Classical Archaeology and Art History Commons^™

Purple And Its Various Kinds In Documentary Papyri, Ines Bogensperger

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

The colour purple evokes an inestimable, priceless luxury in our understanding. It almost belongs in a legendary world along with other exquisite goods. Purple is seen as example par excellence for a symbol of social status, a token of prestige. A significant study on the importance of purple has brought to light the persistent desire for this colour throughout the Greek and Roman world.2 Literary sources from Roman times provide us quite comprehensive information on the colour and its sources. The most often quoted author is doubtlessly Caius Plinius Secundus, known as Pliny the Elder, who compiled specialist knowledge in …

Tools And Crafts, The Terminology Of Textile Manufacturing In 1st-Millennium Bc Babylonia, Louise Quillien

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

What did sheep shears in the 1st millennium BC Babylonia look like? We are not sure. Many cuneiform texts were written about textile work in Babylonia, but it was largely about administration or accounting. There were hardly any descriptions of the actual tools and processes. In this article we go back over the words, the iconography, and the archaeology in an attempt to find these missing descriptions. This study is limited to Babylonia during the 1st millennium BC, and this period correspond to a state of the Akkadian language, called Neo-Babylonian. At these times, major evolution took place. Mesopotamia entered …

Garments, Parts Of Garments, And Textile Techniques In The Assyrian Terminology: The Neo-Assyrian Textile Lexicon In The 1st-Millennium Bc Linguistic Context, Salvatore Gaspa

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

At its political and territorial apex in the 8th and 7th centuries BC, Assyria developed into an imperial society characterised by the coexistence of languages and cultures of various origins. The policy of deporting and resettling conquered peoples across the Empire’s territory caused the spread of the Aramaic language and alphabetic script as well as the use of Aramaic as a co-official language alongside Akkadian. The linguistic change caused by these events in the Empire’s core territory emerges from the late stage of the Assyrian dialect, which shows the impact of Aramaic on various grammatical and lexical elements of the …

Textile Terminologies, State Of The Art And New Directions, Salvatore Gaspa, Cécile Michel, Marie-Louise Nosch

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

The first published volume dedicated to the diachronic study of ancient textile terminologies gathered contributions on Semitic and Indo- European studies based on texts dated mainly to the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC.1 It provided a rich body of data and the first steps in elaborating a methodology of how to analyse textile terminologies and technologies according to various categories. Yet, it also highlighted the problems that were encounter in such studies. For example, some areas such as Greece, Italy, Anatolia and Italy are rich in texts providing numerous textile terms but do not yield many ancient textiles, which can …

List Of Contributors

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

The 42 contributors include Salvatore Gaspa, Cécile Michel, Marie-Louise Nosch, Elena Soriga, Louise Quillien, Luigi Malatacca, Nahum Ben-Yehuda, Christina Katsikadeli, Orit Shamir, Agnes Korn, Georg Warning, Birgit Anette Olsen, Stella Spantidaki, Peder Flemestad, Peter Herz, Ines Bogensperger, Herbert Graßl, Mary Harlow, Berit Hildebrandt, Magdalena Öhrman, Roland Schuhmann, Kerstin Droß-Krüpe, John Peter Wild, Maria Mossakowska-Gaubert, Julia Galliker, Anne Regourd, Fiona J. L. Handley, Götz König, Miguel Ángel Andrés-Toledo, Stefan Niederreiter, Oswald Panagl, Giovanni Fanfani, Le Wang, Feng Zhao, Mari Omura, Naoko Kizawa, Maciej Szymaszek, Francesco Meo, Felicitas Maeder, Kalliope Sarri, Susanne Lervad, and Tove Engelhardt Mathiassen.

Sha’Atnez – The Biblical Prohibition Against Wearing Mixed Wool And Linen Together And The Observance And Enforcement Of The Command In The Orthodox Jewish Communities Today, Orit Shamir

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

Jewish law forbids Sha’atnez – wearing mixed wool and linen together was forbidden for the Jewish population. The article will first explain the meaning and acronym of sha’atnez, and then review the sha’atnez textiles which were found in the Land of Israel. The possible reasons for the prohibition of sha’atnez will be presented and remarks on observance and enforcement of the law in Orthodox Jewish communities today will be made according to ethnographic investigation.²

The concept of sha’atnez: Jewish law forbids sha’atnez – wearing garments of mixed wool and linen. This is mentioned twice in the Hebrew Bible: …

