05-05-2010, 04:37 PM
Hi John
Quite possible, one such example is the famous Tavern scene in Pompeii which Dan Peterson used as evidence for red tunics. My criteria was a belted tunic plus weapons or shield which I thought was a reasonable choice. It is equally possible that this criteria includes figures who are not soldiers!
Also it is not possible for me to see or read about every piece of Roman artwork ever recorded. Hence my frequent requests for other RAT members to post anything I may have missed.
The only certain soldier in a green tunic is the Guard on the famous Justinian mosaic. Two figures almost certainly soldiers in my opinion are on the Gamzigrad mosaic and like them any other person shown in a green tunic is either a hunter or a charioteer. There was a mention of hunting dress and my logical conclusion was that this could mean a green tunic. Of course not all figures engaged in hunting wear green tunics reds or beige are more common.
My own conclusion which I put in RMD on military clothing colour is a nice tidy one which seemed logical to me. It might be too nice and tidy for many others. It probably applies more to tunics of the early imperial period but basically was on the lines that:
Everyday wear was an un-dyed wool tunic. Un-dyed might mean anything from off white to a reddish brown wool.
Parade Dress was a bleached white tunic. linen or wool.
Battle Dress was a red tunic. For ordinary soldiers this might still be an un-dyed reddish brown wool, with officers having dyed red tunics.
Naval Dress. blue grey tunics are mentioned in literary sources and some figures in ships have then too but others appear in red or red orange which again might just be un-dyed wool.
Hunting dress. Green tunics are sometimes worn by hunters some of whom may or may not be soldiers. Other colours however are equally popular
I have looked at the published textile finds collections from four sites with strong but not completely, military connections. Two in Egypt one in Britain and one in Germany. The statistics basically came up the same for all four. Obviously I am in the process of getting more information before drawing a proper conclusion but so far I can say that for roughly every 10 textiles found, 6 will be undyed, 2 or3 will be dyed red and the remainder will be either blue, green or some other colour. Does this fit in with what I concluded above? I think it does rather well but I welcome other views.
Graham.
Graham.
Quote:why would soldiers always be pictured armed? If this is your criteria, you are ruling out lots of potential evidence for what soldiers looked like.
Quite possible, one such example is the famous Tavern scene in Pompeii which Dan Peterson used as evidence for red tunics. My criteria was a belted tunic plus weapons or shield which I thought was a reasonable choice. It is equally possible that this criteria includes figures who are not soldiers!
Also it is not possible for me to see or read about every piece of Roman artwork ever recorded. Hence my frequent requests for other RAT members to post anything I may have missed.
The only certain soldier in a green tunic is the Guard on the famous Justinian mosaic. Two figures almost certainly soldiers in my opinion are on the Gamzigrad mosaic and like them any other person shown in a green tunic is either a hunter or a charioteer. There was a mention of hunting dress and my logical conclusion was that this could mean a green tunic. Of course not all figures engaged in hunting wear green tunics reds or beige are more common.
My own conclusion which I put in RMD on military clothing colour is a nice tidy one which seemed logical to me. It might be too nice and tidy for many others. It probably applies more to tunics of the early imperial period but basically was on the lines that:
Everyday wear was an un-dyed wool tunic. Un-dyed might mean anything from off white to a reddish brown wool.
Parade Dress was a bleached white tunic. linen or wool.
Battle Dress was a red tunic. For ordinary soldiers this might still be an un-dyed reddish brown wool, with officers having dyed red tunics.
Naval Dress. blue grey tunics are mentioned in literary sources and some figures in ships have then too but others appear in red or red orange which again might just be un-dyed wool.
Hunting dress. Green tunics are sometimes worn by hunters some of whom may or may not be soldiers. Other colours however are equally popular
I have looked at the published textile finds collections from four sites with strong but not completely, military connections. Two in Egypt one in Britain and one in Germany. The statistics basically came up the same for all four. Obviously I am in the process of getting more information before drawing a proper conclusion but so far I can say that for roughly every 10 textiles found, 6 will be undyed, 2 or3 will be dyed red and the remainder will be either blue, green or some other colour. Does this fit in with what I concluded above? I think it does rather well but I welcome other views.
Graham.
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.
