How did the Greek gods dress?

Lecture by Alberto Barnabé, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Departamento de Filología Griega y Lingüística Indoeuropea.

The purpose of the lecture is to share some considerations about the way in which the Greeks mostly represented in texts and images how their gods dressed. Starting from the criticism of Xenophanes that mortals imagine that the gods dress and the statement of the same poet-philosopher that all Greeks had learned from Homer, I will examine some Homeric references to the gods' dress, as well as representations of the divine models in some archaic vessels such as the Dinos of Sophilus or the François Vase.

Other aspects of the question are then examined: the offering of garments to the gods in literature (the Iliad) or in known rites (the Peplum of the Panathenaeas or the Veil of Licosura), as well as the description and meaning of the garments worn by the Sun god in a rite described in a hymn preserved in Macrobius. After the first observation of the special luxury attributed to divine clothing, other aspects of the question are pointed out, such as functionality (the adaptation of divine clothing to the function of the gods themselves), or the function of identification (features of the clothing to immediately identify the god who wears it). Finally, reference is made to the the importance of dress in the disguises and metamorphoses of the gods.

CTR meetings and lectures Autumn 2024

Every other Wednesday at CTR, we have administrative meetings running through the semester, followed by a scientific presentation, either by a CTR member or an invited scholar. We kindly invite everyone interested to join these lectures.

Lecture, ca. 14:00-14:45

The weekly lecture will start at 14:00 and will be followed by a free discussion amongst all participants. Please see the program below. You are more than welcome to join us in person at CTR, University of Copenhagen South Campus, room 11B-1-05.

If dates are still open for lectures in the calendar, you are more than welcome to write to us with suggestions for speakers.

Zoom Link

You can join us via Zoom in case you are not able to attend the event in person. In that case, simply follow this link.

We expect everybody to turn on the camera and have your name as the “name tag”. It will be possible to join the discussion but until personally addressed, we ask all participants to be muted.

Meeting 15:00-16:00

The second hour, 15:00-16:00, is mainly reserved for CTR members, yet if anyone would like to join, they are welcome. The meeting consists of general administrative and CTR-related news and information as well as “News around the table”, where everyone gives a short update on their projects. Anyone participating in the meeting is expected to join this, also if you are not a member of CTR.