RomanArmyTalk

I have read a number of books now where authors talking about the everyday, fatigue tunic of the Roman soldier say something like:

'There are several contemporary depictions of civilians engaged in physical work, such as farmers or blacksmiths, dressed in the same way with their right shoulder bared'

However, though they all seem to know of these depictions, none of them seem to reference them! Does anyone know of any depictions of Roman civilians engaged in physical work? I've tried searching for them on google images but with no luck.

Thanks,

Andy

Hi

Try searching for 'Roman Blacksmith'.

Graham.

Thanks Graham, I've found a great blacksmith's tombstone from York. I've also found this mosaic, which appears to show a similar tunic in the bottom right-hand corner:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_MtFRvmG3lIk/S ... mosaic.jpg

However, the website gives no details. Do you have any idea when/where it is from?

Cheers.

Quote:However, the website gives no details. Do you have any idea when/where it is from?

It is from Carthage, now in the Louvre.

There is another tunic of this type on the mosaics from Istanbul (Constantinople) and also in many sculptures of Christ shown as the Good Shepherd.

Graham.

Thanks Graham this is great stuff. Found another unreferenced one of a farmer apparently.

http://www-tc.pbs.org/empires/romans/_g ... /order.jpg

Any idea about this one?

Cheers.

Quote:Any idea about this one?

Not in this case. Even books sometimes have an annoying habit of not saying where the subject came from! There are however many examples of these tunics. Nevertheless if you are looking at mosaics and you come across something vaguely military and in colour which is not in my list of sources in RMD, do let us know.

Graham.

Hi Graham,

I've managed found loads of sources to support the argument that both civilians and soldiers wore tunics with their right shoulders bared when working, and that the wide neck opening could be shortened by gathering material behind the neck.

However, these sources are mainly sculptures, and so they provide little information on colour. Do you know of any good sources which provide evidence for the undyed, off-white colour of this tunic?

Cheers,

Andy