Pl. XXV; MATZ 1962, 88, Pl. 22, and CAMERON and HOOD 1967, 37, Pl. VII, Fig. 2. EVANS PM III, 70-1, Fig. 40; 371, Pl. XXV. See EVANS PM III, 370, Fig. 246. EVANS PM III, 71, Fig. 40 NIEMEIER 1988, 242-3, Fig. 3. Because of the figure’s hairstyle, long and flying out on either side, and

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A close look at the fragment, however, reveals traces of a fine dark diagonal line that marks the right edge of a now pale pink kilt above and below the projecting tip of a blue flounce marked at the top with two thin black slightly curving horizontal lines and another above a thicker hem line. These are typical of the arching curves of flounces on kilts. In order to reconstruct the missing portions of the figure and approximately gauge its proportions, a blue outline of the Necklace Bearer from Thera was superimposed over it (Fig. 6.27). It was thus possible to reconstruct the remainder of the blue flounce and hypothesize that the kilt had at least one and possibly two additional flounces, evenly spaced on the main pale pink cloth (Fig. 6.28), similar to the design on the kilt of the veiled maiden from Thera (Figs. 6.216.22).

Fig. 6.27

Fig. 6.28

2. Glyptic The flounced kilt worn over the Minoan heanos is frequently the costume of women depicted on seals and sealings. Although the treatment is often cursory, and may not add to our knowledge of the garment itself, the scenes portrayed provide the opportunity to identify the costume within the context of the activity of the wearer. Several seals and sealings show the costume worn by female figures involved in cult activities. On a gold signet of fine workmanship from Isopata, found with palace style sherds dated by Furumark to LM IIIA1,85 but stylistically closer to LM I, three out of four large scale figures set in a field of lilies, wear elaborate flounced kilts (Fig. 4.62).86 All three kilts are rendered in a quasi-frontal/three quarter view, more appropriate for the two figures with frontal torsos/breasts but inappropriate for the figure in profile. Each kilt is constructed with two striated flounces on a main cloth decorated with a chevron motif and with horizontal striations which project at the sides to emphasize the uneven or jagged texture of the cloth. On a gold signet ring from Tholos B, Archanes (LM IIIA or earlier), a kilt with three flounces is portrayed on a goddess in the presence of a griffin (Fig. 6.29).87

85 86 87

her small size, Niemeier has associated her with other diminutive figures who have been interpreted as epiphanies of deities. CMS II.3, 33, 61, no. 51. CMS II.3, no. 51. SAKELLARAKIS 1991, 93-95, Fig. 68.

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Similar in its three tiered kilt style and gesture to the central figure on the Isopata signet (Fig. 4.62), is the one standing between two male figures, a baetyl and a shrine on another gold signet ring from Archanes, dated by context to LM IIIA1, but also stylistically earlier (Fig. 4.121).88 Another kilted woman simply stands before two baetyls on a sealing from Hagia Triada (Fig. 6.30).89

Fig. 6.29

Fig. 6.30

Fig. 6.31

Fig. 6.32

Fig. 6.33a

Figures in flounced kilts stand before shrines on a gold signet ring from Knossos in the Ashmolean Museum (Fig. 6.31),90 and a bronze ring from Knossos of LM IB (Fig. 6.32).91 The flounced kilt is also worn by seated goddesses and standing offering bearers in presentation rituals on sealings from Knossos (Fig. 6.33a), 92 Zakros (Fig. 6.33b),93 and Hagia Triada (Fig. 6.34).94 It is also worn by seated and standing

88 89 90 91 92 93 94

SAKELLARAKIS 1991, 79, Fig. 53. CMS II.6, no. 2. EVANS PM I, 160, Fig. 115. CMS VI, no. 281.2. HM 2490. CMS II.3, no. 15. EVANS PM IV:2, 395, Fig. 331. CMS II.8, no. 268.1. EVANS PM II:2, 768, Fig. 499. CMS II.7, no. 8.1. See NIEMEIER 1989, 173-4, Fig. 4 and KANTOR 1947, Pl. XXII H and XXII A.

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women flanking a central object on a seal from Hagia Triada (Fig. 6.35),95 and by a seated goddess with a goat on a sealing from the same site (Fig. 6.36).96 The flounced kilt alone appears to play a significant role in ritual as suggested by the following MM III-LM I Minoan seals that illustrate women in the act of carrying the garment. On the seals from Knossos (Fig. 4.107b),97 Malia (Fig. 4.107a),98 and a sealing from Hagia Triada (Fig. 4.108a),99 the kilt is held by a female figure. On the sealing from Zakros, the gender of the carrier is unclear (Fig. 4.108b).100 On three of the representations (Figs. 4.107a, 4.107b and 4.108a, as discussed in chapter 4, the women are likely dressed in the Minoan heanos trimmed with double flounces at the hem. On the seals from Knossos, Zakros and Malia, the kilt is shown held at the waistband (Figs. 4.107a, 4.107b and 4.108b). The decoration on the main cloth on the Knossos seal is difficult to discern, possibly rendered in horizontal pleats or stripes, whereas that on the Malia seal was decorated with a scale motif. The kilt carried on a “snake-frame” on the Hagia Triada sealing was rendered as if worn. These representations signal one of the many important ritual roles that involved the flounced kilt.

Fig. 6.33b

Fig. 6.35

Fig. 6.34

Fig. 6.36

Other seals and sealings show the garment worn by fantastic female composite creatures. Voluminous flounced kilts flare out from the waist in response to the peculiar position of the legs - with knees bent out to the sides, ankles folded in and toes pointed out on winged bird-headed and goat-headed creatures on glyptic. The earliest dates to MM IIIB, on a seal from Malia;101 other sealings date to LM IB from Zakros (Figs. 6.37, 6.38, 6.39)102 and Hagia Triada,103 as well as seals from Axos, in the Metaxas 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102

CMS II.6, no. 5. CMS II.6, no. 30.1. EVANS PM I, 434, Fig. 312a. DEMARGNE 1949, 280f, Fig. 1. LEVI 1925-6, Fig. 139. HOGARTH 1902, 77, no. 6. CHAPOUTHIER and DEMARGNE 1942, Fig. 46a. HOGARTH 1902, 79, Fig. 8, no 20; 81, Fig. 13, no. 35; and Pl. VI, no. 21. CMS II.7, no. 127.1; CMS II.7, no. 127.1 [2]; CMS II.7, no. 127.1 [3]).

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collection, and in the British Museum (Fig. 6.40).104 The development of the “bird-lady” in Minoan art has been explored by Weingarten, who lists all examples, including those with flounced kilts which are all dated within the confines of MM IIIB-LM IB.105

Fig. 6.37

Fig. 6.38

Fig. 6.39

Fig. 6.40

3. The Phaestos Disk The Minoan kilt also appears on four female figures on the Phaestos disk, two on side B (Figs. 6.41 and 6.42a –b), and two on side A (Figs. 6.43, 6.44a-b, 6.45). Although some scholars believe that the costume is foreign,106 and despite its summary treatment, the short kilt, marked by its outline and V-shaped hem, worn over an ankle length heanos identifies it as Minoan (Figs. 6.41-6.45). Even the girdle flap hanging from the center of the waist occurs on three of the four figures (Figs. 6.42a-b and 6.44b). Found with MM IIIB pottery in the room at the West end of the Northeast building complex at Phaistos, the disc portrays among the earliest representations of the kilt with ends meeting and forming a V down the center front - at the very beginning of the Neopalatial period.107 Despite skeptics’ arguments otherwise, 108 additional features on the figures buttress an indigenous 103 104 105

106 107 108

LEVI 1925-6, figs. 120, 121. WEINGARTEN 1983, 112, Pls. 26B D, E. CMS VII, no. 143.1 For additional representations of this kilt on monsters from Zakro on LM IA sealings see HOGARTH 1902, Pl. VI, no. 21; seated versions in Pl. VII, no. 37-39 and on male monsters, Pl. VII, no. 34, 36. Bird-ladies with flounced skirts have been collected by WEINGARTEN 1983, 110-113: Malia: gem from Quartier XIII, MM III (Pl. 12H); Hagia Triada: four sealings, LM IA: seated versions AT 102, 103, and airborne versions AT 104, 105 (Pl. 14c-f); Axos: sealstone, LM IB? (Pl. 26B); Embaros? in Metaxas Collection, LM IB? (Pl. 26D); British Museum, LM IB? (Pl. 26E). CHADWICK 1987, 59 and EVANS PM I, 655. See EVANS PM I, 647-68; ARUZ 1987, 308-10 with bibliography. EVANS PM I, 647-68; ARUZ 1987, 308-10.

