Athens Reference

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Old Refs
2012 Ref: [link]
2010 Ref: [link]

All of the information in the old refs is still applicable, so feel free to check them out too.
This ref sheet is more for physical attributes than psychological ones. Those can be found on the other refs and are mostly self evident in my comics.

Basic Facts
Name: Athens (given in Ancient Greek both in caps and not)
Personification of the ancient polis of Athens
Physical Age: Late 20s, early 30s.
Height: 5'4"
Hair: Black / Dark brown. Short, curly.
Eyes: Grey

Physical Headcanons
- His build is athletic, but not visibly muscular. It was considered a social requirement in ancient Athens to attend the gym. He has little muscle definition because he was relatively well fed post-democratic reform, but up until after Solon's lifetime he was extremely skinny until the democratic reforms were put in place and debt-slavery was abolished.
- He has extremely lean thighs in reference to the descendants of Theseus, who all had lean thighs after Theseus had been ripped out of the Chair of Forgetfulness by Heracles and left part of his bottom behind. (The Ancient Greeks had a fuzzy, Lamarckian understanding of genetics...)
- His grey eyes are a reference to the flashing glare of his patron goddess, "owl-eyed" Athena. It is a relatively rare colour and, like blue eyes, might be considered quite piercing and frightening to the average Greek.
- Dark, curly hair was the norm in ancient Greece, but many Greeks were envious of people with blonde hair and would try to attain it for themselves. Athens' hair was longer in the Early Iron Age, but long hair came to be a symbol of the aristocracy and later pro-Spartan sympathies.
- He has olive skin, as was the norm. However, he stays indoors more than Sparta and as a result has comparatively lighter skin, although not pale and sickly.
- His rhombus figure is mostly just me making a lame joke about how he loves math as much as his own body. He likes to think he has classical proportions, but that is limited by my patience and drawing skill.
- His nose, however, is definitely un-classical. Aside from just being a unique feature, it could just be a reminder that he's a representation of human beings. The Greeks also liked to think that beauty was equivalent to good character, and this might just be a bit of his bad nature poking through. He gets extremely offended if you refer to his nose as a "Roman" nose and prefers the term "aquiline".
- He is actually roughly average height for an ancient Athenian male, but appears short next to nearly everyone... mostly for comic effect, but also because I tend to pick heights based on the size of a nation's empire, strength, age, etc. in addition to average height. Athens' maturity compared to other city-states was relatively backwards for a good deal of time, and as a result both his height and his beard have been stunted.
- Athens' beard represents his increasing control and domination of the Delian league. It was also a standard of male beauty for the time and a symbol of manhood. (Although the clean-shaven ephebes look was desirable in young men too, it made him look effeminate in comparison to other city-states since it was... well... er... you know. Embarrassing for someone of his age and stature.) The clean-shaven look is back in fashion when Alexander the Great comes around, but Athens flipped back and forth between shaven and not during the Roman period and afterwards.

Clothing
A diagram of how to wear a himation: [link]
A diagram of how to wear a chlamys: [link] (worn by men only!)

I won't go too in depth on Greek clothing- it's easy to research and even make yourself- so I've just given the names.
Colours don't really matter, but keep in mind that purple (tyrian purple, specifically) was very expensive for the ancients. Athens could afford it in the classical age, but due to democratic policies he typically didn't dress ostentatiously in public. Other than that minor detail, please feel free to vary these colours and patterns. The ones I choose are ugly anyway. Greeks very rarely wore plain white, you know!

Sandals are usually optional in rural settings- some Greeks went their entire lives without wearing shoes. Athens is fond of sandals that make him a little taller and keep his feet dry, but he only wears platform sandals if he is acting in a play. (Platform sandals were considered scandalous since they gave the wearer an erotic wiggle in their walk). The Greeks also wore leather boots in the winter, for travelling, and when hunting. Gloves might also be worn occasionally in these conditions as well.

One last note: Athens would NEVER wear a toga. The toga was considered to be the national Roman dress and was forbidden to be worn by anyone but Roman citizens (and Roman prostitutes, apparently).

Thanks for reading! Questions?

If I think of anything else I'll be sure to include it here. c:
Sparta is coming up next, I think.