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Ancient/Classical History/Ancient Greece - Clothing

Expert: Maria - 2/2/2011

Question
Did Ancient Greeks wear hoods? What I found on the net were mostly Ancient Roman depictions.

Answer
Hello,

Both the Greeks and the Romans wore hoods such as the Greek “fainóles” (in ancient Greek letters, φαινόλης) or Roman “lacerna”, which was a kind of hooded shawl, and the “paenula”,that was a woollen outer garment covering the whole body, a kind of cloak or mantle, worn on journeys, and also in the city in rainy weather.
This “paenula” had a hood attached exactly as a long tunic called “caracalla”.
Such a hood was called “cucullus” in Latin.

As for Ancient Roman depictions, maybe you could see at :
http://www.roman-empire.net/society/soc-dress.html
http://www.fashion-era.com/ancient_costume/roman-costume-history-toga.htm#The_Tu...
http://www.dl.ket.org/latin1/things/romanlife/ancientp15.htm

Hope this helps.
Best regards,
Maria

Questioner's Rating

Rating(1-10)	Knowledgeability = 10	Clarity of Response = 10	Politeness = 10
Comment	Thank you, your response was very helpful. I am writing some fiction set at that time and I wanted a character to wear a hood. Then it hit me it seems strange that they were almost never depicted with hoods/fainóles on though. I realized didn't know if they ever did have hoods. Then again, hoodies over one's head aren't that common these days either (relatively speaking). Thank you again. It was really awesome of you to answer this strange question.