Chlamys

This was going to be a loose chitoniskos, but this side took about 2 days and with one day to go, I knew I needed a different plan. This instead became a chlamys, and I made a second chiton that had alternating vergina suns and trident heads along the hemline.

Inspiration for this as a chiton was from Herakles’ tunic on the Pronomos Painter’s name vase [2]. I used what I’m assuming are curved trident heads on Herakles’ tunic (as opposed to the more square trident heads you often see with Poseidon as on [7]) because it is a symbol in a transitional state from horseshoe to trident. I changed the orientation from pointing to bottom right to top right as part of that transition from an upright horseshoe. Inspiration for the “dots” and waves came from this piece, as did the palmettes, but I used my own palmette modification to create strawberry leaf-like palmettes. What is probably a vergina sun appears on the vase on what might be a part of Herakles’ baldric. The countercomponey is inspired by Apollo’s tunic [8]. (Unintended interesting connections between the two pieces are that both depict satyrs and both Herakles and Apollo are wearing what I have seen called Thracian shirts or “Oriental tunics” – in that they have fitted sleeves which are typically displaying geometric patterns as in both of these cases – rather than the traditional Greek chiton.)

Most of the reproductions of chlamyses that I have seen are a fairly simple solid rectangle with a border, such as on Hermes [9], which makes sense in their frequent use as a military garment or for travelers. However, there is at least one counterexample of highly decorated chlamyses in art as seen on Ajax and Achilles [10].

References

[2] Name vase of the Pronomos painter, Naples 3240 (410 BC). Internet:  http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/artifact?name=Naples+3240&object=vase, [April 5, 2016].
[7] Poseidon, Athenian Red-figure Oinochoe Fragment, Sarajevo National Museum 9224 (500-400 BC). Internet: http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/03A4990F-6197-4BD5-B382-5A83F91F2D50 , [August 15, 2016].
[8] Apollo with a kithara, Paestan Red Figure by Asteas, Louvre K 570 (360-340 BC). Internet: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/image?img=Perseus:image:1992.06.1194, [August 15, 2016].
[9] Hermes, Athenian Red-figure Amphora by Berlin Painter, Museo Gregoriano Etrusco Vaticano, Vatican 17907 (525-475 BC). Internet: http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/F1C7A0A0-0BA5-483B-8436-4B2E2E5A5427, [August 15, 2016].
[10] Achilles and Ajax engaged in a game, Amphora by Exekias, Vatican Museums, Vatican 344 (540-530 BC). Internet: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exekias#/media/File:Akhilleus_Aias_MGEt_16757.jpg, [August 15, 2016].