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identification. The swept-back hairstyle is already present on Crete by MM II on a clay head from Petsofas (Fig. 6.46),109 as well as on a Middle Minoan ivory half-cylinder said to be from Knossos (Fig. 6.47).110 Evans attributed her hanging breasts to Egyptian prototypes but that style, also adopted in Crete by MM II on a clay figurine from Phaistos as recognized by Aruz and others,111 can also be seen on a female figure in the “Grandstand Fresco”, Knossos of LM I (Fig. 4.117, figure. B2).112 And although Evans regarded the lack of a pinched-in waist as exceptional for Minoan women, he noted that Pernier and Hall recognized that the same thick-waisted style was accorded the two gold female cut-out figures from Shaft Grave III, Mycenae, of LH I, who also wear the Minoan flounced kilt (Fig. 6.48).113 Thus, the female figures on the Phaistos disc are entirely Minoan, combining exotic features that were at home on Crete by MM II with the earliest representation in MM IIIB of the indigenous kilt design.

Fig. 6.41

Fig. 6.42a

109 110 111 112 113

DAVARAS 1982, 39, Fig. 41. GILL 1967, 19; EVANS PM I,197, Fig.145. ARUZ 1987, 309. EVANS PM III, 52, Fig. 30. EVANS PM I, 655, esp. note 1.

Fig. 6.42b

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Fig. 6.43

Fig. 6.44a

Fig. 6.46

Fig. 6.44b

Fig. 6.47

Fig. 6.45

Fig. 6.48

D. The Minoan flounced kilt in Mainland Greece Although we have already seen that the Minoan-style flounced kilt, exemplified in our analysis of one on the Ivory Triad (Figs. 6.8-6.10), was at home on the mainland by LH IIIB, it actually makes its

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earliest appearance on the Greek mainland at Mycenae in LH IB, in Shaft grave III, on the two gold ornaments in the shape of female figures mentioned above (Fig. 6.48).114 Each has four perforations in exactly the same places: one at each elbow and one at each corner of the kilt’s hem. This led Schliemann to suggest that they were attached to each other. Each, however, was likelier attached to cloth, likely a garment. Karo’s description of the costume includes a “deep cut-out jacket,” the details of which are indistinct in the illustrations. A flounce at the center and another at the hem are decorated with bosses in relief. Mylonas has interpreted them as gold discs and Karo has described them as two rows of fourcornered knobs or bosses. Although rows of gold discs decorate bands above flounces on the seated “goddess” from Mycenae (Fig. 4.21), they are unknown on flounces. Therefore, they likelier refer to barred stripes. Let us compare these attachments to others from Crete, to the trio of faience figures from the Temple Repositories, Knossos of MM IIIB (Figs. 5.53-5.56).115 All of the figures wear the belted flounced kilt, but all the flounces from Knossos are vertically striated in the Near Eastern manner as discussed above. The Shaft Grave kilts portray the indigenous Minoan version (Figs. 6.1-6.2 and 6.4-6.6). The Shaft Grave’s splayed style kilts and figures’ splayed feet also find parallels on those of the winged bird- and goat-headed creatures in glyptic (Figs. 6.37, 6.39). Apart from dress, one of the most striking features shared by all the attachment figures, in faience from Crete (Figs. 5.53-5.55) and in gold from Mycenae (Fig. 6.48) is that of hands at the breasts. The Knossian ones are folded over the breasts; the Shaft Grave ones are joined at the breasts.116 Thus, both in terms of dress design and iconography, the Shaft Grave figures clearly derived from Minoan prototypes. 1. Wall Paintings Frescoes from the mainland provide additional information about kilts. The earliest, dated LH IIIA, from the Kadmeia at Thebes, has nine to twelve life-size women preserved in fragments, with at least seven facing right and one left. Out of these, Reusch has admirably restored five standing women in procession to the right, wearing flounced kilt costumes. 117 Unfortunately, our information is very fragmentary. The kilts seem to be ankle length, made of blue cloth with an overall black horseshoe design. Two groups, each with three multicolored flounces in white with red bar-stripes, and blue and yellow with black bar-stripes are arranged across the center and hem of the kilt. The center group curves down in a pronounced V-shape, while the group at the hem is much straighter. a. The Mykenaia, Cult Center, Mycenae Perhaps the most important is the kilt of the Mykenaia, reconstructed from fragments 2-40 (Figs. 4.25, 6.49-6.50).118 The main fabric of the kilt is yellow ocher with an overall red hook pattern onto which two groups of three multicolor flounces are attached, one across the center and one at the hem. A flamepatterned band surmounts each group. Three unusual features separate this kilt from others in Aegean art. First, the top group of flounces form the usual arched curve, but the group at the hem is straight. This rare combination of strongly arched curves for the center group of flounces and slight curves for the hem group was also proposed by Reusch for an ankle length skirt on the women in the processional fresco from Thebes.119 On the Citadel House fresco from Mycenae (Fig. 4.129),120 the skirt of the woman on the right has three groups of flounces instead of two, the upper one also far more curved than the lower two. 114 115

116 117 118 119

SCHLIEMANN 1880, 182-3, no. 273; KARO 1930, 49, 182, Pl. XXVII, no. 36; MYLONAS 1966, 93, Pl. 122. For color plate, see HAMPE and SIMON 1981, Pl. 315. The faience figurines are over twice the size (6 cm without heads), and un-perforated, leaving unexplained the method of attachment and the medium to which they were attached. One possible explanation is bitumen, a tar-like substance used both as an adhesive and as a backing in Syria and Mesopotamia. I am grateful to E. Harrison and E. Davis for helping me clarify these gestures. See detailed reconstructions by REUSCH 1956, Fig. 9, 15 and Pl. 14-15. See also IMMERWAHR 1990, 200-201, color Pl. XXI. For a detailed analysis of the Mykenaia fresco, see JONES 2009, 322-334. REUSCH 1956, 23-25, Fig. 15, Pls. 12,14,15, remarked on this discrepancy in her analysis of fragments 32-35, which she used to reconstruct the flounced skirt of the figure holding the jug, and which served as a model for the remaining figures’ skirts.

