Beautiful Names and Impeccable Dress

Abstract

This chapter outlines a cohesive picture of the representation of elite women in Dura-Europos by examining inscriptions and portraits found in the excavated temples. The prominent public role of individual inscriptions and imagery informs us that the elite inhabitants of the city used these temples to express their place in society. Moreover, these inscriptions and portraits allow us to gain insight into the presented cultural identities and the gendered use of names and dress. Dura-Europos provides us with one of the few instances in which epigraphic and pictorial material can be compared, since some of the portraits and family groups relate to the same families that also represented themselves by means of inscriptions. As it turns out, Greek names were signifiers of status in Dura-Europos; ‘Greekness’ was especially communicated by men, since women more often had Semitic names. However, in their appearance the families did not follow Greek pictorial traditions, but local and regional traditions instead.