Daf Ditty: Pesachim 51 Cordax

Egyptian dancing, detail from a tomb painting

from Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qurnah, Egypt, c. 1400 BCE1

"The dance of the youths and maidens is distinctive. It is a ritual dance

performed with great care, by dancers scrupulously dressed in their best
garments. It is made up of a crisp, rapid, circular figure, followed by a
movement of two lines in opposition to one another."

Homer, The Iliad

calceamentum, calceamenti N N [XXXCO] shoe; instrument for

stretching hides;

1
In the British Museum, London.

1
κόρδαξ , α_κος, ὁ,

A.cordax, a dance of the old Comedy, κόρδακα ἑλκύσαι to dance it, Ar.Nu.540,
cf. 555, Luc.Salt.22, 26; “ὀρχεῖσθαι νήφων τὸν κ.” Thphr.Char.6.3; regarded as
indecent, l.c., cf. Ath.14.631d; also in cult of Artemis at Sipylus, Paus.6.22.1; at
Elis, ibid.; “οἱ περὶ τὸν Πύθιον Ἀπόλλωνα κ.” IG12(7).246 (Amorgos).2

2
Henry George Liddell. Robert Scott. A Greek-English Lexicon. revised and augmented throughout by. Sir Henry Stuart Jones.
with the assistance of. Roderick McKenzie. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1940.

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After mentioning halakhot relating to customs, the Gemara returns to discuss the matter itself. If
matters are permitted but others were accustomed to treat them as a prohibition, you are not
allowed to permit these actions in their presence. Rav Ḥisda said: We are dealing with
Samaritans, not with Jews. The Gemara is surprised at this: And doesn’t this apply to everyone?
Wasn’t it taught in a baraita to the contrary? Two brothers may bathe together, and there is no
concern that doing so is immodest or will lead to sinful thoughts. However, the custom was that

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two brothers do not bathe together in the city of Kabul (see I Kings 9:13). And there was an
incident involving Yehuda and Hillel, sons of Rabban Gamliel, who bathed together in
Kabul, and the entire city denounced them and said: In all our days we have never seen that
type of conduct. Hillel stole away and went out to the outer chamber and did not want to tell
them: You are permitted to do so. He preferred to obey the city residents rather than rule it
permitted for two brothers to bathe together.

Similarly, one may go out with wide shoes that resemble slippers on Shabbat; however, one
does not go out with wide shoes in the city of Birei.

And there was an incident involving Yehuda and Hillel, sons of Rabban Gamliel, who went
out with wide shoes in Birei, and the people of the city denounced them and said: In all our
days we have never seen that type of conduct. And Yehuda and Hillel removed their shoes, and

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gave them to their gentile servants, and did not want to tell the residents of the city: You are
permitted to go out with wide shoes on Shabbat.

Jastrow

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Similarly, one may sit on gentiles’ stools on Shabbat, even though these stools are typically used
for displaying merchandise. But one may not sit on gentiles' stools on Shabbat in the city of
Akko. And there was an incident involving Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel who sat on gentiles’
stools on Shabbat in the city of Akko, and the entire city denounced him. They said: In all
our days we have never seen that type of conduct. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel moved onto the
ground and did not want to tell them: You are permitted to sit on the stools. The Gemara
answers: The legal status of people in the cities, since Sages are not found among them, is like
that of the Samaritans. Therefore, it is prohibited to tell them that these activities are permitted.

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The Gemara proceeds to clarify the reasons for the stringent customs in those communities.
Granted, sitting on gentiles’ stools is prohibited because it appears like one is engaged in
buying and selling on Shabbat. In the case of wide shoes as well, it is prohibited to wear them
due to the concern lest they fall off one’s feet and he come to carry them in his hand four cubits
in the public domain, thereby violating a Torah prohibition.

However, what is the reason that two brothers may not bathe together? The Gemara answers:
The custom to prohibit doing so is based on that which was taught in a baraita: A person may
bathe with anyone except for his father, and his father-in-law, and his mother’s husband,
and his sister’s husband. Due to the nature of their relation, one might come to ponder how they
came to be related and have prohibited thoughts about intimacy between men and women. And
Rabbi Yehuda permits one to bathe with his father, due to the honor that he can accord his
father by assisting his father while bathing. The same is true for one’s mother’s husband.

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And the people of Kabul came and issued a decree to prohibit bathing together for two brothers,
due to their concern that it is similar to bathing with one’s sister’s husband. It was taught in the
Tosefta: A student may not bathe with his teacher, since it is disrespectful to see one’s teacher
naked. But if his teacher requires his help when bathing, it is permitted.

The Gemara relates: When Rabba bar bar Ḥana came from Eretz Yisrael to Babylonia, he ate
the fat found over the straight part of an animal’s stomach. The fat along the stomach consists
of two parts: The inner, straight portion, which is shaped like a bowstring, and the outer, rounded
portion, which is shaped like a bow. With regard to the fat surrounding the inner, straight portion,
the custom in Eretz Yisrael was lenient, whereas in Babylonia it was stringent. Rav Avira the
Elder and Rabba, son of Rav Huna, entered to see Rabba bar bar Ḥana. When he saw them
coming, he concealed from them what he was eating. They came and told Abaye what had
happened, and he said to them: Through his conduct, he rendered you Samaritans, as he could
have told you that it is permitted but did not do so.

The Gemara asks: And is Rabba bar bar Ḥana, who was lenient with regard to a matter that is
prohibited, not in agreement with that which we learned in the mishna: When one travels from
one place to another, the Sages impose upon him the stringencies of the place from which he
left and the stringencies of the place to which he went? Abaye said: That applies when one
travels from one place in Babylonia to another place in Babylonia, or from one place in Eretz
Yisrael to another place in Eretz Yisrael, or alternatively, from Babylonia to Eretz Yisrael.
However, when traveling from Eretz Yisrael to Babylonia, no, this principle does not apply.
Since we, the residents of Babylonia, are subordinate to them in terms of halakha, we act in

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accordance with their custom, but a resident of Eretz Yisrael is not required to follow the
Babylonian custom.

Summary
Rav Avrohom Adler writes:
Permitting what others consider prohibited

The people of Chozai were accustomed to separating challah from rice dough, even though it is
exempt. When they told Rav Yosef this, he said that a non-kohen should eat it in front of them, to
emphasize that this is not challah. Abaye challenged this from the braisa which says that even if
something is permitted, but others have the custom to prohibit it, one may not permit it in front of
them. Rav Yosef answered that Rav Chisda limits this braisa to a case of kutim, who are ignorant,
and we are therefore concerned that permitting something in front of them they will permit
something truly prohibited. Abaye responded that the people of Chozai are also ignorant, and the
same concern would apply to them. Instead, Rav Ashi says that if most of their food is from rice,
a non-kohen should not eat it in front of them, lest they forget the institution of challah altogether.
If most of their food is from the five grains, a non-kohen should eat it, lest they think that rice is
truly obligated, and come to separate from rice dough on grain dough, which would not take effect.

