Subject- Historical Contextual References

Course- BDFT/BFT

Unit- II

Topic- Ancient Clothing- Egypt, Roman Period

ancient Egypt was the preeminent civilization in the Mediterranean world. From the great pyramids of the Old Kingdom through the military conquests of the New Kingdom, Egypt’s majesty has long entranced archaeologists and historians and created a vibrant field of study all its own: Egyptology.

The main sources of information about ancient Egypt are the many monuments, objects and artifacts that have been recovered from archaeological sites,

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Egyptians make most clothing from linen. Cotton and silk had not been discovered yet. Some people would have woolen outer coats.

Adult clothing can be white sheer (sheer means very thin).

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Men may skip clothing entirely while they are hunting or fishing. Young children don’t normally wear clothes unless they are cold. Older children dress like adults. Men and women who labor under the hot sun in the field may wear only a loincloth or short kilt..

If they are more wealthy, then they will be more fancy and wear red leather slippers, fancy robes made of wool, and the dresses or kilts won’t just be white but will have designs.

If poor, the kilt or dress will be plain white, and the sandals will be a kind of tan and white.

The stola was a long, pleated dress, worn over an undergarment called a tunic or tunica intima (the Roman version of a slip). The stola was generally sleeveless but versions of it did have short or long sleeves. These sleeves could belong to the stola itself or be a part of the tunic. The traditional sleeveless stola was fastened by clasps at the shoulder called fībulae.

The stola typically had two belts, and was typically girt with ribbons The first was worn just below the breasts creating a great amount of folds. The second and wider belt was worn around the waist. The stola was frequently worn with a a long shawl-like garment called a palla. It was worn when women went outside and typically went over one shoulder and draped across the body. It could also be pulled up over the head as a shawl.

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Nearly all Romans wore a simple tunic under more formal clothes, while slaves generally wore only a tunic

A tunic worn as underwear was known as tunica intima

male tunic would generally reach roughly to the knees, whereas women’s tunics would generally be longer, some reaching to the ground. Female tunics often also had long sleeves

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There was some formal differences in tunics which denoted social rank.

A purple stripe worn on the tunic was called a clavus and indicated membership to a particular order:

- the latus clavus (or laticlavium) denoted senators.- the angustus clavus was the mark of the equestrian order.

So a senator could wear a tunic featuring a vertical broad purple stripe down the centre. An equestrian could wear a tunic featuring two vertical narrow purple stripes on either side of the tunic.

It is worth mentioning the tunica palmata which was a brighty coloured tunic embroidered with palm leaves and was worn by the triumphator during his triumph, or possibly by other dignitaries at other, very exceptional occasions.

The richest form of the long-sleeved tunic, the dalmatica, in many cases replaced the toga altogether in the later years of empire. In the very same age, due to the influence of Germanic soldiers dominating the ranks of the army, long, close-fitting trousers were widely worn.

The toga was originally worn by both sexes but later restricted to male Roman citizens and so became a prized symbol, even though cumbersome.

A candidate for election wore a dazzling white toga (toga candida), hence the word `candidate’)

The toga praetexta, with a broad purple stripe near its edge, was worn by boys and also by some magistrates and priests

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If in the early days the toga was worn directly on the naked body, then later a simple tunic was added, tied at the waist with a belt.There were some old families with ancient ancestry who insisted on continuing the tradition of dressing without a tunic, but their fellow Romans understood them somewhat eccentric.

Basically the toga was a large blanket, draped over the body, leaving one arm free.Through experiments historians have concluded that the vast blanket took the form of a semi circle. It was along the straight edge the purple stripe of a senator's toga praetexta ran.

The basic female garment was the stola. It was essentially a long tunic reaching to the ground. If could have long or short sleeves, or be entirely sleeveless.

The stola was generally worn over another long tunic, the tunica interior.

There is no tunica interior visible below the sleeveless stola.The lower hem of the stola is decorated with an ornamental border, an instita.The elegant palla is held in place by a broach on the left shoulder.

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It is fair to assume that children, especially those not borne to rich families spent their time in simple, belted tunics.

Children wore an amulet called the bulla. Boys would wear it until reaching their manhood, usually around the age of sixteen. Girls would wear it until they married.

This child is most likely growing up in the provinces, as the Celtic pattern of its tunic and the trousers suggest.Notice the bulla amulet which was traditionally worn by Roman children on a necklace to ward off evil spritis.

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1. http://http://www.crystalinks.com/egyptclothing.html&category=300

2. http://www.galicianshop.com/kilts/galician-kilts/royal-stewart-kilt.htm

3. https://www.google.co.in/search?q=robes+in+egyption+period+for+men+women

4. http://allaboutfashion-nydia.blogspot.in/5. http://www.egyking.info/2013/07/ancient-

egyptian-shoes.html6. http://www.linencottonfabric.com/

index.php/product/index/7.html

7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palla_%28garment%29

8. http://www.crazyforcostumes.com/scripts/prodList.asp?idcategory=43

9. https://www.google.co.in/search?q=roman+tunica

10. https://www.google.co.in/search?q=roman+tunica

11. http://www.roman-empire.net/society/soc-dress.html