Costumes of Prestige and Authority in Christian Nubia

Costumes of worldly and religious leaders have multiple layers of meaning. Firstly, there is the aspect of ‘dress to impress', often by making the person look larger than others. Secondly, costumes display the authority of the wearer and his/her place in a hierarchy. For the outsider it will be clear that he/she is dealing with a king, queen or bishop, but the insiders will be able to read the non-verbal language, hidden in attributes and decorations. In Christian Nubia Church and state were closely interrelated and the authority of bishops and the monarchy were displayed in paintings in churches. The first aim of the current project is to analyse the costumes of Nubian dignitaries on the basis of these wall paintings, and, with the help of other sources such as texts, investigate the relations of power and authority between Church and state. The second aim is to reconstruct a number of costumes on the basis of these paintings and archaeological evidence.