Kandys

This article is about the Persian/Greek garment. For other uses of Kandy, see Kandy (disambiguation).
Modern reconstruction of Achaemenid era Persian noble attire featuring the "Kandys", along with the long sleeved coat called a "Sárapis" and wearing the Medo-Persian headwear known as "Tiara"

A kandys, plural kandyes (Ancient Greek: κάνδυς, plural κᾰ́νδῠες, probably from Old Persian * kandu "mantle, cover"), also called candys,[1] kantuš, or Median robe,[2][3] is a type of three-quarter-length Persian coat. It originally described a leather cloak with sleeves worn by men, but evolved into a garment worn by Athenian women.[4] The kandys is sometimes compared to the much later 17th-19th century military pelisse as worn by Hussars, in the sense that it was a sleeved jacket or coat worn cloak-style.[2]

  1. ^ Schmitt, Rüdiger (December 15, 1990). "Candys". Encyclopædia Iranica. Encyclopaedia Iranica. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
  2. ^ a b Sekunda, Nicholas (1992). The Persian army 560-330BC. London: Osprey. p. 13. ISBN 9781855322509.
  3. ^ Shahbazi, Shapur. "CLOTHING ii. In the Median and Achaemenid periods". Encyclopædia Iranica. Retrieved 4 October 2013.
  4. ^ Hall, Jonathan M. (2002). Hellenicity : between ethnicity and culture ([Nachdr.]. ed.). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226313290. Hall draws a comparison between the kandys and the Russian sarafan, also a Persian import that was originally a man's kaftan before evolving in the 17th century into a woman's sleeveless dress.