Closing a shoulder cape

[Carlton Bach]

I'm putting this here because the garment I'm curious about isn't limited to military use, though soldiers did regularly wear it. What I'm wondering about is the shoulder cape seen between the second and fifth century (possibly a lot later, if a certain Romanesque relief faithfully depicts contemporaries). Sumner refers to it as the alicula (Roman Military Clothing II, p. 12), Croom refers to a 'cucullus' or 'bardocucullus') (Roman Clothing and Fashion p. 54). I'm interested in the variety that is open in front - I have a pattern for the one that slips opver the head. What I'm looking at is a shoulder cape, possibly circular or nearly so, sometimes with an attached hood. You can see it a lot in depictions pof farmers and shepherd, but it also crops upo on hunters (esp. in Gallo-Roman art) and soldiers.

How do you close it?

I've seen a number of depictions that show soething like bars or strings between the wo sides, and sometimes something that looks like twin circular brooches, but I'm not sure how to interpret these. Is this a single fibula?

Any help appreciated.

[Tarbicus]

Couldn't tell you Carlton, but I'm glad someone else has one. Mine's hooded and closed.

http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/R ... ullus.html
http://www.vroma.org/~araia/cucullus.html