Women’s clothing in Ancient Iran(Case Study: Achaemenid Period)

This paper, adopting a historical-descriptive approach, aims at studying women’s clothing in Achaemenid Period. Therefore all of the sources in which there is some information about women’s clothing are studied critically in this research. At first, the way Achaemenid ascended the throne is studied and Iranians’ and Greeks’ different attitudes on Achaemenid women’s life are presented, then women’s representation in Achaemenid archeological evidences is investigated and a precise description of women’s clothing and costume is given. The findings of this research, which are based on historical resources and the representation of women in Achaemenid archeological evidences such as seals and reliefs over stones/engraves, clearly reveal that despite of political and economic activities and considerable freedom women had in Achaemenid Period, they used a kind of clothing that covered all over their bodies. Using this kind/style of clothing was based on this attitude that in fact Iranian women in Achaemenid Period considered nudity and bareness obscence/dirty and inappropriate so they wore a kind of costumes that covered all over their bodies.