1stcentury off-duty clothing

[ahaehl]

wonder if anyone could help me--i am teaching the conversion of the centurion Cornelius.

there are many pictures of the armor, but do you know what sort of tunic he would have worn out of armor?

excuse the typing-- i broke my arm.

[Julilla]

Greetings Domine (and a reminder to create a signature file with your real name in it, per Forum rules)

The short answer would be a tunica, which is the most common item of clothing for the Roman man, worn by slave, milites, privates and nobiles. Depending on one's wealth and station, this would be of finely-woven wool or linen.

Construction was simple: often two woven rectangles (sometimes with short sleeves) sewn together at the sides. Some of the statues I've inspected clearly show seam lines running down the arm to the end of the sleeve.

First-century tunicae were usually white or off-white, and the only form of decoration was a simple stripe or laticlavus (generally restricted to equites or senatores). It could be cinched in with a belt at the waist, though there are some images of the lower classes that show men wearing unbelted tunicae (see some of the wonderful frescoes at Pompeii for details).

There's probably much more to be said on the subject, but I must flee away to work. :roll:

Bonam Fortunam!

[Graham Sumner]

Hi

For a Centurion in Judaea you could always look at my 'Roman Military Clothing 1', published by Osprey which shows a Centurion in undress uniform. You should get some ideas about sizes, colours and other clothing accessories too.

Graham.

[Hibernicus]

Where was he born? He might have an affinity for off duties that are like what he used to wear where he lived before joining. OR he might dress more like a local. He may have liked bright colors, stripes, plain weave or herringbone.... no hard rule for "white" either or whatever "undyed unbelached" means.. natural wool comes in many colors and when you add linen to it you get even more variation.

BTW: Graham's book is a good resource.. even if he says so himself... :wink:

[Spurius]

I will also add my praise to Graham's book! Very well done, and worth every denarii!

[Marcus Mummius]

First-century tunicae were usually white or off-white, and the only form of decoration was a simple stripe or laticlavus (generally restricted to equites or senatores).

A lot of dyes were available so white is certainly not the only option. A centurion was certainly wealthy enough to afford some very nice coloured fabrics.

Clavi were not restricted to equites or senators. They were a very popular type of decoration.

In the first century AD purple clavi seem to have been restricted to the nobility, but other colours most certainly were not. In later periods (starting late 2nd century AD I believe) also regular soldiers sported purple clavi on their tunics.

The terms laticlavus and angusticlavus mean respectivily broad clavi (Latuus means broad/wide) and narrow clavi (Angustus means narrow). A tribune of the senatorial rank had wide clavi and was called a tribunus laticlavuus. A tribune of the equitorial rank was called a tribunus angusticlavus.

And yes, Graham's book is the best source available on this subject!

Vale,

[M. Demetrius]

On that topic of clavi, Mummius, it seems there is a little conflict in some folks' minds about the single central wide clavus that senators are reputed to have worn. Any thoughts on that?

Some say they wore two wide senatorial scarlet/purple, others say one 100mm or so in the center front. What do you think?

[Marcus Mummius]

On that topic of clavi, Mummius, it seems there is a little conflict in some folks' minds about the single central wide clavus that senators are reputed to have worn. Any thoughts on that?

Some say they wore two wide senatorial scarlet/purple, others say one 100mm or so in the center front. What do you think?

I must say my knowledge on high rank tunics is very limited.

I don't know if there is a lot of evidence for the one broad central stripe. There is evidence however for the two purple clavi (about a finger length wide for senators and a finger thick for equites).

There is a discussion on tribune tunics here: http://www.romanarmy.com/rat/viewtopic. ... ple+stripe

Vale,

[Q. Vipsanivs Praetextatvs]

There are people that put a purple clavius around the toga too, is it testified?

Thank's :wink:

[Marcus Mummius]

There are people that put a purple clavius around the toga too, is it testified?

Thank's :wink:

That is depicted in Graham's book, so it is most likely attested. You should really get that book, it's not expensive and by far the most acessible source on the subject :wink:

[M. Demetrius]

Underage boys frequently wore a hem stripe of red, I read. But when they came of age, and wore the toga publicly for the first time, they thereafter wore plain white tunicae.

[Q. Vipsanivs Praetextatvs]

There are people that put a purple clavius around the toga too, is it testified?

Thank's :wink:

That is depicted in Graham's book, so it is most likely attested. You should really get that book, it's not expensive and by far the most acessible source on the subject :wink:

Okay, thank's, I will search this book, but, can someone put here the original source that depicts this clavius?

Thank you :wink:

[Crispvs]

I am sure Graham will be able to refer you to good source material for all of the figures in his books.

Crispvs

[Q. Vipsanivs Praetextatvs]

Graham, can you tell me why we can claim that senators and/or equites wore a clavius on the togae too? there is some original source?
If you want you can answer me by a p.m.

Thank you very much :wink:

[Graham Sumner]

There are plenty of pictures of Roman statues of men wearing togas, however practically none are in colour.

The wide band down the front of the tunic worn under a toga is the clothing equivalent of the leather lorica. Beloved of Hollywood but with very little supporting historical or archaeological evidence, especially in the first century AD. There are some paintings from Etruscan times which do show a single broad band on tunics but the two striped versions seem more common.

Two illustrated examples are well known and might be of use in answering the questions asked. Both appear in most general books on the Romans.

Firstly the Republican era statue known as Arringatore, a man in a toga with an outstretched arm. Although this is in bronze it has incised lines on the border of the toga and over the right shoulder of the tunic. These would correspond to the coloured bands and may have been coloured on the statue originally.

Secondly there is a single painting of a figure wearing a toga from Pompeii from the House of the Vetii. The figure has a broad purple border on the tunic and a single broad purple stripe on the tunic over the right shoulder.

In both these examples only a single stripe is shown because the drapes of the toga itself hide the left side of the body. However in both examples the stripe is so far over on the right side, that it can not be a single stripe down the middle of the tunic.

For more information on Toga's, I recommend
'The Roman Toga', by L.M. Wilson which is now available again via Amazon. This also supplies written evidence of Roman toga's. And 'The World of Roman Costume', by J.Sebesta and L.Bonfante.

Graham.