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COTHURNUS
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or more correctly Coturnus (Gr. Kothornos). A Greek name for a high shoe or buskin with several soles. It covered the whole foot, and rose as high as the middle of the lea. It was made so as to fit either foot, Ld was generally fastened in front with red straps. The cothurnus was properly a hunling boot, but Aeschylus made it part of the costume of his tragic actors to give them a stature above the average. At the same time the hair was dress6d high in order to maintain the proportion of the figure. The cothurnus was also used in the Roman tragedy. (See SOCCUS.) |
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SOCCUS
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A loose slipper, or light, low shoe, fitting either foot, which the Romans adopted from the Greeks. It was the characteristic of comedy, as the cothurnus was of tragedy [Horace, A. P. 80 (of the iambic metre): "Hunc socci cepere pedem, grandesque cothurni"]. |
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CALCEUS
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A shoe, part of the regular Roman dress, and usually worn in public. Each order, and every gens, had its particular kind of calceus. The patricians wore a mulleus or calceus patricius. This was a shoe of red leather with a high sole, like that of the cothurnus. The leather passed round the back of the heel, where it was furnished with small hooks, to which the straps were fastened. It was originally a part of the royal dress, and was afterwards worn by generals on the occasion of a triumph. In later times, with the rest of the triumphal costume, it became a part of the dress of the consuls. In the second rank came the calceus senatorius, or shoe worn by senators. This was black, and tied round the leg by four straps. In the case of patricians it was ornamented by a crescent-shaped clasp. The calceus of the equites, and of ordinary citizens, was also black. The latter was called pero ; it rose as high as the ankle, and was fastened with a simple tie. |
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CLOTHING
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The dresses of the Greeks and Romans consisted of under garments or shirts, and upper garments or mantles. The Greek chiton and the Latin tunica, common to both men and women, belong to the first class; so does the stola of the Roman matron, worn over the tunica. The himation was an upper garment, worn in Greece both by men and women. The Greek chlamys and tribon and peplos were upper garments, the chlamys and tribon confined to men, and the peplos to women. The upper dress worn in public life by a Roman citizen was the toga; the palla was peculiar to married ladies. There were other dresses of the same kind commonly in use among the Romans, for instance the lacerna, loena, poenula, and synthesis: the sagum and paludamentum were confined to military service. (See, for further details, the articles on the words in question.) Trousers (Latin bracae, Greek anaxyrides ) were only known as worn by the Orientals and by the barbarians of the North. Among the Romans no one wore them but the soldiers stationed in the northern districts. In works of art, accordingly, trousers and the long-sleeved chiton are an indication of barbarian costume. The custom of wrapping up the calf and thigh as a protection against the cold was deemed excusable in sickly and elderly people, but was thought effeminate in others. The wool of the sheep was at all times the staple material for cloth stuffs. Linen, though known to the Greeks of the Homeric age, was worn chiefly by the Ionians, and less so by the inhabitants of Greece Proper. Among the Romans, the use of linen was mostly confined to the girdle, though common among the Italian tribes. Both sexes wore a linen girdle (subligaculum) and women a linen breastband. Women were the first to exchange wool for linen, and this during the republican age. Linen garments for men do not appear until later, when the fine Egyptian and Spanish linen-stuffs became a special article of luxury. The toga was always made of wool. Cotton-stuffs, too, were known to the ancients, as well as the serica, a material made wholly or partly of silk; but these were not commonly used until the imperial times (see WEAVING). Country folk in Greece, and especially shepherds, clothe themselve in the skins of animals. Pelisses, apparently, did not come into fashion until the Empire. The colour of dresses among the Greeks and Romans was mostly, but by no means exclusively, white. For practical reasons the working classes used to wear stuffs of dark colour, either natural or artificial. Dark clothes were worn among the upper classes in Rome only in time of mourning, or by a person accused before the courts of law. Coloured dresses were put on by men in Greece mainly on festal occasions, and by the Romans not at all. Gay-coloured materials were at all times worn by Greek ladies, and often, too, by Roman ladies as, arly as the 1st century B.C. Strong colours do not appear to have been liked by the ancients. They were familiar with stripes, plaids, and other patterns, as well as with ornaments of needlework and all kinds of embroidery. With regard to the, fitting of dresses, it should be observed that it was mostly the custom to weave them according to measure, and there was therefore no necessity, as in modern times, for artistic cutting. The art of sewing was quite subordinate, and confined mostly to stitching leaves together for garlands; though sleeved garments, no doubt, required rather more care. Hence the fact that there, was no such thing in antiquity as a separate, tailoring trade. The necessary sewing was done by the ladies of the house, or by their slaves, and