The kolpos (Greek κόλπος, breast) is the ''blousing'' of a

peplos A peplos ( el, ὁ πέπλος) is a body-length garment established as typical attire for women in ancient Greece by circa 500 BC, during the late Archaic and Classical period. It was a long, rectangular cloth with the top edge folded down ...

chiton Chitons () are marine molluscs of varying size in the class Polyplacophora (), formerly known as Amphineura. About 940 extant and 430 fossil species are recognized. They are also sometimes known as gumboots or sea cradles or coat-of-mail s ...

tunic A tunic is a garment for the body, usually simple in style, reaching from the shoulders to a length somewhere between the hips and the knees. The name derives from the Latin ''tunica'', the basic garment worn by both men and women in Ancient Rome ...

in Ancient Greek clothing, whereby excess length of the material hangs folded over a

zone Zone or The Zone may refer to: Places Climate and altitude zones * Death zone (originally the lethal zone), altitudes above a certain point where the amount of oxygen is insufficient to sustain human life for an extended time span * Frigid zone, ...

(a narrow girdle). The fabric of the garment was typically cut longer than the shoulder-to-floor measurement of the women or man wearing it. The excess length was dealt with at the waist (creating the kolpos) and optionally the top edge (creating the apoptygma). To create the kolpos, a zone was tied around the body below the breast (high-girdled) or at the waist (low-girdled) and excess fabric was pulled up over it. The fabric fell over the girdle so as to hide it, and was often pulled longer in back than in front. This fold was the kolpos. A second (visible) zone could be tied over the kolpos to redefine the waist, high or low. This might be hidden again by the apoptygma, the loose, folded down top of the peplos.

References

{{reflist Greek clothing History of clothing

See also

References