The Gemora returns to discuss the braisa’s rule and Rav Chisda’s statement. The Gemora
challenges Rav Chisda’s limitation to kutim from a braisa which lists various customs which one
must not permit in public:

1. Two brothers may bathe together in one bathhouse, but in Kavul they didn’t permit it. Once
Yehuda and Hillel, Rabban Gamliel’s sons, bathed together in Kavul, and they slandered them,
saying that they never saw anybody do that. Hillel slipped out to the outer chamber, since he didn’t
want to tell them it was permitted.

2. One may wear a wide kurdekison sandal outside on Shabbos, and we are not concerned that it
will slip off and he will pick it up, but in Birai they didn’t wear them. Once Yehuda and Hillel,
Rabban Gamliel’s sons, wore them in Birai, and they slandered them, saying that they never saw
anybody do that. They slipped them off and gave them to their servants, since they didn’t want to
tell them it was permitted.

3. One may sit on benches of the non-Jewish marketplace on Shabbos, without any concern that
people will think that he is buying or selling, but in Ako they didn’t sit on them. Rabban Shimon
ben Gamliel once sat on this bench in Ako, and they all slandered him, saying that they never saw
anybody do that. He slipped off it onto the ground, since he didn’t want to tell them that it was
permitted.

The Gemora answers that these places didn’t have scholars among them, and therefore their
residents are equivalent to kutim. The Gemora says that we understand that the concern in sitting
on the benches is that it may look like he’s buying and selling, and the concern in wearing wide

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sandals is that they may fall off and he’ll pick it up and carry it, but what is the concern in two
brothers bathing together? The Gemora explains by citing a braisa which says that one may bathe
with anyone except for his father, father-in-law, stepfather, and brother in-law, while Rabbi Yehud
allows bathing with one’s father or stepfather, as he can honor them by serving them in the
bathhouse. In Kavul they prohibited bathing with one’s brother, lest one come to bathe with his
brother in-law.

The Gemora cites a braisa which prohibits one from bathing with his teacher, to ensure he keeps
the proper respect for him, unless his teacher needs his student to serve him. Between which
places?

When Rabba bar bar Chana came to Bavel, he ate the fat inside the round part of the stomach.
When Rav Avira Sava and Rabba berai deRav Huna entered, he covered the fat he was eating.
When they told Abaye, he said that Rabba was treating them like kutim, since he didn’t want to
permit something which they treated as prohibited.

The Gemora asks why Rabba wasn’t stringent, as the Mishna says that if one travels between two
places, one of which is stringent, he must also be stringent. Abaye says that one must practice the
stringencies of a place he goes to if this place is equivalent or superior in knowledge to where he
came from (i.e., between places in Eretz Yisrael or places in Bavel, or from Bavel to Eretz Yisrael),
but not if it is inferior, he need not follow their stringencies. Since Eretz Yisrael is superior to
Bavel, Rabba wasn’t required to practice Bavel’s stringency on this fat. Rav Ashi says that one
would have to accept the stringencies of any place he went to, but only if he has permanently
moved there. Since Rabba planned to return to Eretz Yisrael, he continued to follow the practice
of Eretz Yisrael.

Rabba bar bar Chana told his son that he shouldn’t eat this fat, in or out of his presence. Rabba
himself who saw his teacher, Rabbi Yochanan, eat this fat, could rely on him, but his son, who
never saw this, may never eat it. The Gemora says that this statement about when one may act on
a lenient ruling differs from the implication of a story Rabba bar bar Chana told. Rabba bar bar
Chana cited Rabbi Yochanan ben Elazar saying that he once followed Rabbi Shimon ben Rabbi
Yossi ben Lakunia into a garden, where he took cabbage sprouts of Shmita and ate them. He told
Rabbi Yochanan ben Elazar that he should only eat these in his presence, but not in his absence.
He explained that he, who saw Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai eat them, could rely on this and eat it
even out of his presence, but Rabbi Yochanan ben Elazar, who never saw this, can only eat it in
his presence.

Permitting something where people consider it prohibited

The Gemora says that one may not permit something in front of those that consider it forbidden.
Tosfos (51a) challenges this from the Gemora in Chullin which relates that Rebbi permitted the
people of Bais Shean to eat their produce without taking teruma and ma’aser, even though they
had previously required taking teruma and ma’aser.

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Rabbenu Nissim says that when the Gemora says that one should not permit something that others
consider forbidden, this is a case where the people know that it is technically permitted, but have
accepted a custom to forbid it.

Therefore, out of deference to the custom, one should not permit it in their presence. However, the
people of Bais Shean were simply mistaken, and therefore Rebbi taught them that it was permitted.
The Gemora cites Rav Chisda who says that the restriction on permitting something is only when
those who forbade it are kutim or people without scholars, as we are concerned this will lead them
to be lax about truly forbidden actions.

Tosfos challenges this from the Mishna which says that if one travels to a place where they do not
do work on Erev Pesach, he must refrain, as this applies to all cities and people. Tosfos offers the
following answers:

1. The Mishna refers to significant customs that were established by Torah scholars, while Rav
Chisda is referring to popular customs which were not originated by Torah scholars. (Ri)

2. The Mishna refers to specific scenarios where the traveler is subservient to the city he’s entered,
because he isn’t planning on returning (Rav Ashi), or because he’s in a place with superior
scholarship (Abaye). Rav Chisda is referring to situations where the guest isn’t subservient to the
place they’re visiting.

ONE MAY NOT BATHE WITH HIS FATHER

Rav Mordechai Kornfeld writes:3

The Beraisa states that when one visits a place where the practice of the residents is to forbid
something that is really permitted, he may not conduct himself differently in their presence. Rav
Chisda asserts that this rule applies only to one's conduct in front of Kusim, who will misinterpret
his conduct and permit things that really are forbidden.

The Gemara questions Rav Chisda's assertion from a different Beraisa which records three occasions
on which Tana'im refrained from permitting a certain practice in a place where the people conducted
themselves stringently, even though there were no Kusim in those places. On one of those occasions,
the sons of Raban Gamliel, Yehudah and Hillel, went to a place called Kabul where the residents
prohibited entering a bathhouse with one's brother.

The Gemara quotes another Beraisa in order to explain the logic behind that prohibition. The other
Beraisa teaches that "one is forbidden to bathe with his father, father-in-law, step-father, and sister's
husband. Rebbi Yehudah permits one to bathe with his father, because of the honor of his father."
The people of Kabul extended the decree to prohibit bathing with one's brother in order to prevent
people from mistakenly thinking that one is permitted to bathe with his brother-in-law (his sister's
husband).