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Fig. 6.49

Fig. 6.50

Second, the artist makes a rare attempt to depict the kilt in three-quarter to profile view. By contrast, standing female figures, sculpted in the round,121 illustrate the kilt in frontal view, wrapped around the waist and fastened at its side, with one side overlapping the other, its edge falling between the legs at center front, and flounces, curving downward from both sides toward center front, forming a V. The same frontal view of the kilt is also typically represented on Aegean female figures standing in profile (Fig. 4.12).122 On the mainland, this convention continues on the processional women’s flounced kilts from Pylos (Fig. 6.54)123 and on the long flounced skirts from Tiryns (Fig. 6.52)124 and Thebes.125 Only on the procession fresco from Knossos are kilts rendered in true profile, and they are represented on male figures

120 121

122

123 124 125

WARDLE 1999,193. See the LM IB bronze from Hagia Triada (Fig. 6.2), VERLINDEN 1984, HM 760, cat. no. 34, 190, Pl. 17, Fig. 34, and the LH IIIB ivory from Prosymna (Fig. 4.153), BUCHHOLZ and KARAGEORGHIS 1973, Pl. 1279. From Knossos, see those on the “Sacred Grove Fresco” (Fig. 6.23), and figure 7 on the Procession Fresco (Figs. 4.148a-4.149a), EVANS PM III, 66-68, col. Pl. XVIII, and EVANS PM II, suppl. Pl. XXV, respectively. From Thera, see the Standing and Bending Ladies from the House of the Ladies (Fig. 4.103), and the Crocus Gatherers, Necklace Bearer and Veiled Maiden from Xeste 3 (Figs. 4.10-4.13, 4.26), in DOUMAS 1992, 38, Pl. 8; 160, Pl. 123; 166, Pl. 129; 13, Pl. 101; 144, Pl. 107. LANG 1969, Pl. O. RODENWALDT 1912, figs. 27-28, and Pl. VIII. Although restored from very few fragments, the frontal flounced skirt is clearly indicated on fragment no. 35, which Reusch used as the prototype for all of the women’s skirts (REUSCH 1956, Pls. 12, 14-15).

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(Fig. 4.89a).126 Interestingly, the only preserved kilt (albeit partially), on a female figure on that fresco, is depicted frontally (Figs. 4.148a-4.149a).127

Fig. 6.51

Third, the detailed drawing of the flounces on fragment 13 (Figs. 6.49-6.50) reveal how the flounces were made and identify them as striped cloth strips. The slightly diagonal black line down the center of fragment 13 marks the edge of the kilt’s main cloth (yellow ocher with red hooks) that overlaps the other side of the kilt at the left. Three stacked flounces appear to the right of the black line: the tip of the top flounce and two beneath it. Only the tip of the top flounce abuts the slightly diagonal line that marks the edge of the cloth, whereas the flounce below it is located further to the right, and the bottom one, even further. This is precisely the effect that would be produced if three flounces of equal size were sewn onto a strip of cloth, one above the other and banded at the top as shown in Fig. 6.51a, and the strip was subsequently sewn across the center of the kilt’s main cloth in an arched curve as shown on Fig. 6.51b.128 Thus, when curved, the lateral edges of the strip with the flounces sewn onto it gradually move inward, away from the edges, as shown when the kilt is open in Fig. 6.51b, and when the left side is overlapped, as in Fig. 6.51c, the latter in imitation of that of the Mykenaia. Contrast the more horizontally placed flounces at the hem, all equally aligned at the lateral edges of the kilt (Fig. 6.51-c). In further response to the curved placement of the center group of flounces, the artist depicted the flounces’ vertical stripes slanted downward from left to right and away from the kilt’s edge (Fig. 6.50, fragment 13, right of black slightly diagonal line). This is in precise imitation of how the actual cloth would have responded, as illustrated in an experiment with similarly curved, striped cloth flounces for a kilt from Hagia Triada (Figs. 6.4b-6.5a).129 This differs from the behavior of fringes, which when similarly curved across the kilt, would 126 127 128 129

EVANS PM II, Fig. 450, Suppl. Pl. XXVII, nos. 20, 21. EVANS PM II, Fig. 450, Suppl. Pl. XXVII, no. 7. See JONES 2005, 710, Pl. CLXXIXc, for an alternative technique of sewing flounces directly onto a kilt from Hagia Triada. Also see JONES 2005, 710, Pl. CLXXIXf-g.

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flare from right to left, toward the cloth’s edge as on the experimental reconstructed kilt of the Ivory Triad (Figs. 6.8-6.10b).130 On the Mykenais, at the left of fragment 13 and on fragments 10-12, are the other side of the three flounces; fragment 10 shows that a band decorated with an adder mark motif surmounts them (Figs. 6.49-6.50). Fragment 26 illustrates that such a band also appears above the overlapped flounces at the hem of the kilt. Thus, the band would have covered the top edge of the upper flounce and masked the join of the cloth strip with its flounces to the kilt. b. Seated “goddess,” Cult Center, Mycenae The kilt restored from fragments that portray a seated woman, probably a goddess, from Mycenae consists of a main fabric in yellow ocher with scattered clusters of four red dots above and below the band atop two rows of multicolored flounces at her left knee, whereas below the figure’s right knee, the kilt fabric is painted blue with clusters of four black dots (Fig. 4.21).131 While the dots likely refer to beads,132 the use of two colors to depict the main cloth does not appear on Crete and makes us wonder whether the kilt was made from two pieces of cloth joined together; or whether it was an artistic device to distinguish one side from the other.133 The elaborate band above the top two flounces on both legs consists of two blue stripes flanking a center white stripe decorated with a row of white circles outlined in black, possibly a reference to attached discs. The hem of the kilt is marked by three multi-colored striped flounces instead of two and topped by a different band that has only two stripes, the lower of blue and the upper of yellow ocher with a row of yellow ocher circles outlined in black, presumably representing attached gold discs. Unparalleled to date in the archaeological record is the extraordinary treatment of the lower edges of the flounces, marked by black undulating lines that vary in thickness, suggesting shadow and depth between flounces that are clearly made of striped cloth (not fringes), a remarkable achievement in Aegean art. c. Staff Bearer, Citadel House Fresco, Mycenae (Fig. 4.129)134 The staff bearer wears an ankle length, blue kilt with thin black stripes ornamented with three groups of flounces: across the hip, knee, and hem areas. Faint traces of blue color, presumably also striped, mark the top of the kilt. Each group of flounces has three tiers. The top and center groups have two yellow ones with thick red bar-stripes above and below a white one decorated with a wavy red horizontal line. The group at the hem repeats the top two but the bottom tier is blue instead of yellow. d. Processional Women, Tiryns (Figs. 6.52 – 6.53)135 Ankle length kilts from fresco fragments from Tiryns have also been reconstructed by Rodenwaldt. Although we lack evidence for the kilt’s upper parts, two colors again comprise the lower part of the main cloth, scale motifs on red above and blue below two groups of three flounces: two multi-colored barstriped, above and below a flame-patterned flounce (Fig. 6.52).136 Another fragmentary kilt from Tiryns, portraying part of the right side of a standing figure in profile facing left, depicts bar-striped multicolored flounces below both a blue cloth decorated with a black network design and a yellow cloth decorated with a red network design (Fig. 6.53).137 130 131 132

133

134 135 136 137

Also see JONES 2005, 710, Pl. CLXXXf-g. For a detailed analysis of the “goddess” fresco see JONES 2009, 309-322 The opaque cloth would easily accept beads. I have suggested with reconstructions (JONES 2000, 41 and 2003, 442), that similar red dots that appear on a diaphanous veil on a maiden from Thera, portray carnelian beads because they are identical to beads that comprise a bracelet on the same figure, and hair ornament on the Theran goddess. For an overview of Mycenaean beads, see HUGHES-BROCK 1999, 277-296. Similar white discs on an even more elaborately patterned band appears on the header band of a heanos on a fresco fragment from Tiryns of LH IIIB (RODENWALDT 1912, Pl. IX, IMMERWAHR 1990 Pl. 56, color in IAKOVIDIS 1978, 107, Pl. 68. WARDLE 1999,192-193. RODENWALDT 1912, 71, figs. 27, 28 and Pl. VIII. IMMERWAHR 1990, 202-3. RODENWALDT 1912, 71, 75, no. 84, Fig. 27-28, and reconstruction Pl. VIII; detail of head and torso see IAKOVIDES 1979, 107, Fig. 68. RODENWALDT 1912, 76, Fig. 31.

