Ancient Greek Dress Bares Breasts

Surviving paintings, figurines, and statuettes from Minoa and Crete illustrate female costumes displaying the incongruity of bare breasts and long skirts. Analysis reveals that the fashions were complex and required considerable talent and work, so exposure of the bust was not incidental.

Some experts suggest that revealed breasts might have been restricted to ritual or religious festivities, otherwise the Minoan woman covered her chest in some way.

But research has found that narrow waists were fashionable in Ancient Crete, where the first recorded corset was identified. It was used to clinch the waist and raise a woman's bodice, showing off her beauty, leaving her breasts bare and free.

It was a strong fashion statement by a society who worshipped female divinities. These ancient women were also very fond of beautiful brief jackets that showed and enhanced their breasts. So it is likely that when a woman displayed her breasts in ancient Minoa, it was more of a fashion than a religious obligation.

Greek mythology credits Queen Hera for creating the Milky Way. Apparently, it was believed that humans could gain immortality if they drank Hera's breast milk. Zeus oh-so-cleverly placed his son Hercules at her breast while she was sleeping. When she awoke and found him sucking away, she was pissed, yanking him off with such force that her breast milk squirted across the heavens to create the Milky Way.

As time passed, the Spartan women became known for how they left the entire left side of the tunic open. Greeks, Spartans, and Nudity at the Games >