Textiles in Ancient Mediterranean Iconography

Susanna Harris, Cecilie Brøns, Marta Zuchowska, Susanna Harris, Cecilie Brøns, Marta Zuchowska

• Publisher: Oxbow Books
• Year: 2022
• eBook ISBN: 9781789257229
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Ancient History
• Index: History

This volume provides an ambitious synopsis of the complex, colourful world of textiles in ancient Mediterranean iconography. A wealth of information on ancient textiles is available from depictions such as sculpture, vase painting, figurines, reliefs and mosaics. Commonly represented in clothing, textiles are also present in furnishings and through the processes of textile production. The challenge for anyone analysing ancient iconography is determining how we interpret what we see. As preserved textiles rarely survive in comparable forms, we must consider the extent to which representations of textiles reflect reality, and critically evaluate the sources. Images are not simple replicas or photographs of reality. Instead, iconography draws on select elements from the surrounding world that were recognisable to the ancient audience, and reveal the perceptions, ideologies, and ideas of the society in which they were produced. Through examining the durable evidence, this anthology reveals the ephemeral world of textiles and their integral role in the daily life, cult and economy of the ancient Mediterranean.

Chapter 1

Introduction: Approaching textiles in ancient Mediterranean iconography

Cecilie Brøns and Susanna Harris

Abstract

Ancient Mediterranean iconography provides a wealth of information on the complex, colourful world of textiles. Commonly represented in clothing, textiles are also present in furnishings and the processes of textile production. As organic textiles have largely disappeared from the archaeological record, the iconography of textiles is a crucial resource, complementing knowledge gained from written sources and preserved textiles. Nevertheless, there is a persistent questioning of the reliability and relevance of iconographic representation. Yet, its methodology and discoveries need be neither unreliable nor irrelevant provided certain conditions are met: sufficient attention to the medium of construction; robust methods of analysis; appropriate comparison with other sources of evidence; and a critical awareness of the relationship between evidence, cultural context and interpretation. Through examining the iconographic evidence, this volume reveals the ephemeral world of textiles and the important contribution the iconography of textiles makes to the history of textiles and, importantly, to the history of everyday life in the ancient Mediterranean.

The vibrant world of textile iconography

This volume provides an exciting journey into the complex, colourful world of textiles in ancient Mediterranean iconography. The ‘Ancient Mediterranean’, a broad term referring to a period which spans the later Bronze Age to the end of the Roman Empire (1500 BCE–476 CE), signals a time of remarkable cultural and political interconnection between southern Europe, western Asia and north Africa.¹ These societies are known today through their literature, archaeological sites and a myriad of material culture. Some of the most iconic and intriguing aspects of this material culture are the majestic statues, bright-coloured wall-paintings, lively scenes on figured ceramics, intricate seals, coins and figurines, and the tessellated mosaic floors of grand villas. Enduring, powerful and political, these icons of ideology were not only striking to behold; they were also a means of promoting ideas, establishing social positions and stirring the emotions. These representations are often referred to collectively as ‘iconography’. And a major feature of this iconography are the textiles. The aim of this volume is to explore the significance of the iconographic representations and their potential to enhance the understanding of textiles in the ancient Mediterranean. The contributors investigate textile iconography from across the Mediterranean from the Bronze Age to the Hellenistic period – from the 2nd millennium BCE to the early centuries of the 1st millennium CE (Fig. 1.1). The volume encompasses the north, east and west Mediterranean, and touches on the iconography of North Africa (Fig. 1.2).

As organic textiles have largely disappeared from the archaeological record in much of the Mediterranean region,² the iconography of textiles has become a crucial source of information, complementing the knowledge available from written sources and preserved textile remains. Given the significance of textiles to ancient Mediterranean life and society, it is important that this rich evidence is investigated to its full extent. However, making sense of images can be difficult, not least because the process of interpreting images is often taken for granted. Anyone investigating ancient iconography has first to determine how to interpret what is seen. And, most importantly, the extent to which these images correspond to the reality of contemporary life.³ The sculptors, painters and engravers no doubt drew on their first-hand experience of the world around them, including their knowledge of textiles. This provides an unparalleled contemporary account of the reality of ancient textiles. However, these carefully constructed images are not simple replicas or snapshots of daily life. Instead, the iconography draws on and selects elements from the contemporary world that would have been recognisable to their ancient audience and have reflected the perceptions, ideologies and ideas of the society in which they were produced. Observing the images today, it is possible to see how people at the time wanted to be seen and how they chose to present themselves. The way individuals were represented in funerary portraits, statues in their honour, or painted on walls of houses and tombs, is not necessarily the way they appeared in daily life. It can be assumed that faces and bodies were refined, and that textiles played their part in constructing a type of caricature. Consequently, representations are part reality, part wistful imaginings of a perfectly curated life, and part political message of social roles, ideals, and identities.⁴

Fig. 1.1. Timeline of the papers in this volume. © Neil Erskine and Susanna Harris.

