Adaptation
of Greek
alphabet
Villanovan Period
c. 1000 BCE
Wars with
Greek
colonies
Wars with
Roman
Republic
Expulsion of
kings from
Rome
Archaic Period
c. 700 BCE
Conquest
by Rome
Classical Period
c. 480
BCE
c. 280 BCE
History of Costume and Fashion, by Daniel Hill. Copyright 2006 by Pearson Education, Inc. Published by Prentice Hall, Inc.
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Etruscan Clothing
What we know of Etruscan dress with any clarity has
come to us primarily from sculptures and tomb paintings,
especially the finer examples from the Golden Age of the
sixth century BCE.
The principal garment of Etruscan men was a semicircular type of cloak called a tebenna. For younger men
the garment was worn alone over the nude body much as
Greek young men wore the chlamys except that the Etruscan
tebenna was not fastened by a pin. The illustrations in Figure
5-1 show two ways in which men wore the tebenna. The
flute player has casually draped the cloak around the back
and over the arms with the front open. The dancer wears his
tebenna hanging loosely across the front with the ends
tossed over the shoulders. Curiously, both methods of draping the tebenna would have required a struggle with the garment to keep it from constantly falling off since neither was
fastened in place by pins or bindings.
Another garment that was native to the Etruscans was
the mens loincloth called a perizoma. (Figure 5-2.) Cut
from a single piece of fabric, this style of mens briefs fitted
around the hips like a diaper with a front closure held in
place by a rolled waistband. Most sculptures that represent
the perizoma are of soldiers and date from the mid-sixth
Greek Influence
Classics scholars have debated for decades on the
degree to which Etruscans absorbed Hellenic culture. The
adaptation of the Greek alphabet spread rapidly throughout
the twelve city-states of Etruria because priests could now
preserve in a tangible form the sacred words, divinations,
prayers, and ceremonies of their religion. On the other hand
the economic shifts to wine making and seafaring commerce
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Review
Where the Etruscans originated is one of the great mysteries of the ancient world. There is no clear trail of their
migration or, as Herodotus maintained, of their immigration
into Italy from Asia Minor. Yet, within the early part of the
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Portfolio:
1. Compile a pictorial cross-reference guide comparing the
changes in Etruscan mens and womens dress during the
Orientalizing era with those of the Greco-Roman era. Use
photocopies or digital scans of Etruscan sculptures, murals,
and vase paintings to catalog the primary types of garments
and accessories that changed. Annotate each image with a
brief paragraph indicating the change and the suggested foreign influence. Include specifics of the artwork sources such
as location (e.g. Tomb of the Rooster), type of work (bronze
sculpture, wall mural), and date.
bateau neckline: literally meaning boat neckline, a horizontal opening for the neck along the shoulder seam of a
tunic, dress, or top
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ROME
Roman Republic
Expulsion
of Etruscan
kings
Founding of
Rome
Etruscan Era
c. 750 BCE
Conquest of
Etruria
Conquest of
Macedonia
and Greece
Imperial Rome
Assassination
of Julius
Caesar
Republican Period
c. 510 BCE
Deposition of
last emperor
of the West
Imperial Period
c. 44
Conquer or Perish
By traditional accounts, Rome was founded in the
mid-eighth century BCE as a farming village along the Tiber
River. Over the following two hundred and fifty years
Etruscan kings transformed this community of thatched huts
into a robust, commercial urban center. These monarchs of
Rome pursued ambitious foreign policies, patronized the
artsespecially styles of the Greeksand embarked on
extensive civic building programs. Yet social and economic
stability was elusive. Domestically the ruling nobility was
ruthless and brutal against a largely peasant population.
Externally constant threats surrounded the early Romans
from the Etruscan city-states to the north, invading Gauls to
the east, Carthaginians to the west in Sardinia, and Greek
colonies to the south. As a consequence of these dangers,
vast resources of treasure and men had to be committed to
developing and maintaining a powerful army.
