Roman Feet and Shoes

The cultural significance of feet, footwear, and their representations in the north-western provinces

Shaw, Elizabeth

This book examines the significance of feet, footwear, and the artefacts that depicted them to people living in the north-western provinces of the Roman Empire. It considers trends and symbolism in Roman hobnailing patterns, and Roman ritual use of shoes as evidenced by data from burials and wells. It also investigates 1,492 foot-shaped artefacts across 12 different categories, including jugs with feet on their handles, knife or razor handles, footlamps, sandal fibulae, and carved footprints. It finds that Roman foot-shaped artefacts can have many meanings, frequently simultaneously. These meanings include use as novelty items, markers of fashion and status, signatures, votive offerings, and more. The potential apotropaic role of footwear is also discussed. This unique study is distinguished by a large database, wide geographical reach and, in particular, the quantitative presentation of the results, allowing for statistical intra-site comparisons.