3
https://www.dafyomi.co.il/pesachim/insites/ps-dt-051.htm

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The Gemara continues the topic of bathing with relatives. It cites another Beraisa which states that
one may not bathe with one's Rebbi, unless his Rebbi needs his assistance.

When RASHI (DH me'Aviv) explains the first Beraisa, he says that the reason why one may not
bathe with his father is because he might have immoral thoughts when he sees the place from which
he originated.

However, when Rashi (DH Talmid) explains the second Beraisa, he says that the reason why one
may not bathe with his Rebbi is because one is obligated to honor and revere his Rebbi, and it is not
respectful for one to see his Rebbi unclothed. Why does Rashi not mention this reasoning when he
explains why one may not bathe with his father?

It is clear from the words of the first Beraisa that the reason why the Tana Kama prohibits one from
bathing with his father is not because of his obligation to honor his father. In the first Beraisa, Rebbi
Yehudah argues with the Tana Kama and permits one to bath with his father when his father needs
his assistance. This implies that, according to Rebbi Yehudah, the reason why one normally may not
bath his father is because of his father's honor, but when one is able to honor his father by bathing
with him, he may do so. The Tana Kama prohibits one from bathing with his father even when he
thereby will be able to honor his father by helping him. It must be that the Tana Kama prohibits one
from bathing with his father for a reason other than his honor. (See the ME'IRI, who quotes only the
opinion of Rebbi Yehudah and writes that Rebbi Yehudah's reason to prohibit bathing with one's
father is because of the father's honor.)

HALACHAH: What is the Halachah in practice with regard to bathing with one's brother or
with one's father?

1. One is permitted to bathe with his brother, because the Halachah does not follow the practice
of the people of Kabul who prohibited it.

2. With regard to bathing with one's father, the ME'IRI rules like Rebbi Yehudah, who permits
one to bathe with his father when his father needs his assistance. However, the REMA (EH
23:6) rules like the Tana Kama and writes that one may not bathe with his father. The Rema
adds that in his days, a son was permitted to bathe with his father, because the common
practice was to bathe with a covering over the private parts.

3. It seems that the prohibition against bathing with one's father applies only when the son has
reached the age at which he is capable of having immoral thoughts, or the age at which he is
obligated to honor his father. A young child should be permitted to go with his father to the
bathhouse or Mikvah. However, the ARUCH HA'SHULCHAN is in doubt about this point.

4. The MAHARAM CHALAVAH writes that if the bathhouse is a dry bathhouse (with no
water, but with steam or the like), then one may not enter with his father. He permits one to
bathe in a body of water with his father, because they will be covered by water. Even though

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 they will be uncovered for a moment as they descend into the water, a person is able to refrain
from looking for such a small amount of time.

PISCHEI TESHUVAH (EH 23:5) cites the TOLDOS ADAM who records an incident
involving RAV ZALMAN of Volozhen (the brother of Rav Chaim of Volozhen). Rav Zalman once
went to the bathhouse and, as he approached the entrance, he saw his father-in-law there, "and he
fled as one flees from a lion." The Pischei Teshuvah writes that he does not know why people are
lenient nowadays in this regard.

The ARUCH HA'SHULCHAN is also unsure why people are lenient. It could be that people rely on
the ruling of the Maharam Chalavah, who permits a son to bathe with his father provided that they
are covered until they enter the water.

Wrong customs
Mark Kerzner writes4

Earlier we learned that one should follow the customs of the place he came to, and not deviate
from them, in order to avoid disagreements. However, here is an example of a custom that was
adopted by the unlearned masses on their own: the people of Chozai separated the kohen’s portion
(challah) from dough made of rice. This is not required at all, and Rav Yosef wanted to send a
non-kohen who would eat such "challah" in front of them, thus proving that their custom had no
validity. Abaye wanted to stop him, using our previous lesson, that one should not deviate from an
existing custom. However, Rav Yosef replied that this lesson was about unlearned masses.

It turns out that there are two levels of ignorance. Totally unlearned masses should keep their
wrong customs, because once you start abrogating these customs, they will eventually confuse all
the laws. However, a custom which was initially adopted with the consent of a Sage - such custom,
if found erroneous, can later on be argued against, because the group of people with some
education will understand the difference: they will accept the eradication of the wrong custom but
keep the other rules intact.

Here is an example. The two sons of Rabban Gamliel bathed together in the city of Kabul. The
populace was amazed, saying, "We have not seen such behavior ever in our lives." At which one
of the brothers left the bath, but he did not wish to tell them, "You are wrong, two brothers are
allowed to bathe together, it is only that two brothers-in-law are not (because this may lead one to
wrong thoughts about his sister)." Why didn’t they abrogate the custom? - Because the people of
Kabul, although somewhat learned, were rarely visited by Sages.

4
http://talmudilluminated.com/pesachim/pesachim51.html

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Following Local Custom – II
Steinzaltz (OBM) writes:5

Continuing the discussion of minhag ha-makom, the status of local custom in Jewish law,
the Gemara brings a series of examples of traditions that are not requirements according
to halakha and the reactions of the Sages to them. Some examples:

The people of Hozai (an area in Babylon near the Persian Gulf that was far away from the main
Jewish community) used to separate halla for the kohanim from rice dough. 6

Rav Yosef wanted a non-priest to eat the halla in front of them to indicate their error,
but Abaye forbade him from doing so, arguing that one should not permit something that has been
accepted by the community as being forbidden. Rav Yosef pointed out that according to
Rav Hisda, that ruling applied only to Kutai, the Shomronim, a group who had converted and
whose commitment to Jewish law was tenuous. Rav Yosef explained that the concern with
the Kutai was that they would stop being careful about mitzvot if someone told them that the
customs they had been keeping were in error; the same concern applied to Jews living in Hozai.

It is interesting to note that the tradition of treating rice as if it were a real grain is not without
precedent. We have learned that, according to Rabbi Yohanan ben Nuri, matza made from rice
flour can be used to fulfill the mitzva and is considered hametz if allowed to leaven (see 35a).

Similarly, one may go out with wide shoes that resemble slippers (kurdikison) on Shabbat;
however, one does not go out with wide shoes in the city of Birei. And there was an incident
involving Yehuda and Hillel, sons of Rabban Gamliel beRabbi, who went out with wide
shoes in Birei, and the people of the city denounced them and said: In all our days we have
never seen that type of conduct. And Yehuda and Hillel removed their shoes, and gave them to
their gentile servants, and did not want to tell the residents of the city: You are permitted to
go out with wide shoes on Shabbat.

Rabba bar bar Hana once traveled to Babylon from his home in Israel. He sat down to eat d’ayitra,
animal fat along the stomach which was considered permissible in Israel but thought to be
forbidden in Babylon. Two of the leading Sages in Babylon, Rav Avira Sava and Rabba the son
of Rav Huna, came to visit him while he was eating. He covered the plate so they shouldn’t see
what he was eating.

