PALMYRAN ARMY UNIFORM

[jho]

Salvete,

I remember having read somewhere that there is evidence of some sort of uniform worn by Palmyran forces (blue with brown stripes or something like that). Such evidence would presumably be in the form of mural paintings.

However, I can neither find the reference nor have I ever seen such paintings. Can anybody help?

[Duncan Head]

I remember having read somewhere that there is evidence of some sort of uniform worn by Palmyran forces (blue with brown stripes or something like that). Such evidence would presumably be in the form of mural paintings.

However, I can neither find the reference nor have I ever seen such paintings. Can anybody help?

The idea came from Phil Barker's old WRG publication Armies and Enemies of Imperial Rome in the 1970s. He thought that Palmyran soldiers wore blue tunics edged in red and red trousers decorated in blue, the officers reversing the colours. The "red" was a maroon colour, the "blue" a dark green-blue shade. He based this on figures from Dura paintings whom he regarded as representing Palmyran troops, plus I think traces of colour remaining on Palmyran funerary sculptures.

See http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/rel ... s/dura.gif for one of the Dura paintings in question. Other Dura paintings show similar colours.

A more recent find of a mosaic from Palmyra interestingly also uses similar colours - the same red coat and blue trousers that would allegedly be "officer's uniform" : see http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 541540.ece
( http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia ... 77830a.jpg for a slightly better resolution of the image.)

There is a second mosaic from the same site showing probably the same hero (who may represent Odaenathus) as a mounted archer; I did have a reference to this picture being online in an article from Current World Archaeology issue 12, but the link's broken.

All this suggests a popular range of colours at the time in the area, but with the exception of the new Palmyra mosaics there's nothing specific to link them to the Palmyran army, so it may be over-ambitious to interpret them as "military uniform".

[jho]

Thank you very much for the quick and comprehensive response - LAUS!

I have a (small) copy of the second picture you are referring to (same rider shooting a tiger with a bow). If you need it, pm me your email address and I will send it to you.

[Duncan Head]

I have a (small) copy of the second picture you are referring to (same rider shooting a tiger with a bow). If you need it, pm me your email address and I will send it to you.

Thanks, Jens, but I've kept a copy on my hard disc too - it's just finding it on the internet that I can't do now.

[S SEVERUS]

Did Palmyra also use some of the Romans forces that were placed at the border with Persia?

When Zenobia seized power and overtook Egypt, Lebanon, Israel, ... was this only with Palmyrian troop or can we assume that some of the legions stationed there went over to her side?