Beschaffung Und Handel Mit Farbstoffen, Peter Herz

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

Farbstoffe sind alles andere als ein leicht zu behandelndes Thema, denn von wenigen Ausnahmen abgesehen, die die mineralischen Farben betreffen, geht die archäologische Nachweisbarkeit in der Regel fast gegen Null, was gerade für die Textilfarben sehr bedauerlich ist. Die frühesten Nachweise auf einen internationalen Handel mit Farbstoffen stammen aus dem Ägypten der 4. Dynastie. In vielen Gräbern dieser Epoche finden wir Wandgemälde aus einem ganz speziellen Blau, dem sogenannten Ägyptischen Blau. Einer der Grundstoffe war Lapislazuli oder Blaustein, ein Mineral, das noch heute in den östlichen Teilen von Afghanistan abgebaut wird. Von dort aus wurde das Rohprodukt mit Eselskarawanen bis …

Remarks On The Interpretation Of Some Ambiguous Greek Textile Terms, Stella Spantidaki

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

The study of written sources of the Classical period (5th and 4th centuries BC) reveals the existence of a very rich vocabulary related to textile production. There are terms referring to materials, tools, manufacture and decoration techniques, colours, people and places related to textile manufacture. Many terms are quite clearly defined, while others present major difficulties in their interpretation. Usually these concern terms for tools, such as κερκίς (pin beater or shuttle) and ἡλακάτη (distaff or spindle) or terms describing fabrics with some kind of decoration. Among the decorative terms, some refer to specific decorative techniques, such as κατάστικτος (embroidered) …

Armenian Textile Terminology, Birgit Anette Olsen

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

The part of the Armenian vocabulary that is inherited from the Indo-European protolanguage is notoriously limited, variously estimated to include between 450 and 700 stems. Otherwise, the lexicon is dominated by etymologically obscure elements and an impressive amount of Middle Iranian loanwords, reflecting the centuries of Iranian political dominance. In particular the Parthian loans, introduced during the Arsacid dynasty (247 BC-224 AD), have left their mark on the Classical Armenian language, attested from the early 5th century, to a similar extent as Old French on English or Low German on Danish, so that linguists until the late 19th century still …

Sabellic Textile Terminology, Peder Flemestad, Birgit Anette Olsen

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

Despite numerous recent studies of Italic textiles and textile production etc., no systematic study has so far been attempted regarding the textile terminology of Italic languages besides Latin. The present study seeks to remedy this, making a first step into the textile terminology of Sabellic languages, predominantly Oscan and Umbrian. There are two types of sources for Sabellic textile terminology: inscriptions and glosses in Greek and Latin literature. Both are, however, fraught with uncertainties. The glosses, as for example seen in the case of Etruscan, may have been misunderstood or misinterpreted and should be treated with due caution, and there …

Tunics Worn In Egypt In Roman And Byzantine Times: The Greek Vocabulary, Maria Mossakowska-Gaubert

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

The principal element of the fashion in clothing introduced in Egypt with the arrival of the Romans was a tunic made of two rectangular pieces of fabric sewn together. Such a tunic either would leave the arms naked, or cover the arms to the elbow (fig. 1). This fashion changed with the turn of the 2nd and 3rd century AD. At this time, in addition to the tunics without sleeves, the inhabitants of Egypt started to wear tunics with ‘true’ sleeves – long or short, wide or tight – inspired by the Eastern fashion: the manner of making the tunics …

Ars Polymita, Ars Plumaria: The Weaving Terminology Of Taqueté And Tapestry, John Peter Wild, Kerstin Droß-Krüpe

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

In Roman Egypt papyrologists and archaeologists sometimes seem to inhabit two different, if parallel, worlds, each apparently unaware of the treasures to be found in the other. This paper, however, is a co-operative venture between an ancient historian with papyrological interests – Kerstin Droß-Krüpe – and an archaeologist – John Peter Wild. In the research field of textiles we overlap, and we want to offer you insights from each of our worlds. At some point in the later 2nd century AD an unnamed magnate in the territory of the Lingones in central Gaul dictated a will in which he stipulated …

Χιτών – Δαλματική – Μαφόρτης – Σύνθεσις: Common And Uncommon Garment Terms In Dowry Arrangements From Roman Egypt, Kerstin Droß-Krüpe

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

With regard to ancient textile terms, dictionaries could potentially generate a false sense of security. Their formal accuracy might let us think that we are, without doubt, provided with the term that corresponds perfectly with a particular expression from an ancient Greek and/or Latin document. However, translations in dictionaries are almost exclusively based on reading and interpreting ancient literary sources and tend to neglect documentary evidence. But documentary sources, such as papyri, are a valuable and unique resource for research, referring to manifold aspects of social and economic history. Above all, they offer an insight into the minutae of individual …

