In Athens, initially the dress was thought to be of Persian origin but later it came to be identified as a Babylonian garment, as it matched with the textile practices of the northeast from Mesopotamia. Part of the confusion arose from the naming of the garment, because the root word is linguistically closer to Iranian language, rather than Babylonian language. The dress was also used by a stage actor in a drama scene of Aristophanes' "Wasps" in Athens, as the design of the exotic dress suited the dramatic effect in view of it being "visually distinctive", heavy and with small decorative tufts. It was the Athenians' belief that the kaunakes was of Persian origin and not from Babylon from an understanding that the dress was an exported item and could have originated from Anatolia (Kilikia or Phrygia), the Levant (Phoenicia or Syria), or Mesopotamia (Babylon), which were all part of the Persian Empire in the fifth century BC.