In answer to the Gemara’s question that Rabba bar bar Hana was obligated to accept the local
custom, Abaye explains that as a resident of Israel, he was not obligated to accept the
Babylonian Minhagim. Rav Ashi argued that since he was just visiting and he fully intended to
return to Israel, he was not obligated to accept the Babylonian customs.

5
https://steinsaltz.org/daf/pesahim51/
6
The mitzva of halla generally applies only to dough made of wheat, rye, oats, barley and spelt.

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The Gemara concludes by mentioning that Rabba bar bar Hana himself instructed his children that
they could not eat d’ayitra. He told them that he could do so because of the tradition that he had
from Rabbi Yohanan, who he had seen eating it, but that they, who had never seen the great Sage
eat it, should accept the general practice and refrain.

The Rosh sums up the various stories by ruling that a reliable custom that was instituted and
accepted by the local Rabbinic leadership becomes obligatory, and must be kept even if someone
finds himself in another place. A lesser tradition that was accepted by the community members on
their own does not obligate, and need not be kept if it is done where people will not see you.

Rabbi Joshua Mikutis writes:7

Yesterday’s mishnah stated as follows:

In a place where the people were accustomed to perform labor on Passover eve until midday,
one may do so. In a place where the people were accustomed not to perform labor, one may
not do so ... the sages impose upon him the stringencies of both the place from which he left
and the stringencies of the place to which he went … And a person may not deviate from the
local custom, due to potential dispute.

One of the joys of traveling is that it brings us out of the routine into the unfamiliar. Encountering
a different culture inevitably raises the question: what does it mean to be a respectful guest?

The Gemara shares the story of Rabba bar bar Hana who travels from the Land of Israel to
Babylonia where he enjoys what I’d like us to imagine is his favorite childhood delicacy: fat from
the straight part of an animal’s stomach. Yum! Perhaps its smell and texture conjures the warm
memory of home and family. Who hasn’t traveled and craved a taste of the familiar?

Yet, while this treat is eaten in the Land of Israel, in Babylonia it is not. Rabba bar bar Hanna
engages in a culinary familiarity but violates a local custom. So the Gemara wonders if he knows
our mishnah, that one accepts the stringencies of the place he left and the place he goes and does
not deviate from local custom?

Abaye explains Rabba bar bar Hana’s behavior: Our mishnah applies when one travels from one
place in Babylonia to another place in Babylonia, or from one place in the Land of Israel to another
place in the Land of Israel, or even from Babylonia to Land of Israel. However, it does not apply
to one who travels from the Land of Israel to Babylonia. In Abaye’s view, the residents of
Babylonia are subordinate to those of the Land of Israel in terms of halakhah, so a resident of the
Land of Israel is not required to follow the Babylonian custom when they visit. Hence, Rabba bar
bar Hana is free to nosh away at his beloved fat from the straight part of an animal’s stomach!

7
Myjewishlearning.com

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Rav Ashi offers an alternative justification for Rabba bar bar Hana’s behavior:

Rav Ashi said: Even if you say that when one travels from the Land of Israel to Babylonia
he is required to act stringently in accordance with the local custom this applies only when
his intent is not to return.

For Rav Ashi, it is not an issue of the superiority of one place or another, but a matter of the
traveler’s individual intention. If the traveler aims to return home, he maintains his own practices.
But if he seeks to transform from a traveler to dweller, he must respectfully do as the locals do.

Eating can be a private thing. What about when the practice happens in the public sphere? Now
we return to the mishnah’s discussion of labor on Passover eve: what happens if your tradition
says work is acceptable, but in the place you go it is forbidden?

For the rabbis, it is now a matter of creating a disruption: you should desist from working out of
fear that it might cause dispute. And if your tradition forbids you from you working, you should
maintain that practice as it too ensures that there will not be a dispute.

Travel allows us to see ourselves from a new perspective — and the Gemara encourages us to see
the world, but always with respect to both who we are and how others live.

As civilizations began to develop, thong sandals (the precursors of the modern flip-flop) were
worn. This practice dates back to pictures of them in ancient Egyptian murals from 4000 BC. One
pair found in Europe was made of papyrus leaves and dated to be approximately 1,500 years old.
They were also worn in Jerusalem during the first century of the Common Era. Thong
sandals were worn by many civilizations and made from a wide variety of materials. Ancient
Egyptian sandals were made from papyrus and palm leaves. The Masai of Africa made them out

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of rawhide. In India they were made from wood. In China and Japan, rice straw was used. The
leaves of the sisal plant were used to make twine for sandals in South America while the natives
of Mexico used the Yucca plant.
While thong sandals were commonly worn, many people in ancient times, such as
the Egyptians, Hindus and Greeks, saw little need for footwear, and most of the time, preferred
being barefoot. The Egyptians and Hindus made some use of ornamental footwear, such as a
soleless sandal known as a "Cleopatra", which did not provide any practical protection for the foot.
The ancient Greeks largely viewed footwear as self-indulgent, unaesthetic and unnecessary. Shoes
were primarily worn in the theater, as a means of increasing stature, and many preferred to go
barefoot. Athletes in the Ancient Olympic Games participated barefoot—and naked.
Even the gods and heroes were primarily depicted barefoot, the hoplite warriors fought battles in
bare feet and Alexander the Great conquered his vast empire with barefoot armies. The runners
of Ancient Greece are also believed to have run barefoot.
The Romans, who eventually conquered the Greeks and adopted many aspects of their culture, did
not adopt the Greek perception of footwear and clothing. Roman clothing was seen as a sign of
power, and footwear was seen as a necessity of living in a civilized world, although the slaves and
paupers usually went barefoot. Roman soldiers were issued with chiral (left and right shoe
different) footwear. Shoes for soldiers had riveted insoles to extend the life of the leather, increase
comfortability, and provide better traction. The design of these shoes also designated the rank of
the officers. The more intricate the insignia and the higher up the boot went on the leg, the higher
the rank of the soldier.
Starting around 4 BC, the Greeks began wearing symbolic footwear. These were heavily decorated
to clearly indicate the status of the wearer. Courtesans wore leather shoes colored with white,
green, lemon or yellow dyes, and young woman betrothed or newly married wore pure white shoes.
Because of the cost to lighten leather, shoes of a paler shade were a symbol of wealth in the upper
class. Often, the soles would be carved with a message so it would imprint on the ground. Cobblers
became a notable profession around this time, with Greek shoemakers becoming famed in the
Roman empire.

