Preliminary Mainz Caliga Pattern

[Neuraleanus]

A while back Martin Moser posted a pattern that he had made for a variant of the Mainz caliga. This didn't look right to me so I spent part of my holiday redrawing it. After much gazing at photos and drawings of the real thing, here is what I've come up with

:

The most significant changes were to reorient the toe straps and to increase the height of the ankle straps. The originals do not show too much solid leather about the heel. I haven't yet tried cutting this pattern out and fitting it to my feet. What is the consensus? Does it look correct?

[Martin Moser]

Hi Lee,

thanks for sharing this!

A while back Martin Moser posted a pattern that he had made for a variant of the Mainz caliga.

Uh, which one do you mean, could you give me a link perhaps? I think I recognize a pattern I came up with about that 1.5 years ago. Note that especially the front part of this pattern owes more to standard reenactors' reproductions than actual finds. I do not use that pattern anymore (nor would I recommend using it to anyone wanting to reproduce an actual find)
In short it was after I came up with this pattern that I started to really dig into the matter of Roman shoes ...

After much gazing at photos and drawings of the real thing,

Could you let us know what pics you were looking at or, more important what find you based this on, please?

Does it look correct?

Yes for the back part (lower part on the pic). There is a find from Mainz it corresponds to and which I used at the time. The front part I think is wrong going by the finds I know of: Practically no V-shaped tabs towards the front, single straps are the norm. Even a second set of tabs with three strings of leather (or two longish cutouts) I recall only with one find.

[Martin Moser]

Hm, I think I have to correct myself on the front tabs, I remembered wrongly. For correct or not, probably best to simply compare with some of the originals:

[Neuraleanus]

I was going by this picture:
[url:26gmx3mu]http://www.ledermuseum.de/DLM/vollbild/seiten/03.htm[/url]
The toe straps appear to be V-shaped, though I do agree that many seem to have single straps about the toe. I may try changing that. Also I need to taper the ankle straps more.

I'm interested in the Mainz caliga design as it appears to be easier to wear, less of a chance of straps sliding about.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

It looks as tho there are 2 straps on the left side of the toes, but the second one is bent/squashed down a bit?

[Neuraleanus]

I'm going to redraw the pattern based upon the diagram in B&C:

[url:3c37lnqc]http://s129.photobucket.com/albums/p239/mcbishop/BandC2/?action=view&current=fig064.png[/url]

This cannot be used as is, it is terribly distorted, but there is a scale, so I'm thinking that I should be able to create something usable from it. I'm going to start from my known good sole outline and attempt to match the strap pattern as shown by B&C.

[Martin Moser]

I'm going to redraw the pattern based upon the diagram in B&C:

FWIW, that is a (slightly incorrect) copy of No.2 of the drawings of the Mainz finds shown in my posting above (from: Lindenschmit, Ludwig. Die Alterthümer unserer heidnischen Vorzeit. Bd.4. Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum. Mainz 1900). Compared to those drawings above and actual caligae artifacts there is a tendency already in this pattern drawing to broaden the straps, btw.

Actually I have my doubts (caused by and thanks to Marquita Volken generously sharing her knowledge and thoughts) about the pattern being that much distorted, the way the straps are cut makes sense if you are trying to minimize wastage and get more shoes out of one skin. Would take a bit of experimenting though to work it out properly I guess.

Btw, I did a reconstruction of the shoe in the Ledermuseum you gave the link to above (i.e.
http://www.ledermuseum.de/DLM/vollbild/seiten/03.htm ), Lee:





I'm not quite satisfied with the front straps arrangement still, though ...

[M. Demetrius]

I've not made a pair like the above, Martin. Do the toes slide around? Doesn't look like the straps hold them in very securely, but that could be adjusted by tightening the lacing. I'm just asking, not criticizing.

I saw the original picture from above, so I'm not arguing the authenticity angle, just the fit.

[Neuraleanus]

Actually I have my doubts (caused by and thanks to Marquita Volken generously sharing her knowledge and thoughts) about the pattern being that much distorted, the way the straps are cut makes sense if you are trying to minimize wastage and get more shoes out of one skin. Would take a bit of experimenting though to work it out properly I guess.

Matt Amt has redraw that pattern, though he deleted the toe straps(!):

[url:2wgbsv1h]http://www.larp.com/legioxx/caligl.gif[/url]

A long time ago I actually built a pair of caligae to this pattern. They were terrible! I could never get them to fit correctly.

[Martin Moser]

Do the toes slide around? Doesn't look like the straps hold them in very securely, but that could be adjusted by tightening the lacing. I'm just asking, not criticizing.
I saw the original picture from above, so I'm not arguing the authenticity angle, just the fit.

Fair question! And yes, the toes are quite free, so to say. I agree that with better adjustment there might be a somewhat tighter fit. The foot is actually held more by the rear 3/5ths of the shoe. I didn't make a pair but only one of those as a trial (and plan to build a hopefully improved pair in the near future) and do therefore not really have much of experience I could report on. It certainly is a very different feeling to wearing one of the "standard reenactment caligae".

[Matt Lukes]

I made a prototype one of those myself and indeed it was interesting that the rear section was the only part well-secured to the foot, the toes being relatively free- but then that seems to me to be the nature of the design with all the forward straps meeting on top and in the middle of the foot. I'll be cutting a proper pair just as soon as the hobnails arrive to finish it, so it looks as if we'll have a few examples to draw experience from

Oh and mine are like Martins- rather narrower, rounded ends to the pairs and bundles of straps, not wider flat ones as Lee's drawn.

[M. Demetrius]

Well, the reason I asked the question is, having made a pair of Greekish shoes from a picture found somewhere here on RAT that have basically no straps over the toes (but they do have one between the first and second toe), it's easy for the front of the sole to grab the ground and try to fold under. And caligae don't have the between the toes strap, so it just seems like there could be more of that. Of course, they do have more thickness in the sole, maybe that solves the problem.

I've lost interest in falling down now that I've reached what people mistakenly call "middle age". (If this is the middle, I'll make it to 114...which doesn't seem actuarially likely).

[Martin Moser]

it's easy for the front of the sole to grab the ground and try to fold under. And caligae don't have the between the toes strap, so it just seems like there could be more of that. Of course, they do have more thickness in the sole, maybe that solves the problem.

Yes, that's my thinking as well. With proper sole leather reinforced with nails, there's little chance of the sole folding under I'd say. Mind you, you might still just stumble and fall in an impressive manner with medically challenging consequences :-) )

[M. Demetrius]

you might still just stumble and fall in an impressive manner with medically challenging consequences

Well, with your permission, sir, I'll try to avoid that! :lol: :wink:

[Neuraleanus]

This comes from the drawings in B&C and a study of photos. It's a composite from several different examples. Apparently no two pair of caligae were identical.


One question though, is the angle of the heel straps correct? This puts the heel strap tabs where I expect them to be on my feet, I copied this from my Valkenburg caliga pattern, but the heel strap angle on the Mainz examples appears to be much smaller.

I also came to the realization that the toe strap construction is actually identical to that of the Valkenburg caliga. The only difference is that the little triangle on the left toe strap is cut out.