Winter clothing.

[stevesarak]

They other day I was reading up on Caesars campaigns in Gaul. At one point the Gauls were held up someplace, it was hard winter and it was said, that it was so bad that not even a runner could get through. Caesar gathered his men and marched on the Gauls.

I imagined the Romans in their sandals and short sleeve tunics, basically their summer gear, trudging through the snow. I could image how bad it must have been and how many men they lost to the elements. Then it hit me that they must have had some kind of winter gear.

What was a soldier’s winter gear? Socks, Ponchos, Jackets, what?

Thanks

[Matthew Amt]

Well, the cloak was a regular item of gear, for starters. Socks and leggings were well known in rural Italy already. And of course the soldiers would have picked up some fashions from the locals, such as trousers and long sleeves. (Caesar himself apparently wore a Gallic long-sleeved tunic in the Senate house in Rome, much to the dismay of his colleagues.)

Not saying they'd be warm and toasty, of course, but it wouldn't have been possible without adequate clothing.

Matthew

[Graham Sumner]

Hi Steve

Basically much as Matthew has already stated but you can also add extra undertunics and even undercloaks. The Paenula was a popular hooded cloak while the sagum, the rectangular cloak, was already something borrowed from the Northern Barbarians according to Roman tradition.

Graham.

[stevesarak]

Where they limited to what could fit under their armor. Did they have a standard of clothing they could wear, some kind of uniformity or did they just grab what they wanted. I’m just wondering about the chaos of battle if everyone looked the same.

[Graham Sumner]

Hi Steve

For a quick overview of clothing I would suggest you get hold of a copy of my 'Roman Military Clothing I', published by Osprey in their 'Men at Arms' series. This first volume should answer most of your questions and Vol 2 should be of interest to you as well. There is also a bibliography for other articles and books on related topics.

Graham

[Matthew Amt]

Where they limited to what could fit under their armor.

Well, cloaks would go OVER the armor! And possibly some types of tunics, too. Plus, Caesar's men would have been in mail, mostly, so it wouldn't be a big problem if the clothing under it was bulkier than usual.

Did they have a standard of clothing they could wear, some kind of uniformity or did they just grab what they wanted. I’m just wondering about the chaos of battle if everyone looked the same.

We really don't know much about regulations or standards. We can't even prove uniform colors or shield emblems, particularly in Caesar's time and before. It seems that each man was supplying his own clothing, or at least any supplementary clothing. Traditions and fashions probably carried more weight than any modern idea of "regulations". Don't worry about battles, though--the combination of shield style (and probably decoration) and armament would make it easy to tell Romans from Gauls. The Gauls allied to the Romans might confuse things, perhaps, but barbarians had been fighting each other since time began so presumably they had that worked out.

Matthew

[stevesarak]

Where they limited to what could fit under their armor.

Well, cloaks would go OVER the armor! And possibly some types of tunics, too. Plus, Caesar's men would have been in mail, mostly, so it wouldn't be a big problem if the clothing under it was bulkier than usual.

Did they have a standard of clothing they could wear, some kind of uniformity or did they just grab what they wanted. I’m just wondering about the chaos of battle if everyone looked the same.

We really don't know much about regulations or standards. We can't even prove uniform colors or shield emblems, particularly in Caesar's time and before. It seems that each man was supplying his own clothing, or at least any supplementary clothing. Traditions and fashions probably carried more weight than any modern idea of "regulations". Don't worry about battles, though--the combination of shield style (and probably decoration) and armament would make it easy to tell Romans from Gauls. The Gauls allied to the Romans might confuse things, perhaps, but barbarians had been fighting each other since time began so presumably they had that worked out.

Matthew

Shields and weapons to tell the differance between sides. Thanks, did'nt think about that.

