D. Dress and Religion
Spokespersons:
Sabine Schrenk schrenk-sa@netcologne.de
Konrad Vössing voessing@uni-bonn.de
Departing from theoretical approaches on identity, the study group will investigate the phenomenon of dress-code on the basis of written sources and iconography. As in modern religious cults, textiles were of great importance in religious exercises. Textiles served various needs within the cult: cloth covered sacred objects and soft furnishing was used as dynamic and changing divisions within rooms where certain areas were only allowed to be visible and accessible on special occasions. But it is not only the furnishing aspect, also the dress-codes of priests, early Christian monks and nuns that is of great importance. Many of today's liturgical vestments derive from late antique clothing. Monks and nuns produced many of their textile items within their communities. Besides textiles were ritually woven for example by not yet married girls and presented to a Goddess as a holy act.
These aspects are to be investigated starting with pagan religious behaviour leading to early Christian practices within the Roman Empire.
This study group also focuses on tracing the relationship between religious activity and the use and production of textiles. It investigates how religious identity was expressed through clothing either by practitioners of the Roman state religion, pagan cults or Christians. As colours play an important role in ceremonial dress the results from the dye stuff analyses will become important here as well.
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NEWS
Study Group D has conducted an International Conference on
"Dress and Religious Identities in the Roman Empire"
which was held on Friday and Saturday October 30 and 31, 2009
at Bonn University
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