Everyone knows that the history of the creation of shoes has more than one thousand years. I wonder how our distant ancestors guessed to shoe their legs. What was the first shoe? How did the shoes change over time? How has it reached the modern look?
The history of creating shoes is very interesting. After all, every historical epoch had a different notion of beauty and convenience. Each state, each people has its own traditions and characteristics. Therefore, the shoes are so diverse.
The first footwear was created by man only as a means of protection from adverse environmental conditions. It happened in times of global climate change. Who would then have thought that shoes would not only be a means of protection, but also an element of style. American historian Eric Trinasus from the Washington private university came to the conclusion that the first footwear appeared in Western Europe 26-30 thousand years ago. To make these conclusions, the scientist was helped to study the skeletons of people who lived on this territory during the Paleolithic period. The researcher paid attention to the structure of the little toes. He noticed that the finger became weaker, and later there were changes in the shape of the foot. These signs indicated the wearing of shoes. According to scientists, the first footwear was something like footcloths made from bear skins. These footcloths were insulated from the inside with dry grass.
In Ancient Egypt, shoes were already an indicator of the status of the owner. Shoes were allowed only for Pharaoh and his entourage. It is interesting that the wife of the pharaoh was not among those elected, and therefore she was forced to walk barefoot. In those days, shoes were sandals made of palm leaves or papyrus. To the foot such sandals were attached with the help of leather straps. Notable Egyptians decorated these straps with precious stones and interesting drawings. The price of such sandals was very high. The ancient Greek historian Herodotus in his works mentioned that the production of one pair of sandals for the pharaoh was left by the amount that was equal to the annual income of the middle city. In spite of this, in the palace of the pharaoh and in the temples it was not allowed to walk in the shoes, so the sandals were left behind the threshold. Modern footwear is hard to imagine without a heel, which was invented exactly in ancient Egypt. Unlike precious sandals, shoes with heels were worn not by pharaohs and priests, but by poor peasants-tillers. Heels created an additional emphasis, helping the peasants move around on loose plowed land.
The ancient Assyrians wore shoes, somewhat superior to the sandals of the Egyptians. Assyrian sandals were supplemented with a back to protect the heel. In addition, they had high shoes in their tracks, which in appearance looked like modern ones.
The ancient Jews in the course had shoes made of wood, leather, cane and wool. If a respected guest came to the house, the owner had to take off his shoes to show his respect. In addition, the Jews have an interesting custom. If after the death of his brother there was a childless widow, the brother-in-law was obliged to marry her. But the woman could release the unmarried man from this duty, publicly removing from his feet a ritual shoe. Only after this, a young man could marry another woman.
The first footwear, designed not only to protect the foot from damage, but also for beauty, appeared in ancient Greece. Greek shoemakers knew how to make not only primitive sandals, but also shoes with a back, boots without a sock - endomas, graceful boots on lacing. This beautiful footwear was in great demand among Greek women. But the most significant event in the history of footwear was the invention of the Greeks shoe pair. So far, there was no difference between the right and left shoes, they were sewn along the same patterns. It is interesting that the development of shoes contributed to the ancient Greek courtesans. It was for them that the shoemakers hammered the carnations into the sole of their shoes in such a way that there were traces on the ground with the inscription "Follow Me."
This is only a small part of the history of making shoes. The most interesting is ahead.