sometimes by the fullers, whose business it was to measure the pieces of cloth, to sell ready-made garments, and to clean clothes. (See FULLERS.) Shoes. The Greeks usually went barefoot, except when out of the house; but they did not think it necessary to wear shoes, even in the street. On entering a house, whether one's own or not, it was customary to uncover the feet. The simplest form of covering for the feet was a sole fastened by straps ( hypodema.) This is to be distinguished from the sandal sandalon, sandalion), which was worn originally by men and afterwards by women. This was a more complicated set of straps, reaching as far as over the ankle, where they were fastened. They sometimes had leather added at the sides and heel, so as to resemble a shoe. Close shoes of various kinds, fastened over the foot, were also worn by men and women. There were, besides, several kinds of boots, among which may be mentioned the endromis and cothurnus (see ENDROMIS, COTHURNUS). Among the Romans, men and women when at home, and generally in private life, wore a sandal (solea), which was only taken off at meals; but a respectable Roman would hardly show himself barefooted outof doors. With the toga went the shoe called calceus, of which there were differents kinds, varying according to rank (see CALCEUS). Ladies usually, when out of doors, wore shoes of white or coloured leather, which formed an important part of their toilette, especially under the Empire, when the sexes rivalled each other in the splendour of their shoes, the men appearing in white and red leather, the emperor and great personages wearing shoes adorned with gold and even with jewels. Among the Romans generally, a great variety of shoes was in use, many of them borrowed from other countries (see CREPIDA, SOCCUS). Wooden shoes (sculponeoe) were worn by slaves and peasants. For the military boot in use under the Empire, seeCALIGA. Coverings for the head. The upper classes in Greece and Italy generally went bareheaded. It was only when long in the open air, as on journeys, or while hunting, or in the theatre, that they used the caps and bats worn by artisans, country folk, and fishermen (see PETASUS, PILLEUS, CAUSIA). In Rome, for protection against sun and storm, they adopted from the northern countries the cucullus or cucullio , a hood fastened to the poenilla or lacerna. The head was often protected, in the case both of men and women, by drawing the top of the garment over the head. Besides kerchiefs and caps, women also wore veils, which in some cases, as at Thebes (and as now in the East), covered the face as far as the eyes. Roman ladies would seldom appear in the street uncovered. A common covering was the ricinium, which also served as a wrapper. This was, in later times, only worn at religious ceremonials. It was a square cloth fastened to the head which ladies folded round them, throwing it over the left arm and left shoulder. For protection against the sun ladies carried umbrellas (Gr. skiadeion, Lat. umbraculum, umbella ), or made their servants carry them. Fans (Gr. rhipos , Lat. flabellum) were likewise in common use. These were made of gaily-painted bits of wood, and the feathers of peacocks or other birds, and were generally in the shape of leaves. Ornaments. Rings were in fashion both among men and women. The only other metal ornaments which men would have any opportunity for wearing in ordinary life were the clasps or brooches (fibuloe) used for fastening dresses or girdles. These were of bronze, silver, or gold, and often adorned with costly jewels. Besides rings and clasps, women wore needles in their hair, and ear-rings, necklaces, and bracelets on their wrists and arms, sometimes even on their ankles. The trinkets that have been preserved from antiquity exhibit the greatest conceivable variety of form. One of the commonest forms for a bracelet is that of a snake, surrounding the arm once, or in several spirals. An equal variety is observable in the ornamentations of pearls, precious stones, and the like. |
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DRAMA
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Greece. In Athens the production of plays was a state affair, not a private undertaking. It formed a great part of the religious festival of the Dionysia, in which the drama took its rise (see DIONYSIA; and it was only at the greater Dionysia that pieces could be performed during the author's lifetime. The performances lasted three days, and took the form of musical contests, the competitors being three tragic poets with their tetralogies, and five comic poets with one piece each. The authority who superintended the whole was the archon, to whom the poets had to bring their plays for reading, and apply for a chorus. If the pieces were accepted and the chorus granted, the citizens who were liable for the Choregia undertook at their own cost to practise and furnish for them one chorus each. (See LEITOURGIA.) The poets whose plays were accepted received an honorarium from the state. The state also supplied the regular number of actors, and made provision for the maintenance of order during the performances. At the end of the performance a certain number of persons (usually five), was chosen by lot from a committee nominated by the senate, to award the prizes (Agonothetoe), and bound them by oath to give their judgment on the plays, the choregi, and the actors. The poet who won the first prize was presented with a crown in the presence of the assembled multitude-the highest distinction that used to be conferred on a dramatic author at Athens. The victorious choregus also received a crown, with the permission to dedicate a votive offering to Dionysus. This was generally a tripod, which was set up either in the theatre, or in the temple of the deity, or in the " Street of Tripods," so