Apeplos (Greek:πέπλος) is a body-length garment established as typical attire forwomen in ancient Greece byc. 500 BC, during the lateArchaic andClassical period. It was a long, rectangular cloth with the top edge folded down about halfway, so that what was the top of the rectangle was now draped below the waist, and the bottom of the rectangle was at the ankle. One side of the peplos could be left open, or pinned or sewn together,[2] with a type of brooch later called "fibula".[3] In Latin and in a Roman context, it could be called apalla.[4]
It should not be confused with theIonicchiton, which was a piece of fabric folded over and sewn together along the longer side to form a tube. The Classical garment is represented inGreek vase painting from the 5th century BC and in themetopes of temples in theDoric order.
Spartan women continued to wear the peplos much later in history than other Greek cultures. It was also shorter and withslits on the side causing other Greeks to call them phainomērídes (φαινομηρίδες), the "thigh-showers".
On the last day of the monthPyanepsion, thepriestess ofAthena Polias and theArrephoroi, a group of girls chosen to help in the making of the sacred peplos, set up the loom on which the enormous peplos was to be woven by theErgastinai, another group of girls chosen to spend about nine months making the sacred peplos. They had to weave a theme ofAthena's defeat ofEnkelados and the Olympian's defeat of theGiants. The peplos of the statue was changed each year during thePlynteria.
The peplos played a role in the Athenian festival of the GreatPanathenaea. Nine months before the festival, at the arts and crafts festival titledChalkeia, a special peplos would begin to be woven by young women. During the Panathenaea, the peplos was taken up to theAcropolis ofAthens to be presented to the wooden statue of Athena Polias in theErechtheion, opposite theParthenon.[5] The main scene of the Parthenonfrieze is believed, although not without disagreement, to represent this peplos scene during the Panathenaea.[5][6] The peplos had images of the mythic battle between gods and giants woven into its material and usually consisted of purple and saffron yellow cloth.
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