---
node: garment_chlamys
type: garment
slug: chlamys
title: "Chlamys"
lead: "The chlamys is the short cloak of the Greek horseman and soldier, a small rectangle of wool pinned at the right shoulder. Light and free at the arm, it was the cloak of the young man and the traveller."
published: 2026-08-10
updated: 2026-08-10
image_file: chlamys.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Woman_Painter_ARV_1373_24_young_warrior_in_chlamys_with_spears_and_woman_with_baskets_at_tomb_stele.jpg"
image_author: "ArchaiOptix"
image_license: "CC BY-SA 4.0"
---

## Overview

A chlamys is a compact oblong of wool worn over one shoulder and fastened with a brooch at the right so the sword arm stays free. Often edged with a coloured border and weighted at the corners, it hung to the thigh and could be swung round as a shield or blanket.

## How it is worn

It is draped over the left shoulder and across the back, its ends brought forward and pinned at the right shoulder, worn over a short chiton or over bare skin by soldiers and ephebes. With the petasos hat it formed the standard travelling and riding outfit.

## History

The chlamys was worn in Classical Greece by cavalry, hunters, and young men, and became the standard military cloak of the Macedonian and Hellenistic armies. Adopted and elaborated by Rome and Byzantium, it grew into a mark of rank and, in purple, of the emperor.