late roman equipment

[Robert Vermaat]

The linnen of the tunic is a 100year old hand woven linnen,

A treasure indeed! I suppose he won't be fighting in THAT beauty!!

[Paulus Claudius Damianus]

Very nice!

[Barbara]

I'm sure he would like to go to battle in this tunica - but Maebh won't let him go - she has made this tunica! :wink:

[Tarbicus]

That's a beautiful piece of work. How long did it take to make, do you know?

(and if Authari could put his hands on for the next photo that'd be really cool as well :wink: )

[aitor iriarte]

Nice work, Barbara!
Those orbiculi are rather familiar to me :wink:
Why didn't you use the original design for the clavi, also preserved ont he same Palmyra (not correctly dated, to my mind) tunic fragments?

Aitor

[Graham Sumner]

Hi Guys.

Sorry to be a bit of a party pooper but it seems to me that a lot of Late Roman re-enactors consistently fail to notice that the sleeves on the late military tunics are very tight fitting and narrow around the wrist. Look at the sources guys, the Piazza Armerina mosaics or the famous image of Stilicho for example.

Do not just copy any surviving tunic look at the ones with the sleeves narrowing towards the wrist not with wide sleeve openings. From those I have seen the ones by Alain/Arbogast looks about the best and as I have said many times before Aitor's.

Graham

[aitor iriarte]

Well, I agree with Graham about the narrow cuffs but the overall dimensions of the tunic posted by Barbara are correct, with those apparently short sleeves, exactly like most Egyptian tunics and the European Reepsholt one:


Those on my tunic have been growing increasingly longer with each sucessive version because I noticed the cuffs tended to be 'pulled-up' when the tunic was belted.
Anyway, I'd like to see how does that tunic look when worn by Authari 8)

Aitor

[Martin Moser]

Hi Aitor,

where are those illustrations from, please?

TIA!

[Graham Sumner]

Hello Aitor

I was thinking more of this style of Tunic.

See picture below

The tunic you describe may well be copied from an original design but that does not prove it is a military tunic. Whereas earlier military tunics are wide and baggy the later ones are narrower and tailored. Of course it does not mean that the tunic I have shown is a military tunic either but it does look closer to the ones shown in ancient illustrations of soldiers.

Graham.

[aitor iriarte]

Hello Martin,
They come from Karl Schlabow's famous book 'Textilfunde der Eisenzeit in Norddeutschland'.
Carol told me that she'd try to reply your letter as soon as possible 8)

Graham,
Unfortunately, no extant tunic can be claimed to be 'military'. Anyway, that of Reepsholt exhibits narrow cuffs and the rest of final fitting, as it happened with earlier tunics, is more a matter of belting and pouching! That's why I wanted to see how does that nice replica look when worn... :wink:

Aitor

[Martin Moser]

Hello Martin,
They come from Karl Schlabow's famous book 'Textilfunde der Eisenzeit in Norddeutschland'.
Carol told me that she'd try to reply your letter as soon as possible 8)

Wow, thanks and thanks! I know that book is available at the Bavarian State Library here in Munich ...
Looking forward to Carol's reply and what she has to say - thanks for putting my request to her!

[aitor iriarte]

You're welcome, Martin!
You'll probably have to wait for some time. Unfortunately for all of us, she is usually totally busy!

Aitor

[Martin Moser]

You'll probably have to wait for some time.

Not at all! Her answer just arrived! :-) )

Thanks again!

[aitor iriarte]

I'm glad of having being wrong, Martin!

Aitor

[tlclark]

Graham,

Yes I have noticed, nearly all figural representations show tightly fitting sleeves that taper dramatically to the wrist. However nearly all extant examples have parallel sleeves.

Which is right? It's a BIG puzzle.

I cut my tunic very tight just to conform to the art (I am an art historian so I put my preference on that) and it was completely unmanageable. It becomes hard to bend the elbow if it is very tight at all.

I think that the tapering must be partially artistic license or maybe there is something we are missing. It's impossible to get your hand through a wrist opening as tight as seen in the art.

My last time in Met I looked at the coptic examples to see if perhaps there was either a split at the wrist, or maybe a tie or fastener. This could explain how these appear tapered in the art, but in actuality be parallel.

If the wrist opening had a tie or thong or fastener that could be used to tightly bind the end of the sleeve at the wrist, that would explain what we are seeing in both the surviving examples and the art.

Alas, as hard as I look, I see no evidence for such a solution in either the art or actual tunics.

Travis