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With the Greek civilization counted as one of the oldest civilizations, it is no surprise that the ancient Greek male costume has always been intriguing both for the researchers as well as those who are fascinated by everything Greek'. Though the generally worn costume by most Greek men was a comfortable, tunic-like garment, it was mostly given a shape with a kind of belt. This kind of an ancient Greek male costume was called a chiton. A similar type of this dress was worn by women too, though with an additional covering.
To beat the cold, older men wore draped a blanket like costume, either by itself or over their chitons. Travelers had an added variation to the regular costume worn by ancient Greek males - the Chalmys, which was essentially a small rectangular piece of cloth placed over one of their shoulders.
In Ancient Greece, lead male characters in the Greek theater also had to accentuate their overall costume to make a statement with their audience. They often had to wear shoes with 'platform' heels to give themselves extra height. In fact, these kinds of shoes were a part of the costume of ancient Greek men, who wanted to avoid the dirt of the streets. Another reason Greek men preferred platform shoes to be an important part of their costume was that young men in particular wanted to attract attention.
The knowledge about ancient Greek costumes for men would not be complete without a mention of their war 'helmets', the most recognizable part of a Greek warrior's attire. However, 'Greek helmets' is not an easy accessory to be described. Unlike the costumes, traditionally, there is no specific helmet to signify the Greek culture. These helmets were of different kinds, namely - Trojan, Spartan and Corinthian. Out of these, one of the most admired helmets by collectors is the 'Trojan war' helmets.
Though the helmets of these ancient Greek men were of different designs, there was an underlying similarity too. The chief difference, however, which differentiated one helmet from the others was - the color of the helmet and the plume. Most of the Trojan helmets of Greeks were in colors like - silver, black, and bronze. Some of them also had a war paint camouflage color. Orange, red, and black were the popular colors of the plumes.
If you want to know the minutest detail of the most historical Trojan helmets, that formed a part of the ancient Greek male costume, especially during war, the black and bronze were the most liked ones. In fact, such a helmet combined with a black or red plume finished up the overall look of the costume. Spartan helmets were another type of helmets that most Greek men liked to go in for.
The basic design of these helmets, like everything else about the ancient Greek male costume, was their evident 'plainness'. A plain silver-colored helmet, made of iron and steel, was the most loved of all the designs. This particular one was sans the plume. This was worn by the fighters among the ancient Greek men - the Spartan foot soldiers who were the practical force of the Greeks during times of war!
Christopher Schwebius is an entrepreneur who seeks out sharply defined, specifically focused topics to research. Upon finishing his research he provides relevant, un-biased information to his readers based on his discoveries and/or personal experiences.
One of his latest ongoing projects can be viewed at http://www.ancientgreekcostume.org
