Berit Hildebrandt

Current research

Project: The Emperor’s New Clothes. Power Dressing in the Roman Empire from Augustus to Honorius.

My project will explore changes in the costume of the Roman emperor, his family and his court. My hypothesis is that we can track the development of an imperial wardrobe, which follows the gradual acceptance and consolidation of autocracy, from the plain woolen toga of the ideal princeps to the luxurious purple silks of the monarch. My aim is to highlight the continuities and breaks as well as the idiosyncrasies that occurred during this process by taking into account written as well as archaeological sources.

In terms of status representation, the early Roman emperors walked a tight rope between conforming to the supposed frugality and uniformity of their ancestors and being the rulers of the Roman world. For historical reasons they had to avoid allusions to monarchy and behave as "first among equals" in their interaction with their senatorial peers. Changes in status display through clothes therefore mirror, I argue, the changing perception of the position of the emperor within the social hierarchy.

This project will cover the time from the first princeps, Augustus, to the emperor Honorius (1st century BCE-5th century CE). In particular it will focus on the representation of "good" vs. "bad" emperors as the discourses surrounding them are highly ideologically charged. This will help to define the turning point(s) when the discourses changed and also “good” emperors were allowed to represent their status visually through precious clothing. I believe that this indicates that the position of the emperor at the top of the social hierarchy was now openly acknowledged and their corresponding status representation considered appropriate. Thus the project hopes to shed new light on the political and institutional history of the Roman Empire through the study of imperial dress and representation.

Project: Silk in Antiquity. Terminology-Production-Consumption-Distribution

CV

since September 2013: Marie Curie Fellow / Associate Professor at the Danish National Research Foundations’ Centre for Textile Research, University of Copenhagen. Research project: The Emperors’ New Clothes. Power Dressing in the Roman Empire from Augustus to Honorius. 

September 2011 – August 2012: Postdoctoral Fellowship, Mahindra Humanities Center, Harvard University. Research project: “Exchange along the Silk Roads between Rome and China in Antiquity, with a Focus on Silk”.

March 2011 – June 2011: Postdoctoral Fellowship, Centre for Textile Research, University of Copenhagen Research project: “Textile Tools in Diocletian’s Edict on Maximum Prices” (with P. Flemestad, M. Harlow, M-L. Nosch)

since October 2007: Assistant Professor [Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin] for Ancient History, University of Hannover, Department of History. Research project: Habilitation (Title: “Seide im Römischen Reich. Terminologie-Produktion-Konsumtion-Distribution” [Silk in the Roman Empire. Terminology-Production-Consumption-Distribution] ).

October 2005 – September 2007:  Postdoctoral Fellowship from the German Research Foundation [DFG], University of Munich, Graduate School "Forms of Prestige in Cultures of the Ancient World" ["Formen von Prestige in Kulturen des Altertums"].

March 2005 - September 2005: Teaching assistant [Lehrbeauftragte], University of Greifswald, Institute of Classical Studies.

10.02.2005 (disputation of thesis) / 14.01.2008 (certificate after publication of thesis according to German law): Dr. phil. in Ancient History, University of Göttingen. Subject of thesis: „Damos und Basileus. Überlegungen zu Sozialstrukturen in den Dunklen Jahrhunderten Griechenlands” [„Damos and Basileus. A Study of Social Structures in Dark Age Greece“].

12.01.2000: M. A. in Classical Archaeology, Ancient History, Media and Communication Studies at the University of Göttingen. Subject of thesis: „Zur Bedeutung und Funktion der Lekythos im Grabkult im 5. Jh. v. Chr.“ [„Meaning and Function of Lekythoi in Classical Athenian Funerary Cult“].

October 1993 – January 2000: Studies at the Universities of Göttingen, Perugia/Italy and Berlin (Freie Universität and Humboldt Universität).