shoe / caligae stress analysis

[richsc]

I bought an emergency pair of depeeka caligae at Roman Days and within 15 minutes had huge blisters on my heels. The shoes were admittedly too small by a size and my heels pushed way over the back end. I walked barefoot for the rest of the three days.
I talked with our glorious leader Matt Amt today and the first thing we did to work on them was to rip out the back seam, tear out the sole and pull the back ends together.

However, in really looking at the B&C ed 2 patterns of caligae, I was wondering just how the straps were designed and laced to take the stress off the heel and pull it to the front. The existing finds don't roll off the back, and instead the heels look like they all go forward. Now, it looks to me like a careful lacing of the front tabs with that key heel/ball strap is the major point: the ankles are less important.

Has anyone done an analysis of the stress on caligae? It had to be really well known in the roman army since millions of pairs of these worked really well and probably rarely caused blisters.

[jvrjenivs]

I only know that from my own experience with full-kit marching I prefer my caligea over my modern walking shoes. Most of my fellow miles got blisters on the day we used modern shoe work to make a comparison.

But these were all made to measure. (And I really like the Mainz pattern I'm using right now, with thanks to Matt Lukes for making this wonderful pair of shoes)

[richsc]

these were all made to measure

If I may ask, how made to measure? Matt mentioned that the side strap needed to go "under' the ankle bone, something I hadn't heard but he thinks he had read in Bishop and Coulston.
Ergo, depending upon how the shoe is stressed, the real emphasis is perhaps mainly on two pieces of leather?

[jvrjenivs]

these were all made to measure

If I may ask, how made to measure?

They were made upon drawings of our feet. I don't have any pictures ready of mine, unfortunately.

[Marcus Mummius]

these were all made to measure

If I may ask, how made to measure?

They were made upon drawings of our feet. I don't have any pictures ready of mine, unfortunately.

How do you lace them Jurjen? We got some of ours from Matt (still waiting for another 3 pairs). Some tips on how to lace them would be much appreciated. You walked a lot of distance in them so I think your method must be a good one.

Vale,

[jvrjenivs]

Here some pictures I've just made. Note that taking pictures of your own feet is quite difficult and that I couldn't find my sheepskin inlays that fast, so I used one of the pieces I could find, which is slightly to big.

Hope this helps.

[Neuraleanus]

In my experience the ankle strap is the most important. Two things determine how caligae perform:

1. the fit to the wearer the shoe should wrap tightly around the heel and ankle and the soles are cut much narrower than that of an enclosed shoe. Some ideas on making a good pattern are shown on my caligae page:

[url:tbyrdhul]http://www.geocities.com/legio_tricesima_cohors_tres/campusMartis/MakingCaligae/MakingAuthenticCaligae.html[/url]

It is important to establish the top center line going down the top of the foot.

2. Socks make a huge difference. Not only do they make caligae more comfortable to wear your feet do not slip when walking on wet grass.

The method of lacing depends upon what style of caligae you're wearing. The Mainz style is laced differently from the Castleford style. I find that it is good idea to loop the lace back around the tabs of the Castleford style keeping them together. This does not appear to be necessary with the Mainz style.

For all the work needed to modify a pair of Deepeeka caligae you might as well build a pair form scratch. The leather on the Deepeekas is too thin anyways.

[richsc]

I think I need to be sure what you mean by "ankle strap" so I'm not guessing. The patterns we have have a very narrow heel section: I can see where the mid strap (need a word for it..that is, the large one rising in the middle) can be cinched with the forward straps to prevent the heel from sliding back, sort of anchored behind the ball of the foot.

OK, let me find a stock foot image and draw this out....

[Neuraleanus]

I think I need to be sure what you mean by "ankle strap"

Referring to the second pattern from the top of my caligae page, the Mainz caliga, the "ankle straps" are labeled 2a and 2b. Perhaps "mid-strap" is a better label. The basic idea is to keep your heel from moving. If the heel rubs you get blisters. The most difficult part of making caligae is getting the pattern correct.

[PhilusEstilius]

Where I look at the caligae of Jurjen I have to say they look very thin at the rea support. When I make them I make the back all in one piece with the rear support 50mm wide, then down the centre from the top I cut out a strip about 10mm wide but tapper it so that it ends 50mm above the shoe sole. Then when it is cross stitched together it gives a shape for the heel, and when all the straps are done up it pulls the shoe in against the ankle and the heel that way it does not rub around (it does need a thin soft backing against the rear of the heel)

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Basically, I would agree with te idea tha tyou need to stop your heel rubbing.

In fact, the more securely it fits the whole foot, with no movement of the caligae when you march, the better.

The ones I have now, have the sole smaller than my foot, and the leathers wrap around the foot.

My first pair were not made this way, and the sole was larger than my foot, which allowed movement and stretching of the leather, and any
rubbing soon created blisters and sore points.

[richsc]

Let me suggest that the caligae, and maybe all shoes, have six parts for the purposes of fitting/function, per below.

ball, arch, heel, back, ankle and sole.
The ball and arch anchor the foot to the sole to prevent too much forward/backward movement, which is how the lacing should be done to support this:
[/img]

It looks to me that the heel strap prevents lateral movement, rather than backward movement.


It appears that the back strap pulls through the ankle straps to the ball to bring the heel up.

Anyway, these are suggestions; thoughts?