From the publisher’s page:
Insights from anthropology, religious studies, biblical studies, sociology, classics, and Jewish studies are here combined to provide a cutting-edge guide to dress and religion in the Greco-Roman World and the Mediterranean basin. Clothing, jewellery, cosmetics, and hairstyles are among the many aspects examined to show the variety of functions of dress in communication and in both establishing and defending identity.
The volume begins by reviewing how scholars in the fields of classics, anthropology, religious studies, and sociology examine dress. The second section then looks at materials, including depictions of clothing in sculpture and in Egyptian mummy portraits. The third (and largest) part of the book then examines dress in specific contexts, beginning with Greece and Rome and going on to Jewish and Christian dress, with a specific focus on the intersection between dress, clothing and religion.
By combining essays from over twenty scholars from different disciplinary backgrounds, the book provides a unique overview of different approaches to and contexts of dress in one volume, leading to a greater understanding of dress both within ancient societies and in the contemporary world.
Praise for the book:
“Dress in Mediterranean Antiquity is ambitious in scope, with a broad temporal and geographic range. …Dress emerges as a primary means of constructing social identities, especially gender, age, marital status, socio-economic status, social role, ethnicity, and religion. Amply illustrated, including many photographs in color, this volume will be a valuable contribution to the burgeoning scholarship on dress in antiquity.” – MIREILLE LEE, Vanderbilt University, USA