The Origin Of Sandals

We love sandals for their simplicity. Unlike confining shoes, sandals give our feet freedom from the constriction of toe boxes.

The best sandals for walking have simple platform bottoms to protect the feet from the ground while the tops remain either cleanly revealed or clad in straps that may be either functional or fashionable. The very simplicity of sandals has long made them appealing as simple footwear. In fact, sandals appear to be the very first shoes ever worn by humans—understandable considering their simple design.

The history of sandals goes back a very long way and seems to play a unique role in the history of mankind as we literally stepped to new milestones through the ages.

Fort Rock Sandals

The oldest known sandals also happen to be the oldest footwear ever found. Discovered in Fort Rock Cave in southeast Oregon in 1938, the dozens of sandals were astonishingly well-preserved by a layer of volcanic ash. Radiocarbon dating performed on the sandals in 1951 revealed them as between 9,000 and 10,000 years old. The signs of wear, tear, and frequent repair on the sandals suggest ancient cave dwellers wore them until they wore out and then tossed them into a pile at the back of the cave.

The Fort Rock Sandals consist of twined sagebrush fibers woven together into a flat platform sole with a front flap to protect the toes. Woven thongs tied them to the foot. Historians note that these sandals date back to an era in primitive human history when basket weaving began. Some ancient innovative thinker must have seen the possibilities.

Examples of neolithic woven sandals also show that innovative minds think alike. Early versions of woven flip flops prove that simple, between-the-toes woven thongs are a good way to hold a sandal in place.

Sandals Through The Centuries

The simplicity of sandals as footwear made them popular in early human history. Ancient Sumerians wore sandals with turned-up toes as early as 3,000 BCE. Ancient Babylonians doused their animal skin sandals with perfume and died them red, while the Persians wore particularly simple sandals called padukas.

These foot-shaped wooden platforms had a small post between the first and second toe with a simple or decorative knob to keep the sandal in place on the foot. Wealthy Persians wore padukas decorated with jewels and pearls.

What Sandals Did Beautiful Cleopatra Wear?

While most ancient Egyptians went barefoot, the wealthiest wore sandals. Ironically, these were more for decoration than function, as ancient depictions of Egyptian royalty show slaves walking behind the royal rulers holding their sandals.

This shows that they were meant to impress, and were kept clean and unworn until the ruler put them on upon arrival at important meetings and ceremonial gatherings. It’s also likely that the sandals of the time weren’t the best sandals for walking long distances and going barefoot was considerably more comfortable.

Sandals for important rulers like Cleopatra were tailor-made to perfectly fit her royal feet. She placed her bare feet in wet sand, leaving her sandal-makers to make molds of the imprints using braided papyrus to form platforms. Sandal-makers then added bejeweled thongs to hold them in place between Cleopatra’s dainty first and second toes.

Did Gladiators Really Wear Sandals?

Yes, we model the strappy sandals we love to wear today after the footwear of Roman gladiators and soldiers. The tough straps and hobnailed details on the original gladiator sandals lent them such rugged durability that Roman soldiers were able to trek for longer periods to battles than their competitors — yes, incredibly, sandals played an important role in the spread of the Roman Empire.

Roman soldiers would certainly have been startled to learn that movies made about them would bring their footwear back in style centuries later—but mainly for women.

In the late era of the decadent Roman Empire, sandal makers decorated sandals for royalty with gold and jewels, and even Roman soldiers returning from battle replaced the bronze hobnails in their sandals with those forged of gold or silver. Roman rulers limited sandals in colors like purple and red to the God-like aristocracy.

The Return Of The Sandal

During World War II, sandals made a return to modern style after a long absence stemming from centuries of feet somehow deemed to be too erotic to be seen by the public eye.

Soldiers stationed in the Pacific brought wooden thong sandals home to their wives and girlfriends, and shoe manufacturers were quick to capitalize on the trend. This, combined with the growing popularity of epic Biblical movies with the actors wearing specially designed sandals made the trend branch into other sandal designs.

Soon the comfortable and attractive footwear was being worn off-set by the actresses from the movies and millions of movie-star watchers followed the growing fashion. Before long, designers added high heels and bright colors, and sandals became the shoe wear of popular pin-up girls in the 1950s.

Today, nearly everyone has a closet full of sandals. From the best sandals for walking in rugged outdoor styles to barely-there sandals with thin, silvery straps, sandals are here to stay, proving that our ancient ancestors knew what was comfortable, functional, and beautiful.

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