CHAPTER 2 Late Antique Society

Clothing in Late Antiquity Recognised as the of the and of the philosopher, the had also become a symbol of The period of Late Antiquity, roughly covering the end of Christian humility.8 Tertullian’s appeal may have been the 3rd to the beginning of the 8th c., was a period a veiled attempt to convert the people of Carthage of great change in the Roman empire. Citizenship, and to Christianity, however, his words make it clear that with it the right to wear the , was granted to all the codes that applied to the elite in republican freeborn inhabitants of the empire at the beginning of and early imperial Rome no longer held. Variations in the 3rd c., however, because of the increasing popular- clothing still represented variations in status, but now ity of ‘un-Roman’ garments such as , leggings, they became much more specific, as did the laws that capes and hooded , the traditional toga eventually governed them.9 A ‘new ’ of boots, sleeved became a symbolic garment to be worn only on civic and long now known as a chlamys, became occasions.1 Trade with other nations brought new prod- the distinctive costume of the late antique period; the ucts; cotton was imported from India in increasingly large chlamys, a garment closely associated initially with amounts,2 as was silk from Persia. By the 6th c., silk was the military, came to represent both civil and military itself being produced in Byzantium.3 New techniques, authority. A form of toga continued to be worn by those such as resist dyeing and drawloom weaving were also of senatorial rank, but was now shorter, coming only introduced, both of which facilitated the production of to the knees, and was usually worn over a long sleeved more ornately patterned fabrics,4 not only changing the tunic. The new shorter length allowed the strapped boots look of textiles during this period, but also providing that indicated senatorial rank to be clearly seen.10 Apart new ways of expressing wealth and/or status. The advent perhaps from the senatorial toga and shoes, Smith sug- of Christianity also brought changes in personal style. gests that there was probably not an “automatic or nec- Converts, particularly those who were wealthy, were essary equation between dress-types and offices”;11 but exhorted to reject the ostentation often shown by those rather that specific details of rank and office would have of their class, and to simplify their clothing.5 According been indicated by the addition to these two basic dress to MacMullen, if Cicero or Marcus Aurelius had ‘stepped types of particular colours, segmenta, shoes, belts and/ into’ the 4th c. world of Ammianus Marcellinus, what or buckles. The bestowal of ‘belts’ of office is referred to would have made the most impact on them would often in the Theodosian Code; these appear to be partic- have been the change in the way people dressed.6 With ular to specific administrative positions.12 There is also the expansion of the empire, the dress codes that had evidence that higher ranks were presented with com- applied in the past were much more difficult to enforce; plete robes of office. For instance, in AD 379, the in his plea for the people of Carthage to return to wear- Emperor presented Ausonius with an ornately ing the pallium, Tertullian says:

[You see] freedmen in the attire of knights, slaves 8 Brennan (2008) 264. loaded with floggings in that of nobility, captives in 9 Arce (2005) 34. that of the freeborn, bumpkins in that of city dwell- 10 Smith (1999) 179. ers, buffoons in that of men of the forum, citizens 11 Smith (1999) 182. in that of soldiers. The corpse-bearer, the pimp, 12 For example, Cod. Theod. 1.12.4 (AD 393) refers to ‘official cinc- and the trainer of gladiators: they dress like you.7 ture of an inferior rank’; 6.30.8 and 6.30.9 (AD 383) refers to ‘official cincture’ of imperial messengers; 6.30.18: says that one cannot assume the ‘official cincture’ of imperial service 1 MacMullen (1964) 451. unless permitted by the emperor; 8.1.11 (AD 365) refers to 2 Wild (2006) 179. official cincture of accountants; 8.4.16: refers to official cinc- 3 Muthesius (1989) 136. tures of special investigators and apparitors ordinary, which 4 Trilling (1982a), (1982b). were both compulsory public service positions; 8.4.23 (AD 412) 5 Cyprian Ep. 1.3 (PL 4.198–200); Jer. Ep. 22.27 (To Eustochium). and 8.4.29 (AD 428) both refer to the ‘official cincture’ of impe- 6 MacMullen (1964) 450. rial service; 12.1.147 (AD 416) refers to ‘official military cincture’ 7 Tert. De Pallio 4.8.4. of a Decurion.