GLANCE AT THE PAST8

If you look at a map of the ancient civilizations around the Mediterranean Sea, you can see that
Crete is a stepping-stone between Egypt and Greece. So, it was in ancient times, as each
civilization borrowed from the others. Crete took slaves from Athens and in return endowed
Greece with many cultural influences and legends. During the Bronze Age the Mycenaean
civilization evolved on the Greek mainland, adjacent to the island of Crete. The Mycenaeans
conquered Crete, making it a Greek province, and continued to borrow innovations from the
Cretans. The Mycenaeans performed dances that were recorded by Homer in The Iliad and The
Odyssey during the ninth century BCE.

Greece is surrounded on three sides by the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas. A trading nation, its
8
https://us.humankinetics.com/blogs/excerpt/ancient-greece

18
rise to power was influenced by its location - east of the Greek islands, southeast of Crete and
Rhodes. The northern Greek border connects to both Europe and Asia.

HISTORY AND POLITICAL SCENE

Early Greeks were nomadic farmers, moving on after each harvest. Their communities were ruled
first by elders, then by a city-state governmental structure. The city-states were divided
geographically by mountains and plains and never united as a nation. Athens was the largest, with
20,000 people. Athens and its rival, Sparta, united when a superior force threatened them; together
they conquered lands and enslaved people. Despite their lack of unity, the city-states shared
religion, language, customs, literature, and the Olympic Games.

Major periods in Greek history include the Dark Ages (1100 - 750 BCE), when the nomadic
Mycenaean society changed to one based on agriculture or the sea; the archaic period (750 - 500
BCE), when city-states emerged; the classical period (500 - 336 BCE), when political and cultural
systems were at their height; and the Hellenistic period (336 - 146 BCE), when Alexander the
Great became ruler of the Macedonians. Alexander conquered the Persian Empire and spread
Hellenistic ideas and Greek culture and language around the Mediterranean. This period ended
with the establishment of Roman supremacy.

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SOCIETY AND THE ARTS

After the Persian Wars in the fifth century BCE, Athens, though almost in ruins, was the richest
of the city-states. When it was made the capital of Greece, it experienced a vast wave of
immigration, and the arts flourished. This time is called the golden age of Greece, or the age of
Pericles, after its visionary leader, who ruled for 30 years at the height of this culturally notable
period.

The Greeks considered man a combination of mind and body. Greek art strove for a deliberately
unrealistic form of ideal beauty; that is, artificially perfect. Like the Egyptians, the Greeks used
artistic conventions because they were unable to depict perspective and foreshortening in figures.
In their renderings the face is in profile, while the eyes and shoulders remain in a frontal view; the
arms are in angular positions, while the legs and feet are in profile. The artist altered the figures to
fit the space and did not indicate a floor line. Often large groups were reduced to two or three
figures. Clothes, shoes, and sandals were not realistically copied (Lawler 1964a).

In the golden age of Greece, the visual arts emphasized form, proportion, balance, realism, and
idealized bodies. Greek sculpture was three-dimensional, not bas-relief as in earlier Egyptian
works. The Greek artists stressed achieving perfection and harmony in all aspects of their work.

DANCERS AND PERSONALITIES

The Greeks believed that man took delight in active movement. A person was considered educated
if he could dance, and his moral code was defined by the dances he performed. Men and women
in Greek society danced, though what they performed might not be considered dance today. It was
an ordered form, integrated with music and poetry as part of rituals, religion, and social life. In
his Histories, Herodotus provided examples of how dance reflected character, while
Homer's Odyssey makes references to people dancing.

DIONYSIAN CULTS

Dionysus (or Bacchus), the god of fertility and wine, held great influence over the Greeks for
several centuries. In Dionysian cults, women were known as maenads and men as satyrs. They
demonstrated sacred madness - an altered state of having the god within you,
called enthousiasmos. These crazed dancers performed wild dances, or oreibasia.

The maenads were named after mythological beings - crazed nymphs who believed in Dionysus.
On winter nights, screaming maenads left their homes and danced, running through mountains and
woods. They wore panther or fawn skins or cloaks made to resemble wings and carried staffs
called thyrsi, topped with a pinecone or ivy or grape leaves. Some played flutes or a hand drum.

20
They believed the god had entered their minds and bodies and controlled their actions. Satyrs, who
wore goatskins and horned masks and had cloven hooves and tails, performed orgiastic dances.
These wild activities evolved into a more civilized service to honor the god Dionysus, from which
emerged the dithyramb, a hymn and circular dance that moved around the altar.

PROFESSIONAL DANCERS

In Greek society, professional dancers were hired for funerals and feasts. These dancers were
usually slaves, freemen, or foreigners (Sorell 1967).

Acrobatic dancers performed nude. Professional entertainers and buffoons performed old animal
dances as burlesques. During the fifth century the popularity and demands of theater created a
strong distinction between amateur and professional dancers. In the fourth century, professional
female dancers wearing helmets and shields and carrying spears performed graceful pyrrhic
(warlike) dances. Later the dances were sometimes burlesqued and contained lewd gestures and
movements (Lawler 1964a).

ANCIENT GREEK DANCE

Dance was widespread in Greece and performed for every occasion. Evidence of the variety of
dances is found in many sources.

Archaeological and epigraphical representations of dancing, dancers, and objects used by dancers
include inscriptions and depictions on vases and jugs, statues, reliefs, jewelry, carved gems,
sculpture, paintings on walls and pottery, and mosaic floors, among others (Lawler 1964a).

Musical sources include songs that were written for dance and instrumental music that reveals
tempo and mood. In literature, sources such as the Greek epics and the writings of historians, poets,
Aristotle, and other philosophers include names of dances, such as "scattering the barley,"
"knocking at the door," and "the itch."

Artifacts were the inspiration for early 20th-century choreographers who created dances based on
Greek paintings and sculpture.

21
 Greek dance ca. 400 BCE from a tomb painting.

The Greek word orcheisthai, meaning "to dance," is broader than the English translation of the
word. To the Greeks, dance was inseparable from music; music, poetry, and dance were all facets
of what the Greeks called mousiké, or "the art of the Muses." Terpsichore means "join in the
dance" and was the name of one of the nine Muses. Many Greeks believed that dance was divinely
inspired (Lawler 1964a). In later ancient Greek times, the verb pyrrhichizein, which originally
meant "to dance a pyrrhic dance," began to refer to dance in a general sense (Lawler 1964a).

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DANCE DESIGNS

Dance was an integral part of religious festivals, entertainment, and theatrical performances. In
social situations, everyone participated in dance. The dances were highly structured, using full-
body movements that incorporated ritualistic, symbolic, or representative gestures, accompanied
by music (vocal and instrumental). Often the dancers sang.

Plato classified movement in two ways: noble and ignoble. Noble described the movement of
beautiful bodies, while ignoble meant distorted movement. Phorai and cheironomia are Greek
terms that describe the carriage of the body during dance and mimetic gestures, respectively
(Lawler 1964a). Movements included walking, running, leaping, skipping, hopping, and
nonlocomotor actions such as twisting. Cheironomia encompassed symbolic gestures; for
example, the hands stretching heavenward signified worship, and the arms bent over the head
expressed grief and suffering.