Zur Bekleidung Der Krieger Im Avesta: Rüstung Und Magischer Schmuck, Götz König

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

Während die in Altavestisch komponierten Lieder des Avesta (die Gāϑās und das Yasna Haptaŋhāiti) einen rituellen Dichtungsstil pflegen, der sich in eigentümlicher Weise gegen die Dinge der Welt weitgehend verschließt, d.h. Wörter, die auf Materiales – auf in Raum und Zeit Identifizierbares – sich beziehen, vermeidet, stellen die in Jungavestisch abgefaßten metrischen wie prosaischen Texte des Avesta eine weitaus ergiebigere Quelle zur Rekonstruktion der materiellen avestischen Kultur dar. Richten dabei diejenigen Texte, welche die tägliche bzw. zu bestimmten Anlässen zu feiernde, um die altavestischen Texte herum komponierte Priesterzeremonie bilden (Yasna bzw. Yasna mit Vīsparad), ihre Aufmerksamkeit auf …

Xie, A Technical Term For Resist Dye In China: Analysis Based On The Burial Inventory From Tomb 26, Bijiashan, Huahai, Gansu, Le Wang, Feng Zhao

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

In May 2002, a burial site was found in Bijiatan, Huahai, in the Gansu province. During the following two months, the Gansu Institute of Archaeology excavated the graveyard and 55 tombs were excavated in total. A female corpse wrapped in several layers of silk garments was found in tomb 26 together with a burial inventory.

The Burial Inventory from Tomb 26: A burial inventory is a list of buried items that would accompany the deceased to the afterlife. It was commonly found in the tombs in northwest China during the 4th to 7th centuries AD.The inventory of Tomb 26 is …

Weaving A Song. Convergences In Greek Poetic Imagery Between Textile And Musical Terminology. An Overview On Archaic And Classical Literature, Giovanni Fanfani

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

In an analysis of the household-management (οἰκο- νομία) in the first book of the Politics, Aristotle discusses the nature and use of tools (ὄργανα), both inanimate (τὰ ἄψυχα) and animate (τὰ ἔμψυχα). While such a distinction is functional, in Aristotle’s argument, to illustrate the priority of the latter group (represented by the assistant, ὁ ὑπηρετής, and the slave, ὁ δοῦλος) over the first, what interests us here lies mainly within the realm of inanimate tools. As commentators to the passage have not failed to notice, a first literary frame of reference for Aristotle’s exemplum fictum is to be found …

Der Text Als Gewebe: Lexikalische Studien Im Sinnbezirk Von Webstuhl Und Kleid, Oswald Panagl

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

Die Thematik des folgenden Beitrags ist gleichsam doppelt gepolt. Sie ist zunächst im terminologischen Feld der Prozesse, Instrumente und Produkte der Sachbereiche von Weben und Flechten verankert. Zugleich ist sie auch in den metaphorischen Verwendungsweisen der zugehörigen Sinnbezirke bzw. Wortfelder, also im weitgespannten Horizont der Herstellung von Stoffen, Tüchern und Gewändern verortet. „Vom Textil zum Text“ ließe sich die Intention des Artikels bündig zusammenfassen: Dabei verläuft also die Richtung der Bedeutungsentwicklung des Produkts in ihrer Tendenz gegen den Vorgang der zugehörigen morphologischen Ableitung. Ich möchte mich meinem Vorhaben zunächst mit einem Blick auf die bekannten beiden konversen Zugänge zur Semantik …

"Fighting Over A Shadow?": Hellenistic Greek Cities And Greco-Roman Cities As Fora And Media For Multi-Level Social Signaling, Luann Wandsnider

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

The cities of Hellenistic western Anatolia and Roman Asia Minor served as fora for complex social, economic, and political transactions. This chapter introduces social signaling theory in which these transactions are considered as social signals emitted by individuals (i.e., citizens) and groups (i.e., cities) and emphasizes the different qualities of these signals, especially their materiality and differential costliness. Social signals convey information about the otherwise difficult-to-assess capabilities of individual and groups; only some have the talents or resources to emit a high-quality signal. At the individual level, the nature, location, and possibly size of a civic benefaction signal’s an individual’s …

Roman Baths At Antiochia Ad Cragum: A Preliminary Evaluation Of Bath Architecture As Social Signals In The Ancient Mediterranean World, Holly J. Staggs

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

In Rough Cilicia, monumental public architecture was built in the initial phase of the social and political formation of Asia Minor into the Roman Empire during the Imperial Period. As bathing complexes are the most abundant and diverse types of architecture in this region, it would be beneficial to analyze the role of the baths along with their importance in this new Greco-Roman society. This study will focus on two baths at the site of Antiochia ad Cragum, seating this effort in multi-level signaling theory to understand local scale patterning and revised world systems theory to understand regional scale patterning. …

Frank Moore Cross’S Contribution To The Study Of The Dead Sea Scrolls, Sidnie White Crawford

Department of Classics and Religious Studies: Faculty Publications

This paper examines the impact of Frank Moore Cross on the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Since Cross was a member of the original editorial team responsible for publishing the Cave 4 materials, his influence on the field was vast. The article is limited to those areas of Scrolls study not covered in other articles; the reader is referred especially to the articles on palaeography and textual criticism for further discussion of Cross’s work on the Scrolls.

