Mockup of a reader with a print edition of BECOMING HERCULES

The Hottest Fashions of Greek mythology

You can’t tell your Chitons from your Peploses without a guide…

Excerpted From

The Mythoversal Newsletter

Mythoversal restores inclusion and diversity to classical texts, rediscovering traditions erased by centuries of gatekeeping.

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Theme of the Week

The theme of the week is fashion. Like all of the articles on the Mythoversal site, this one will be revised and amended as we go. It doesn’t yet include armor. It doesn’t yet include much detail about adornments. It may never include all the monster pelts that some heroes like to wear. But it does describe the day-to-day attire of most people living in our mythological world.

In the late 940s of the 4th Age, draped, loose-fitting, free-flowing homemade garments are the hottest fashion trend in Mythoversal Thebes and across the Lands of Hellas. These styles start with standard rectangles of wool, flax linen, or silk. Garments are folded across a body and fastened with pins or brooches. 

Fabrics worn by the common folk start as off-white, their natural undyed state, and gradually take on brown and gray shades of collected dirt and grime. The priesthood is distinguished by bright white linens that denote purity and premium access to soap. The noble classes wear vibrant colors and patterns as a sign of wealth and status. 

The noble classes also wear clothing of more tightly woven linens and softer wools than the coarse fabrics of the commoners. Upper-class garments may be further decorated with embroidery, precious stones, or bits of gold…

Character of the Week

This week we introduce Alkis, the eldest daughter of her first mother, Lady Antipoine, and second mother, Lady Sidonis. Descended from one of the legendary Spartoi warriors of Thebes, Alkis is heir to all the wealth and power of Tribe Chthonius. She is exceptionally tall and physically strong, with a sense of justice that ends up costing her everything she has.

Alkis is based on the 2nd Century travelogue of Pausanias, who names her as one of two heroines interred in the sanctuary within the Theban Temple of Artemis, an honor Alkis earned by saving her city from destruction. The details of her story are unclear through this second-hand account and will need to be reconstructed from conjecture.

Setting of the Week

The Pasture of the One Tree will be the setting for the first three episodes of Becoming Hercules. This setting will introduce readers to Mythoversal Thebes, especially to those parts of the kingdom outside the city itself. This setting and the scenes set within it blend the culture, history, and beliefs of the mythological world into the larger story world.

—Greg R. Fishbone,
Mythoversal Author-in-Residence