ANCIENT CLOTHING

In 2005, a collective research project was launched on the theme of "Dressing and Undressing in the Ancient World". The primary objective was to understand clothing in its ideological dimension as a language, and to analyse how it fitted within a formal, normative system consecrated by a given society. Drawing on documents and source materials of various kinds (literary and epigraphic texts; images) and favouring an anthropological approach, we placed in perspective and in context the garments, the forms of undressing and the nudity of the Ancients, identity markers, signs of otherness, vestimentary norms and transgressions, and the gestures associated with costume and nudity. The analysis of a set of visible signs made it possible to characterise a personality or indeed a mode of action (gestures) common to and specific to a given society in defined contexts. This volume thus brings together, among other things, the proceedings of an international colloquium held on Thursday 26 and Friday 27 November 2009 in Paris (INHA), as part of this programme. Three major themes have been distinguished. The first is devoted to the values and symbolism of garments (veil, adornments, belt, footwear, peplos, toga, etc.). The second addresses the relationships between clothing, nudity and identities: "to each their own garment". The last concerns clothing and nudity in context: regulations, vestimentary transgressions, and social, political and religious affronts. Richly illustrated, this book will allow every interested reader to set out in search of vestimentary images and codes in Antiquity — a subject rarely treated but thoroughly captivating.