The History of the Sudarium

The history of the Sudarium begins with the references to the Sudarium of Christ, then continues with references to several “sudariums” and ends with the references to the Sudarium of Oviedo. The additional information that Nonnus provides about the Sudarium is the presence of a knot. The knot could fix the cloth to the hair or, the knot was in the cloth itself but toward the upper part of the hair. The explanation of these wrinkles is the knot made at the edge of the Sudarium of Oviedo in the last phase of its use for fixing the cloth around the head of the corpse. The knot had to remain unchanged for a long time to mark the wrinkles so notably as to be perceived even today. The Sudarium of Oviedo was removed from the head of the corpse maintaining the knot.