The term schemata refers to the form and shape of gestures - short movement patterns that had
significance, with a focus on how the dancer executed them (Lawler 1964a); it seems to relate to
effort combined with shape. These visually memorable movement passages often ended in a pose.

Deixis was pure dance, in which the male dancer portrayed the essence of human character or an
animal or natural element such as fire or wind. These dances ranged from the portrayal of
mythological characters and animals to farcical skits, in Sparta (Lawler 1964a).

DANCE TYPES AND MOVEMENTS

Ancient Greeks believed that a man's grace in dance equaled his prowess in battle (Lawler 1964a).
Through dance, Greek citizens celebrated life-span and calendrical events such as thanksgiving,
birth, marriage, supplication, and death. Sometimes they participated in cult and ritual dances.
These religious activities later transformed into a theatrical art.

ARMED DANCES
An essential part of a young Greek man's education, training with weapons and performing war
and victory dances was considered important for his health and development as a warrior. In
Sparta, women had military training and performed some of the men's military dances to make
themselves strong for childbearing. Spartan warriors performed mock battles to show their families
what they were like. Greek armed dances can be traced to Crete (Lawler 1964a).

23
MILITARY DANCE FIGURES AND STEPS
Military dance figures included circles, diagonals, squares, and groups. The dancers demonstrated
defensive and offensive movement sequences, accompanied by the flute. Movements included
cutting, thrusting, dodging, stooping, springing, and pantomiming of the skills used in battle.

WEAPON AND WAR DANCES

A pyrrhic dance, a form of weapon dance in which the dancers executed movements like those
used in battle, was part of all Spartan boys' training, beginning at age 5. Youths wearing helmets
and carrying shields and spears practiced these movements and postures to prepare themselves for
military service. The pyrrhic was part of a larger ritual that prepared warriors for battle. Originally
dedicated to Apollo, it began with hymns of praise for the god and included a magic dance to
protect against sickness and death (Lawler 1964a).

Pyrrhic dances included these four types:

• podism - Executing a quick series of movement shifts to train for hand-to-hand combat.
• xiphism - Rehearsing movements in mock battle - like dances.
• homos - Leaping, jumping, vaulting over large natural objects such as boulders, and
scaling walls.
• tetracomos - Marching in a tight formation with shields interlocked (which allowed large
groups of soldiers to advance on the enemy like a human wall).

A victory dance called a geranos, or "crane dance," was danced in a line that twisted or snaked as
if through a maze. The participants were joined by a rope or garland.

Dancers in competitions for pyrrhic dances were trained at the expense of a choragus, one who
sponsored dancers in the theater. By the Greco-Roman period young boys had been joined by girls
in the performance of pyrrhic dances. The dances changed formations from rectangles to wedge
formations to oblique lines and wheels (Lawler 1964a).

ANIMAL DANCES
Stories in Greek religion and mythology are populated with divine birds, animals sacred to specific
gods, fishtailed men (Tritons), woman-headed birds (Sirens), giants, gorgons, and other
anthropomorphic beings. Some were worshipped as gods or reincarnations of gods. Beginning
with the early Greeks, animal dances were a predominant theme, cited throughout Greek literature
and history. Pig, boar, bear, lion, and fish dances honored deities by imitating their movements.
Owl, raven, eagle, and hawk dances mimicked the actions of birds walking or in flight. Young
men and women performed these dances wearing masks and costumes. More important to Greek
rituals were bull and cow dances, which began as solemn rituals and evolved into entertainment.
Sometimes they were incorporated into comedies.

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WEDDING CELEBRATIONS AND DANCES
After an early morning wedding ceremony and the banquet that followed, the bride and groom
would lead a procession to their new home. The couple rode in a cart while their guests danced
behind them, singing wedding songs. Accompanied by flutes and lyres, young men and women
leaped, whirled, and stamped in movements reminiscent of agricultural fertility rituals. Often
tumblers who had appeared at the banquet joined the dance.

In contrast to Athens, Sparta held a different perspective on life. Spartan women had more equality
with their husbands and more freedom than Athenian women did. In a Spartan wedding dance,
men and women danced the Caryatis (a dance of innocence believed to have been performed by
Castor and Pollux) in circles and lines before the altar.

FUNERAL DANCES
The priest led a funeral procession of family and friends to the tomb. Hired mourners performed
processional dances in which they executed symbolic movement and gestures, such as twisting
their hands, beating their chests or thighs, scratching their faces, and tearing their clothing. They
spoke to the dead or chanted dirges (laments), accompanied by the flute. Family members could
participate in the dance. The more mourners participating, the greater was the show of strength for
the deceased.

RELIGIOUS AND CULT DANCES

The purpose of priests, who could be male or female, young or old, was to facilitate communication
between humans and the gods. Ancient worship included prayer and sacrifice; prophecy through
oracles, dreams, and ecstasy was also important. Mycenaean choruses danced in sacred places to
worship the gods. The king of Sparta's daughter, Helen (the future Helen of Troy), danced with
maidens to honor Artemis.

DANCE IN GREEK THEATER

Dance had evolved from a religious ritual into a part of theatrical productions by the fifth century
BCE. Most dance history sources are inconclusive; the information comes from accounts written
centuries later or from vase paintings. Vase paintings capture poses from either a front or a side
view, or both mixed into a single view; the Greeks were unable to create perspective. Although
they are considered an important source, these paintings are difficult to interpret and reveal nothing
about the quality of the movements.

Dionysian feasts that honored the earth, fertility, and vegetation were first held in temples, then
moved outdoors into spaces that evolved into theaters. The dithyramb, a hymn sung and danced
by a chorus and accompanied by the double flute, celebrated the spring festival of Dionysus, the
god of fertility and wine. Myth says that Thespis, a priest of Dionysus who was a dancer and
singer, created drama. Wearing his goat's mask, he added dialogue to the action, thus developing

25
tragedy (from the Greek word tragodia, which is translated as "goat song"). Thespis won the first
play competition, held in Athens at the Dionysian festival. Considered the first actor, he became
known as the father of Greek theater (Lawler 1964a).

Until the development of the tragic play, the audience and the chorus were one. Later the focus
changed from festival to spectacle. The dithyramb remained a dignified choral song and dance.
For example, in the city of Dionysia, the dithyrambic chorus had 50 singers and dancers that
represented the 10 different tribes of Athens. The choruses participated in contests in which they
marched into the orchestra, sang and gestured as they circled the space several times, and then left.

