London: The history of the bikini is a chequered one. Though the bikini shocked when it appeared on French beaches in 1947, its origins date back millennia.
Depictions of bikini-like garments appear at the Chalcolithic site of Çatalhöyük, and two-piece bikini-like garments were worn by women for athletic purposes in Ancient Greece as far back as 1400 BC.
Roman mosaic artwork in Sicily, dubbed "Bikini Girls" and dating back to the reign of Diocletian (286-305 AD) gained significant archeological renown, and Roman statues of Venus in a bikini were found elsewhere.
In the modern era, the first functional two-piece swimsuit was designed in 1913 by Carl Jantzen. Australian swimmer-performer Annette Kellerman was arrested in 1907 for wearing a two-piece.
