Rome HBO series, last post look at these two pictures

[tlclark]

Well we can only answer based on finds in art, since most of the fabrics don't survive outside a lot of late coptic and egyptian examples.

In frescoes the range of colors is a broad as possible given the pigments available. The only assumption is that they had as many colors as they had varieties of dyes.

No one can give you a comprehensive list but here's a foretaste.

Reds:

Everything from Rust brown to Pink, with lots of bright scarlets, cherries, vermilions and rubies in between. Dyes would be Madder, Iron Oxide, Magnesium Oxide and a variety of vegetable/animal dyes.

Yellows:

Everything from pale pastel to dark ochres, with onion skins, nut shells and animal fat being used as dyes.

Purples:

Everything from pale lilac and lavendar (some even dyed by flowers) to near purple brown made from purpura murex or snails.

Greens:

Endless, lots of pale greens and teals in the frescoes, with verdigris and huge variety of vegetable dyes readily available.

Blues:

Every shade here too with lapis Lazuli ground down for the dark blue pigments and pale blues from various oxides and vegetable dyes.

Grays, Browns and blacks

A lot of these come natural off the fabric, usually wool, but also Magnesium Oxides, charcoal and Umbers were used as dyes as well.

Whites and naturals

Lots of bleaching agents are mentioned including urine, salt oxides, sun bleaching, and even pounded chalk!

By blending any of these, any combination of colors was possible short of the sort of neon day glo colors only seen today.

Clothes for civilians could be anything. Paler colors using vegetable and common mineral dyes would have been most prevalent, so think mid-range and lighter tones in yellow/oranges greens, blues and browns (at least that's what we see in the artwork), but even a person of moderate means could afford darker reds and rich blues, but most really expensive dyes were restricted to upper classes but people cheated all the time.

Also, consider quality. A dull brown mantle might be considered dull, but people of the time would recognize the density of the weave, the quality of the thread, etc. So color is not the only way to indicate status.

Basically, anyone with a bag of yellow or red onions could produce a dye strong enough to create a mid-tone garment. And since a lot of the dyes were made from agricultural waste, why not? It was efficient and anyone could do it.

Vegetable dyes fade the quickest but nothing stops you from redying yout tunic.

There might have even been more color variation amongst the lower classes since upper classes were expected to wear certain colors for ceremonial purposes.

Now in military terms...that's another huge debate.

Search "Tunic color" in the database and see how many hits you get. :wink:

Travis