Roman Dress and the Fabrics of Roman Culture

Roman Dress and the Fabrics of Roman Culture
Author: Jonathan Edmondson
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Total Pages: 449
Release: 2009-11-21
Genre: History
ISBN: 1442691891

Roman Dress and the Fabrics of Roman Culture investigates the social symbolism and cultural poetics of dress in the ancient Roman world in the period from 200 BCE-400 CE. Editors Jonathan Edmondson and Alison Keith and the contributors to this volume explore the diffusion of Roman dress protocols at Rome and in the Roman imperial context by looking at Rome's North African provinces in particular, a focus that previous studies have overlooked or dealt with only in passing. Another unique aspect of this collection is that it goes beyond the male elite to address a wider spectrum of Roman society. Chapters deal with such topics as masculine attire, strategies for self-expression for Roman women within a dress code prescribed by a patriarchal culture, and the complex dynamics of dress in imperial Roman culture, both literary and artistic. This volume further investigates the literary, legal, and iconographic evidence to provide anthropologically-informed readings of Roman clothing. This collection of original essays employs a range of methodological approaches - historical, literary critical, philological, art historical, sociological and anthropological - to offer a thorough discussion of one of the most central issues in Roman culture.

Greek and Roman Textiles and Dress

Greek and Roman Textiles and Dress
Author: Mary Harlow
Publisher: Oxbow Books
Total Pages: 425
Release: 2014-09-30
Genre: Crafts & Hobbies
ISBN: 178297718X

Twenty chapters present the range of current research into the study of textiles and dress in classical antiquity, stressing the need for cross and inter-disciplinarity study in order to gain the fullest picture of surviving material. Issues addressed include: the importance of studying textiles to understand economy and landscape in the past; different types of embellishments of dress from weaving techniques to the (late introduction) of embroidery; the close links between the language of ancient mathematics and weaving; the relationships of iconography to the realities of clothed bodies including a paper on the ground breaking research on the polychromy of ancient statuary; dye recipes and methods of analysis; case studies of garments in Spanish, Viennese and Greek collections which discuss methods of analysis and conservation; analyses of textile tools from across the Mediterranean; discussions of trade and ethnicity to the workshop relations in Roman fulleries. Multiple aspects of the production of textiles and the social meaning of dress are included here to offer the reader an up-to-date account of the state of current research. The volume opens up the range of questions that can now be answered when looking at fragments of textiles and examining written and iconographic images of dressed individuals in a range of media. The volume is part of a pair together with Prehistoric, Ancient Near Eastern and Aegean Textiles and Dress: an interdisciplinary anthology edited by Mary Harlow, Cécile Michel and Marie-Louise Nosch

Roman Clothing and Fashion

Roman Clothing and Fashion
Author: Alexandra Croom
Publisher: Amberley Publishing Limited
Total Pages: 335
Release: 2010-09-15
Genre: Design
ISBN: 1445612445

A detailed, finely researched and profusely illustrated history of clothing and fashion in the Roman Empire.

The World of Roman Costume

The World of Roman Costume
Author: Judith Lynn Sebesta
Publisher: Univ of Wisconsin Press
Total Pages: 298
Release: 1994
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9780299138547

Thirteen scholarly and well-illustrated essays survey, document and elucidate over a thousand years of Roman garments and accessories, including Etruscan influences, Near Eastern fashions and the transition towards early Christian garb.

Dress and the Roman Woman

Dress and the Roman Woman
Author: Kelly Olson
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 194
Release: 2012-08-06
Genre: History
ISBN: 1134121202

In ancient Rome, the subtlest details in dress helped to distinguish between levels of social and moral hierarchy. Clothes were a key part of the sign systems of Roman civilization – a central aspect of its visual language, for women as well as men. This engaging book collects and examines artistic evidence and literary references to female clothing, cosmetics and ornament in Roman antiquity, deciphering their meaning and revealing what it meant to be an adorned woman in Roman society. Cosmetics, ornaments and fashion were often considered frivolous, wasteful or deceptive, which reflects ancient views about the nature of women. However, Kelly Olson uses literary evidence to argue that women often took pleasure in fashioning themselves, and many treated adornment as a significant activity, enjoying the social status, influence and power that it signified. This study makes an important contribution to our knowledge of Roman women and is essential reading for anyone interested in ancient Roman life.

