Tänie (clothing)

Drooping tänie. Painting from the grave of the mourning women in Paestum

Tänie or Taenia ( Latin , Greek  ταινία tainia “head band”, also “bosom band”) were (head) bandages in antiquity that were worn as ritual festive and honorary decorations. By wrapping a bandage around a person (priest or winner of a competition), a sacrificial animal or an object (idol, altar, tombstone, urn) was designated as consecrated to the gods. The custom originally comes from Greece, but was adopted by the Romans.

At festivals, a prize was awarded in front of the wreath, the actual winner's prize.

In the sacral area, the tänie is also known as the strophium or infula , the white or purple headband of the ruler was called the diadema .

Later all types of fabric tape were called taenia , such as the bosom tape worn by Roman women (also called fascia ). The pennants or strips of fabric on ships or spears used as military symbols were also called taenia .

literature

• Walter Hatto Groß : Taenia. In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 5, Stuttgart 1975, column 494 f.