Читать книгу The Art of the Shoe - Marie-Josèphe Bossan - Страница 9

Coptic civilization was a bridge between Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Direct descendants of the Pharaohs, the Copts were Egyptians that practiced Christianity. Our knowledge of their shoes comes from archaeological digs undertaken in the 19th century, in particular at Achmin.

Additional information is available from mummy textiles and sarcophagi tops from the 1st to 4th centuries AD, which usually depicted people wearing sandals, although sometimes people appear barefoot. Funeral customs changed in the 4th century when the dead were buried dressed in their most precious clothing. From that time forward, painted textiles having disappeared, steles only offer rare images that show a type of shoe with a pointed toe.

As was the case throughout Egyptian antiquity, the heel was unknown to the Copts: shoes, boots and sandals were always flat-soled. The use of full boots and ankle boots remains exceptional and reserved for men. These forms of footwear show little variety, but Coptic shoemakers demonstrated imagination in the decorative techniques they employed, using red and brown leather, leather piping curled into spirals, geometric motifs cut out of gold leather, and even sculpted leather soles.