Sagum Mania!

[tlclark]

The oval dimensions to beg a question however. Did they have looms capable of weaving bolts a full 8' across?!? Or were these cloaks pieced together?

Yes and yes. There are cloaks made of several pieces but you can make large cloth on even a small loom.

The technique is called "double-cloth". Basically you double the warp and run the shuttle through twice. Depending on how you do this you can create either a big tube, or a folded cloth, or elaborate patterns.

A 4' loom can create widths of 4, 8, 12, and even 16 feet! just by doubling the warp. It's a lot of work to set it up, but it is most likely the technique used.

Also, the vertical loom is standard in the Classical world until the late period. The horizontal loom is near eastern but replaces the vertical by the 4th-5th C. It's MUCH easier to do double-cloth on a horizontal loom.

Incidentally, I disagree with Aitor on this point. I don't think the cloak is an oval folded over, but a semi-circular shape. This eventually is simplified to a trapezoid. This approximates the semi-circular shape but is far easier and simpler to do.

Travis