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THE CLOTHED BODY IN THE ANCIENT WORLD
17-19 January 2002

Liza Cleland, Edinburgh

The 'Written Garment': Analysing inscribed catalogues of dedicated garments as description (with particular reference to Artemis Brauronia).

The 'Treasure Records of Artemis Brauronia' are surely one of the most significant bodies of direct evidence for Greek dress of the classical period. They can be approached in a number of different ways. On one hand, they can be studied as inscribed texts, reconstructed and annotated, their original arrangement and relationships reconstructed as far as is possible. On the other hand, they can be studied from the point of view of the material objects they record, and in this case are informative about patterns of dedication, and about the physical nature and variation of dress. The types of study referred to above concentrate respectively on the 'written' aspect of the catalogue and on the 'garments' it refers to, but there is also an intermediate level, where these two aspects of the subject intersect, which is available for study. This level is that of the 'written garment,' a concept established and extensively explored by Barthes in 'The Fashion System.'

When one considers the nature of the descriptions of dedicated garments which appear in these inscriptions, it is quite clear that they are not 'technical descriptions.' That is, they do not accurately describe the every aspect of the physical nature of the real garments. The issue therefore is not simply one of translation. Even were we in the ideal situation of possessing a complete understanding of the practical meaning of all of the terms used, it would still be necessary to analyse why certain aspects of certain garments are singled out for description and others are not. The inscribed, official, and utilitarian, nature of the catalogue would argue that the identified aspects constitute what might be termed 'minimum description' - the simplest possible description which nevertheless identifies the distinctive features of each garment. I will argue that in considering distinctiveness, at least two grounds can be identified; features which make the garment different from other similar garments in the collection, but also, and equally significantly, features which are socially or culturally salient. We may hope not only to compensate for the loss of those features of the 'real' garments that were not described by the writers of this catalogue, but also to go beyond them, and appreciate something of why certain aspects of clothing were singled out, while others were not. It is at the level of the 'written garment' that we can legitimately consider the choices that have been made in these descriptions, and the oppositions that these imply.

As parts of a catalogue, these inscribed descriptions testify to the continued presence of the items in the sanctuary, and must distinguish the garments one from another in order to do so. In this respect, since "the described object is actualized, given separately in its plastic form" (at least for the original users and creators of the catalogue) they differ from most other descriptions of clothing in Greek literature, in that; "In literature, description is brought to bear upon a hidden object (whether real or imaginary): it must make that object exist." Barthes (1990 [1967]:12)

The purpose of this paper will be to look at some of the ways that this inscribed text can be looked at as description, and the implications of such a view. It will consider the application of semiotic analysis to such texts, and particularly the work of Barthes on this subject. Practical examples, from the catalogue, of the ideas of variation and opposition in descriptions will be given. It will be suggested that by using this approach, we can appreciate the way in which different variables of clothing - type, colour, patterns and structural decoration, fabric and gender ascription - combined to produce an intelligible garment. It will also be suggested that by considering descriptions of garments across the whole catalogue, it is possible to appreciate the relative conceptual importance of the different features of clothing.