05-01-2010, 07:06 PM
Hi John
Considering this thread is about dyeing linen, I am not sure what your photo is meant to prove but you are illustrating it as some kind of Eureka moment. nonetheless I think it would be pretty difficult to tell what the material is from a mosaic.
Matthew wrote
That was not what I thought but that could be due to the reproduction. However if it is a green tunic and if the scene is taken from a hunting mosaic and if it is a soldier depicted then that is of interest. Green for clothing rarely shows up in any Roman pictorial evidence or archaeologically for that matter however when it does appear in a military context it is usually only in Guard scenes, horse saddlecloths or, wait for it.... in hunting scenes. There is a mention of 'hunting dress' and green would be a logical colour for that.
All the military documents found in Egypt ordering clothing for the military from local weavers specify wool.
The above mosaic is from La Chebba in North Africa and is a detail from a mosaic called 'Neptune and the seasons' so the figure is presumably an agricultural labourer. It is of interest that two other workers are shown in tunics hitched up at the waist and with a knot visible behind the neck. One could argue I suppose that they are all military veterans!
Graham.
Considering this thread is about dyeing linen, I am not sure what your photo is meant to prove but you are illustrating it as some kind of Eureka moment. nonetheless I think it would be pretty difficult to tell what the material is from a mosaic.
Matthew wrote
Quote:The tunic looks green
That was not what I thought but that could be due to the reproduction. However if it is a green tunic and if the scene is taken from a hunting mosaic and if it is a soldier depicted then that is of interest. Green for clothing rarely shows up in any Roman pictorial evidence or archaeologically for that matter however when it does appear in a military context it is usually only in Guard scenes, horse saddlecloths or, wait for it.... in hunting scenes. There is a mention of 'hunting dress' and green would be a logical colour for that.
All the military documents found in Egypt ordering clothing for the military from local weavers specify wool.
The above mosaic is from La Chebba in North Africa and is a detail from a mosaic called 'Neptune and the seasons' so the figure is presumably an agricultural labourer. It is of interest that two other workers are shown in tunics hitched up at the waist and with a knot visible behind the neck. One could argue I suppose that they are all military veterans!
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.
