What material did they use in their tunics?

[Robert Vermaat]

Same thing as everywhere else in the Empire.

[Praefectusclassis]

Francis means the series, I think. I have no clue what materials they used for those tunics though.

[John M McDermott]

I have seen some of the props they used for costumes in "Gladiator". The fabric would be genrously described as burlap.

[tlclark]

John

Too true!!

The easiest way to convey "past times" in Hollywoodese is to show coarse materials. The irony is, as anyone who's actually made some of their own stuff knows, hand production actually means finer grade than is available today.

Also, they didn't have the comparisons to be made with machine made stuff. For example. For much of the 18th and 19th C. potters did their darnedest to produce extremely thin walled smooth vases by hand. Then mass made porcelain and mold wares became so cheap and available, there was no point. Now every potter leaves lots of "slub" and finger marks to show it was made by hand. Rustic becomes a fashion statement!! This of course jades our opinion of what was possible. It's true for all sorts of things. Rough=handmade, quality in our culture only because of the abundance of mass-produced goods. Without them, craftsman would be going back to trying to distinguish themselves by way of refinement.

Travis

[A_Volpe]

One thing for sure is that when you see Pullo wearing the tan/biege colored tunic with the black "Imperial Eagle" image on the front *never* existed in Roman times. It appears from sculptural and tombstone evidence that [Legionaries] prefered simple, one color tunics. There is *no* evidence of a tunic with any design or motif printed on it or embroidered or even patched on in the Imperial era, nevermind the Caeserian era.
If anything, you could have 2 Clavi: 2 thin stripes going the length of the tunic at about where your clavicles meets your shoulders. Colors of this apparently vary, esspecially for indicating class/rank. Much more information in Roman Miliary Clothing I (Graham Sumner, Opsrey MaA #374) and Leg. XX website.

Silk-Screened prints (esspecially like in the series) on clothing doesn't really appear in Eurpoean or American clothing until the 1920's I would think. Certainly not before 1900. As far as I know.

As for what the series used for materials I don't know, but I can gather it wasn't authentic, it was what was available and cheap to clothe a huge cast.

[Titus Amatius Paulus]

In our group we use a hard wool cloth for the sagum and paenula, this cloth was used by the shepherd of central Spain for ages and is very close to the celtiberian cloths. I hope to post a image soon.

[Peroni]

Silk-Screened prints (esspecially like in the series) on clothing doesn't really appear in Eurpoean or American clothing until the 1920's I would think. Certainly not before 1900. As far as I know.

Silk Screening (Also called Serigraphy) was patented in 1907, Samuel Simon of Manchester England was awarded the patent for the process of using silk fabric as a printing screen.

Using materials other than silk for screen printing has a long history that begins with the ancient art of stenciling used by the Egyptians and Greeks as early as 2500 B.C. So in theory, it was possible to stencil or stamp (like a potato print) onto fabric in the Roman period. Whether they did or not is another matter!

The term "Serigraphy", comes from the Latin word "Seri" (silk) and the Greek word "graphein" (to write or draw).

Regards,

[Tarbicus]

So in theory, it was possible to stencil or stamp (like a potato print) onto fabric in the Roman period.

But they didn't have potatoes.....


:roll: :wink:

[Peroni]

OK Jim, a turnip print!

Regards,

[tlclark]

Using materials other than silk for screen printing has a long history that begins with the ancient art of stenciling used by the Egyptians and Greeks as early as 2500 B.C. So in theory, it was possible to stencil or stamp (like a potato print) onto fabric in the Roman period. Whether they did or not is another matter!

Oh they certainly did! There's tons of printed and painted fabrics. My Prof is going to Switzerland this fall to speak at a conference on a recently restored 4th C. wall-hanging. They painted and printed fabric all the time, there's tons of it from the Fayum and elsewhere.

One big caveat. Nearly all of this is late and nearly all of it funerary. It seems to be a way to cheaply embellish and decorate fabrics for burial, but was probably unsuited to daily wear due to a lack of washable/wearible and flexible pigments grounds, binders etc.

Some mosaics show elaborate pictorial scenes on clothing, such as the magi on the hem of Theodora's dress in San Vitale in Ravenna. Usually these are considered to be woven or embroidered, but there's a slight chance it might have been painted.

Travis

[A_Volpe]

Peroni and tlClark - Thanks for backing me up on the serigraphy history - I knew I had a hunch! I did not know [stenciling] was as old as you mentioned...Very interesting.

...But as far as I know, there is no evidence showing Legionaries with any printed design on their tunics in Caesar's period. I know geometric designs show up in the Late Empire, but there is no mention of decoration other than Clavi on a tunic, right?