The origins of the red carpet are more sinister than you’d think

The red carpet: a spot for the glamorous to pout their lips, dip their hips, and revel successful each other’s fabulousness, portion normals squish their torsos against barriers similar rabid dogs waiting to beryllium chucked a scrap of a glimpse oregon a meaty interaction.

It’s a precise unusual place. There aren’t galore different scenarios successful 2025 wherever societal disparity is truthful blatantly celebrated than connected the reddish carpet successful awards season, successful afloat travel close now.

But portion the reddish carpet has go synonymous with the untouchables of Hollywood, this rouge runner erstwhile had murderous connotations successful past Greece.

Beware celebrities: you whitethorn conscionable deliberation doubly earlier your Louboutins interaction crimson again aft proceeding this tale…

Think backmost to the clip erstwhile chubby men wore achromatic gowns and balanced grapes connected their genitals. That’s, er, Ancient Greece. Specifically 457BC, erstwhile playwright Aeschylus wrote the archetypal recorded notation of the reddish carpet successful his play Agamemnon.

The play described a ‘floor of crimson broideries to dispersed / for the king’s path.’

Translation: the titular King Agamemnon returns location to his woman Clytemnestra aft warring for galore days and nights successful the Trojan Wars.

Unfortunately, successful his absence, Clytemnestra got herself a lover. But truthful did Agamemnon, who fell caput implicit sandals. Unable to wretch himself distant from his concubine, the King returned location with her connected his limb – overmuch to Clytemnestra’s irritation.

He was besides not successful Clytemnestra’s bully books aft helium sacrificed their 15-year-old girl to the Gods, successful the anticipation it would springiness them bully sailing upwind successful the war. Fair enough.

So Clytemnestra did what immoderate jilted person successful a Greek calamity would do: she rolled retired the reddish carpet for her husband, to lure him to his death.

The past books can’t hold connected however King Agamemnon was murdered, but helium was either slain by his lover, oregon executed by his woman successful the bath. Clytemnestra besides killed his lover, of course.

Although the reddish carpet present appears to beryllium a awesome of death, the meaning down the colour astatine the clip seems significant.

In Ancient Greece the colour reddish was associated with the deity of war, Ares, who wore a crimson cape.

‘Only the gods merit the pomp of honor,’ the quality of King Agamemnon is reported to person said successful hesitation, earlier yet stepping connected the reddish carpet and towards his demise.

It’s been debated implicit the years whether the reddish carpet successful this lawsuit was reserved for the Gods only, and immoderate antheral who thinks helium is almighty and God-like capable to tread connected it volition perish – arsenic they are really mortal…

But that’s each rather dramatic.

Outside the satellite of Greek tragedies, the reddish carpet was archetypal reported to person been utilized by the 5th US President James Monroe, who made past successful 1821 by arriving astatine Georgetown, South Carolina, by sauntering down a reddish carpet. 

But it wasn’t until 1902 that the reddish carpet was genuinely popularised arsenic a presumption awesome erstwhile successful New York it was utilized to nonstop passengers onto trains.

While it was not successful itself a awesome of the precocious echelons of nine astatine that time, it became 1 aft the reddish carpets were chiefly utilized to usher archetypal people passengers.

That’s wherever ‘the reddish carpet treatment’ operation comes from.

The thought ingratiated itself into Hollywood successful 1922, for the region’s archetypal ever premiere successful Sid Grauman’s Robin Hood. After that it became regular astatine important movie and euphony events, making its mode into the Academy Awards successful 1961.

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