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Fig. 6.52

209

Fig. 6.53

e. Processional Women, Pylos (Fig. 6.54)

Fig. 6.54

Admirably reconstructed from fragments by Mabel Lang, 138 the kilted costumes of two processional women from Pylos are curious. The main fabric at the top of the kilt on the left figure “Lady X,” is yellow with an overall black horseshoe design below a red belt decorated with a row of rosettes outlined in black. The yellow fabric’s edge overlaps a group of three narrow flounces: blue, red, and white, 138

LANG 1969, 86-89, Pl. O (letters added by author).

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each decorated with a horizontal red wavy line. Beneath the flounces is a blue cloth panel decorated with vertical red wavy stripes above another group of three narrow flounces in red, white and blue, each decorated horizontally with red wavy lines. The kilt is worn over a yellow skirt with vertical black ripple stripes and a blue hem border, unrelated to the blue garment at the torso.

Fig. 6.55

A similar design appears on the kilt of the figure to the right, Lady Y. There, narrow red, yellow and white flounces decorated with horizontal wavy red lines appear beneath a main blue cloth decorated with an overall red horseshoe design below a blue belt. Underneath the flounces is a red panel decorated with a thin black diagonal grid pattern intersected with white dots, presumably tiny beads. Decorating the hem is a second group of yellow, white and red flounces, each decorated with horizontal wavy red lines. Below the kilt is an ankle-length skirt in blue with vertical red ripple stripes. On both kilts, the outlined curvatures around the waist and hips, and tops and bottoms of the main panels, make for extremely stylized garments. One wonders, then, whether the projections at the sides of the main panels are also artistic constructs meant to conform to the projected flounces. Nevertheless, if the main panels really did project, all were presumably sewn onto a backing. 2. Varia Similar overlapping occurs in ivory on one of the richest costumes from the Mainland, albeit on a severely corroded figurine from the Argive Heraion, Prosymna of LH III (Figs. 4.153, 4.157).139 Secured by a wide belt, the top panel of the kilt clearly projects above four tiers of narrow flounces, most apparent in the back view (Fig. 4.153b). The top tier and flounces 2, 4 and 5 have vertical striations that continue underneath each, seemingly reflecting thick fringes (Fig. 6.55). Alternating deep striations between groups of three or four shallow ones were probably originally also marked by alternating colors reminiscent of the metope and triglyph effect of painted flounces. These flounces are far more intricately carved than the very regular barred-striations accorded those of the Ivory Triad (Figs. 4.15-4.18). Even more exceptional is the unique foliate-spray design on flounce 3. The drawing illustrates the patterned flounce and its 139

National Museum, Athens inv. no. 6580. BLEGEN 1937, 461-463, Figs. 729-731, POURSAT 1977, 121-2, cat. 375; KONSTANTINIDI-SYVRIDI 2012, 265-270, Pls LXII-LXV.

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placement on the kilt (Fig. 6.55B-D), and on the figure (Fig. 6.55E). It also illustrates the flounces as fringes because the striations continue to the undersides. Nevertheless, as with the Ivory Triad, the striations may be the sculptors method of illustrating stripes. The fancy striations, the foliate-spray flounce, along with the rosette decorated robe, combine to make this costume among the fanciest and most unique on the Mainland. Kilts on several poorly preserved LH IIIB luxury products in the way of carved ivory mirror handles from Mycenae deserve brief mention. From Chamber Tomb 55, kilts worn by two women holding palm-leaf fans, have a main cloth decorated with chevrons and hemmed by a group of three striated flounces (Fig. 6.56).140 On one handle from the Tomb of Clytemnestra, kilts worn by two women holding large bunches of roses, have a main cloth decorated with tri-curved arches hemmed by a group of three striated flounces (Figs. 6.57-6.58),141 and on another handle from the same tomb, traces of three striated flounces decorate the kilts of two other women holding ducks.142 These kilts are typically Minoan as are the figures’ short curly coiffures and hoop earrings, some of which appear earlier at Thera on three maidens from Xeste 3 (Figs. 4.12, 4.26, 6.59)143 and from Crete, on an acrobat on the MM IIIB gold sword pommel from Malia (Fig. 6.60).

Fig. 6.56

Fig. 6.57 140 141 142

143

Fig. 6.58

National Museum, Athens inv. no. 2899; POURSAT 1977, 94, Pl. XXXII, no. 300. National Museum, Athens inv. no. 2898; POURSAT 1977, 94, Pl. XXXV, no. 331. National Museum, Athens inv. no. 2900; POURSAT 1977, 106, Pl. XXXV, no. 332. Flounced kilts with striated flounces can also be discerned on two ivory mirror handles from chamber tomb 2, Mycenae (National Museum, Athens inv. no. 2399; POURSAT 1977, 80, Pl. XXIV, and National Museum, Athens inv. no. 2413; POURSAT 1977, 80, Pl. XXIV). For the blonde curly haired maiden see DOUMAS 1992, 166, Pls. 129-130.

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Fig. 6.59

Fig. 6.60

3. Mainland Glyptic As on Crete, the flounced kilt is worn on the mainland by women involved in ritual activity. An early example, dated LH IIA from the Vapheio tholos, depicts two crowned women, one holding a goat perhaps in preparation for sacrifice (Fig. 6.61).144 The main cloths of their single flounce kilts are the typically Minoan scale motif and diagonal grid pattern. Long garments are worn underneath. More elaborate kilts are rendered on women at shrines on two gold rings from Chamber tomb 91 at Mycenae of LH II-LH IIIA (Figs. 6.62-6.63).145 Double overlapping striated flounces are joined to a diagonal grid patterned main cloth on the figure at the left of the shrine, and an overall horseshoe patterned main cloth on the figure at the right (Fig. 6.62), that also decorates the main kilt fabrics on the Pylos ladies (Figs. 6.54). The kilt on the woman bending over the shrine on the other seal (Fig. 6.63) has a dotted main cloth and three overlapping flounces over a striated undergarment. The kilt on the central woman is difficult to read since the flounces have straight hems that do not follow the curved hem of the main cloth. Also odd, the right top flounce is dotted and differs from the striations on the rest. On a seal from Rutsi of LH IIA-LH IIIA1, a woman at a shrine wears a kilt with double overlapping striated flounces over a striated garment, while a curved line on the main kilt’s cloth indicates its overlapped edge (Fig. 6.64).146 The opening between the legs is deceiving because the backs of the kilt and the undergarment, which are shorter than the fronts, are not indicated. The finest engraved kilts appear on women in a presentation scene on a gold signet from the acropolis at Mycenae, dated by style to LH I-LH II (Fig. 6.65).147 The main fabrics of the long kilts on the seated goddess and the first adult presenter are decorated with a down curved scale pattern, reversed from the usual arches (Figs. 6.61; 6.52), and are attached to two groups of two to three flounces.

144 145 146 147

CMS I, no. 220. Seals from Chamber Tomb 91, Mycanae: CMS I, no. 127 (Fig. 6.62) and CMS I, no. 126 (Fig. 6.63). Seal from Chamber Tomb 2 at Routsi, CMS I no. 279. Acropolis signet ring, Mycenae, CMS I, no. 17.