Despite the cultural and economic achievements that
the Etruscan kings brought to the city-state of Rome and its
surrounding Latium region, a revolt in 510 BCE ousted the
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Constantine Division of
recognizes the Empire
Christianity
BCE
c. 330
CE
c. 476 CE
Roman Textiles
The writings of Roman poets, dramatists, and historians
contain little information about everyday apparel or the
social significance of how garments were worn.
Descriptions of clothing are brief and too often vague.
Furthermore, such documentation does not always translate
clearly, especially if the only surviving examples are later
Greek or Arabic translations of Latin originals. Our best
sources of information on how the Romans dressed are the
visual arts. Sculptures and paintings from the late period of
the republic onward were rendered in a highly realistic style
and provide very precise details of Roman costume.
However, since Rome was an Etruscan city until the end of
the sixth century BCE, we must look to that civilization for
the origins of Roman clothing.
Despite the moderate climate of central Italy, the
Etruscan Romans are thought to have worn clothing mostly
made of wool. As in all the cities of Etruria, the finer
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decorative patterns for use on interiors, furniture, jewelry, pottery, and personal objects, but rarely for clothing.
The exception was for religious apparel. Augurs and priests of Eastern mysticisms are often depicted wearing
richly patterned garments including
multicolored stripes, embroidered gold
stars, and various motifs reminiscent
of Persian designs.
One other important textile embellishment was the addition of the clavi,
which were purple stripes of various
treatments along the borders of the
toga. The hues of purple ranged from
crimson to a murex violet. The augusta
clavus featured a double band of narrow stripes and was worn by high-ranking officials. The latus clavus was the
widest border at about four inches and
adorned the togas of senators.
Freeborn children of all classes wore
versions of the clavus: girls until about
the age of twelve and boys until about
the age of fifteen. In the later imperial
period, the clavi lost their significance
as symbols of rank and became merely decorative, often embroidered with
intricate ornamentation.
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wrapped across the back, under the right arm, and up over
the left shoulder again to be held in place by the weight of
the heavy wool fabric.
By the Imperial Period the ellipse was cut into an
oblong shape with rounded corners. It was unequally folded
to form a short outer flap of fabric layered over a wider inner
one. (Figure 5-6.) Draping this later version of the toga
involved a standardized arrangement of the folds. The
sweep of the short flap of material across the front of the
thighs created the sinus. As a form of toga etiquette, this
outer flap could be pulled up from the back to cover the head
when the wearer entered a temple or ventured into public
while in mourning. The final step in arranging the toga
involved pulling up a handful of the fabric from the underfold and bunching it into the umbo just above the waistline.
This swag of material was sometimes used as a sort of pouch
literally to carry objects or even as a place to rest the right
hand as men today often do with trouser pockets.
In examining statues that depict the toga, one is inclined
to think that the garment simply would be haphazardly
wrapped about the body and tossed over a shoulder. In actuality, the protocol of wearing a toga was exacting by law
and required skill and experience. Writing in the second
century CE, the Roman historian Tertullian complained that
the toga is not a garment, but a burden. Indeed, although
draping a toga was an arduous task in itself, a more difficult
challenge was keeping it clean out in the dusty, sooty streets
of a Roman city. Moreover, for the working middle classes,
the heavy garment was especially hot in warm weather, and
the unpinned draping required a constant struggle to keep it
in place while maneuvering through daily tasks.
Even so, it was also a privilege to wear the toga because
it denoted Roman citizenship regardless of class. For a freeborn man to go into public where he was not known
without his toga was to run the risk of being mistaken for a
foreigner, exile, slave, or other social undesirable. Yet,
despite the commonality of the toga across all but the lowest classes, members of the upper classes, the patricians,
were seldom confused with the common citizenry, the
plebians. As mentioned previously the addition of the purple
clavi proclaimed rank. In addition, patricians could afford
the finest woven wool and wool blends, including the lustrous silk blends, all of which were recognized on sight for
their costly quality. The upper classes also numerous togas
and might frequently change into fresh ones throughout the
day to appear always in pristine white as evidence of their
wealth and social status.
