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{{Short description|Ancient Greek clothing}}

[[File:Delos House of Cleopatra.jpg|thumb|upright|Statues at the "House of Cleopatra" in [[Delos]], Greece. Woman and man wearing himations]]
A '''himation''' ({{IPAc-en|h|ɪ|ˈ|m|æ|t|i|ˌ|ɒ|n}} {{respell|hə-MAT-ee-un}},<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/himation|title=Himation|work=Merriam-Webster}}</ref> {{langx|grc|ἱμάτιον}}) was a type of clothing, a [[mantle (clothing)|mantle]] or [[Wrap (clothing)|wrap]] worn by ancient Greek men and women from the [[Archaic Greece|Archaic period]] through the [[Hellenistic period]] ({{circa|750–30}} BC).<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Mark |first=Joshua J. |title=Ancient Greek Clothing |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/article/20/ancient-greek-clothing/ |access-date=2023-06-02 |website=World History Encyclopedia |language=en}}</ref> It was usually worn over a [[Chiton (garment)|chiton]] and/or [[peplos]], but was made of heavier drape and played the role of a [[cloak]] or [[shawl]].<ref name=":2" />  When the himation was used alone, without a chiton, it served both as a chiton and as a cloak.<ref name=":2" /> The himation was markedly less voluminous than the Roman [[toga]]. Many vase paintings depict women wearing a himation as a veil covering their faces.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Renshaw|first1=James|title=In Search of the Greeks|date=2008|publisher=Bristol Classical Press|location=London|isbn=978-1-8539-9699-3|page=157}}</ref>

The himation continued into the [[Byzantine dress|Byzantine era]] as "iconographic dress" used in art and by the lower classes, worn by Christ, the [[Mary, mother of Jesus|Virgin Mary]], and biblical figures.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Himation – Bible Clothing |url=https://www.bibleclothing.com/gentile-garments/greek/himation/ |access-date=2023-06-03 |website=www.bibleclothing.com}}</ref>

== Origins ==
While there are no physical remains of himation that have been recovered, it is known that himation was worn by [[Ancient Greece|ancient Greeks]] as early as the 6th century BCE.<ref name=":02">{{Cite web |title=Himation {{!}} Encyclopedia.com |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/sports-and-everyday-life/fashion-and-clothing/clothing-jewelry-and-personal-adornment/himation#:~:text=Both%20Greek%20men%20and%20women,a%20variety%20of%20different%20ways. |access-date=2023-05-24 |website=www.encyclopedia.com}}</ref>

Through different decorations, pottery, and statues, it is known that himation was typically made out of [[wool]] and [[linen]], usually in the color white.<ref name=":02" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=kimmygutierrez |date=2016-09-15 |title=Greek Himation Dress |url=https://kimmygutierrezart2130.wordpress.com/2016/09/15/greek-himation-dress/ |access-date=2023-06-02 |website=Art 2130 |language=en}}</ref> The production of himation was considered a woman's job, as they would spin the wool or linen into yarn and weave the yarn into a large piece of rectangular fabric.<ref name=":2" /> While a majority of the time women made himation in their homes, there were also professional weavers and dyers.<ref name=":2" /> Because of the price of the material, quality linen was typically reserved for the upper class of Greek society.<ref name=":2" /> It is thought that himation may have been patterned or embroidered with eye-catching colors and very complex patterns.<ref name=":02" /> These patterns would sometimes be woven into the thick wool or linen, or otherwise painted directly onto the himation.<ref name=":02" />
[[File:Bronze_Statue_of_an_Aristocratic_Boy.jpg|left|thumb|This image is the Bronze Statue of a Roman Aristocratic Boy, wearing himation, from the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]].<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=Bronze statue of an aristocratic boy {{!}} Roman {{!}} Augustan |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/248891 |access-date=2023-06-01 |website=The Metropolitan Museum of Art |language=en}}</ref>]]
Himation was perhaps the most popular garment worn in ancient Greece, with many different styles of wearing. It also "served as an important means of nonverbal communication. A properly arranged himation conveyed elite status, while garments in disarray created opportunities for bodily display in homosexual and heterosexual courtship."<ref name=":12">{{Cite web |title=himation {{!}} Fashion History Timeline |url=https://fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/himation/ |access-date=2023-05-18 |website=fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu |language=en-US}}</ref>

The himation became so popular, that historians use the word to refer to a number of different Greek garments.<ref name=":02" /> Due to the popularity of himation, the [[Ancient Rome|ancient Romans]] also adopted the style, making himation a part of their society as well.<ref name=":4" />[[File:Sitting_Achilles_wrapped_in_a_himation,_depicted_on_a_greek_kylix_from_ca_500_BC.jpg|thumb|Sitting [[Achilles]] wrapped in a himation, from {{circa|500}} BC]]

== Wearing styles ==
Himation is not kept in place using pins, unlike other types of [[Clothing in ancient Greece|Ancient Greek overgarments]]. When worn by men, the himation is draped over the left shoulder and wrapped around the rest of their body, except for their right arms.<ref name=":02" /> For women, the himation allows for either the right or the left arm to be freed from the garment.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Lee|first=Mireille M.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dpvWBQAAQBAJ|title=Body, Dress, and Identity in Ancient Greece|date=2015-01-12|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-05536-0|language=en}}</ref>

