01-12-2006, 11:59 AM
Hello Jim / Marsh
The dimensions given in BGU 1564 are of tent like proportions! Common sense would suggest that tunics of this size must have been altered to fit the wearer. Tertullian wrote that tunics should have been made shorter in the first place to avoid the need to gather up all the loose folds! De Pallio V
As for tucks an example of one tunic altered this way can be seen in Alex Croom's book 'Roman Fashion and Clothing', but I would advise anyone to look at some originals first. As you are in London Jim I would recommend a visit to the V&A. However a lot of other museums in Britain have collections of Roman period tunics or textile fragments and you will be surprised at how many there are hidden away. Remember to look in the Egyptian galleries and not the Roman and it would be well worthwhile to arrange a visit with a Curator to have a closer look.
Graham.
The dimensions given in BGU 1564 are of tent like proportions! Common sense would suggest that tunics of this size must have been altered to fit the wearer. Tertullian wrote that tunics should have been made shorter in the first place to avoid the need to gather up all the loose folds! De Pallio V
As for tucks an example of one tunic altered this way can be seen in Alex Croom's book 'Roman Fashion and Clothing', but I would advise anyone to look at some originals first. As you are in London Jim I would recommend a visit to the V&A. However a lot of other museums in Britain have collections of Roman period tunics or textile fragments and you will be surprised at how many there are hidden away. Remember to look in the Egyptian galleries and not the Roman and it would be well worthwhile to arrange a visit with a Curator to have a closer look.
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.
