Did Romans wear Chitons in the Eastern provinces ?

[M. Demetrius]

That is good work. One thing to consider is how you will launder the garment, which will probably influence how much you want to secure the edges of the stripes. If you are going to machine wash it, you really ought to stabilize those inside raw edges. I'd think that at the very least, you ought to whipstitch around the red/black inside seams, to help keep them from fraying. If the cloth comes unravelled along that stripe, it will be pretty tough to repair.

I found one way to make the shoulder seams match. I cheat. Basically, I have sewn up a complete tunic, then cut it into three pieces at the distance I want to add the clavus, then sewn on a LONG strip that goes up from the hem, over the shoulder and down to the other bottom hem. It has to match, because it's all one piece. Just a thought. I don't think that's how they did it, but it looks smooth and even. If you are machine sewing, that's not a difficult task. Just cut vertically, then splice in the stripes. Fifteen or twenty minutes. Hand sewing will take considerably longer, of course.

[Graham Sumner]

Theo wrote

I've sifted through some more of the literary evidence for Greek style tunics, all from the Historia Augusta [HA]. The evidence is weak but it does mention that after Commodus' assasination some of his belongings were sold off by Pertinax. They included "long sleeved tunics in Dalmatian style, and fringed military cloaks, and purple cloaks, Greek style, for use in camp." (HA, Pertinax 8.10] I'm unclear as to what constitutes Dalmatian style tunics but the last item is interesting - a 'Greek style' cloak for use in the camp. Does that mean Greek cloaks were worn by officers or even common soldiers ?

The HA also mentions Marcus Aurelius and Septimius Severus wearing Greek cloaks at some point in their lives. [HA, Marcus Antoninus, 2.4. and Severus, 1.5]

This is a bit like Victorian men who wore formal suits for work everyday wear but when at home relaxing they dressed in smoking jackets, dressing gowns and slippers.

Roman clothing is seen as very formal and stiff, while Greek dress is more relaxed and loose. This is often used by Roman writers to describe a persons character. Wearing Greek clothing can be seen as elegant and refined but also as an insult. Being loose and relaxed are not often good qualities as a military commander and also hints at effeminacy. Hence amongst the bad characteristics of emperors like Elagabalus and Nero is the fact that they liked to wear Greek clothes and not always when they were relaxing.

The 'Dalmatic tunic' would be one of the first of the long sleeved tunics which were becoming more and more fashionable at this date. Wearing a cloak Greek style would be on the left shoulder and then draped around behind the body and back up to the shoulder or tucked loosely under the left arm as you see on soldiers funeral banquets. Again more comfortable than the Toga.

Shameless plug alert! Look out for my new book on 'Roman Military Dress', Theo it should answer your questions and provide you with much more information on this subject.

Hope this helps.

Graham.

[Theodosius the Great]

Thanks, Demetrius. I didn't sew it myself. So far I've only worn it once. And since I'll only wear it once or twice a year I won't have to worry too much about fraying. There's time to consider how to wash it. Matt's idea sounds best, just squish it in a bucket for a few minutes using woolite. You're method for matching the clavii is brilliant ! I wish I thought of it earlier.

Hi Graham. So, mentioning Greek clothing preferences can be a literary tool to portray someone in an unfavorable light ? Interesting. That does seem to be the case with Herodian mentioning Elagabalus especially since he says this emperor was the first to wear silk - a not so subtle hint of extreme effeminacy.

Thanks for the reminder about your iminent book release. I do plan to buy a copy.

~Theo