Tents, to be linen or not to be linen.

[Salvianus]

Do go on.

We Late Romans have a different perspective: instead of looking for more achievable alternatives to the well established goatskin panel papilio, we have to ask is there any evidence closer to our dateline (400AD in our case) than circa 100AD? Our main sources are outlined very briefly in my leaflet:

http://www.comitatus.net/Documents/Comi ... ters-2.pdf

To expand, again briefly, the small C5th wedge tents may well be leather, but are not depicted as panelled, whilst they do have other lines suggestive of turned back hems and large sheets, which do fit Mauricius' C6th description better (which echo some of C.J. Caesar's unsatisfactory makeshift 'clothing' arrangements). The large tent of Achilles is clearly cloth drapery, not the built structure described in Homer (and happens to look like to the long standing idea of an officer's tent from Trajan's column, which might be your best bet to look at for the early empire). Incidently the rough & ready mosaic awning looks very much like the sails in the background, to the rectilinear lines and the suggestion of a boom still anchoring the top, simply unshiped & lashed to the building.

The other main evidence is linguistic. I can't quote chapter and verse off hand, but looking at Ammianus' usage it seems to me that some papilio were used, probably the hide tents still refered to in the idiomatic expression sub pellibus but differentiated from other types of shelter, tents and tabernacles. This is echoed in Jerome's usage derived from the Greek skene etc. related to skinos etc. 'shade'. In brief, I believe the tabernaculum is a makeshift field shelter inclusive of awnings, sunshades and roofed over walls as per C1st Judea and the key difference in Ammianus is that 'proper' tents were still made of goatskin panels while cloak, cloth and sailcloth shelters were regarded as a tabernaculum.

Perhaps I'll be able to go into it more fully shortly, hope that's of interest.

Ste