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.
List of Illustrations
Introduction
Mary Harlow (University of Leicester, UK)
Chapter 1 – Textiles
Eva Andersson Strand (University of Copenhagen, Denmark) and Ulla Mannering (National Museum of Denmark)
Chapter 2 – Production and Distribution
Kerstin Droß-Krüpe (University of Kassel, Germany)
Chapter 3 – The Body
Glenys Davies (University of Edinburgh, UK) and Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones (Cardiff University, UK)
Chapter 4 – Belief
Carly Daniel Hughes (Concordia University, Canada)
Chapter 5 – Gender and Sexuality
Glenys Davies (University of Edinburgh, UK) and Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones (Cardiff University, UK)
Chapter 6 – Status
Kelly Olson (Western University, Canada)
Chapter 7 – Ethnicity
Ursula Rothe (Open University, UK)
Chapter 8 – Visual Representations
Lena Larsson Lovén (University of Gothenburg, Sweden)
Chapter 9 – Literary Representations
Mary Harlow (University of Leicester, UK)
Notes
Bibliography
Notes on Contributors
Index
The Cultural Histories are multi-volume sets that survey the social and cultural construction of specific subjects across six historical periods, broadly:
- Antiquity
- The Medieval Age
- The Early Modern Age
- The Age of Enlightenment
- The Age of Empire
- The Modern Age
The subjects covered range from Animals to Dress and Fashion, from Sport to Furniture, from Money to Fairy Tales. Each volume discusses the same themes in its chapters so that readers may gain an understanding of a period by reading an entire volume, or follow a theme through history by reading the relevant chapter in each volume. Each six-volume set is illustrated.
Titles are available as printed sets for libraries needing just one subject or preferring a one-off purchase and tangible reference for their shelves, or as part of a fully searchable digital library available to institutions by annual subscription or perpetual access (see www.bloomsburyculturalhistory.com).
PRAISE FOR THE SERIES
A Cultural History of Dress and Fashion
“Intriguing, surprising, and thought-provoking essays covering many cultural layers of dress history.”
CHOICE
A Cultural History of Fairy Tales
“A comprehensive treatise that belongs in every academic library concerned with a form of literature that has had broad appeal for centuries and continues to do so.”
CHOICE
A Cultural History of Hair
“A thick, tangled and deliciously idiosyncratic history of hair.”
Times Literary Supplement
A Cultural History of Law
“These introductions should be of great use to scholars from across the periods.”
Law & Literature
A Cultural History of Peace
“The set is a good introduction to the study of peace and encourages looking at world history in a new way.”
CHOICE
A Cultural History of Theatre
“All six volumes are aesthetically attractive, with well-chosen cover illustrations in color and numerous halftones throughout. Page layouts with wide margins, good paper, subtitles, generous bibliographies, notes, and index all add to the appeal.”
CHOICE
A Cultural History of Tragedy
“A highly contemporary work, alert to politics, social theory and sexuality.”
London Review of Books
A Cultural History of Western Empires
“Students seeking a comparative, interdisciplinary, and compelling account of the spread of Western empires will find much of interest here.”
CHOICE
A Cultural History of Work
“[Programs] such as economics, American and world history, women’s studies, and art history will benefit from the information herein.”
American Reference Books Annual