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Fig. 6.61

213

Fig. 6.62

Fig. 6.63

Fig. 6.64

Fig. 6.65

E. Four Minoan flounced kilts in the Cyclades (Thera) As we have already seen, the well preserved wall paintings from Thera provide the most detailed representations of this garment. In addition to the kilts already discussed, others reveal interesting features. On the striding lady from the House of the Ladies (Fig. 4.32), the wrap-around, double axe-shaped kilt, with the right side overlapping the left, tied at the waist by a cord belt, is very similar to that of the bending lady from the House of the Ladies (Figs. 4.24a-b, 4.134, 6.13-6.14). It consists of a white main cloth onto which are attached two flounces, each topped by a band. The flounces are white with very thin and uneven yellow and red vertical lines. These look very much like fringes but their clearly arched groundlines argue for solid cloth and against fringes which, clearly rendered along the lateral edges of the kilt, lack

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ground lines. One possible explanation for the cloth could be crimping, a technique actually preserved in Egypt from as early as the 5th Dynasty on a linen dress from Deshasheh, and represented in 18th Dynasty tombs, including the dresses on the female guests and musicians in the banquet scene in the tomb of Nebamun.148 The upper flounce is topped by a wide red-blue-red striped band and the lower one is topped by a narrow red band – the upper part concealed by the covering flounce (Figs. 4.32, 4.103). These decorative bands concealed the tops of the flounces and adhered them to the main cloth. Fringes project from the lateral edges of the main white cloth and the striped bands. The lateral ends were finished with blue-gray bands, like those on the bending lady (Figs. 6.13-6.14). Projecting from the blue-gray bands are the fringed edges (likely the warp ends) of the main white cloth (beneath the cord belt) and the lateral red and blue striped bands. No fringes emanate from the sides of the “crimped cloth” flounces. A wrap around, double axe shaped kilt, fastened with a yellow ocher cord belt with red threads is worn by the crocus gatherer with short, curly black hair from Xeste 3, Thera (Fig. 4.26). The diagonal black line at the left (her right), illustrates that the left side overlaps the right. The main cloth is blue, decorated in a diagonal grid pattern with a black cross in the center of each grid. Black cloth forms a waistband. A short black flounce was sewn onto the hem. The lower part is poorly preserved. A second white flounce decorated with a diagonal grid pattern can be distinguished. It appears to be trimmed with a blue band at the hem. The sheer white heanos (revealing the outline of the leg through it), hemmed with a thin red ocher rope band, appears below. Only the end of the black cord belt that fastened the double axe shaped kilt and its two lower flounces are preserved on the crocus gatherer with curly blond hair from Xeste 3 (Fig. 6.59).149 The top one is yellow ocher with narrow red, dark blue and red stripes, hemmed with a wider dark blue stripe. The lower one is red with narrow yellow, dark blue and yellow stripes and hemmed with a wider dark blue one. Depicted below it is the bottom of the sheer (note the outline of the leg), pale blue heanos streaked with darker blue.

Fig. 6.66 148 149

HALL 1986b, 37-45. DOUMAS 1992, Pl. 129.

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215

Last, but not least, is the poorly preserved but unique kilt of the goddess from Xeste 3, Thera (Figs. 4.27-4.28, 6.66). Traces of what seems to be a red cord belt wound twice around the waist appears above a now pale silver-grey main cloth with spots of gold. Three flounces are depicted below. The top one, surmounted by a blue band, is white and hemmed by another blue band. The second is silver-grey, also hemmed by a blue band. Porter has detected a split lozenge design on this flounce,150 a pattern paralleled on the flounce of the blue headed crocus gatherer (Figs. 4.10, 6.18a-6.19b). The goddess’s third, lowest flounce, is white and also hemmed by a blue band. Barely perceptible in the detail of the kilt (Fig. 6.66), are the thin vertical black lines on and extending below the blue bands, emphasized in the suggested diagram of construction (Fig. 6.67),151 and are thus identifiable as fringes overlaying the attached bands, a unique feature in Aegean textiles and one that is presumably reserved for the goddess. Below the kilt is the hem of her diaphanous (note the outline of her leg) heanos, colored pale blue with darker blue streaks. Traces of beaded bracelets on both ankles are also detectable.

Fig. 6.67

Statues from Keos, especially those with vertical indentations down the center front, such as Keos 1-1 (Fig. 4.172), likely once marked flounced kilts indicated further in paint, now lost. F. The Minoan flounced kilt outside of the Aegean 1. Egypt Recent excavations at Tell el-Dabᶜa, Egypt, have revealed Minoan style frescoes, likely painted by Aegean artists, that decorated an Egyptian palace dating to the reigns of Hatshepsut-Thutmose III (c. 1479-1425 B.C.), including a fragment that depicts the hem of a Minoan style woman’s kilt.152 The curved shape of the flounce on the fragment, patterned in red and blue bar-stripes outlined in black, is correctly reconstructed as part of the center front flounce of a kilt located just above the ankle, which is decorated with two blue ankle bracelets. 2. Syria On the thirteenth century ivory pyxis lid from Minet el Beida, the port of Ugarit (modern Ras Shamra), two sets of three vertically striated flounces adorn the kilt of a goddess who holds sheaves of 150 151 152

BETANCOURT 2007, Fig. 6.15; PORTER 2000, Fig. 12 in color. I found no traces of the diagonal grid pattern that Porter hypothesized for the kilt’s main cloth. The fringes are also indicated in a drawing of the goddess by MARINATOS 1993, Fig. 122. BIETAK 2007, 42, Fig. 39; BIETAK 2010,15; Morgan 2006, 251.

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wheat toward flanking rampant goats (Figs. 6.68-6.69).153 Two patterns decorate the main cloth. A scale motif decorates the top, whereas a vertical chevron motif decorates the area between the two groups of flounces.

Fig. 6.68

Fig. 6.69

This is uncharacteristic of Minoan kilts, which are usually decorated with a single motif, which identifies it as a single cloth, onto which the flounces are sewn. Nevertheless, similar deviations appear occasionally on the mainland,154 as already noted on the kilt of the central figure on a seal from Mycenae (Fig. 6.63), and on the kilt on the seated “goddess” from the cult center at Mycenae of the same date, where the overall pattern is the same, but the blue with black dotted cloth on the figure’s right knee differs from the rest of the kilt’s main cloth which is yellow ocher with red dots (Fig. 4.21). Since we can only conjecture as to the reasons for these divergences, we can hypothesize that they are artistic constructs, or that two (or more) pieces of cloth were sewn together to create the main cloth. Both motifs are of Minoan origin and appear on Crete and the Mainland. A similar, but abbreviated, vertical chevron decorates the main cloth of a kilt on a female figure on an ivory mirror handle from Chamber tomb 55, Mycenae, of LH IIIB (Fig. 6.56).155 The most elaborate chevron patterns, however, are woven into the kilt and the heanos of Lady B at Pseira (Fig. 4.164).156 The scale motif also appears contemporaneously on the mainland on a kilt on a fresco fragment from Tiryns, dated to LH IIIB, where part of the main cloth is decorated with scales against a yellow ground and another part with scales against a blue ground (Fig. 6.52), and on a kilt on a seal from Vapheio.157 It appears earlier, in LM IB, on Crete at Knossos on a kilt on a male figure from the Procession fresco (Fig. 4.89a), at Hagia Triada on the heanos of the kneeling woman (Fig. 4.20a), and on the mantle on the leader of the Harvester Vase (Fig. 9.24a). In all these examples, the scales are rendered upright, ∩, whereas the scales on the Minet el Beida kilt are depicted 153

154 155

156 157

MYLONAS 1983, 253, Fig. 208 and KANTOR 1947, Pl. XXIIj. Usually regarded as either imported to Ugarit from a Mycenaean workshop or locally made under Mycenaean influence, this work has recently been examined by GATES 1992, 77-84. Gates examined the technique, material, style and iconography of the work in the context of both Mycenaean and Levantine art and concluded that it is a Greek mainland work with roots possibly in Vapheio based on two LH IIA seals from that site (Fig. 5.47, CMS 1, no. 221 and CMS I, no. 220). Although I agree that it is a Mainland work, the connection with Vapheio is tenuous since the relationship of the women on the Vapheio seals with the goats is that of sacrifice. Also see different patterns on the main cloths of kilts on the Processional ladies from Tiryns (Fig. 6.52), and from Pylos (Fig. 6.54). Athens National Museum inv. no. 2899, POURSAT 1977, 94, Pl. XXXII, no. 300. Rows of chevrons, although horizontal, appear on a kilt’s main cloth on an ivory figurine from Mycenae (POURSAT 1977, 87-88, Pl. XXVI, no. 287). For detailed drawings of the patterns see SHAW 1998, color Pls. B, E, F. IAKOVIDES 1979, 107, Fig. 68; RODENWALDT 1912, 71, Fig. 28 and Pl. VIII; GATES 1992, 78-80 (CMS I, no. 220).

