The Armour Archive

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Greeting...

(cultist mode on)
Oh great and powerful fabric/garb/Overlord and Lady gurus of the Hive mind..

I beseach your aid..
(cultist mode off)

To the chase then..

I am thinking of switching personas. From Rus 9th century to Greek/Early Roman..

The questions I have are the following..

What are my chances of striped fabrics being used by Greeks, Romans, or any culture assimilated by Rome during the early years.. Mostly related to pants, and/or cloaks..

Where can I find a rough idea of the types of bags, pouches, daily accesories wore by folks from this span..

Is it going to roughly be the same across the board ? From Greek to Early Roman ??

To wrap up.. Is anything in the following TV series, Rome and Spartacus, in any way shape or form period ?? Or is it the classic hollywood period-isque thinking ??

Thanks for your time, and your patience..

I have gone to the RAT boards and posted a similar thread..

Thanks again..

http://www.larp.com/legioxx/

This is Matthew Amt's baby, and very good!

Thanks Baron..

Avete!

Thanks for the plug, Baron! I also have a Greek Hoplite page,

http://www.larp.com/hoplite/

Not nearly as extensive, but has some basics and a few links.

Kormak wrote:What are my chances of striped fabrics being used by Greeks, Romans, or any culture assimilated by Rome during the early years.. Mostly related to pants, and/or cloaks..

Stripes were typically used by NON-Roman and non-Greek people, with some exceptions. I think I've seen a few depictions of Greek women with some subtle stripes, and a narrow stripe just inside the edge was pretty common on Greek tunic hems and cloak ends. Also the typical embellishment for a Roman man's tunic was a pair of vertical stripes called clavi, as seen on our Civilian Clothing page, http://www.larp.com/legioxx/civcloth.html . Strictly speaking, Greek and Roman fashion did not include trousers until around the 2nd or 3rd century AD, though it seems pretty clear that Roman legionaries and auxiliaries out in the provinces freely adopted local fashions. This would include trousers, sleeved tunics, patterned/checked/striped cloaks, etc.

Where can I find a rough idea of the types of bags, pouches, daily accesories wore by folks from this span..

While there are surviving bags and pouches, and a few depictions of a slung shoulder bag, there are NO depictions of Roman or Greek belt pouches! I tell folks just to stick their wallet and keys in a little bag and drop it inside the tunic--it's one huge pocket!

Is it going to roughly be the same across the board ? From Greek to Early Roman ??

Nope. There are some similarities: tunics made from 2 huge rectangles, basic rectangular cloaks, sometimes similar footwear. But Roman tunics have armholes at the side, whereas the Greek tunic (chiton) seems to have its armholes at the top edge. Also, be aware that most information available for Roman clothing, etc., is from the first centuries BC/AD, whereas most of what you can find for Greek clothing is from the 5th century BC, with a sprinkling from the 4th (Alexander and friends). I honestly don't know how much that all might have changed by the time Rome arrived in the 2nd century BC--these cultures all had huge influences on each other.

To wrap up.. Is anything in the following TV series, Rome and Spartacus, in any way shape or form period ?? Or is it the classic hollywood period-isque thinking ??

Gads, no, it's all garbage from end to end! Once in a while you might see a good set, or some other historical detail might sneak in by mistake, but otherwise the rule of thumb is that EVERYTHING you see on the screen is WRONG. Use it for inspiration, if you must.

Yell if you need more advice! Khairete,

Matthew