Clothing, body, and Identity in first-millennium Assyrian rituals

In this paper I deal with the role dress and clothing play in the constitution and shaping of individual identity. Through the close analysis of a number of case studies, namely the substitute king (“King of substitution” šar pūḫi) and “A man’s substitute for Ereškigal” (ana pūḫi amēli Ereškigal) rituals, as well as the practice of exposing royal robes as representation of the king in his absence, I explore the mechanisms that make possible for clothing to both represent and substitute the individual.