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217

horizontally, ⊂, pointed sideways toward the flounces. Therefore, if the figure was standing, the scales would point downward, ∪, in the opposite direction. 158 Good parallels for the down-curved scales on kilts appear on the Acropolis ring from Mycenae (Fig. 6.65). Whether a dress was once painted on or the nudity was intentional is unknown, but the finely carved detail accorded the kilt, necklace and hairstyle of the figure and its iconography are entirely in keeping with works from the Aegean, particularly close, as recognized by Hood to the ivory figurine also holding wheat and possibly once flanked by animals from Mycenae.159 Although Hood believed it is a “Mycenaeanizing” work at home in Cyprus or Northern Syria, Gates’ argument for it being a mainland work (albeit not necessarily from Vapheio), is more compelling.160 G. The male kilt From at least the Middle Bronze Age on, kilts were also worn by Minoan males as seen on the MM IIIB gold roundel of a sword pommel from Malia (Fig. 6.60).161 The kilt consists of an interlocking “T” pattern for the main cloth, hemmed by a wide band decorated with a four petal rapport, and a waist band with a diagonal grid pattern.162 A cord belt looped at the waist terminates with three long tassels at both ends. One wonders whether the straight hem identifies it as a rectangular kilt rather than a double axe shaped one. A double axe shaped kilt with two flounces, banded at the top, and rendered accurately in profile, is worn by a warrior holding a bow on a LM IA sealing from Hagia Triada (Fig. 6.70).163

Fig. 6.70

Fig. 6.71

Exquisite patterns decorate the kilts of the Cup-Bearer (Fig. 6.71)164 and offering bearers 20, 21 and 22, on the LM II Procession fresco, Knossos (Fig. 4.89a). All the figures and their double axe shaped kilts are also appropriately portrayed in profile. Scales with dotted borders surrounding floral motifs adorn the 158 159 160 161 162 163 164

GATES 1992, 80, esp. note 23, asserted that the scale motif of the Minet el Beida kilt’s upper tier “match[es] exactly” that on the Ivory Triad, but the motif on the latter is a tricurved arch (Figs. 4.15-4.18). National Archaeological Museum, Athens, POURSAT 1977, Pl. XXIX, no. 299; HOOD 1978, 130-131, Figs. 122B, 122C. GATES 1992, 78-9; DEMARGNE 1964, 115, Pl. 152. For a discussion of the diagonal cross petal motif see BARBER 1991, 317, 320, Fig. 15.5. CMS II.6, no. 36; EVANS PM I, 505, Fig. 363c. EVANS PM II:2, color Pl. XII.

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kilt of Procession figure 20, and a network pattern with beads in the interstices and an elaborate spiraliform (waz-lily) motif within each grid embellish the kilt of Procession figure 21 (Fig. 6.72A and C).165 Interlocking cruciforms ornament the kilts of Procession figure 22 and the Cup-Bearer, the former surrounds four pointed stars and the latter encloses six to ten dots encircling a center one within each corner (Fig. 6.72B and D). The hems of the kilts of Procession figures 20 and 21 are trimmed with wide bands decorated with horizontal stripes that flank vertical barred stripes, their warp ends made into a long network terminating in beads (Figs. 4.89a-b). The wide hem band of the Cup-Bearer is undecorated except for a narrow border with a flame design at the top. Presumably, the kilt of Procession figure 22 also had a wide hem band and both it and that of the Cup-Bearer terminated in long beaded networks.

Fig. 6.72

Kilts also adorn the Captain of the Blacks and his companion from the House of the Frescoes, Knossos, of LM II (Fig. 6.73).166 The main fabrics of the kilts are undecorated but the hem bands are decorated in barred stripes. As the captain runs, his double axe shaped kilt dips as the two ends meet in the center. In addition, the garment that looks like and is frequently identified as shorts,167 worn by males in the so-called Knielauf position,168 with legs outstretched and knees bent in movement as on the archer on a steatite fragment from Knossos,169 on the goat-headed and winged male on a Zakros sealing,170 and on the warriors on the Lion Hunt dagger (Figs. 6.74, 6.75), and gold seals and signet rings from the Shaft Graves at Mycenae, especially the ones with double flounces from Shaft Grave 4 (Fig. 6.76),171 is none other than this double axe shaped kilt. A comparison of the wrap around kilts, especially the one on the archer on the Lion Hunt dagger, with the wrap around skirts of the dancing women from the Old Kingdom Tomb of Anta, Deshasha, illustrates the point (Fig. 6.77).172 The Egyptian artist clearly illustrated the skirts on the three standing figures on the right, whereas on the four figures on the left the skirts look more like shorts because of their raised legs. Both the Egyptian and Minoan artists simply rendered the kilt along the

165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172

EVANS PM II:2, 729, Fig. 456. EVANS PM II:2, 756, color Plate XIII. See the discussion in REHAK 1996, 41, who also believes they were kilts. For a discussion of the Knielauf position, see WEINGARTEN 1983, 85. EVANS PM III, 100, 106, Fig. 59. HOGARTH 1902, 80, Fig. 12, no. 34. KARO 1930, Pl. XCIV, no. 394 (lion hunt dagger) and Pl. XXIV, nos. 33, 35, 241, etc. (gems and rings). VOGELSANG-EASTWOOD 1993, 70, Fig. 4.25.

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anatomical lines of thighs and buttocks to satisfy the movement. In these positions, the back of the kilt which should appear between the legs - was always omitted by the Minoan and Egyptian artist, so that the kilt looked to the modern viewer like modern shorts, likely unknown attire in the Bronze Age Aegean.173 In addition, since the hems of the double axe shaped kilts were higher in the back than the front (Figs. 6.36.4), the back of the kilt, especially the short male kilts, would not have been visible through the legs.

Fig. 6.73

Fig. 6.74

Fig. 6.75

173

The same is true for the kilt that looks like culottes on the seal from the Routsi tomb (Fig. 6.64).

