02-15-2008, 05:57 PM
There is always a problem with trying to marry literary descriptions with the representations seen on sculpture.
Some of the references in the quote above are not specifically military. For example the sentance starts off by saying the lacerna 'was commonly used by soldiers', but the reference is to Trajan's column not a literary source. So how do we know it was commonly used by soldiers? The cloaks seen on the column would normally be termed the Sagum. So what was the difference between a Sagum and a Lacerna? The description of the Lacerna' knee-length, dark, thick woolen mantle, would equally apply to the Sagum, which like the Lacerna also had a non Roman origin.
The Lacerna we are told was also fitted with a hood and again reference is made to the column. Once again the normal hooded cloak was the Paenula, so again what was the difference between a Paenula and a Lacerna with a hood?
Another hooded cloak worn by the military was the Caracallus but again there does not seem to be much difference between it and the Paenula. Some Roman writers indeed say it was similar. Given all the regional dialects and cultures with the empire we just have to accept that the Romans collectively had different names for similar garments much as we would use the terms Coat and Anorak today and in the eastern empire the garments all had Greek names too!
Graham.
Some of the references in the quote above are not specifically military. For example the sentance starts off by saying the lacerna 'was commonly used by soldiers', but the reference is to Trajan's column not a literary source. So how do we know it was commonly used by soldiers? The cloaks seen on the column would normally be termed the Sagum. So what was the difference between a Sagum and a Lacerna? The description of the Lacerna' knee-length, dark, thick woolen mantle, would equally apply to the Sagum, which like the Lacerna also had a non Roman origin.
The Lacerna we are told was also fitted with a hood and again reference is made to the column. Once again the normal hooded cloak was the Paenula, so again what was the difference between a Paenula and a Lacerna with a hood?
Another hooded cloak worn by the military was the Caracallus but again there does not seem to be much difference between it and the Paenula. Some Roman writers indeed say it was similar. Given all the regional dialects and cultures with the empire we just have to accept that the Romans collectively had different names for similar garments much as we would use the terms Coat and Anorak today and in the eastern empire the garments all had Greek names too!
Graham.
"Is all that we see or seem but a dream within a dream" Edgar Allan Poe.
"Every brush-stroke is torn from my body" The Rebel, Tony Hancock.
"..I sweated in that damn dirty armor....TWENTY YEARS!', Charlton Heston, The Warlord.
"Every brush-stroke is torn from my body" The Rebel, Tony Hancock.
"..I sweated in that damn dirty armor....TWENTY YEARS!', Charlton Heston, The Warlord.