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���8 | doi ��.��63/9789004353466_004 30 CHAPTER 2 embellished garment on his entering the consulship,13 metric patterns, by the 5th c., these roundels and bands and the Theodosian Code refers to the giving of a con- often included elaborate depictions of human figures, sulship as the “bestowal of royal vestments”.14 These animals and plants.22 This trend for pattern and decora- ornate were greatly valued, used both as pay- tion continued throughout the period, with some ment to soldiers and as gifts exchanged between the and togae, particularly those worn by the very wealthy, emperor and foreign representatives.15 They also played being made with overall-patterned fabric.23 Women’s an important part in the increasingly elaborate, almost clothing also changed, with the for two tunics, a theatrical ceremonies that pervaded all levels of social simple long sleeved tunic under a more elaborate outer interaction,16 by making it possible for a person’s spe- version, becoming more common. These were often cific rank and/or profession to be distinguished by his worn with ornately decorated belts tied high under the garments and accessories.17 Fashion and clothing design bust.24 They continued to wear a mantle, but these were was further influenced by regional wear, that was either usually smaller, more colourful and more heavily deco- introduced by foreign incomers to the cities or by sol- rated than they had been in the past.25 This love of co- diers and merchants who had travelled to distant lands.18 lour, pattern and display was evident everywhere, and For example, the dalmatic, a wide sleeved tunic origi- was not confined to members of the elite; paintings and nating in Dalmatia, became particularly popular with mosaics show both family members and their servants both men and women.19 However, the clothing worn by wearing brightly coloured garments.26 ‘foreigners’ was still recognisably different, although it is In an attempt to regain control over the use of luxury probable that such clothing was only worn on ceremo- items such as silk, fine linen and purple murex dyes, nial occasions.20 many aspects of their production and distribution were During this period, the shape of the tunic underwent taken over by imperial workshops, however, the frequent a gradual change, becoming narrower. Sleeves, which reiteration of the many laws dealing with such things is in the past had been formed largely by the extra width surely an indication of how difficult it was to maintain of the tunic, were now shaped and included during the exclusivity.27 There were also attempts to legally control weaving process.21 Probably as a result of improved what different classes of people could wear; existence weaving and dyeing techniques, the decoration on the of these laws indicates not only how important clothing tunic also became more elaborate, with the addition of still was in indicating status, but also how difficult it had tapestry woven roundels at the shoulders and/or knees, become to control this.28 While a number of these laws and decorative bands variously at the wrists, the neck- line and/or on the sides. Originally done in simple geo-

22 See for example Auson. Grat. act. 11, which includes a descrip- 13 Auson. Grat. act. 11. tion of the consular robe sent to Ausonius by Gratian, deco- 14 Cod. Theod. 8.11.4 (AD 383); also 6.26.18 refers to specific vest- rated with a picture of Gratian’s father Constantius. ments given ‘in accordance with the rank of counts of the sec- 23 Croom (2000) 52. ond order which had been conferred on them’; 6.30.11 (AD 386) 24 Croom (2000) 101–102. refers to gifts and robes as ‘Customary emoluments’. 25 Croom (2000) 105–107. 15 MacMullen (1964) 447. 26 MacMullen (1964) 440. See for example the 4th c. mosaic 16 MacCormack (1981): at the beginning of the period, during from Piazza Armerina in Sicily which pictures a family group the Tetrarchy, ceremonies were incidental, but eventually they accompanied by their servants (fig.38), and the ‘Estate of Lord became more elaborate; artistic and literary descriptions of Julius’ mosaic in the Bardo Museum: Blanchard-Lemee et al. late antique ceremonial were part of the “splendid theatre,” at (1996) fig. 121. the centre of which was the emperor. 27 For example: Cod. Theod. 10.20.18 deals with the illegal use 17 MacMullen (1964) 448. of purple dye, and there are a number of laws controlling 18 The Edict of Diocletian (19) lists such garments as Britannic, the workers who collected and processed this dye (10.20.14– Numidian, Dacian, and Nervian cloaks, African and Dardanian 17). There are also a number of laws concerning the theft of mantles, and Gallic, Numidian and Phrygian shirts; also imperial linen weavers (10.20.1.6–9); 10.21.1 (AD 369) forbids trousers, historically worn only by barbarians, were now com- the manufacture of gold /silk borders anywhere but in impe- monly worn by auxiliary units in both the West and the East of rial workshops. This was reissued in 10.21.2 (AD 383) and 10.21.3 the empire: MacMullen (1964) 446. (AD 424); 15.9.1 states that no private person can distribute silk 19 Croom (2000) 62. clothing at games. 20 SHA Gallieni Duo 8.7: “There marched, furthermore, men 28 Cod. Theod. 14.10.1–3 (AD 382 and 399) deals with the way sena- dressed to represent foreign nations, as and Sarmatians, tors should (and should not) dress; 14.10.2–4 (AD 396 and AD Franks and Persians, and no fewer than two hundred paraded 412) restricts the wearing of trousers, boots, long hair, and in a single group”. garments made of skins (essentially ‘barbarian’ clothes) with- 21 See chapter 4: ‘Tunics’ and ‘Tunic Embellishment and Dating’. in the city; 13.3.7 punishes the ‘usurping’ of the ‘garb of philos-