SUBLIGA´CULUM
SUBLIGA´CULUM,
A piece of cloth tied
or wrapped round the waist and worn as an apron or loin-cloth is one of the
most primitive of garments, and is found in some form or other all the world
over. That it was worn in Greece in pre-historic times is shown by the
hunters on the inlaid sword-blade from the fourth grave at Mycenae (cf.
Schuchardt,
Schliemann's Ausgrabungen, p. 263, fig. 227;
Milchhoefer,
Anfänge, p. 145) and other monuments of
the same age. In later times it is found frequently on archaic bronzes, and
on early black-figured vase-paintings, as the dress of smiths and other
craftsmen, as well as of labourers (cf. the olive-gatherers on a
black--figured vase, in Baumeister,
Denkm. p. 1017). It was
also worn by warriors below their armour, but only in early times, for in
later times it was supplanted by the linen shirt or
χιτών.
There is some difficulty in tracing the use of the garment in literature. In
Homer, for instance, Euryalus the boxer in
Il.
23.683 wears a
ζῶμα, which is
undoubtedly a loin-cloth, taking perhaps the shape of bathing drawers; but
elsewhere the use of the word is not consistent (being sometimes evidently a
kind of belt: cf. Studniczka,
Beiträge, p. 67
foll.). The fact of the matter seems to be that, owing to the comparative
severity of the Greek climate, it was never used, as in the East, as a man's
sole garment, except where he was engaged in very violent exercise. Thus, in
early times,
διαζώματα were worn at the
Olympic games (
Thuc. 1.6). The custom, however,
fell into disuse after Orsippos (
Paus. 1.44,
1), who was victor in Ol. 15 (720 B.C.), had
run without (cf.
C. I. G. 1050). In classical times the apron
is better known as the characteristic garb of cook (Hegesipp.
Ἀδ. 1.7), the general name being
περίζωμα or
περιζώστρα (see LUCTATIO, and the
woodcut on page 82
b).
At Rome, as in Greece, the apron or loin-cloth seems to have been an older
undergarment than the shirt or
TUNICA It was worn not only by men, but also by women (
Mart. 3.87,
4), and was
known as the
subligaculum (Non. p. 29, 20),
subligar, or
campestre. In the Twelve Tables it goes by the name of
licium (Gaius, 3.192, 193). Its use in imperial
times was chiefly confined to servants (
succicti
linteo, Suet.
Cat. 26), and it was indeed generally
regarded as the characteristic garb of the early Republic. Thus Horace
speaks of
cinctuti Cethegi as models of heroic simplicity
(
A. P. 50; cf. Porphyrion
ad
loc.). So, too, candidates for election had it as part of their
old-fashioned costume (
Plut. Cor. 14;
Quaest. Rom. 49, p. 340), while ascetics,
like Cato the younger, adopted it as a protest against luxury (
Plut. Cat. Mi. 6;
V.
Max. 3.6,
7). One form of the apron,
the
campestre (cf. Isid.
Orig.
19.22, 5), was especially used by soldiers (=
περίζωμα, Dionys.), though it was scarcely sufficient to
compete with the
tunica as a protection from
cold (cf.
Hor. Ep. 1.11,
6), and was doubtless soon given up for the
shirt.
Of much the same shape were the drawers worn by actors (
Cic. de Off. 1.3. 5, 129) and
dancers, which were also used by bathers, especially ladies (Mart.
l.c.). An illustration is given under
SALTATIO p. 594.
(Furtwängler,
Archaeologische Zeitung, 1882, p. 329;
1884, p. 167;--Daremberg and Saglio,
Dict. d'Ant., s. v.
Cinctus, p. 1172; Marquardt,
Privatleben, pp. 282, 484, 580; Iwan Müller,
Handbuch, pp. 803, 927; Voigt,
Zwölf
Tafeln, § 169, 31.)
[
W.C.F.A]