Other Roman apparel that had evolved from Etruscan
styles included an adaptation of the perizoma called the subligaculum, sometimes shortened to subligar. Whereas the perizoma had been part of early Etruscan military costumes, the
subligaculum was a civilian garment. Basically it was a linen
loincloth worn like a diaper with a rolled waistline to hold it
in place. Athletes, gladiators, circus performers, and slaves
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Womens Clothing
To a great degree, Roman women owed the freedom of
their social status to the legacy of Etruscan women. Just as
with their antecedents in Etruria, Roman women enjoyed a
far more open role in their society than did Greek women.
As citizens of Rome, freeborn women could own property,
participate in public events, and even pursue an education.
They had greater freedom of movement outside the home
than did their secluded Greek sisters. Although Roman
women could not engage in politics, they could be active in
social, economic, and religious arenas. Women of high status were often involved in patronage, community development, and civic functions. They dispensed state and private
largess throughout their communities ranging from charitable gifts to extensive building programs. Their role in
managing the household and contributing to family decisions was more dominant than that of Greek women. Cato
the Elder wrote, We rule all peoples; our wives rule us.
The Roman matron secured a dignity and respect that even
the women of Etruria had not known.
Roman women also were expected to be educated,
especially since as mothers, part of their responsibility was
to raise sons to be good and proper citizens. Of all the
ancient civilizations, Rome could claim the most literate
female population. On many a Roman tombstone women
are credited with roles and skills that required reading and
writingeven the medical profession in one instance.
Numerous funerary portraits from Roman Egypt and
Pompeiis wall frescoes depict women holding wax writing
tablets and a stylus. (Color Plate 2.)
This is not to say, though, that women were accorded
equality with men. The degree of liberties afforded to
women largely depended upon the prominence of the men
in their family. Marriages were still arranged for social or
economic purposes. Family structures were still strictly
patriarchal. Women could be divorced for adultery but men
could not. Personal property could be owned by women but
was most always managed by a male family member. Not
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For the most part Romans seldom wore hats. Both men
and women wore a felt or straw version of the Greek petasos when traveling or working in the fields. The pileus was
a little round, brimless hat made of felt that fit like a skullcap, or inverted bowl, and was worn by craftsmen or other
middle class males. Women who went out in the noonday
sun either covered their heads with a scarf or a fold of the
palla, or carried a non-folding kind of parasol. Their carefully coifed hairstyles negated the need for hats as a fashion
accessory.
Roman women did not wear the kind of elaborate
headdresses that noblewomen of Egypt and Mesopotamia
preferred, nor the decorative little hats or tiaras of the
Greeks. Instead, most upper class women preferred to
arrange their natural hair in extraordinary coiffures, many of
which were enhanced by the addition of human hairpieces.
(Figure 5-12.) Blonde hair became popular during the first
century CE when Rome battled the northern Teutonic tribes.
The golden tresses of enslaved Gauls were sheered and
made into full wigs or hair extensions to match a Roman
womans bleached hair. For women who preferred their ethnic Latin coloration, ebony dyes imported from Egypt were
used to conceal any silvery signs of aging. Middle and
working class women and matrons seldom indulged in the
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Military Costume
The most detailed pictorial documentation we have of
the Roman army and its costumes is from the Column of
Trajan (c. 113 CE) and the Column of Marcus Aurelius
(c. 180 CE). Each of these 125-foot-high marble monuments
is decorated with a narrative bas-relief that spirals up the
entire surface of its gigantic column. Literally thousands of
figures depict Roman soldiers in tableaus of fierce combat,
or laying siege to great cities, or capturing prisoners for
slavery. Interspersed throughout these complex scenes of
war and violence are also dozens of vignettes representing
mundane activities of the soldiers daily life. They set up
camp, build fortifications, transport supplies, groom animals, unload ships, and cluster in groups to hear from their
commanders. Even eighteen centuries after these figures
were carved, the details of their costumes and accouterments
are still precise and clear. For accuracy the sculptors drew
on contemporary models and reproduced in exactitude the
armor, weapons, and clothing of the Imperial Roman
armydown to the special insignia of individual units.