Textile production was a routine and important part of ancient Mediterranean activities. Although art historians have long postulated the lack of realism and objectiveness in depicting textiles in the iconography, this view cannot be accepted without qualification. In many cases, weaving utensils and fabrics are carefully represented, even if schematically. For these reasons, any study of textiles in iconography requires a full understanding of textiles and their production, the other types of evidence available, an appropriate methodology, attention to the context of the finds and a recognition of the level of analysis adopted. This volume addresses these issues.

What is a textile? Textiles and textile products, such as clothing, furnishings and equipment, though closely related, are distinct technologies. The word ‘textile’ derives from the Latin, texere, to weave, and specifically refers to fabrics woven on a loom.⁵ The primary material of textiles is fibre, worked into yarns for weaving.⁶ There are numerous materials closely related to textiles, such as braids, netting and basketry, which share the fibrous and yarn origins, yet are produced using different techniques. This volume’s main focus is on textiles. In the ancient Mediterranean world, from the Bronze Age to the late Roman period (c. 1500 BCE–500 CE), textiles provided the raw material for a wide range of products. The most important of these was clothing, the technology of wrapping or tailoring garments to clothe the body and the focus of numerous anthologies and monographs.⁷ Textiles were also prized for furnishing, and fundamental to large-scale equipment such as ships’ sails, curtains, tents and awnings.⁸ By re-examining already well-known objects in terms of their textiles, it is possible both to find fresh sources of data about textile production and use and to demonstrate the high importance of this industry for these early historic societies. As the chapters in this volume demonstrate, the reason so much is known about textiles in the ancient Mediterranean world is because of their plentiful representation in the iconography.

Iconography means, broadly, the study of representation in its many forms. It is an immediately accessible, but also deeply complex, information source about textiles. Reading images is not just a question of decoding a single meaning, since the interpretations of images change from context to context depending on the viewers and their expectations, including those of today’s researchers. It is, for example, impossible to consider the Roman toga without bringing to mind the swirls of textiles on marble statues of adult, male Roman citizens.⁹ Preserved textiles bear witness to the technology used to create this garment,¹⁰ yet it is the iconography of the toga that demonstrates how these large textiles were worn on the body, their colour and the elevated status of those shown wearing them. At the same time, in iconography, the toga presents an idealised view of Roman citizens. Written sources establish that the toga was rarely worn outside formal contexts and that it was even parodied in comedies of the day.¹¹ As one of the most studied textiles in ancient Mediterranean iconography, the toga serves as a reminder both of the opportunities and the complexities of this source material.¹²

The question of how to interpret iconography has vexed scholars for decades and it is not always easy to find one’s way within this complex field of analysis. A good starting point is with the multiple levels at which representation can be considered. In his classic text on iconography in art history, Erwin Panofsky identified three levels at which the representations of past societies can be approached.¹³

• The first level is a formal analysis of how shape, line and colour are used to represent objects and things. At this level, a particular textile is identified, its colour and its decoration, whether it be a tunic, pillow or shawl. Gender and age are established through bodily features. Particular types of looms, or the individual textile signs (logograms) found in scripts and on seals, can be recognised.

• The second level of analysis considers the conventional subject matter and identifies forms according to thematic groups. Here the focus is on the combination of formal attributes grouped around a recognisable theme. This type of analysis is essential for distinguishing deities from the portraits of people and for evaluating figures featuring in typical scenes of production, banqueting, certain popular myths or cult scenes.

Fig. 1.2. Places mentioned in the book, alphabetically ordered: Agios Efstratios 5, Akrotiri 63, Alexandria 80, Ammoi 78, Aphrodisias 77, Archanes 59, Arslantepe 94, Ashdod 87, Asomatoi 62, Athens 43, Baza 3, Beni Hassan 81, Brauron 49, Cabecico del Tesoro 7, Capua 28, Carthage 21, Castellet de Bernabé 10, Chania / Khania 52, Cilicia (approx. centre of region) 90, Coimbra del Barranco Ancho 6, Coll del Moro 16, Collado de los Jardines 2, Cumae 27, Delos 60, Dura Europos 95, Ebla 92, Edeta 11, El Am...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Author biographies
• 1. Introduction: Approaching textiles in ancient Mediterranean iconography
• 2. Textile production in Aegean glyptic: Interpreting small-scale representations on seals and sealings from Bronze Age Greece
• 3. Textiles and iconography in the Bronze Age Aegean Scripts: TELA logogram and the ligatured endogram TE
• 4. Loom or lyre: A dual reading of iconography from the Iron Age II site of Kuntillet ‘Ajrud
• 5. Abundance and splendour: Textiles on Archaic Greek statues of young women (korai)
• 6. The colour of cult: Artemis Brauronia and the krokotos
• 7. Furniture textiles in Classical and Hellenistic iconography
• 8. Ideology, gender and textile production: The iconography of women in the Iberian culture
• 9. All that glitters is gold: Golden textiles in the ancient Mediterranean
• 10. Arachne revisited: Hubris and technology in the Forum Transitorium frieze, Rome
• 11. Fringed clothing in Roman iconography and written sources
• 12. Between realism and artistic convention: Woollen mantles in the iconography of Roman Palmyra
• 13. Reading dress and identity in the Roman mosaics of Carthage and Tabarka
• 14. Epilogue
• Glossary