A Cultural History of Dress and Fashion in Antiquity

A Cultural History of Dress and Fashion in Antiquity
Author: Mary Harlow
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 485
Release: 2018-11-01
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1350114049

Whilst seemingly simple garments such as the tunic remained staples of the classical wardrobe, sources from the period reveal a rich variety of changing styles and attitudes to clothing across the ancient world. Covering the period 500 BCE to 800 CE and drawing on sources ranging from extant garments and architectural iconography to official edicts and literature, this volume reveals Antiquity's preoccupation with dress, which was matched by an appreciation of the processes of production rarely seen in later periods. From a courtesan's sheer faux-silk garb to the sumptuous purple dyes of an emperor's finery, clothing was as much a marker of status and personal expression as it was a site of social control and anxiety. Contemporary commentators expressed alarm in equal measure at the over-dressed, the excessively ascetic or at 'barbarian' silhouettes. Richly illustrated with 100 images, A Cultural History of Dress and Fashion in Antiquity presents an overview of the period with essays on textiles, production and distribution, the body, belief, gender and sexuality, status, ethnicity, visual representations, and literary representations.

Greek and Roman Dress from A to Z

Greek and Roman Dress from A to Z
Author: Glenys Davies
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2007-12
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1134589166

First Published in 2008. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Textiles and Cult in the Ancient Mediterranean

Textiles and Cult in the Ancient Mediterranean
Author: Cecilie Brøns
Publisher: Oxbow Books
Total Pages: 597
Release: 2017-07-31
Genre: Crafts & Hobbies
ISBN: 178570673X

Twenty-four experts from the fields of Ancient History, Semitic philology, Assyriology, Classical Archaeology, and Classical Philology come together in this volume to explore the role of textiles in ancient religion in Greece, Italy, The Levant and the Near East. Recent scholarship has illustrated how textiles played a large and very important role in the ancient Mediterranean sanctuaries. In Greece, the so-called temple inventories testify to the use of textiles as votive offerings, in particular to female divinities. Furthermore, in several cults, textiles were used to dress the images of different deities. Textiles played an important role in the dress of priests and priestesses, who often wore specific garments designated by particular colours. Clothing regulations in order to enter or participate in certain rituals from several Greek sanctuaries also testify to the importance of dress of ordinary visitors. Textiles were used for the furnishings of the temples, for example in the form of curtains, draperies, wall-hangings, sun-shields, and carpets. This illustrates how the sanctuaries were potential major consumers of textiles; nevertheless, this particular topic has so far not received much attention in modern scholarship. Furthermore, our knowledge of where the textiles consumed in the sanctuaries came from, where they were produced, and by who is extremely limited. Textiles and Cult in the Ancient Mediterranean examines the topics of textile production in sanctuaries, the use of textiles as votive offerings and ritual dress using epigraphy, literary sources, iconography and the archaeological material itself.

Dress and Cultural Identity in the Rhine-Moselle Region of the Roman Empire

Dress and Cultural Identity in the Rhine-Moselle Region of the Roman Empire
Author: Ursula Rothe
Publisher: BAR International Series
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2009
Genre: Clothing and dress
ISBN: 9781407306155

This reivsed Phd thesis uses the large extant corpus of funerary art from the Rhine Moselle region, to examine and analyse the clothing depicted and to ask what they can tell us about cultural identity in this frontier region and how they can be used to explore concepts of Romanization.

The Roman Empire and the Indian Ocean

The Roman Empire and the Indian Ocean
Author: Raoul McLaughlin
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Total Pages: 491
Release: 2014-09-11
Genre: History
ISBN: 1473840953

This study of ancient Roman shipping and trade across continents reveals the Roman Empire’s far-reaching impact in the ancient world. In ancient times, large fleets of Roman merchant ships set sail from Egypt on voyages across the Indian Ocean. They sailed from Roman ports on the Red Sea to distant kingdoms on the east coast of Africa and southern Arabia. Many continued their voyages across the ocean to trade with the rich kingdoms of ancient India. Along these routes, the Roman Empire traded bullion for valuable goods, including exotic African products, Arabian incense, and eastern spices. This book examines Roman commerce with Indian kingdoms from the Indus region to the Tamil lands. It investigates contacts between the Roman Empire and powerful African kingdoms, including the Nilotic regime that ruled Meroe and the rising Axumite Realm. Further chapters explore Roman dealings with the Arab kingdoms of southern Arabia, including the Saba-Himyarites and the Hadramaut Regime, which sent caravans along the incense trail to the ancient rock-carved city of Petra. The first book to bring these subjects together in a single comprehensive study, The Roman Empire and the Indian Ocean reveals Rome’s impact on the ancient world and explains how international trade funded the legions that maintained imperial rule.