Sacred cloth: consumption and production of textiles in sanctuaries and the power of elites in archaic western Mediterranean world

Textile consumption is both ubiquitous and multi-faceted. After food, textiles constitute the next most important necessity for people in all societies providing protection and warmth in the form of shelter and clothing. At the same time textiles are socially and politically salient as indicators of individual and group identity in terms of gender, age, family, ethnic affiliation, status, profession, religion etc. In their role enabling wealth creation through enhanced quantity and quality in production, visualizing political hierarchies through exclusive clothing marking social roles, and the impact of this on social relationships of production and politics, textiles were a significant driving force of urbanism and state formation in early Archaic Mediterranean societies. As prized repositories of materials, skills and social meaning, textiles were dedicated at sanctuaries and as such played an important role in aristocratic conspicuous consumption and display. But many sanctuaries also had dedicated spaces for textile production within sacred precincts, an activity in which predominantly elite women were involved. The paper argues that sanctuaries were not only consumers but also producers of textiles and that elites were actively involved in both activities, as demonstrated by both written and archaeological evidence.