opisthosphendone

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ὀπισθοσφενδόνη (opisthosphendónē), from ὄπισθεν (ópisthen, “behind”) + σφενδόνη (sphendónē, “sling”).

Noun

opisthosphendone (plural not attested)

1. A plain or ornamented band of fabric, broad in the middle and narrow at the ends, and fastened in the front, used in Ancient Greece to support the hair behind the head.
   • 1851, B[ram] Hertz, Catalogue of the Collection of Assyrian, Babylonian, Egyptian, Greek, Etruscan, Roman, Indian, Peruvian and Mexican Antiquities, London: […], page 120:

     Female head, in an opisthosphendone and antefixal ornament.

   • 1888, Cecil [Harcourt] Smith, “Two Vase Pictures of Sacrifices”, in The Journal of Hellenic Studies, volume IX, London: […] [T]he Council, […] Macmillan and Co., […], page 7:

     […] her hair, which lightly floats back with her onward movement, is confined in an opisthosphendone and stephane.

   • 1890–1891, “sphendone (sfen´dọ̄-nē), n.”, in William Dwight Whitney, editor, The Century Dictionary: An Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language […], volume V, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC, page 5823, column 1:

     It is characteristically broad in front and narrow behind, being thus opposite in its arrangement to the opisthosphendone.

   • 1899, William Henry Forman, The Forman Collection. Catalogue of the Egyptian, Greek & Roman Antiquities and Objects of Art of the Renaissance, &c. in Gold, Silver, Ivory, &c., Dryden Press, page 28:

     Her hair is drawn back from the face in a wavy mass, and confined with an opisthosphendone knotted over the forehead.

   • 1915, Gisela M[arie] A[ugusta] Richter, Greek, Etruscan and Roman Bronzes, New York, N.Y., page 257:

     The hair is arranged in loose flying locks, and she wears an opisthosphendone, a band or kerchief with which the hair was caught up behind, and an earring in the shape of a pendant rosette.

   • 1926, Paul Louis de Giafferri, The History of the Feminine Costume of the World, from the Year 5318 B.C. to Our Century, page 91, column 1:

     The mitre was of wool; the opisthosphendone was the part of it wrapping the back-hair; it was sling-shaped.

   • 2020, “calyx-krater”, in British Museum‎^[1], archived from the original on 2020-06-29:

     Her hair is gathered in a mass behind, and she wears an embroidered and radiated opisthosphendone, earrings, double necklace, bracelets, long bordered embroidered chiton with diploidion and looped-up sleeves, bordered himation over her arms, and shoes.

   • 2022 August, Jeremy Warren, “Portrait of the lyric poet Sappho”, in National Trust Collections‎^[2], archived from the original on 2023-10-30:

     Her hair is fastened by means of an opisthosphendone, a type of ancient Greek headband that here crosses her forehead, with another band over the top of her head connecting with a circular band at the back.

   • 2023, “Head of a Woman”, in J. Paul Getty Museum‎^[3], archived from the original on 2023-10-30:

     The hair is thick and wavy and held in place by an opisthosphendone (a headband formed from a piece of fabric that is broad in the middle and narrow at the ends), but with prominent bunches of loose hair over the ears.

Related terms

• sphendone

References

• “opisthosphendone”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.