Perizoma (from

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

, from ''peri'' "around, about" and ''zoma'' "loin-cloth, drawers, band, belt") is a type of

loincloth A loincloth is a one-piece garment, either wrapped around itself or kept in place by a belt. It covers the genitals and, at least partially, the buttocks. Loincloths which are held up by belts or strings are specifically known as breechcloth or ...

that originated with the

Minoan civilization The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age Aegean civilization on the island of Crete and other Aegean Islands, whose earliest beginnings were from 3500BC, with the complex urban civilization beginning around 2000BC, and then declining from 1450BC ...

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...

. Surviving depictions show it being worn by male and female acrobats (for example, in the ''

Bull-Leaping Fresco The bull-leaping fresco is the most completely restored of several stucco panels originally sited on the upper-story portion of the east wall of the palace at Knossos in Crete. It shows a bull-leaping scene. Although they were frescos, they were ...

''). A perizoma was possibly worn by

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

during his crucifixion. It is a standard feature of the

crucifixion in the arts Crucifixions and crucifixes have appeared in the arts and popular culture from before the era of the pagan Roman Empire. The crucifixion of Jesus has been depicted in a wide range of religious art since the 4th century CE, much of which has includ ...

. However, Roman custom was to crucify victims naked, and there is no evidence to suggest that Jesus was an exception. Perizoma was likely added by later artists to preserve modesty (see

fig leaf The expression "fig leaf" is widely used figuratively to convey the covering up of an act or an object that is embarrassing or distasteful with something of innocuous appearance, a metaphorical reference to the Biblical Book of Genesis in which ...

) and first appeared in the 8th century.

Aachen Cathedral Aachen Cathedral (german: Aachener Dom) is a Roman Catholic church in Aachen, Germany and the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Aachen. One of the oldest cathedrals in Europe, it was constructed by order of Emperor Charlemagne, who was buri ...

claims to have the actual relic of the perizoma, preserved inside the

Marienschrein The Marienschrein (Shrine of Mary) in Aachen Cathedral is a reliquary, donated on the order of the collegiate church, chapter of Mary around 1220 and consecrated in 1239. Along with the Karlsschrein, the artwork, which is from the transitional pe ...

reliquary.

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite book , first=Larissa , last=Bonfante , title=Etruscan Dress , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CILWtN-fSG8C&pg=PA19 , publisher=JHU Press , year=2003 , isbn=9780801874130 , pages=19–20 {{cite book, first=Richard , last=Viladesau , title=The Beauty of the Cross: The Passion of Christ in Theology and the Arts from the Catacombs to the Eve of the Renaissance , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=twLyKjwEPxoC&pg=PA188 , publisher=Oxford University Press , year=2006 , isbn=9780195188110 , page=188 {{cite book , first=David , last=Tombs , title=Religion and the Politics of Peace and Conflict , chapter=Prisoner Abuse: From Abu Ghraib to the Passion of the Christ , editor-first1=Linda , editor-last1=Hogan , editor1-link=Linda Hogan (ethicist) , editor-first2=Dylan , editor-last2=Lehrke , chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d9tJAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA182 , publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers , year=2009 , isbn=9781556350672 , series=Princeton Theological Monograph Series , pages=182–83 {{cite book , first=Joe , last=Nickell , title=Relics of the Christ , url=https://archive.org/details/relicsofchrist00joen , url-access=registration , publisher=University Press of Kentucky , year=2007 , isbn=9780813172125 , pag
106
} {{Cite book, last=Condra, first=Jill, url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/156808055, title=The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Clothing Through World History: Prehistory to 1500CE, publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group, year=2008, isbn=978-0-313-33662-1, location=Westport, Connecticut, pages=79, oclc=156808055 Undergarments Roman-era clothing Greek clothing Iconography of Jesus Relics associated with Jesus

See also

References