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Fig. 6.76

Fig. 6.77

H. Conclusions With the evidence thus gathered, we should consider the possible reasons why the Minoans went to the trouble of cutting the main cloth of the kilt in incurved arches at top and bottom, thereby resulting in raw edges that had to be reinforced with added bands when they could simply have used a loom-shaped rectangular cloth that naturally had a header band at the top and therefore only needed reinforcement at the hem. This cut varied from that of the kilt’s rectangular prototypes in the Orient.174 A practical explanation for the incurved top is that it conforms better to the waist and results in a closer, smoother fit. As noted above, such a fit was actually achieved this way with contemporary extant Egyptian loincloths as those from the tombs of Kha and Tutankhamun (Figs. 6.4A), in “one of the few instances of ‘tailoring’ amongst his garments.”175 A simple hem neatened the raw, curved edge 174

175

Oriental kilts were always rectangular with flounces attached horizontally, i.e. corresponding to the shape of the hem, as depicted not only on Syrian goddesses but also mortals, the latter shown on an alabaster jar fragment from the Palace of Adad-nirari I of Assur (SMITH 1965, 29, Fig. 42), in Egyptian tomb paintings of the 18th Dynasty as that of Nebamun (SMITH 1965, Fig. 41), and Rekhmire (Figs. 5.17a-b; MAZAR 1958, 276), ca. 1450, where the captive Syrian women clad in loose dresses under flounced skirts are represented in close proximity to the men of Keftiu, Aegean tribute bearers to the Egyptian court. A similar garment, named a “hip-wrap” by VOGELSANG-EASTWOOD 1993, 85-86, Fig. 5:6, was worn by Syrian, “Mitanni,” men as portrayed in the Theban tomb of Sebkhotep, c. 1420 B.C. Like the Minoan, this is worn over a long robe, an example of which was found in the Tomb of Tutankhamun, his “Syrian robe”, probably a gift from the Mitanni (VOGELSANG-EASTWOOD 1993, 80-84, figs. 5:15:5). Vogelsang-Eastwood has identified one of these hip-wraps, probably also a gift from the Mitanni, in the Tomb of Tutankhamun, a length of linen cloth, 200.0 by 120.0 cm, with narrow braids sewn along all the edges and, instead of flounces, three braids spaced evenly and sewn down the length of the cloth. Vogelsang-Eastwood experimented and concluded that it was wrapped around the hips one and a half times, an arrangement that corresponds to its depiction on the Mitanni on the Tomb of Sebkhotep (VOGELSANG-EASTWOOD 1993, 85-86, Fig. 5:7). VOGELSANG-EASTWOOD 1993, 48-49, Fig. 4:2. The comparison between the Egyptian loincloth and Minoan kilt ends with the arched waistline. Whereas the Minoan kilt’s straight sides and incurved hem form a double axe shape, the Egyptian loincloth’s two diagonally cut sides which join at the bottom

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of the basic Egyptian loincloth whereas in most cases, a band finished that of the fancy Minoan kilt. An exception is the kilt of the Theran veiled maiden (Fig. 4.11). The lack of a band at its waist probably is due to a less detailed treatment of the dress and kilt since a sheer veil covers all. But the Egyptian garment tells us that like it, the kilt’s waist on the veiled maiden could simply have been hemmed. Two strings, each attached to one of the two top corners of the Egyptian loincloth, were used to fasten the garment around the waist or hips. This technique probably holds for the Minoan kilt as well. But no practical answer for the arched hem seems evident. As noted above, Linear B experts have identified *166+WE as a Minoan kilt176 and have noted that it appears on tablets dealing with religion.177 Long ago, Boardman had associated the shape of *166 with a double axe and proposed its identification as such.178 Now that all agree that *166 (a) is a textile, (b) is shaped like a double axe, and (c) is associated with cult, it seems likely that *166 reflects the kilts worn in religious contexts by elite women and goddesses, such as the ones replicated here, and that the kilt is shaped like a double axe to identify it and the wearer with that particular cult.179 Thus, Knossian tablet KN Oa 745, listing “twenty two linen 166+WE [double axe shaped kilts] delivered to Potnia of the Labyrinth [House of the Double Axe],”180 may indeed reflect the ritual enacted on MM III-LM I glyptic, on a seal from Knossos (Fig. 4.107B),181 and a sealing from Zakros (Fig. 4.108b),182 where women in procession hold double axes and carry flounced kilts. On seals from Knossos (Fig. 4.107b) and Malia (Fig. 4.107a),183 and a sealing from Hagia Triada (Fig. 4.108a),184 the women are dressed identically, wearing the Minoan dress (heanos), flounced at the hem, presumably *146. Double axe shaped kilts are worn by a seated goddess and women in procession bearing gifts in the presence of a double axe on the gold signet from the Acropolis, Mycenae, contemporary with the Linear B tablets from Pylos (Fig. 6.65).185 C. Doumas has also informed me (pers. comm.) that a male figure in procession on a wall painting from Xeste 4, Thera, wears a kilt actually decorated with double axes. Thus, the kilt appears to have been virtually synonymous with its cult and, as the double axe aspect of Minoan cult is adopted by the Mycenaeans, so is *166. By far, the most elaborate motifs decorate the main cloths of the Cretan kilts, led by the intricate lozenge network with spirals, dots and rosettes alternating with rows of zigzags and lozenges on Lady B from Pseira (Fig. 4.164),186 the interlocking patterns on the Malia acrobat (Fig. 6.60), the crouching woman or “goddess” from Hagia Triada (Fig. 4.14a-c), the Cup-Bearer and Figure 22 on the Procession fresco from Knossos, and the decorative scales and fancy networks on Procession figures 20 and 21 (Fig. 6.72), to name a few.187 Although most of these kilts date after the Thera eruption, the presence of these motifs on Minoan pottery appearing from EM II on, especially on MM Kamares ware,188 and the earlier Malia kilt example confirm that they existed earlier on Minoan textiles. Thus, when comparing the Theran kilt motifs to the Minoan, it is no surprise that they are simpler (note the solid fabrics on the kilts of the House of Ladies figures [Figs. 4.24, 4.32]), or derivative. The diagonal grid on the kilts of the crocus gatherers with blue head (Fig. 4.10) and curly black hair (Fig. 4.26)

176 177 178 179

180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188

form a triangle. DUHOUX 1974, 116-132, esp. 117, 122-132. NOSCH and PERNA 2001, 471-476. BOARDMAN 1963, 79, note 1. BURKERT 1985, 37-38. The other symbol is the horns (of consecration). Burkert states that in the Minoan world the double axe is associated with a female figure, probably a goddess, and “is a symbol of power, the power to kill” and when held by the goddess it is a sign of her power. NOSCH AND PERNA 2001, 471-476. NIEMEIER 1986, 78f, Fig. 6; EVANS PM I, 434, Fig. 312a; CMS II.3, no. 8. NIEMEIER 1986, Fig. 4; and HOGARTH 1902, 77, no. 6 ; CMS II.7, no. 7. NIEMEIER 1986, Fig. 7; and DEMARGNE 1949, 280f, Fig. 1; CMS II.3, no. 8; CMS II.3, no. 145. NIEMEIER 1986, Fig. 5; and LEVI 1925-6, Fig. 139; CMS II.6, no. 26 NIEMEIER 1989, 173. Color plate in MYLONAS 1983, 187, Fig. 141; CMS 1, no. 17. See detailed drawings by SHAW 1998, 63-64, color Pls F and H. See BARBER 1991, 312-330, for a discussion of possible methods of creating these and other Aegean textile designs. BETANCOURT 1985, 40-114.

