12-07-2016, 10:28 AM
Hello everyone
Just a quick query.
Does anyone know what sort of style clothing would have been worn by the people of Emesa in the early Third Century AD, around the time that young Elagabalus would have been high priest at the temple there. Specifically the upper echelons of Emesene society.
Would they have been Romanised and worn short-sleeved tunics with stripes (if equestrians), or would their clothing have been more ‘Syrian’, with long sleeves and elaborates patterns? If the lattrer, do we know if they patterning would have looked like the later Roman tunics with arrows and circles, or would it have been more likely to have full length stripes down the front (if that makes sense)?
We know that Elagabalus offended Roman sensibilities by dressing in a very ‘Parthian’ fashion, so was this picked up from the nobles of Emesa, perhaps? Would they have dressed the same way? Or was it just a teenage phase he went through and could have picked up the fashion elsewhere. I know that his high priest outfit was very Parthian in style (thank you Herodian), but this was a religious garment and doesn’t necessarily mean that the rest of the Emesene society would have dressed this way (this could have been quite an old fashioned style for example, that was kept through tradition).
Hoping someone may be able to enlighten me.
Many thanks in advance
Just a quick query.
Does anyone know what sort of style clothing would have been worn by the people of Emesa in the early Third Century AD, around the time that young Elagabalus would have been high priest at the temple there. Specifically the upper echelons of Emesene society.
Would they have been Romanised and worn short-sleeved tunics with stripes (if equestrians), or would their clothing have been more ‘Syrian’, with long sleeves and elaborates patterns? If the lattrer, do we know if they patterning would have looked like the later Roman tunics with arrows and circles, or would it have been more likely to have full length stripes down the front (if that makes sense)?
We know that Elagabalus offended Roman sensibilities by dressing in a very ‘Parthian’ fashion, so was this picked up from the nobles of Emesa, perhaps? Would they have dressed the same way? Or was it just a teenage phase he went through and could have picked up the fashion elsewhere. I know that his high priest outfit was very Parthian in style (thank you Herodian), but this was a religious garment and doesn’t necessarily mean that the rest of the Emesene society would have dressed this way (this could have been quite an old fashioned style for example, that was kept through tradition).
Hoping someone may be able to enlighten me.
Many thanks in advance
David Hobday
