Hi! I'd like to start by saying that I love this community, and have learned so much from you all! Please, keep it up; it's really, really good work you're doing! So, my question: I was scrolling through Reddit today, and I found this Tumblr repost (https://i.redd.it/ae33txgjveu21.jpg). Do we know much about early Greek cosmetics or fashion? Do we specifically know in what manner a woman might have decorated her buttocks? Thank you for your attention!
That pesky adjective "πυγοστόλος" literally means "decorating the πυγή (buttocks)," and it might be inferred that Hesiod's temptress wears an alluringly tight chiton, or is in the habit of tying her girdle to accent her hips. A more likely reading of πυγοστόλος, however, and the one adopted by both Evelyn-White and Lattimore, is simply "seductive" in the general sense. Greek women of the Archaic period, to the best of our knowledge, were not in the habit of actually decorating their derrières.
I'm curious where that line is taken from as the translation that I found reads as,
(ll. 373-375) Do not let a flaunting woman coax and cozen and deceive you: she is after your barn. The man who trusts womankind trust deceivers.
Hesiod: Works And Days translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White [1914]