named from this custom, an inscription being put on it recording the event (fig. 1). The actors in the successful play received prizes of money, besides the usual honoraria. From the time of Sophocles the actors in a play were three in number. They had to represent all the parts, those of women included, which involved their changing their costume several times during the performance. The three actors were distinguished as Protagonistes, Deuteragonistes, and Tritagonistes, according to the importance of their parts. If the piece required a fourth actor, which was seldom the case, the choregus had to provide one. The choregus had also to see to the position and equipment of the personoemutoe. In earlier times it is possible that the persons engaged in the representation did not make a business of their artp but performed gratuitously, as the poets down to the time of Sophocles appeared on the stage. But the dramatic art gradually became a profession, requiring careful preparation, and winning general respect for its members as artists. The chief requirements for the profession were distinctness and correctness of pronunciation, especially in declamatory passages, and an unusual power of memory, as there was no prompter in a Greek theatre. An actor had also to be thoroughly trained in singing, melodramatic action, dancing, and play of gesture. The latter was especially necessary, as the use of masks precluded all play of feature. The actors were, according to strict rule, assigned to the poets by lot; yet a poet generally had his special protagonistes, on whose peculiar gifts he had his eye in writing the dramatic pieces. The Athenian tragedies began to be known all over the Hellenic world as early as the time of Aeschylus. The first city, outside of Attica, that had a theatre was Syracuse, where Aesebylus brought out some of his own plays. Scenic contests soon began to term part of the religious festivals in various Greek cities, and were celebrated in honour of other deities besides Dionysus. It was a habit of Alexander the Great to celebrate almost every considerable event with dramatic exhibitions, and after him this became the regular custom. A considerable increase in the number of actors was one consequence of the new demand. The actors called themselves artists of Dionysus, and in the larger cities they formed permanent societies (synodoi) with special privileges, including exemption from military service, and security in person and property. These companies had a regular organization, presided over by a priest of their patron-god Dionysus, annually elected from among their members. A treasurer and officers completed the staff. At the time of the festivals the societies sent out their members in groups of three actors, with a manager, and a flute-player, to the different cities. This business was especially lively in Ionia and on the Euxine the societies of Teos, being the most distinguished. The same arrangement was adopted in Italy, and continued to exist under the Roman Empire. The universal employment of masks was a remarkable peculiarity of costume (see MASKS). It naturally excluded all play of feature, but the masks corresponded to the general types of character, as well as to the special types indicated by the requirements of the play. Certain conventionalities were observed in the colour of the hair. Goddesses and young persons had light hair, gods and persons of riper age, dark brown; aged persons, white; and the deities of the lower world, black. The height of the masks and top-knots varied with the age of the actors, and the parts they took. Their stature was considerably heightened in tragedies by the high boot (see COTHURNUS), and the defects in oportion corrected by padding, and the use of a kind of gloves. The conventionalities of costume, probably as fixed by Aeschylus, maintained themselves as long as Greek tragedies were performed at all. Men and women of high rank wore on the stage a variegated or richly embroidered long-sleeved chiton, reaching to the feet, and fastened with a girdle as high as the breast. The upper garment, whether himation or chlamys, was long and splendid, and often embroidered with gold. Kings and queens had a purple train, and a white himation with a purple border; soothsayers, a netted upper garment reaching to the feet. Persons in misfortune, especially fugitives, appeared in soiled garments of grey, green, or blue; black was the symbol of mourning, and so on. In the Satyric Drama the costumes of the heroic characters resembled in all essentials what they wore in the tragedies, although, to suit the greater liveliness of the action, the chiton was shorter and the boot lower. In the Old Comedy the costumes were taken as nearly as possible from actual life, but in the Middle and New Comedy they were conventional. The men wore a white coat; youths, a purple one; slaves, a motley with mantle to match; cooks, an unbleached double mantle; peasants, a fur or shaggy coat, with wallet and staff; panders, a coloured coat and motley over-garment. Old women appeared in sky-blue or dark yellow, priestesses and maidens in white; courtesans, in motley colours, and so on. The members of the chorus were masked and dressed in a costume corresponding to the part assigned them by the poet. (On their dress in the Satyric Drama, see SATYRIC DRAMA.) The chorus of the comedy caricatured the ordinary dress of the tragic chorus. Sometimes they represented animals, as in the Frogs and Birds of Aristophanes. In the Frogs they wore tight dresses of frog-colour, and masks with a mouth wide open; in the Birds, large beaks, bunches of feathers, combs, and so on, to imitate particular birds. (See plate in Journal of Hellenic Studies, vol. ii, Plate xiv B, copied in Haigh's Attic Theatre, p. 267.) |
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