CLOTHING ON ANCIENT COINS

Clothes carried a range of social and cultural meanings that are expressed by the garments we see on ancient coins. Coin auction catalogues and reference books describe these garments with a Greek and Latin vocabulary that can be baffling for beginners. Only a handful of actual garments survive from classical antiquity (mostly from Roman Egypt), so to understand ancient dress we rely on evidence from art history and literature. Coins cannot tell us the colors or patterns of ancient textiles; for that we rely on wall paintings, mosaics and ceramics.

But the best ancient coin engravers did have a good eye for drapery.

The chiton (or kiton) was a loose, usually sleeveless ankle-length garment stitched from two rectangles of linen (front and back). It was belted at the waist (for men) or below the breasts (for women). A silver stater of Aspendus (c. 420-370 BCE) in Anatolia shows a slinger wearing an elegantly pleated short chiton that has the look of sheer Egyptian linen.

To read the complete article, see:
Does This Toga Make Me Look Fat? Clothing on Ancient Coins (https://coinweek.com/ancient-coins/toga-make-look-fat-clothing-ancient-coins/)

When we think of Roman fashion today, it’s all togas and laurels, but as preeminent puzzle historian Jerry Slocum and his colleague Dic Sonneveld explain in the recent book Romano-Celtic Mask Puzzle Padlocks, some Romans probably also wore intricate mechanical rings, which they could also use to lock up a money pouch or small safe.

Slocum eventually identified 156 examples in museums and collections around the world, while developing his book on the subject. An impressive variety of padlocks have survived from the ancient Roman world, but this type of puzzle lock has a few distinctive features. Each about the size of a large ring, the locks were usually made of bronze and featured a faceplate sculpted into the image of a god. Janus, god of transitions and passages, was a popular subject. With few exceptions, the faceplate was hinged at the top, and flipped up to reveal a keyhole, the key to which was also sometimes crafted into a ring, worn separately. But the key alone was not enough to open one. The locks also hid one or two tiny little plates or switches that needed to be moved before the shackle—the hoop of the ring—would open. They were more akin to puzzle boxes than modern Master Locks.

Replica puzzle-locked coin pouches

To read the complete article, see:
The Fashion and Mystery of Ancient Roman Puzzle Locks (https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/fashion-mystery-roman-puzzle-locks-rings-jewelry-money)

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