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goes back to MM II where it appears on a male kilt from Petsofas.189 The one with center dots, on the crocus gatherer with blue head (Fig. 4.10), is identical to that on a Hagia Triada fragment that may also have formed part of a kilt.190 The rows of lozenges on the veiled maiden (Figs. 4.11, 6.21) are variants of the overall diagonal grids as those on the apron of the Knossos snake goddess HM 65 (Figs. 4.2-4.3). The overall four petal rapport pattern enclosing four pointed stars on the necklace bearer (Fig. 4.13), takes its cue from the kilt’s band on the Malia acrobat (Fig. 6.60). Most main cloth patterns on Helladic kilts depend on Minoan prototypes, although not necessarily kilts. The tricurved arch on kilts on the Ivory Triad (Figs. 4.15-4.18) and mirror handle from Mycenae (Figs. 6.57-6.58) appears on the kilt and dress of female figure 7 from the Procession fresco, Knossos (Figs. 4.149a,b) and the dress of the ladies in Blue from Knossos (Figs. 4.161-4.162). The six petal rapport on the Ivory Triad is more elaborate than its four petal predecessors on Crete (Malia acrobat, Fig. 6.60) and on Thera (Necklace bearer, Fig. 4.13). This adds to the likelihood that the Ivory may be a Minoan heirloom. The scale and network/diagonal grid patterns on kilts from Tiryns (Figs. 6.52-6.53) and the Vapheio ring (Fig. 6.61) stem from kilts on the Knossos Procession figure 20 (Figs. 4.89a, 6.72a), and Pseira Lady B (Fig. 4.164), and the apron of the Knossos “snake goddess” HM 65 (Figs. 4.2-4.3), to name a few. The row of chevrons on the kilt of the ivory mirror handle from Mycenae, tomb 55 (Fig. 6.56), is a simplified translation of the intricate ones decorating the kilt and the heanos of Lady B at Pseira (Fig. 4.164).191 Exceptions are the upside-down hook pattern on the kilt of the Mykenaia (Figs. 4.25, 6.49-6.50) and the horseshoe motif on that of the Pylos ladies (Figs. 6.54), which appear to be indigenous. This survey shows that both Thera and the Mainland not only adopted the Minoan double axe shaped kilt, but its decorative motifs as well, which (apart from the Ivory Triad) they simplified. Although both Thera and the Mainland limit their patterns to variations on the Minoan diagonal grid, the Mainland employed fancier Minoan tri-curved arches and scales and introduced some very simple motifs.

Fig. 6.78

A comparison of the flounces reveals quite a different story. With the sole exception of the flounce on the Dancing Lady from Knossos which seems to be solid blue with narrow horizontal stripes (Figs. 4.53, 6.28), all of the Minoan kilts have striped or striated flounces. By contrast, none of the flounces on 189 190 191

Archaeological Museum, Herakleion inv. no. 4874. SAPOUNA-SAKELLARAKI 1971, 15-16, Fig. 2, no. 21. MILITELLO 1998, Pl. Fb, V7. For detailed drawings of the patterns see SHAW 1998, color Pls. B, E, F.

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Thera follow those from Crete. Instead, they are decorated with split lozenges, X motifs, and horizontal stripes. Although these motifs are originally Minoan as seen on a fragment of a loincloth from Knossos (Fig. 6.78),192 they are unknown on Cretan flounces. By contrast, the Mainland flounces generally follow the Minoan striped/striated examples. The rare exceptions are the wavy horizontal lines on the kilts’ flounces of the Pylos ladies (Figs. 6.54), and the foliate flounce in the midst of the striated ones on the Prosymna ivory figurine (Figs. 4.153, 4.157, 6.55). Although I have experimented with and presented arguments here and in the past, for the possibility of fringes to explain the striated and multicolored striped flounces on Aegean skirts and kilts, 193 and although the question must remain open until preserved textiles come to light, the accumulated evidence argues against fringes and for solid cloth. Solid cloth flounces with patterns other than stripes are clearly represented on all kilts from Thera and some from the mainland. Fragment 13 on the kilt of the Mykenaia clearly shows how the ends of three cloth flounces decorated in stripes are all attached at the edge of the main cloth of the kilt (Figs. 6.49-6.51). Ground lines never appear on fringes (note the Theran lateral fringes on the kilts of the striding and bending ladies, Figs. 4.24, 4.32, and the fringes overlaying the kilt bands on the goddess, Figs. 6.66-6.67), but consistently appear on all painted and striated flounce hems, marking them as solid cloth. Thus, the striations on Aegean sculpture must have been intended to represent stripes on solid cloth. While the kilt’s double-axe shape remains relatively consistent, the number of flounces and their arrangement can vary considerably. For example, the single set of three overlapping flounces on the crocus gatherer with blue head’s kilt (Figs. 4.10, 6.17b-6.19) differs from the two to three separated flounces on the kilts of the necklace bearer (Figs. 4.13, 6.15-6.16) and veiled maiden from Thera (Figs. 4.11, 6.20-6.22). The Theran arrangements are generally simpler than those from Crete and the Mainland. Examples are the double set of two overlapping flounces on the fancier kilt of the Minoan “goddess” from Hagia Triada (Figs. 4.14a-c, 6.4B-6.7a),194 and the more complex double set of three overlapping flounces on the elaborate kilts of the Ivory Triad from Mycenae (Figs. 4.15-4.18, 4.95a-c, 6.86.10b), which also adds to the speculation of it being a Minoan heirloom.195 Although both are heavily restored, it seems that kilts with multiple flounces reaching ankle length make rare appearances on Crete on the “Grandstand Fresco” (Fig. 4.117), and on the Mainland on the Tiryns fresco (Fig. 6.52). We have seen in chapter 5 that the multicolored striped and striated flounced garments were worn by deities and the priesthood in the Near East, and we surmise that because they are also worn in the Aegean on garments that appear on women in ritual contexts, it is likely that the design had a comparable role in the Aegean. Given that the X and split X designs on the Thera flounces differ from the striped/striated flounce designs on Crete, we might consider that rather than being simply decorative choices, they could have also served as a means of identification with religious connotations. I have already suggested that the Minoan and Mycenaean multicolored striped flounces may refer to the Linear B po-ki-ro-nu-ka (Greek ποικῐλο = variegated colors; őνυξ = nail, claw), thus, multicolored [finger] nails (translated by Killen in the context of cloth as a border or fringe).196 I further proposed that this may reflect the familiarity of the Minoans, Therans, and Mycenaeans with the ancient Near Eastern practice of impressing fingernails both vertically (Fig. 6.79)197 and crosswise (Fig. 6.80)198 into tablets instead of seals, as marks of ownership or symbolically surrendering oneself to the power of another. 199 Since cross-wise 192 193 194 195 196 197

198 199

The motifs appear at Knossos as decoration on a loincloth (EVANS PM II:2, 751, Fig. 485), and a faience inlay piece belonging to an unknown object (FOSTER 1979, 98, Fig. 28). JONES 2001, 259-269; 2005, 707-715. JONES 2005, Pls. 178-179. JONES 2009, 321-323, Figs. 17-18 and online Figs. 1, 16. See my earlier arguments in JONES 2005, 712–14. KILLEN 1979,157-8. BARBER 1991, 326-7, also associated the Mycenaean barred stripes with poikilonuke . JONES 2005, 713–14; RENGER 1977, 75-88, esp. 77, and notes 37-40, garment hem (fringe): Akkadian = sissiktu, and fingernail: Akkadian = suprum, 77, 83, notes 33 and 37. For two sets of fingernail marks (four for one witness and three for another) on a baked clay tablet dated to the Kassite king Šagaraktišuriaš see GURNEY 1949, 131-2, 143 and BAQIR 1945,16, Pl. XIX, Fig. 22, o (Pl. 6.79). For the Susa tablet from the Old Babylonian period see SCHEIL 1930, 119, no. 105 (Pl. 6.80). Hem fringes were also impressed instead of seals. See full discussion and bibliography in JONES 2005, 712–14, and JONES 2013b, 86-88.

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impressed nail marks also appear on Near Eastern tablets as the one from Susa of the Old Babylonian period (Fig. 6.80),200 similar symbolism may hold for the rows of X and split X flounce designs on the Xeste 3 crocus gatherers, goddess, and women in the adyton. The fact that split X’s (>