A friend would like some facts about pants

[ardchoille]

Thank you. I wasn't sure if I could trust information that could be easily edited by anyone at any time.

My friend is really getting into this:

"Did you know that the big kilt was also used for bedding and toweling off after a bath?"

That's what she told me today

[Macman]

My friend is really getting into this:

"Did you know that the big kilt was also used for bedding and toweling off after a bath?"

That's what she told me today

It sounds like she's got the bit between her teeth! Good for you for getting her interested in kilts. She might be interested in you as well!

[Morris at Heathfield]

I believe it's safe to say that trousers are prehistoric. They may not predate all of recorded history, but they predate most, if not all of the recorded history of Europe.

As there is no known historical record of the "invention" of trousers, we can't really say we know why trousers were invented. That said, given that the earliest evidence of trousers comes from the same part of the world where the horse is believed to have been domesticated (Eastern Europe and Central Asia), the conclusion that trousers were developed to facilitate riding horseback is as inescapable as it is reasonable.

I'm not terribly familiar with historical references or archaeological artifacts relating to trousers, but given the peoples who (according to Wikipedia, at least) were among the earliest known to have worn trousers (the Scythians and the Persians), trousers must have existed since about 500 BC, at the latest, in Central Asia. From the Qin Emperor's terracotta army, we know that Chinese cavalry soldiers were wearing trousers since at least 210 BC. (Again, there might be earlier Chinese references that I am unaware of.) The mummy of Taklamakan known as "Cherchen Man" (ca. 1200 BC) apparently wore tartan "leggings", but I don't know if these "leggings" constituted trousers. I assume, if he had worn trousers, that I would have seen the word "trousers" used instead of "leggings".

Regarding pipe23's link, showing the development of modern trousers from medieval hose, I think it's important to point out that the tight hose of the High Middle Ages itself developed from earlier, looser trousers.