leather cuirass

[Graham Sumner]

I´d like to stress that the clothing colours must not necessarily show the actual colours worn by these guys.

Or that the Museum reconstructions themselves are actually based on any evidence for surviving colours. We often assume that because they are in Museums then they must have been but I know for certain in at least one case, that the museum staff simply made the colours up! This then became 'evidence' for Roman tunic colours!

We have ample evidence that clothing colours were often used just for contrast, see e.g.:
M. Speidel, Eagle-Bearer and Trumpeter, in: Bonner Jahrbücher 176, p.123-163, esp. 124.

John Peter Wild has also stated that red can be used to outline figures on tombstones. Christian if there is "ample evidence" for colour as a contrast do you have other examples? Naturally I am very interested.

This must be the third or fourth such Rhineland stela I've seen reconstructed with a green tunic and red cloak.

See also D'Amato and Sumner Fig 302 page 213 for another example.

Plate VII in this book shows a reconstruction based on the Sillius tombstone but the green 'tunic' is represented here as a leather garment. H.Russell Robinson suggested they might be armour covers.

Although the figure in question is likely to be the attendant of Silius, not Silius himself, he wears much the same as other Auxiliary soldiers depicted on other Rhineland tombstones. Some of the cavalry servants are also shown elsewhere with a helmet. These 'tunics' appear to have a fringe at the bottom which Robinson interpreted as mail showing beneath the cover. On the Silius tombstone this fringe was red. However the same 'tunics' shown without the fringe Robinson argued were originally coloured to look like mail. A wall mural from Pompeii which shows a mail shirt with shoulder doubling worn over a red tunic would suggest that Roman artists would paint mail as dark grey with light grey or white flecks.

yellow-painted leather

Not too far fetched actually. The seventeenth century buff coats were dyed yellow.

Oh, and just for a general FYI to anyone quoting sources...when you do so, but only list the author, title and page number, it doesn't really help anyone who doesn't have that book.

It is a lot easier getting books than some academic articles believe me! Plus, the book mentioned above is dead easy to get! :wink: :wink: However are you suggesting people post whole chapters and pictures from books? There would be copyright issues for one thing.

M. Speidel, Eagle-Bearer and Trumpeter, in: Bonner Jahrbücher 176, p.123-163, esp. 124.

I wish it was always like this but I found this source from Christian in less than two minutes and looked it up but then that is the result of over ten years collecting material on tunic and cloak colours.


Graham.