Philosopher coat

Statue of Aesculapius with a philosopher's cloak, staff and adder

Philosopher's coat ( Latin pallium philosophicum ) or tribon ( ancient Greek τρίβων tríbōn ) was the name of a wide outer garment of simple, coarse design in antiquity .

Originally the Tribon was worn by Cretans and Spartans . In the 5th century BC The wool coat, worn without undergarment , the chiton , found its way into the clothing of the Athenians . There he was the garment of Lakonizontes, imitators of Spartan customs, as well as of common people and peasants. According to Plato and Xenophon , Socrates wore the tribone. As a result, it became a hallmark of the philosopher, especially the representative of the Cynical , but also the Stoic schools of philosophy. It was also worn during lessons by teachers of rhetoric in particular during the Roman Empire . Damascius reports that Hypatia , a mathematician, astronomer and philosopher of the 5th century, also wore the tribone. It is controversial whether he wanted to discredit her as a cynic or to pass on a real story. Even philosophical laypeople, such as Emperor Antoninus Pius , wore the tribone as a sign of their philosophical endeavors. In late antiquity , the tribone became a popular item of clothing for male Christians.

literature

• Rolf Hurschmann : Tribone. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 12,1, Metzler, Stuttgart 1996-2015, ISBN 3-476-01470-3 , Sp. 194 f.
• Ernst Schuppe: Tribon. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume VI A, 2, Stuttgart 1937, Sp. 2415-2419.

Remarks

1. ↑ Strabo 10.4.20.
2. ↑ Plutarch , Lykurgos 30; Agesilaos 30; Aelian , varia historia 7.13.
3. ↑ Thucydides 1,6,3
4. ↑ Demosthenes 54:34.
5. ↑ Aristophanes , Die Weibervolksammlung 859; The Acharnians 184, 343; Lysias 32.16; Isaiah 5:11.
6. ^ Plato, Symposium 219b; Protagoras 335d.
7. ↑ Xenophon, Memorabilia 1,6,2.
8. ^ Alan Cameron , Jacqueline Long: Barbarians and Politics at the Court of Arcadius (= The Transformation of the Classical Heritage. Volume 19). University of California Press, Berkeley 1993, pp. 41-44.
9. ^ Arthur P. Urbano, Sizing-Up the Philosopher's Cloak: Christian Verbal and Visual Representations of the Tribon. In: Kristi Upson-Saia, Carly Daniel-Hughes, Alicia J. Batten (Eds.): Dressing Judeans and Christians in Antiquity. Ashgate, Farnham 2014, pp. 175-194 ( online ).