Masculinity and Dress in Roman Antiquity (Routledge Monographs in Classical Studies)

In Masculinity and Dress in Roman Antiquity, Olson argues that clothing functioned as part of the process of communication by which elite male influence, masculinity, and sexuality were made known and acknowledged, and furthermore that these concepts interconnected in socially significant ways. This volume also sets out the details of masculine dress from literary and artistic evidence and the connection of clothing to rank, status, and ritual. This is the first monograph in English to draw together the myriad evidence for male dress in the Roman world, and examine it as evidence for men’s self-presentation, status, and social convention. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents List of illustrations Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction: Roman clothing Method Terminology Masculinity studies Rank and status Cloth as economic staple Outline Notes 1. Tunic and toga: clothing and rank Tunic Toga Conclusions Notes 2. Other aspects of costume Jewelry and rank Other male clothing Abolla Bardocucullus/cucullus Laena Conclusions Notes 3. Poverty, mourning, and sordes Lower class men Emotional black Mourning Sordes in the courts Sordes as a form of public protest Mourning, poverty, and sordes The toga perversa Conclusions Notes 4. Clothing and status Fabric Color Footwear Jewelry and status: rings Slaves and status The clotheshorse Folds in clothing Clothing and cleanliness Sumptuary legislation and the morality of clothing Conclusions Notes 5. Class and sexuality Sexuality The male sartorial code The signs of effeminacy Youth, urbanity, heterosexuality Pre-modern effeminacy and dandies117 Ancient dandies Dandies, effeminacy and class Conclusions Notes Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index Kelly Olson argues that clothing functioned as part of the process of communication by which elite male influence, masculinity, and sexuality were made known and acknowledged, and furthermore that these concepts interconnected in socially significant ways. This volume also sets out the details of masculine dress from literary and artistic evidence and the connection of clothing to rank, status, and ritual. This is the first monograph in English to draw together the myriad evidence for male dress in the Roman world, and examine it as evidence for men's self-presentation, status and social convention