The men and women of Crete resemble the double ax so prominent in their religous symbolisim.Male and female alike have torsos narrowing pathologically to an ultramodern waist.Almost all of the Cretans were short in stature, slight and supple of build, graceful in movement, and athletically trim.
Their skin was white at birth.The ladies, who court the shades have fair complexions conventionally pale.The men purused wealth under the sun, they are so tanned and ruddy that the Greeks eventually called them Phoinikes which meant the purple ones or redskins.The Cretans head was rather long in shape than broad, the features were sharp and refined.
The hair and eyes were dark in color.These Cretans were a branch of the mediterranean race.The men and women wore there hair partly in coils on the head or the neck, partly in ringlets on the brow, partly in tresses falling upon shoulders or the breasts.The women added ribbons for their curls.
The men in order to keep their faces clean, provided themselves with a variety of razors.The dress of the Cretan was srange.On their heads, men had turbans.The women wore hats.
There feet were usally free of covering.the upper class at times binded their feet with a white leatther shoes.Men wore no clothing above the waist.At the waist the men wore a short skirt or a waist cloth.
The skirt had a slit at the side of workingmen.When there were dignitaries and ceremonies the skirt reached to the ground for both male and female.The men sometimes wore drawers in the winter time along with a longer outer garment of wool or skins.The clothing was tightly laced at the middle for both male and female.
the bodice of the womens dress was laced below the bust, opens in a circle then closed in a medici collar at the neck.The sleeves were short, and at times puffed.The skirt widened out from the hips, stiffened with metal ribs or horizontial hoops.the men provided the women with jewlery.
Hairpins were worn made out of copper or gold, stickpins adorned with golden animals or flowers, or heads of crystal or quartz, there were rings of spirals mingiling in the hair, rings and pendents hanging from the ear.Bands and bracelets were worn around the arms.Finger rings of silver, amethyst, or gold were worn.The cretan man expresses his vainest and nobelestpassion is to zeal and beautify.
The way the men and women looked, dressed and what the wore defined themselves has cretans, as well as the way they looked and dressed this also decided which socual class the cretan would belong to.in the following paragraph is described the people of the island of Crete.