THEATER
Athenians were avid theatergoers. At a time when the city-state had a population of 30,000 people,
its theater seated 15,000. Dionysian festivals included four days for tragedies and three days for
comic plays. Theaters were built throughout Greece, most of them of wood. The most intact one
is the Theater of Dionysus in Athens; although little is left of the original theater, it has been rebuilt.

The Greek theater evolved from a threshing field with a single post in the center, which served as
the altar to Dionysus. Oxen walking around the post created a circular path around it. In the
transformation to theater, the circular part became known as the orchestra, where the chorus
performed and the dancing took place.

Over time, the circular theater changed to one with a skene (hut) - a background structure with
three openings as exits. The skene later became the support for the various forms of machinery.
A mekane (mechanical crane) attached to the skene lifted actors into the air. These flying machines
supported actors who portrayed gods. Periakton (three-sided scenery pieces that were painted with
different scenes and turned during the play) were used on each side of the stage to form entrances
(wings) instead of using the proscenium.

WHO'S WHO ON THE PROGRAM

In the early days of theater, playwright-poets set the dances for their own plays. In the seventh
century BCE, Arion of Lesbos taught the chorus steps and gestures and rehearsed them. The chorus
trained with care, striving to do well in the drama contest and honor the underlying religious
meanings of their actions.

The choragus was a rich man who financed a play and trained the chorus. A volunteer who was
designated 11 months before the performance, he held a prestigious position. He also acted as an
assistant to the poet-playwright. Early in the rehearsal period, he hired a dance instructor and a
leader of the chorus; later, he hired a flute player. Before the play was performed, the choragus
and the playwright made a sacrifice to Dionysus so that the play would be successful. Afterward,
they were given wreaths to acknowledge their exceptional performances.

26
The leader of the chorus (called coryphaeus) had several roles that required him to be a skilled
dancer and musician. He assisted with rehearsals and arranged the chorus in formation. As the lead
dancer, he cued the chorus to enter the stage and begin the dance. Onstage he tapped his feet to
keep time. Sometimes he was given a short solo in the dithyramb.

The members of the chorus (called choreutae) were not considered professionals, nor were they
as skilled as the coryphaeus. All male dancers, the choreutae were paid with food and costumes.
Because women did not perform in the theater, young men played both male and female roles. The
choreutae filed into the orchestra in a single line and circled it three or four times, performing,
among other steps, multiple turns on half-toe and small or large successive leaps. By the fourth
century BCE the chorus entered in a solid rectangular formation of either three rows of five people
or five rows of three people. When the playwright Sophocles later expanded the chorus, they
entered in rows in a square formation. The best dancers and singers were in the front row, with the
leader in the middle. The second-best people were in the rear so that when they changed rows or
wheeled around, they would be nearest the audience. By the second century, the chorus sang in
tragedies but did not dance in them.

HISTORY HIGHLIGHT
The origin of the word choreography is from the Greek words choros, which means "dance,"
and graphos, which means "writing."

THEATRICAL DANCES
The emmelia (dance of tragedy) included either all the movement in a play or only that of the
chorus. A serious, noble dance, it had religious origins.

In a play, the choreutae entered the theater in various ways, including

• marching in, then performing an ode that alternated between song and dance;
• arriving in silence, then singing a song;
• moving in silence, then engaging in dialogue with the actor onstage;
• walking in one by one; or
• dashing onto the stage.

After the chorus entered, it remained onstage until the end of the play. With grace and dignity, the
choreutae maintained a steady march or running step. These dances were similar to those from
Crete. The chorus executed steps that crossed dramatic genres from tragedy into comedy and satyr
plays. Tragic dances were symbolic, such as the kommos, a powerful dirge in which dancers struck
their breasts. The chorus exited the theater in a recessional.

In Greek comedies, actors spoke directly to the audience and the chorus consisted of fewer people

27
than in tragedies. Light, quick movements, mime, buffoonery, and mock fights were important
elements of the chorus' performance. The chorus danced and played games as part of an extended
recessional from the theater. A lively dance called the kordax was performed in Greek comedies.
By Roman times the kordax had evolved into a lewd, suggestive dance with hip rolls, explicit
gestures, and interludes of comic burlesque.

In the festival program three tragedies were followed by a satyr play, in which a 12-member chorus
was led by Silenus, a friend of Dionysus. Silenus wore a satyr (half man, half beast) costume. The
chorus entered and danced in groups as interludes between the parts of the play. Sikinis were lewd
dances performed only in satyr plays, in which the performers wore outlandish, sexually explicit
costumes. The chorus entered into more horseplay, acrobatics, obscene gestures, and burlesque.
Aristophanes, who wrote comic and satyr plays, added a separate dance section at the end of his
plays that included grotesque dancing.

PERFORMERS' UNIONS
By the fourth century BCE the first union, the Artists of Dionysus, had formed for professional
poets, actors, trainers, chorus members, and musicians. This was the first time that artists organized
as a guild or trade union. The union specified that their members could travel unharmed through
foreign or hostile states to give performances and were exempt from compulsory military service
and taxes. The Artists toured classical plays around the Mediterranean area, thereby spreading
Greek culture.

ACCOMPANIMENT
In the theater of Dionysus, a trumpet signaled the beginning of the play competition and a herald
announced each tribe as it entered. A flute player walked with the choreutae, leading them single
file into the orchestra. The dancers formed a circle around the altar and began to sing. During the
dance the coryphaeus (chorus leader) and musician stood in the center of the circle or near the altar
of Dionysus. The dancers marched around the altar, moving to the right on the choric ode, to the
left on the antistrophe, and standing still on the epode (Lawler 1964b).

COSTUMES AND ADORNMENT

Dancers in the chorus wore costumes that were less elaborate than those of the actors, probably
similar to everyday clothing. The choragus rented the chorus' costumes for the performance. Since
chorus members frequently played women, they wore masks. Probably the dancers wore soft, low
shoes. In the kordax, the dancers wore costumes with enhanced breasts and rears and leather
phalluses. In satyr plays, the chorus members wore padded body suits, conspicuous phalluses, and
grotesque masks.

SIGNIFICANT DANCE WORKS AND LITERATURE

Information about ancient Greek dance is hidden throughout Greek drama and literature. Classical
and theater history scholars have had to create composite pictures of what life-span, religious, and

28
theatrical dances were like. Their work has been supported by the surviving literature from the
time and archaeological evidence that verified what the ancients had written.

TRAGEDY, COMEDY, AND SATYR PLAYS

Three forms of Greek drama evolved. First came tragedy, then comedy and satyr plays. These
plays were performed at the Festival of Dionysus. Major Greek playwrights considered dance an
important part of their productions. Those whose works have survived include the following:

• Aeschylus (ca. 525 - 456 BCE), who wrote tragedies and taught his choruses their dances;
• Sophocles (ca. 495 - 406 BCE), who wrote tragedies but was also trained as a dancer and
musician;
• Euripides (ca. 484 or 480 - 406 BCE), known for comic plays and the numerous dances in
his plays;
• Aristophanes (ca. 450 - 388 BCE), who wrote comedies and satyr plays, of which only a
few have survived. His plays had imaginative plots and used horseplay and slapstick
comedy. His choruses represented humans, animals, allegorical beings, and even islands.
They wore elaborate costumes and masks and performed lively dances (Lawler 1964b).

