Chaining and shaming: images of defeat, from Llyn Cerrig Bach to Sarmitzegetusa

Author: Miranda Aldhouse-Green

Source: Oxford Journal of Archaeology, Volume 23, Number 3, August 2004 , pp. 319-340(22)

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Abstract:

Summary.

This paper seeks to address issues relating to physical restraint, disempowerment and the symbolisms of humiliation, particularly within the contexts of warfare and conquest in Iron Age and Roman Britain and Europe, although the enormous topic of ancient slavery per se is beyond the scope of the present study. The enquiry is based upon evidence from iconography, human remains, the physical paraphernalia of restraint and, for the latest Iron Age onwards, the testimony of such ancient authors as Tacitus. The subject is approached from the perspective not only of empirical material but also from that of social and symbolic theory. Furthermore, in seeking to interpret the relevant material culture, I have deemed it useful to draw broad analogies with other periods and contexts, including the iconography of the ancient Nile Valley and aspects of the nineteenth century French penal system. The material under discussion is scrutinized within contexts of ritual practice and performance, together with presentations of degradation and attitudes to foreignness, subjugation, supremacy and inferiority. Accordingly, questions are raised concerning the symbolic meaning of gang-chains and chain-gangs, grammars of victory-imagery (including somatic position, dimorphism and hair-grasping) and issues associated with shaming the body, whether by means of binding and shackling, violence, head-shaving or sensory deprivation.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0092.2004.00214.x

Affiliations: 1: University of Wales, Newport, Caerleon Campus

Publication date: 2004-08-01