Dress in Mediterranean Antiquity : Greeks, Romans, Jews, Christians

"Insights from anthropology, religious studies, biblical studies, sociology, classics, and Jewish studies are here combined to provide a cutting-edge guide to dress and religion in the Greco-Roman World and the Mediterranean basin. Clothing, jewellery, cosmetics, and hairstyles are among the many aspects examined to show the variety of functions of dress in communication and in both establishing and defending identity. The volume begins by reviewing how scholars in the fields of classics, anthropology, religious studies, and sociology examine dress. The second section then looks at materials, including depictions of clothing in sculpture and in Egyptian mummy portraits. The third (and largest) part of the book then examines dress in specific contexts, beginning with Greece and Rome and going on to Jewish and Christian dress, with a specific focus on the intersection between dress, clothing and religion. By combining essays from over twenty scholars from different disciplinary backgrounds, the book provides a unique overview of different approaches to and contexts of dress in one volume, leading to a greater understanding of dress both within ancient societies and in the contemporary world"-- Provided by publisher Cover 1 Contents 8 List of Illustrations 11 Acknowledgements 15 Notes on Contributors 16 List of Abbreviations 20 1 Introduction Alicia J. Batten and Kelly Olson 24 Section A Methods 32 2 Dress and Classical Studies Kelly Olson 34 3 Dress and Religious Studies Alicia J. Batten 42 4 Dress and Anthropology Lynne Hume 50 5 Dress and Sociology Beth E. Graybill 62 Section B Materials 74 6 Clothing in Marble and Bronze: The Representation of Dress in Greek and Roman Sculpture Glenys Davies 76 7 Greek Dress from the Inscriptional Evidence Laura Gawlinski 90 8 The Colours of Ancient Greek Dress Cecilie Brøns 100 9 Ornamenta Muliebria: Jewellery and Identity in the Roman Period Courtney Ward 118 10 Dress in the Desert: Archaeological Textiles as a Source for Work Clothes in Roman Egypt Lise Bender Jørgensen 132 11 Roman Women Dressing the Part: The Visual Vocabulary from Paintings and Mosaics Lisa A. Hughes 148 12 ‘They Leave behind Them Portraits of Their Wealth, Not Themselves’: Aspects of Self-Presentation in the Dress of the Deceased in Mummy Portraits and Portrait Mummies from Roman Egypt Lorelei H. Corcoran 160 Section C Meanings 180 13 Dress and Ceremony in Achaemenid Persia: The ‘*Gaunaka’ Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones 182 14 Hair and Social Status in the Near East and Early Greece, c. 900–300 BCE Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones 196 15 Stepping over the Line: Shoes and Boundary-Crossing in Ancient Greece Sue Blundell 212 16 Dress and Religious Ritual in Roman Antiquity Kelly Olson 224 17 Andromeda Unbound: Possession, Perception and Adornment in the House of the Dioscuri Neville McFerrin 238 18 On the Ambivalent Signification of Roman Crowns Andrew Gallia 252 19 Clothes Make the Jew: Was There Distinctive Jewish Dress in the Greco-Roman Period? Joshua Schwartz 270 20 What Did Mary Magdalene Look Like?: Images from the West, the East, Dura and Judaea Joan E. Taylor 280 21 Robes of Transfiguration and Salvation in Early Christian Texts Janelle Peters 302 22 Worn Stories: (Ad)dressing Wives in 1 Peter Kelsi Morrison-Atkins 312 23 Exposed! Nakedness and Clothing in the Book of Revelation Harry O. Maier 322 24 Dirty Laundry in the Christ Cult Alicia J. Batten 336 25 ‘He Must Buy Her New Clothes for Winter’: Women’s Attire in the Rabbinic Imagination of the Tannaitic Period Gail Labovitz 348 26 Textual Problems in Textile Research: The Use of the Talmud in Studies of Ancient Jewish Dress Katie Turner 362 Bibliography of Secondary Sources 372 Index 420 "Explores methodological issues, materials, and a variety of contexts for the study of dress and religion within Mediterranean antiquity"-- Provided by publisher