08-23-2013, 10:35 PM
What -- it's been at least a week and no debate about Tunic Colors? Well, let's put an end to that right now.
Over on the Roman Army Talk Face Book page the Great Tunic Color debate has been reignited.
I thought this had been put to rest by Graham Sumner and others here in the Forum. Many of you are not users of Face Book, but this might encourage you to weigh in, at least on this topic.
Mattias A. Niord
We believe there is time to rekindle the tunic wars, or rather the tunic discussion. After all, as I enter this realm of re-enactment, I am afraid my Scandinavian viewpoint may be to argue for a prevalence of natural coloured textiles as in undyed textiles. Many people seem to think today that the natural colour of a sheep is white.
But having studied zooarchaeology and old breeds of animals, I would say the common sheep wool colour is something shifting between Brown to grey, some are really black and some white. I would say it is more expensive to get a pure white woollen cloth than a red one, cause you can dye greyish wool and get something passable as red. But white is exclusive because it is not the common natural colour. Hence I would argue against the idea of dressing the army entirely in white. Having a special white tunic for parade, tunica Alba, seems to be supported by the sources, but there would be a very lucrative laundry buisness going on around the roman camps if everyone had white as standard battle dress.
I must add that one must also consider exactly what ancient sources means when they talk about white. It could be anything from bleached linen white too almost pale natural yellow. Hence why the pure white was so highly praised. I am more in favour of an army were you had a white parade uniform and a more practically greyish or brownish colour for field use. In short, if you want something that is cheap and easily obtained, I would say I am a grey man.
Like · · Follow Post · about an hour ago
John Kaler This is a little like asking what color tunics the US Army wore. Without specifying a time period (and perhaps a location) you can't really even begin to have a sensible discussion. It discussing the most commonly reenacted period 1st Century AD the l...See More
about an hour ago · Like
Sheridan Ua Neill Actually you make an old point regarding natural wool colors as part of the argument about tunic colors.
Keep in mind that a linen warp and wool weft will change the color of the tunic, for example a light brown linen and a dark grey wool would loo...See More
about an hour ago · Like
Mattias A. Niord During most history, or at least my textile freak friends tell me, pink was actually not considered as pink but as a shade of red.
about an hour ago · Like
Claire Marshall It is commonly thought of as salmon red... you are right, they certainly aren't pinks by cloth dyeing standards
57 minutes ago via mobile · Like
Marc Lauterbach As far as I'm concerned, Roman reenactors can wear any reasonably-dyed color achievable using period dye techniques. But in the absence of any other evidence and given the preponderance of painted depictions, I'd have to say white/unbleached is the most likely answer.
33 minutes ago · Like
Sheridan Ua Neill To the modern eye a faded madder dyed tunic looks pink.
16 minutes ago · Like
:|
Narukami
Over on the Roman Army Talk Face Book page the Great Tunic Color debate has been reignited.
I thought this had been put to rest by Graham Sumner and others here in the Forum. Many of you are not users of Face Book, but this might encourage you to weigh in, at least on this topic.
Mattias A. Niord
We believe there is time to rekindle the tunic wars, or rather the tunic discussion. After all, as I enter this realm of re-enactment, I am afraid my Scandinavian viewpoint may be to argue for a prevalence of natural coloured textiles as in undyed textiles. Many people seem to think today that the natural colour of a sheep is white.
But having studied zooarchaeology and old breeds of animals, I would say the common sheep wool colour is something shifting between Brown to grey, some are really black and some white. I would say it is more expensive to get a pure white woollen cloth than a red one, cause you can dye greyish wool and get something passable as red. But white is exclusive because it is not the common natural colour. Hence I would argue against the idea of dressing the army entirely in white. Having a special white tunic for parade, tunica Alba, seems to be supported by the sources, but there would be a very lucrative laundry buisness going on around the roman camps if everyone had white as standard battle dress.
I must add that one must also consider exactly what ancient sources means when they talk about white. It could be anything from bleached linen white too almost pale natural yellow. Hence why the pure white was so highly praised. I am more in favour of an army were you had a white parade uniform and a more practically greyish or brownish colour for field use. In short, if you want something that is cheap and easily obtained, I would say I am a grey man.
Like · · Follow Post · about an hour ago
John Kaler This is a little like asking what color tunics the US Army wore. Without specifying a time period (and perhaps a location) you can't really even begin to have a sensible discussion. It discussing the most commonly reenacted period 1st Century AD the l...See More
about an hour ago · Like
Sheridan Ua Neill Actually you make an old point regarding natural wool colors as part of the argument about tunic colors.
Keep in mind that a linen warp and wool weft will change the color of the tunic, for example a light brown linen and a dark grey wool would loo...See More
about an hour ago · Like
Mattias A. Niord During most history, or at least my textile freak friends tell me, pink was actually not considered as pink but as a shade of red.
about an hour ago · Like
Claire Marshall It is commonly thought of as salmon red... you are right, they certainly aren't pinks by cloth dyeing standards
57 minutes ago via mobile · Like
Marc Lauterbach As far as I'm concerned, Roman reenactors can wear any reasonably-dyed color achievable using period dye techniques. But in the absence of any other evidence and given the preponderance of painted depictions, I'd have to say white/unbleached is the most likely answer.
33 minutes ago · Like
Sheridan Ua Neill To the modern eye a faded madder dyed tunic looks pink.
16 minutes ago · Like
:|
Narukami
David Reinke
Burbank CA
Burbank CA