2nd Century roman Tunic help

[center108]

Hey there So I have made a few tunics so far but they have all been plain either red or white. My question is what were the rules on having stripes on your tunic. I know that purple was reserved for Equestrian class (early period) and senators. But what about other colors? Did normal citizens put random colored stripes on their tunics or was that not allowed.

Please excuse me if this has been answered before but I couldnt find it. Feel free to move my post if its in the wrong area as well. thanks

[Graham Sumner]

Hello Roger

Going from the textile finds at Mons Claudianus in Egypt which fits into your period, the tunics all had two vertical stripes clavi

These came in a variety of colours mainly in the red-blue -purple range. A couple were dark green.

Most of the tunics themselves appear to have been un-dyed or were a light yellow brownish shade, while some were red.

Equestrians were supposed to have purple tunic stripes approximately a fingers width wide, while Senators had purple tunic stripes approximately a fingers length wide.

It does appear from various textile finds that most other people were wearing tunic stripe sizes they were not strictly speaking entitled too and almost certainly using cheap 'faked" purple dyes.

Graham.

[center108]

So It was common for many roman citizens to put stripes on their tunic even if they werent of high class. Or if they were in the military?

[Flavivs Aetivs]

By the late 2nd century Clavii (the stripes) were becoming popular, and by the 3rd century you'd start to see more and more Persian influence in clothing and tunic patterns.

1st-2nd Centuries AD:



Mid 3rd Century AD:

[Crispvs]

That tunic in your first picture looks rather small for a Roman one. It should really be wider and perhaps a bit longer too. It also looks to me as though the clavi are separate pieces which have been sewn on, rather than having been dyed into the warp threads of the cloth.

Crispvs

[Flavivs Aetivs]

That tunic in your first picture looks rather small for a Roman one. It should really be wider and perhaps a bit longer too. It also looks to me as though the clavi are separate pieces which have been sewn on, rather than having been dyed into the warp threads of the cloth.

Crispvs

In this case, yes that is true, I'm just using this image as an example of what it looked like.

[Graham Sumner]

As Crispus say's The tunic in the fist picture needs turning on the its side so it is wider than it is long and be slightly bigger all around. Then you would of course need to have the clavi vertical rather than horizontal.

The small number of complete tunic finds from the Hadrianic period do all seem to have clavi on. However there is at least one which was made up from an old cloak that did not. It had a gamma motif normally found on cloaks instead.

It might be eastern influence to have decorations on the later tunics but the decorations themselves on Roman clothing are very often classical in inspiration. The long sleeved designs could be either Germanic or Eastern.

Graham.