German clothing
German clothing was different from the clothing
of the Mediterranean and West
Asia mainly because German men (and sometimes women) wore pants
under their tunics to keep them
warm, while people from the warmer areas in the south did not.
Both the Germans and the Romans
thought of this as an important difference between them.
Another difference was in hairstyles. German men generally wore their
hair long, but Greek and Roman men generally cut their hair. Also,
most Romans shaved their beards, but many Germans did not. German
women wore their long hair in braids, while Roman women generally
piled theirs on top of their heads in buns.
In other ways, German clothing was very similar to Roman clothing.
Both men and women wore tunics, and women's tunics were longer than
men's tunics. Both men and women wore cloaks or capes over their tunics
to keep warm. Because it was colder
in Germany, people wore mainly wool
rather than linen, and a lot
of them wore fur capes or fur-lined pants also.
The Germans made clothes by spinning wool the same as the Greeks
and Romans: here are some spindle
whorls from northern France, from the Neolithic (about 3000 BC):
Main Germans page
Main clothing page
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