We’ll credit Stephanie for this entry, since she asked “What’s a stola?” last week. Thanks for the inspiration, Stephanie! We’re going to travel back 2,000 years and take a look at fashion today.

It’s kind of funny, because we’ve all done those low (or NO) budget plays in church, right? Where we want to look biblical, so we don an old bathrobe, throw a towel over our head, and voila! If we want to be really authentic, maybe we’ll get a long length of cloth to drape over our shoulders or something, right?

It’s an image that’s hard to shake, so I had to do some research when working on Stray Drop. I mean, some things I know about the time makes me think, “Okay, maybe it’s not so far off, especially for women. They were second-class citizens at the time, so maybe they did wear formless, bland stuff.” But . . . no. I mean, come on. When in history have women ever been happy to let their figures go totally unnoticed??

Women’s fashions started out much like the men’s, in that they wore a tunic–long, robe-like thing, two seams up the sides, neck hole. Men would then cover it with a toga (if Roman) or (if Hebrew) a cloak or mantle. This isn’t the cape/coat type of cloak so much as an over-jacket, decorated and adorned. The toga, of course, is a whole lot of cloth draped and tucked into the classic lines we all recognize.

But to jump back to women. Even back then, they were all about emphasizing assets. Tunics were belted, knotted, draped to show off curves. (The picture is actually of an Egyptian priestess, but Israelites often borrowed styles from their larger neighbor.)

Roman women often even fancied up the tunic, opting for the Greek-style chiton, which has the fastened sleeves we often call “Roman fashion” when we do it today. Roman women were entitled to wear a stola when they got married, but not all did–it wasn’t particularly stylish or practical. The belted or draped their clothing to make it figure-flattering.

For variety (since the stola was probably undyed wool), they went super-fancy in hair, headdresses, and jewelry. Hebrew women, on the other hand, usually tied their hair back with a piece of cloth, and would cover their heads for protection from the sun.

Now, if you think makeup is a modern invention, you’re waaaaaay off. Women back then would pain their faces too. It’s obvious from Egyptian paintings that they especially favored eye makeup, and as already stated, neighboring countries loved to borrow their colorful style.

I think what it comes down to is a pretty unchanging human nature–and female nature, lol. We like to look good. Maybe it’s part of the curse from the Garden: that we will we desire our husbands and work to please them. Maybe that’s why women throughout history have spent hours figuring out how to make their clothes flattering, their makeup attractive, their hair so pretty.

Now don’t think I’m above it just because I point that out! I tell my hubby all the time, “I’m vain. I can’t help it. If I’m going out in public, you better bet I want to look good.” Hence why I spent hours picking out the perfect outfits for conference, got the perfect haircut, just sifted through my makeup bag yesterday to make sure I had all that I needed without taking too much. I know, I know, appearances aren’t the most important thing. But at the same time, that’s what makes a first impression, and I believe in making the best of what the good Lord gave me. You’ll never find me spending money I don’t have on it (I’m notorious in my family for being the one who goes shopping and puts everything back, saying, “I really don’t need that. I don’t want to spend the money on it.”), but I choose carefully, making sure what I do buy or wear flatters me.

Nice to know we’ve been doing that since of the dawn of time, eh?

Now . . . see some of you in Denver! Can’t wait!!

It made me think. Got me remembering. I was in class when the planes struck the World Trade Center and had no clue what was going on. As we drove home for lunch, we saw a very strange sight for Annapolis though–two white hazmat vans (strange looking things) rushing onto Rt 50 right in front of us. A curiosity that we ignored until we got home and my MIL called us to tell us to turn on the news.

As we drove back for afternoon classes an hour later, it seemed like a different world. Annapolis was deserted, all the government offices vacated and the Naval Academy on lockdown. Because my college is sandwiched between those two things, police stood at the corners of the college, checking IDs before allowing us to enter. It was a terrifying time. It rewrote reality.

I remember having the thought, “What is relevant now? What matters? These stories I’m working on seem so trivial, but what stories wouldn’t?”

We drove home that weekend, and across every bridge homemade banners stretched declaring “God Bless America.” People had stuck Styrofoam cups into chain link fences to scroll out messages of their patriotism. American flags had sold out.

And now, eight years later, I think most of us have forgotten that again, or have at least shoved it to a convenient place in our minds, one that we don’t have to look at but when we realize the anniversary is upon us.

So every year, I make it a point to pull out the essay I wrote on 9/11, which was published in my hometown paper a week later. It helps me remember–perhaps it will help you, too.

One of the things I love about English is our ability to affect the formality of our speech by using contractions. So far as I can tell, we’ve been so pretty much since English became English. So if you’re writing a historical novel, contract away! Fear them not! Shakespeare did it, so you can too.

Other languages, though, don’t often do this. They elide, but only when two vowels would otherwise be side by side, making pronunciation difficult. That’s never optional–it’s just done. So how, you gotta wonder, do speakers of other languages adjust formality?

I discovered the answer to this when I was writing my Biblical fiction, A Stray Drop of Blood. (See, historical. I’m getting around to it, I promise!) Since my characters would have been speaking Ancient Greek, which I happen to have studied for two years (yes, I’m a nerd–but a COOL one!), I wanted to reflect the beauty of that language with my English. Talk about a challenge!

In Greek, word order doesn’t matter a whit for the most part. It’s all about the endings of words and the words themselves. Obviously, I can’t do that in English. But what I can do is arrange my words, choose my words, in a way that forces me to convey my meaning in a Greek way. I chose to do this by using NO contractions in my novel. Definitely a challenge. It’s not the kind of thing anyone notices until I tell them, but it sets a mood, paints a picture of the place and time. I’m having a lot of fun rereading the original and seeing how I pulled this off. I’m still remarkably pleased with the results (to toot my own horn;-)

Of course, the writing of it was sometimes comical. I had to get into a Greek Zone. I’d edit my own thoughts when writing. You know, like, “He said he’d–no he would–go.” But then I’d forget to leave that zone and would try to edit thoughts for regular conversation too. I’d be sitting in class, trying to formulate an answer to the conversation, and think, “He’d–no, he would–no, HE’D!” My friends all thought this very amusing.

I’m really enjoying getting back into the Greek Zone as I’m working on this. And I hope y’all do too, because over the next little while, as I gear up for the release of the new and improved paperback A Stray Drop of Blood, I’m going to be sharing all the fun stuff about Ancient Jerusalem and Rome.

So slip into a comfy tunic, grab your favorite stola (you married women out there), find a scroll and a handy quill, and settle in. It’s gonna be fun!