About the lecture
The primary sources for dress in ancient Rome are documentary, literary and visual. These are complemented with archaeological findings which, although often fragmentary, give real context to the images produced by the written and visual sources. As with many aspects of women’s lives in antiquity, we lack a female voice in the question of clothing and fashion, but we have a surfeit of male opinions about what women should and could wear. Roman moral codes are often framed around the dressed and undressed image of women, and we have little idea of how far women might have bought into or rejected/played with these images. This lecture will examine the realities of wearing the Roman female wardrobe, and discuss how we might investigate a woman’s point of view when making clothing choices.
About Dr. Harlow
Mary Harlow recently retired from the University of Leicester where she held a position as Associate Professor (2013-21). Prior to this she was a Guest Professor at the Centre for Textile Research in Copenhagen (2011-13). Her research and publications cover the study of dress and appearance, the history of age, ageing and the life course, and gender in the Roman period. Most recently she has contributed to and edited
- A Cultural History of Dress and Fashion: Antiquity (2017)
- A Cultural History of Hair: Antiquity (2019)
- Textiles and Gender in Antiquity: From the Orient to the Mediterranean (2020)
- A Cultural History of Shopping: Antiquity (2022).
Digital event - how to participate
The seminar will be held digitally. If you wish to attend a lecture, you need to register in advance.
A zoom link will be sent to you before the event. You can download Zoom or use your browser: https://zoom.us/download
Suggestions for further Reading
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Harlow, Mary, 2012. ‘Dressing to please themselves: clothing choices for Roman women’ in Dress and Identity, M. Harlow ed. (Archeopress: Oxford):37-46.
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Harlow, Mary, ed. 2017. A Cultural History of Dress and Fashion in Antiquity. (Bloomsbury: London) – a good introduction to the topic, especially chapters by Glenys Davies and Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, Kelly Olson, Lena Larsson Lovén and Mary Harlow.
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Olson, Kelly, 2008. Dress and the Roman Woman: Self-Presentation and Society. (Routledge: London).
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Olson, Kelly, 2002. ‘Matrona and whore: the clothing of Roman women in Antiquity’. Fashion Theory 6.4: 387-420.
About Ancient Attire
A Digital Lecture Series on Dress, Adornment and Vestimentary Codes in the Ancient Mediterranean World
The aim of this series is to investigate vestimentary codes in ancient cultures, and to explore how these concepts relate to gender, hierarchy and power.
Seven excellent international researchers, experts on the material cultures and texts of the ancient Mediterranean, will present a 30-minute lecture, followed by amble time for questions and discussion.
We are interested in mapping dress and adornment as broadly as possible and therefore we encourage our speakers to consider vestimentary codes from a multi-sensorial perspective and to give thought to both touch, smell, taste, hearing and vision.
Ancient Attire Programme - Fall 2022
- Friday August 26 at 3pm (Oslo): Dr. Rosalind Janssen: “Unpacking Tutankhamun’s Wardrobe”
- Friday September 16 at 3pm (Oslo): Dr. Laura Quick: “Divine Dress, Divinization and Dethronement in the Hebrew Bible”
- Friday October 21 at 3pm (Oslo): Dr. Søren Lorenzen: “The High Priest and his Glorious Camouflage”
- Friday November 11 at 3pm (Oslo): Dr. Mary Harlow: “Female Dress at Rome: Getting it Right”
- Friday December 2 at 3pm (Oslo): Dr. Agnès Garcia-Ventura and Dr. Mireia López-Bertran: “Dressed to sound? An approach to dress and attire of female musicians in Phoenician and Punic contexts”
- Friday December 16 at 3pm (Oslo): Dr. Salvatore Gaspa: “Dress, Adornment and the Material Language of Power: Royal Textiles in Assyria”
Organizer
The lecture series is organized by Professor Anne Katrine de Hemmer Gudme and hosted by The Faculty of Theology at the University of Oslo and the Faculty’s research group Biblical Texts, Cultures and Receptions.