Χιτών – δαλματική – μαφόρτης – σύνθεσις: Common and Uncommon Garment Terms in Dowry Arrangements from Roman Egypt

Abstract

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 lives, an aspect of ancient history that is rarely available to current research. These kinds of sources significantly deepen the understanding of the ancient world – compared to information retrieved only from literary sources. The present contribution derives from a research project made possible by the Pasold Research Fund.1 It focuses on ancient marriage documents from the province of Egypt with its abundance of papyrological evidence as a case study on the terminology of everyday dress in Roman Imperial times.