Late Roman Tunica Patterns

[TFLAVIUSAMBIORIX]

thats a hard question theodosius, the theory was put forth that in places like egypt it was more to advantage to keep it undyed, but i dont know where that comes from. it is very possible price was an issue, also, linen fades/doesnt hold dyes of the ancient type well sometimes as compared to wool, but none of these offer a straight answer. I do know that an early byzantine military treatise (fragmentary) recommends that colored fabric be for officers and guards units etc, while the undyed is for enlisted types.

good question, Mr. sumner might be able to help a littl more as far as reasoning.

[Graham Sumner]

Hi Graham

Graham Sumner wrote:
Linen in Roman times was usually left undyed


What's the working theory as to why this was so ? Was it due to the expense of linen ?

If so, is it safe to say dyed linen tunics were most likely available only to high ranking officers and rich civilians ?

Actually for once the answer is a simple one. It would appear that linen was far harder to dye than wool. Flax does not hold the dye so well. There are some exceptions of course and some linen stripes on otherwise undyed textiles have been found. It is possible therefore that completely dyed linens would have been used by higher ranks etc...

John you have mentioned seeing an inked design. Perhaps this is an example of a resist dyeing. In that case the design was painted on the linen with wax and a mordant which was then generally put into an indigo dye. The colour only fixed where the mordant was applied and usually became a blue/black colour. Is that what you may have seen?

Graham.

[TFLAVIUSAMBIORIX]

that sounds like exactly what ive seen. Ive seen it a second time someplace else, do you think it would be fairly common? should i check through my samples for more examples of this?