Vases depicting life during the start of [[Archaic Greece]] showed that men of all ages and social classes wore the himation over the [[Chiton (garment)|chiton]].<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |title=Attributed to the Berlin Painter {{!}} Terracotta amphora (jar) {{!}} Greek, Attic {{!}} Late Archaic |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/254896 |access-date=2023-05-19 |website=The Metropolitan Museum of Art |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite web |title=Attributed to the Berlin Painter {{!}} Terracotta amphora (jar) {{!}} Greek, Attic {{!}} Late Archaic |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/254896 |access-date=2023-05-19 |website=The Metropolitan Museum of Art |language=en}}</ref> Women also started wearing both the chiton and himation during the same period and continued the practice into the [[Hellenistic period]].<ref name=":0" /> Older boys, who are above the age of [[ephebos]], when not wearing the style followed by adult men, covered their entire body with the himation.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Evans|first=Lady Maria Millington Lathbury|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uZlEAAAAIAAJ|title=Chapters on Greek Dress|date=1893|publisher=Macmillan and Company|language=en}}</ref>
[[File:Judge_Wearing_Himation.jpg|thumb|The Terracotta Amphora from the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], showing a judge in himation<ref name=":5" />]]
The style which a person adopts can provide a different meaning and society judges a person's character from how they chose to wear their himation.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> [[Ancient Greek philosophy|Ancient Greek philosophers]] at the time mention this perspective in their works. One of them, [[Theophrastus]], described Boorishness in his work [[Characters (Theophrastus)|Characters]], as a person who sits while allowing his himation to be draped above his knees.<ref name=":0" />

Ancient Greek gods are often described as wearing himation in various situations. For example, [[Athena]] has been described as wearing an [[attic helmet]], a [[peplos]], an [[aegis]] with a small [[gorgoneion]], and a himation.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Carol L. Lawton, Attic Document Reliefs, Art and Politics in Ancient Athens (Selections), chapter 1 |url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0005:chapter=1&highlight=himation |access-date=2023-05-18 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> Another god that has been described as wearing a himation was [[Dionysus|Dionysos]]. In an explanation of a piece of artwork at the [[Baltimore Museum of Art]], Dionysos is described as wearing "a himation and ivy wreath and carries [[Kantharos]] in uplifted left hand".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ellen Reeder Williams, The Archaeological Collection of the Johns Hopkins University (Selections), Baltimore, Hopkins BMA 60.55.2 |url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0046:entry=99&highlight=himation |access-date=2023-05-18 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref>

Not only did the everyday people of ancient Greek society wear himation, but the most divine figures throughout ancient Greece's history wore himation as well, showing just how popular of a garment it was.

== Men, women, and children in himation ==
[[File:Singing_Man_Wearing_Himation.jpg|thumb|The other side of the Terracotta Amphora from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, showing a young man singing and playing the [[kithara]]<ref name=":6" />]]
Women wearing himation did not come into fashion until around 500 BCE, with the end of the [[Archaic Greece|Archaic Period]], when it became more frequently worn by women.<ref name=":3" />  Women commonly wore himation in public "as warm cloaks over their thin Ionic [[Chiton (garment)|chitons]]".<ref name=":02" /> Himation was also often used to show off women's personal styles and their statuses in ancient Greek society. In the presence of strangers, himation doubled as a veil.<ref name=":13">{{Cite web |title=himation {{!}} Fashion History Timeline |url=https://fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/himation/ |access-date=2023-05-18 |website=fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu |language=en-US}}</ref> Women were more relaxed with the configuration of their himation.<ref name=":3" />

Men would sometimes wear himation in professional settings. At the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] in [[New York City|New York]], an ancient greek piece of pottery, called the Terracotta Amphora, shows a Greek judge wearing himation.<ref name=":5" /> On the other side of the Terracotta Amphora, it shows a far less professional setting of a man wearing himation. In this image a young man is playing the [[kithara]] and singing.<ref name=":6" /> There were some unwritten rules men had when it came to wearing himation. One of which was the length that himation; if it went past the ankles and dragged, it was considered in poor taste.<ref name=":3" /> Also, if the left shoulder was exposed when wearing himation, the man was seen as [[Barbarian|barbaric]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Adhikari |first=Saugat |date=2014-08-28 |title=Top 10 Famous Clothes in Ancient Greece |url=https://www.ancienthistorylists.com/greek-history/top-10-famous-clothes-ancient-greece/ |access-date=2023-06-02 |website=Ancient History Lists |language=en-US}}</ref>

Children also wore himation, "Notably the himation was sometimes worn by aristocratic Roman school boys, who were sent to schools taught by Greek tutors."<ref name=":13" />

==See also==
* [[Chiton (garment)|Chiton (costume)]]
* [[Clothing in ancient Greece]]
* [[Clothing in the ancient world]]
* [[Exomis]]
* [[Stephane (headdress)|Stephane (Ancient Greece)]]
* [[Tunic]]
* [[Zoster (costume)]]
* [[Toga]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category-inline|Himation}}

{{Historical clothing|state=expanded}}
[[Category:6th-century BC establishments in Greece]]
[[Category:Byzantine clothing]]
[[Category:Greek clothing]]
[[Category:Mantles (clothing)]]
[[Category:Athena]]
[[Category:Dionysus]]