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book: Roman Women’s Dress
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Roman Women’s Dress

Literary Sources, Terminology, and Historical Development
  • Jan Radicke
  • With contributions by: Joachim Raeder
Language: English
Published/Copyright: 2023
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About this book

Open Access
The book concerns female dress in Roman life and literature. The main focus is on female Roman dress as it may have been worn in daily life in Rome and in a social environment influenced by Roman culture in the time from the beginnings of the Republic until the end of the 2nd century AD. There is, however, a certain surplus as to its contents because many Latin texts also talk about mythical Greek dress and the largely fictional early Roman dress. Altogether, large parts of the history of Roman dress are only known to us through what scholars thought about it in Classical and Late Antiquity. For this reason, this book is not only about real female Roman dress, but also about the ancient pseudo-discourse on early female Roman dress, which has been taken too seriously by modern scholarship. This pseudo-discourse has been mixed together with real facts to produce an ahistorical fabric. It therefore appeared necessary to break with this old tradition and to take a completely new path. The detailed analysis of many texts on female Roman dress is the basis of this new handbook meant for philologists, historians, and archaeologists alike.

Author / Editor information

Jan Radicke, Christian-Albrechts-Universität, Kiel, Germany.

Topics

  • Publicly Available

    Frontmatter

    I
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    Preface

    VII
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  • Publicly Available

    Abbreviations

    XI
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  • Publicly Available

    Contents

    XIII
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    General Introduction

    1
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  • Part A: Literary Sources
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    Introduction to part A

    19
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    1 The law of the Twelve Tables (tab. 10.3–4 Bruns)

    27
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    2 Cato Origines F 113 P. – Female Dress in Public Discourse about Luxury in the Second Century BCE

    43
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    3 Naevius Lycurgus F 18 R. – Greek female bacchantes and their costume

    55
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    4 Plautus Epidicus – the dress catalogue

    65
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    5 Plautus – the catalogue of the dress dealers in the Aulularia

    85
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    6 Plautus Menaechmi – a long robe (palla) and a travesty

    117
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    8 Lucilius

    179
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    9 Varro – Menippean Satires and Logistorici

    183
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    10 Cicero – the travesty of P. Clodius Pulcher

    201
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    11 Lucretius – the invisible woman

    209
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    12 Catullus c. 64 – Ariadne, dressed and yet naked

    217
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    13 Imperial literature on dress – an overview

    221
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  • Part B: Dress and Dress Terms
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    Introduction to part B

    227
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    1 tunica – Roman tunica and Greek chiton

    243
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    2 pallium – the regular female cloak

    277
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    3 palla – (1) precious cloak and (2) ‘peplos’

    285
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    4 stola/vestis longa – a dress of Roman matrons

    299
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    5 praetexta – a dress of young Roman girls

    355
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    6 toga – an attire of unfree prostitutes

    365
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    7 paenula – ‘poncho’

    375
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    8 abolla – rough woollen cloak

    379
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    9 vestes Melitenses, vestes Coae, cyclas, gausapum – fashion and the Empire

    383
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    10 synthesis – a cosmopolitan dinner dress

    401
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    11 colores – colour, dress style, and fashion

    405
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    12 reticulum – hairnet

    455
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    13 mitra – headscarf

    461
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    14 anadema – headband

    467
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    15 strophium I – hair circlet

    471
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    16 vitta – a plaited headband and a matronal badge

    475
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    17 palliolum – scarf

    485
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    18 flammeum – bridal scarf

    487
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    19 focale – neckerchief

    491
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    20 cingillum, zona – belt

    493
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    21 strophium II – cord

    499
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    22 fascia pectoralis, capitium – the breast wrap, an erotic piece of underwear

    505
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    23 amictorium and mamillare – ‘top’ and breast-band

    513
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    24 subligar, subligaculum – ‘loin-cloth’

    515
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    25 fascia cruralis, fascia pedulis, impilia – ‘puttees,’ ‘socks,’ and felt inner shoes

    521
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    26 calceus – the quintessential Roman shoe

    525
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    27 soccus – the laced shoe

    531
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    28 solea, sandalium – sandal

    539
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    29 crepida – Greek Sandal

    543
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    30 diabathra, Sicyonia, phaecasia, Gallica – shoes and fashion

    549
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  • Part C: Ancient Theory
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    Introduction to part C

    559
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    1 Varro and the Early History of Female Roman Dress

    561
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    2 Varro (VPR 306) – the toga: a Primeval Unisex Garment?

    577
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  • Part D: Glosses
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    Introduction to part D

    587
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    1 *ricinium (triclinium) – the Law of the Twelve Tables

    591
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    2 *arsineum, *galbeum, *rusceus – Cato Origines F 113 P.

    599
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    3 *regilla, *patagiata, *indusiata – Plautus Epidicus I

    601
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    4 *rica (tricae) – Plautus Epidicus II

    617
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    5 *supparus – Plautus Epidicus III

    641
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    6 *Capital; *caltula, *castula, *capitula; *calasis – five grammarians’ glosses

    659
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    7 *stica – a modern dress gloss

    667
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  • Open Access

    The Archaeological Evidence

    671
    Joachim Raeder
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    Epilogue

    701
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    Select Bibliography

    713
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    Illustration Credits

    715
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    General Index

    717
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    Index locorum

    731
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  • Open Access

    Plates 1–29

    755
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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
November 7, 2022
eBook ISBN:
9783110711554
Hardcover published on:
November 7, 2022
Hardcover ISBN:
9783110710922
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Front matter:
20
Main content:
785
Illustrations:
84
Coloured Illustrations:
4
Tables:
1
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110711554
eBook ISBN: 9783110711554
Hardcover ISBN: 9783110710922
Keywords for this book
Roman cultural history; Clothes of women in antiquity
Audience(s) for this book
Students and scholars in the field of Classical Archeology and Ancient History
Creative Commons
BY-NC-ND 4.0
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