Ursula Rothe

Dress and Cultural Identity in the Rhine-Moselle Region of the Roman Empire Ursula Rothe

This reivsed Phd thesis uses the large extant corpus of funerary art from the Rhine Moselle region, to examine and analyse the clothing depicted and to ask what they can tell us about cultural identity in this frontier region and how they can be used to explore concepts of Romanization. The study deals with civilian, not military dress, and presents a typology of garments depcited, and attempts to determine what was worn prior to Roman rule. The results are analysed in three geographical case studies, showing great localised divergence in self-presentation through dress even within this one region. This is linked to the circumstances by which these local areas were brought under Roman rule.