From these carvings we may examine some of the common components of Roman military costume and armor.
(Figure 5-13.) Over a simple woolen tunic, the soldier wore
a cuirass, called the lorica, made of varying quality and
design. The legionnaires lorica was a basic leather corselet
with strips of steel attached in assorted arrangements. Later
versions were made with lighter, overlapping scales of metal
that provided greater ease of movement. High-ranking officers such as centurions or tribunes wore a solid metal lorica
molded in two pieces and representing an idealized athletic
torso. For senators and generals the surface of the lorica was
often elaborately decorated with incised, inlaid, or repouss
ornamentation.
The Roman helmet underwent innumerable changes
from the republican era into the early part of the imperial
period. The earliest styles greatly resembled the conical
domed types with hinged cheek guards typical of Asiatic
civilizations. This is especially curious since so much of
Roman costume was derived from Etruscan styles, and the
Etruscans had wholly adopted the Greek military dress by
the fifth century BCE. Costume historian Mary Houston has
suggested that perhaps nationalistic motives had led the
Romans to reject later Etruscan costumes that had been
transformed by Greek influences. After all, during much of
the first half of the republican period, Rome constantly battled both Etruscans and Greeks. Whatever the reason, the
Review
The history of the Roman civilization is a story of how
the descendants of Iron Age peasants, squatting in a mud-hut
community along the Tiber River, came to dominate much
of the Western world. Their legacy was an epic struggle to
conquer or perish that eventually established an empire
extending from Britain to Mesopotamia and all around the
Mediterranean basin.
As the former subjects of Etruscan kings, the Romans
retained many cultural traditions of their urbane, Hellenized
masters. Roman clothing, particularly, was based on
Etruscan styles. Textiles used for apparel were the same
wool and linen produced throughout Etruria. One significant
difference was that the Romans abandoned wearing richly
patterned and ornamented fabricsat least until the later
imperial period. Some types of Etruscan garments remained
largely unchanged, such as the T-shaped tunic. Other kinds
of Etruscan clothing gradually evolved into silhouettes
unique to the Romans. For example, the variably worn
tebenna of the Etruscans became the Roman toga with its
strict protocol for draping and its symbolic significance of
class and citizenship.
Other direct influences on Roman costume came from
the immigrants and enslaved peoples of conquered nations
who introduced to the Romans on a mass scale new types of
garments, textiles, ornament, and accessories. From the
annexation of Greece came the himation, renamed the palla
for women and pallium for men. From the Balkans came a
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Portfolio:
1. Using photocopies or digital scans of sculptures and wall
paintings, compile an accessory handbook on Roman
womens accessories and hair arrangements. Catalog thirty
examples of hairstyles, thirty examples of jewelry, ten styles
of footwear, and five types of scarf arrangements, each with
a paragraph description. Include information on the artwork
such as date, location, materials (jewelry), and textile colors
or patterns (paintings).
2.Research and construct a lifesize model of a Roman soldiers lorica. Substitute posterboard for metal and fabric for
leather. Demonstrate to the class how a soldier put on the
lorica and how easily he could maneuver wearing one.
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orarium: a small scarf of silk or embroidered material carried by women as a symbol of rank
paenula: a mens bell-shaped cloak with an open front
capelet: a short cape that just covers the shoulders and upper
arms
carbatina: the basic Roman sandal that covered most of the
foot with an intricate network of leather strips and laces
clavus (pl. clavi): purple stripes added to the border of a
toga denoting social status
cucullus: an outerwear hood sometimes made with a capelet
that was pinned or stitched to a paenula
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tutulus: a conical arrangement of a womans hair that symbolized her status as a matron
umbo: the swag of fabric at the front waistline of the toga
sometimes used as a pouch
vitta: a narrow band of material used to bind up a womans
hair
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