Tragedies were the most important of the plays performed. No more than three actors were in each
play so they often played multiple roles. Actors used a series of symbolic gestures (cheironomia)
to express emotion and struck poses to the accompaniment of songs. Their movements varied with
each song and where it was recited or sung. The structural development of comedy was parallel to
tragedy. Satyr plays were structurally similar to tragedies, but they were less dignified; they
provided comic relief as parodies to the tragedies. Like the comic plays, they were noisy and lewd.
Only two of the Greek satyr plays written by Aristophanes survive.

SIGNIFICANT LITERATURE

Ancient Greek literary sources, such as the writings of philosophers Plato and Aristotle, the
historian Plutarch, the geographer Strabo, and rhetoricians Lucian and Libanius, provide important
insight into understanding Greek dance through different genres. Many of these writers listed the
names of the dances, which were meant to be descriptive. Others recorded their impressions of
how a dance was performed. From the fifth-century Greek playwrights Aeschylus, Sophocles, and
Euripides came a wealth of dramatic literature in which dance was an important component.

Among more recent literary sources is 20th-century classical scholar Lillian B. Lawler, who wrote
two important works about the dances of ancient Greek life and theater. Using literary, musical,
and visual artifacts and other sources, she discerned the important role that dance played in ancient
Greece. Greek dance and arts have inspired or been underlying themes in various periods of
history.

29
In the early part of the 20th century, a resurgent interest in Greek antiquity and its dance inspired
performers such as Isadora Duncan. In her book The Revived Greek Dance, Ruby Ginner (1933)
provides a guide to techniques for the study and performance of ancient Greek dance.

During the reign of Alexander the Great (336 - 323 BCE), Greece became recognized as the
cultural center of the known world. In this Hellenistic period Greek civilization expanded both east
and west. The Greeks brought their culture, architecture, mythology, institutions, and art to the
Italian peninsula, which provided much of the foundation for the development of Roman dance.

The history of the sandals.

MIA CROONA writes:9

9
http://susannagalanis.com/index.php/ancient-footwear/

30
Shoes are a base for every outfit. Not only do they complete an outfit and help us look our best,
they allow us to walk safety and comfortably on many different surfaces. The shoe protects us
from the elements. The oldest surviving shoes date back to around 10,000 years. These shoes made
of rope were found in Oregon, USA. The most established leather shoe was found in a collapsed
Armenian cave and was around 5,500 years of age. These straightforward shoes made of a solitary
bit of leather were sewed with calfskin.

31
Shoes are a basic type of foot covering comprising of an underside held to the foot with ties. They
can be made of cowhide, plastic, straw, rope, metal, or old tires. Suited well to hot, dry
atmospheres, and rough locales, shoes shield the foot from toxic creepy crawlies, stones, and
consuming hot sand and in addition keeping the foot disclosed and cool.

The Ancient Greeks presented a kind of platform shoe worn by on-screen characters in plays. The
stopper soled shoes demonstrated the significance of the character contingent upon the tallness of
the shoe.

The game plan of the shoe ties, worn in Ancient Greece, shifted yet typically comprised of a wide
band over the front of the foot, and a thong between the toes. The thong was sown to the sole
around one to two creeps from the end.

This was pulled through between the first and second toes and then between the second and third
toes to meet with four different bands secured to the sole. The entire entwined framework
completed over the lower leg.

Shoes were worn by both genders and secured in changed ways. Ties were both light and exquisite,
leaving the foot relatively uncovered.

Some were purple with channeled edges connected to fastens prolonged by short lines of plaited
cowhide. Others were less difficult, with a fan like the spread of ties going through the toes.

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The shade of shoes differed and was either worn in the normal shade of calfskin or colored red,
white, vermillion, red, saffron, green, or dark.

Female footwear was normally decorated with weaving, plated and pearls yet average citizens
wore wooden shoes.

Shoddy shoes made of wood felt or cloth was worn by comrades, ministers, and scholars and these
were called phaecasium.

Phaecasium style boots were normally worn amid conciliatory functions. These were slick fitting
and produced using white calfskin which bound part route down the front and frequently
vigorously weaved.

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Cordax10

The cordax (Ancient Greek: Κόρδαξ), was a provocative, licentious, and often obscene mask
dance of ancient Greek comedy. In his play The Clouds, Aristophanes complains that other
playwrights of his time try to hide the feebleness of their plays by bringing an old woman onto the
stage to dance the cordax. He notes with pride that his patrons will not find such gimmicks in his
plays. The dance can be compared with the modern Tsifteteli.

10
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Petronius Arbiter in his Roman novel the Satyricon has Trimalchio boast to his dinner guests that
no one dances the cordax better than his wife, Fortunata. The nature of this dance is described in
the satires of Juvenal, who says "the girls encouraged by applause sink to the ground with
tremulous buttocks." The poet Horace and playwright Plautus refer to the same dance as iconici
motus.
Juvenal makes specific mention of the testarum crepitus (clicking of castanets). In the earlier
Greek form, finger cymbals were used.

Plato said that dancing (orchesis) "was the instinctive desire to explain words by gestures of the
entire body"

“The Eleusinians have a temple of Triptolemus, of Artemis of the Portal, and of Poseidon Father,
and a well called Callichorum (Lovely dance), where first the women of the Eleusinians danced
and sang in praise of the goddess.

The third branch from the straight road is on the right, and leads to Caryae (Walnut-trees) and
to the sanctuary of Artemis. For Caryae is a region sacred to Artemis and the nymphs, and here
stands in the open an image of Artemis Caryatis. Here every year the Lacedaemonian maidens
hold chorus-dances, and they have a traditional native dance.

On their market-place the Spartans have images of Apollo Pythaeus, of Artemis and of Leto. The
whole of this region is called Choros (Dancing), because at the Gymnopaediae, a festival which
the Lacedaemonians take more seriously than any other, the lads perform dances in honor of
Apollo.

Going forward about a stade from the grave one sees traces of a sanctuary of Artemis, surnamed
Cordax because the followers of Pelops celebrated their victory by the side of this goddess and
danced the cordax, a dance peculiar to the dwellers round Mount Sipylus.”

Pausanias

35
 Dancers of a partheneion (song by chorus of maidens). Red Figure krater by
Villa Giulia Painter in Rome. c. 450 BC. 11

11
William D. Furley and Jan Maarten Bremer, Selected Cult Songs from the Archaic to the Hellenistic period.

36