[Barbara]

In another time - not cesarian - we know about socks and long underwear. One of the writing tablets found in vindolanda is a letter to a soldier. In this letter is reported what goods where sent to the reciever: two pairs of "subligaria", suggested to be long underwear, and two pairs of socks, because in Britain it's alway so wet and cold... :wink:

Here's the link: http://vindolanda.csad.ox.ac.uk/4DLink2 ... questQuery

And search for tablet no. 346

[stevesarak]

In another time - not cesarian - we know about socks and long underwear. One of the writing tablets found in vindolanda is a letter to a soldier. In this letter is reported what goods where sent to the reciever: two pairs of "subligaria", suggested to be long underwear, and two pairs of socks, because in Britain it's alway so wet and cold... :wink:

Here's the link: http://vindolanda.csad.ox.ac.uk/4DLink2 ... questQuery

And search for tablet no. 346

It seems so logical that a society that can make clothing would make socks for when the weather was cold, but for some reason I, and I'm sure there are others, just didn't think that Rome's mighty armies were sometimes marching along in their socks and sandals.

I kind of have a vision of a tourist walking around in his shorts, calf high black socks and sandals.

[D B Campbell]

Nobody has mentioned the famous birrus britannicus: the warm, hooded cloak that appears in the winter mosaic from Chedworth villa.
Is it this ancient version of the duffel coat that the Croy Hill legionaries are wearing? (Actually, they're probably wearing paenulae, but it's a nice idea! )

[Graham Sumner]

D.B Campbell wrote:

Nobody has mentioned the famous birrus britannicus: the warm, hooded cloak that appears in the winter mosaic from Chedworth villa.
Is it this ancient version of the duffel coat that the Croy Hill legionaries are wearing? (Actually, they're probably wearing paenulae, but it's a nice idea! )

There is also the famous cloak supposedly invented by the Emperor Caracalla after which his nickname derived. However it too is nothing more than a longer version of the Paenula.

Graham

[Matthew Amt]

It seems so logical that a society that can make clothing would make socks for when the weather was cold, but for some reason I, and I'm sure there are others, just didn't think that Rome's mighty armies were sometimes marching along in their socks and sandals.

Socks have been found in Britain and Egypt, and the Cancelleria relief shows a *Praetorian* wearing socks under his caligae. Another statue foot with a sock inside a sandal was dug up last year or so. An alternative to actual socks is to make foot wraps either from a folded square of wool (place your foot on it diagonally and fold in the corners) or from a wrapped band of wool.

But in any case, this all gets much easier if you forget about modern tastes and fashions! Learn to love whatever the Romans did, and you'll be happy. In this case, yes, the Romans certainly did wear socks with their caligae.

Vale,

Matthew

[stevesarak]

It seems so logical that a society that can make clothing would make socks for when the weather was cold, but for some reason I, and I'm sure there are others, just didn't think that Rome's mighty armies were sometimes marching along in their socks and sandals.

Socks have been found in Britain and Egypt, and the Cancelleria relief shows a *Praetorian* wearing socks under his caligae. Another statue foot with a sock inside a sandal was dug up last year or so. An alternative to actual socks is to make foot wraps either from a folded square of wool (place your foot on it diagonally and fold in the corners) or from a wrapped band of wool.

But in any case, this all gets much easier if you forget about modern tastes and fashions! Learn to love whatever the Romans did, and you'll be happy. In this case, yes, the Romans certainly did wear socks with their caligae.

Vale,

Matthew

I think I’ve seen images of soldiers with wrapped feet before. That seem more in line with my preconceived ideas of a culture from 2000 years ago. I have to remember that Rome was innovative, she crated the aqueduct, coliseum, the wheel for extracting water out of mines etc. So why not socks.

Rome didn’t have elastic, so I assume that their socks were basically a tube that they slipped over their feet then they wrapped a piece of material around their leg to tie it off.

And your right, if you have an interest in Rome, then you have to love what Rome did, because it was Rome.

[Tarbicus]

Rome didn’t have elastic, so I assume that their socks were basically a tube that they slipped over their feet then they wrapped a piece of material around their leg to tie it off.

Steve, check out these threads on udones for discussion on the subject:

link from old RAT

link from old RAT

link from old RAT

[stevesarak]

Thanks for the links. That wool sock looks like something they’d wear.