Roman Dress and the Fabrics of Roman Culture

Description

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. Frontmatter......Page 1 CONTENTS......Page 5 PREFACE......Page 7 CONTRIBUTORS......Page 9 LIST OF FIGURES......Page 11 ABBREVIATIONS......Page 17 Introduction: From Costume History to Dress Studies......Page 19 1. Public Dress and Social Control in Late Republican and Early Imperial......Page 37 2. Togam virilem sumere: Coming of Age in the Roman World......Page 63 3. The Double Identity of Roman Portrait Statues: Costumes and Their Symbolism at Rome......Page 87 4. The ‘Dark Side’ of the Toga......Page 110 5. (Un)Dressed to Kill: Viewing the Retiarius......Page 129 6. The Appearance of the Young Roman Girl......Page 153 7. Covering the Head at Rome: Ritual and Gender......Page 172 8. Designing Women: The Representation of Women’s Toiletries on Funerary Monuments in Roman Italy......Page 186 9. Sartorial Elegance and Poetic Finesse in the Sulpician Corpus......Page 206 10. The Woven Garment as Literary Metaphor: The Peplos in Ciris 9–41......Page 217 11. Spinning the Trabea: Consular Robes and Propaganda in the Panegyrics of Claudian......Page 229 12. Appearing for the Defence: Apuleius on Display......Page 250 13. Tertullian’s De Pallio and Roman Dress in North Africa......Page 269 14. Prudery and Chic in Late Antique Clothing......Page 283 REFERENCES......Page 363 INDEX LOCORUM......Page 399 GENERAL INDEX......Page 421