peplos

peplos

English

Terracotta statue of a Greek woman wearing a peplos.

Etymology

From Ancient Greek πέπλος (péplos).

Noun

peplos (plural peploi or peploses)

1. (historical) An Ancient Greek garment, worn by women, formed of a tubular piece of cloth, which is folded back upon itself halfway down, until the top of the tube is worn around the waist, and the bottom covers the legs down to the ankles; the open top is then worn over the shoulders, and draped, in folds, down to the waist.
   • 1990, David Martin Halperin, John J. Winkler, Froma I. Zeitlin, eds, Before Sexuality: The Construction of Erotic Experience in the Ancient Greek World

     An obvious question arises: what on earth can Herakles do with a peplos? Throughout Greek tradition, the peplos ("piece of cloth, veil, dress") is a woman's garment, and sometimes a barbarian's garment—no contradiction, as far as a Greek is concerned.

   • 1993, Charles Segal, Euripides and the Poetics of Sorrow

     The garments (peploi) that serve the Trojan women as a pretext to laying hands on their victims are also the means of concealing the daggers that will kill […]

   • 2004, Mary Stieber, The Poetics of Appearance in the Attic Korai

     I leave aside the vexed questions about whether one or two peploi were woven and presented to Athena during the Greater (every four years) and Lesser (every year) Panathenaic festivals […]

See also

• peplum
• palla
• exomis
• himation
• chlamys
• chiton

Anagrams

• Pelops