A Symposium On The Legacy Of Frank Moore Cross: Introduction, Walter E. Aufrecht, Sidnie White Crawford

Department of Classics and Religious Studies: Faculty Publications

The papers following these remarks were presented in November 2013 at a symposium jointly sponsored by the Society of Biblical Literature and the American Schools of Oriental Research. Frank Cross was a president of both of these organizations, and so it seemed desirable to conduct a retrospective of his scholarly work under their aegis. Cross’s life and career was superbly highlighted in this journal by Peter Machinist (2013), and they need no further rehearsal here. Rather, our goal is to begin the evaluation of his work and its influence on the scholarly world.

Public Buildings And Civic Benefactions In Western Rough Cilicia: Insights From Signaling Theory, Luann Wandsnider

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

In the Hellenistic and Roman world of the eastern Mediterranean, Greek and Greco-Roman cities came to be defined by their physical cityscape. These buildings were constructed by specific city institutions, such as the council and the assembly, and financed through city funds, mass subscription and, importantly, public benefactions. Public benefactions, which also included support for festivals and competitions, were made by certain elite and usually wealthy individuals to the benefit of a defined community of citizens (and sometimes non-citizens, as in the case of fortification walls). Institutions within the benefiting community, again the council and the assembly, acknowledged these gifts …

Review Of Fauvel. The First Archaeologist In Athens And His Philhellenic Correspondents, By C. W. Clairmont, Effie Athanassopoulos

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

Clairmont’s book is a selection of letters addressed to Louis-François-Sébastien Fauvel, the French Consul and antiquarian, who lived in Athens from 1803 to 1822. Fauvel came to Greece for the first time in 1780. He was sent to the Orient by Count Choiseul-Gouffier in order to study, draw and acquire antiquities for Choiseul’s collection. In 1784 Choiseul-Gouffier was appointed Ambassador in Constantinople and Fauvel continued his activities as a member of Choiseul’s retinue until 1792. Subsequently, Fauvel held the position of French Consul in Athens from 1802 until 1833. With the outbreak of the War of Independence, Fauvel left Athens …

Life In The Truck Lane: Urban Development In Western Rough Cilicia, Nicholas K. Rauh, Rhys F. Townsend, Michael C. Hoff, Matthew Dillon, Martin W. Doyle, Cheryl A. Ward, Richard M. Rothaus, Hülya Caner, Ünal Akkemik, Luann Wandsnider, F. Sancar Ozaner, Christopher D. Dore

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

What combination of forces precipitated urban development in the ancient Mediterranean world? Are the remnants of such forces identifiable in the archaeological record? Since the Mediterranean basin presented itself as an ethnically diverse region where goods and services were transported largely by water, to what degree was urban development at the local level stimulated by the expansion of overseas empires? More specifically, does a ›world system‹ theoretical construct adequately address the phenomenon of urban development in the ancient Mediterranean world? This construct has gained significant popularity with those attempting to explain the pace and scale of development in the pre-classical …

Solving The Puzzle Of The Archaeological Labyrinth: Time Perspectivism In Mediterranean Surface Archaeology, Luann Wandsnider

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

This chapter critiques the currently embraced paradigm in Mediterranean surface archaeology of regional/settlement pattern studies – seated in flat-time functional metaphysic. As shown by Mediterranean archaeologists, that chronotype does not deal well with either complexity or history. And, attending methods, also as demonstrated by Mediterranean archaeologists, do not consistently accommodate or satisfactorily assign meaning to the varied archaeological landscape. But another formational metaphysic exists and seems better to comprehend the complex, historical world and to acknowledge landscape variation.This chapter argues for approaches to the Mediterranean landscape that accept and embrace a time perspectivism.

Hunting Scenes On Roman Glass In The Rhineland, Michael Ginsburg

University Studies (University of Nebraska) (1888–1984)

THE Roman conquerors who settled down to colonize a new province always tried to surround themselves with a new life reminiscent of the life they had left behind in Rome. When the Roman Empire began to expand northward beyond the Alps, first in Gaul and then later in Western Germany, among the many articles brought over by the Romans for their daily use and unknown until then in the new countries were objects made of glass which were part of the common paraphernalia of life in Italy. First, glassware was imported from Italy and those provinces where its production had …