Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Chlamys

Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary, and Greek Lexicon (Rich, 1849)

CHLAM'YS (χλαμύς). A light and short mantle, originating with the inhabitants of Thessaly or of Macedonia, whence it was imported into other parts of Greece, and became the regular equestrian costume of the Athenian youths, from the period of their becoming ἔφηβος until the age of manhood. (Plutarch. Alex. 26. Pollux. x. 124. Apul. Met. x. p. 233.) It consisted of an oblong square piece of cloth, to each side of which a goar (πτέρυξ) was attached, sometimes in the form a right-angled, and at others of an obtuse-angled triangle, so that the whole, when spread out, would form a mantle of similar shape and dimensions to the diagrams (Chlamys/1.1) introduced above. The different ways in which it was adjusted and worn are described and illustrated in the preceding article.

2. Properly speaking, the chlamys belongs to the national costume of the Greeks, but not of the Romans, though it was occasionally adopted, even at an early period, by some of the last-mentioned people, as by L. Scipio and Sylla (Cic. Rabir. Post. 10. Val. Max. iii. 2. and 3.); but these are both mentioned as singular instances. In some cases too, it is ascribed to women — to Dido by Virgil (Aen. iv. 137.), and to Agrippina by Tacitus (Ann. xii. 56.).

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  Chlamys/1.1