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Byzantine dress changed considerably over the thousand years of Byzantine Empire,Ball, 6 for a brief summary, with Early Byzantine clothing still emerging from Roman stles, and Late Byzantine increasingly influenced by the West, and sometimes the East. but was essentially conservative. The Byzantines liked colour and pattern, and made and exported very richly patterned cloth, especially Byzantine silk, woven and embroidered for the upper classes, and Resist dyeing and printed for the lower. A different border or trimming round the edges was very common, and many single stripes down the body or around the upper arm are seen, often denoting class or rank. Taste for the middle and upper classes followed the latest fashions at the Imperial Court.
As in the West during the Middle Ages, clothing was very expensive for the poor, who probably wore the same well-worn clothes nearly all the time;Payne, Blanche; Winakor, Geitel; Farrell-Beck Jane: The History of Costume, from the Ancient Mesopotamia to the Twentieth Century, 2nd Edn, p128, HarperCollins, 1992. this meant in particular that any costume owned by most women needed to fit throughout the full length of a pregnancy. Even for the better-off, clothing was "used until death and then reused", and the cut was generous to allow for this.Ball, 3
The chlamys, a semicircular cloak fastened to the right shoulder continued throughout the period. The length fell sometimes only to the hips or as far as the ankles, much longer than the version commonly worn in Ancient Greece; the longer version is also called a paludamentum. As well as his courtiers, Emperor Justinian wears one, with a huge brooch, in the Ravenna mosaics. On each straight edge men of the Byzantine senate class had a tablion, a lozenge shaped coloured panel across the chest or midriff (at the front), which was also used to show the further rank of the wearer by the colour or type of embroidery and jewels used (compare those of Justinian and his courtiers). Theodosius I and his co-emperors were shown in 388 with theirs at knee level in the Missorium of Theodosius I of 387, but over the next decades the tablion can be seen to move higher on the Chlamys, for example in ivories of 413-414.Kilerich, 275 A paragauda or border of thick cloth, usually including gold, was also an indicator of rank. Sometimes an oblong cloak would be worn, especially by the military and ordinary people; it was not for court occasions. Cloaks were pinned on the right shoulder for ease of movement, and access to a sword.
Leggings and hose were often worn, but are not prominent in depictions of the wealthy; they were associated with barbarians, whether European or Persian. Even basic clothes appear to have been surprisingly expensive for the poor. Some manual workers, probably slaves, are shown continuing to wear, at least in summer, the basic Roman slip costume which was effectively two rectangles sewn together at the shoulders and below the arm. Others, when engaged in activity, are shown with the sides of their tunic tied up to the waist for ease of movement.
Hair is covered by a variety of head-cloths and veils, presumably often removed inside the home. Sometimes caps were worn under the veil, and sometimes the cloth is tied in turban style. This may have been done while working - for example the midwives in scenes of the Nativity of Jesus in art usually adopt this style. Earlier ones were wrapped in a figure-of-eight fashion, but by the 11th century circular wrapping, possibly sewn into a fixed position, was adopted. In the 11th and 12th centuries head-cloths or veils began to be longer.
With footwear, scholars are more certain, as there are considerable numbers of examples recovered by archaeology from the drier parts of the Empire. A great variety of footwear is found, with sandals, slippers and boots to the mid-calf all common in manuscript illustrations and excavated finds, where many are decorated in various ways. The colour red, reserved for Imperial use in male footwear, is actually by far the most common colour for women's shoes. Purses are rarely visible, and seem to have been made of textile matching the dress, or perhaps tucked into the sash.
Dancers are shown with special dress including short sleeves or sleeveless dresses, which may or may not have a lighter sleeve from an undergarment below. They have tight wide belts, and their skirts have a flared and differently coloured element, probably designed to rise up as they spin in dances. A remark of Anna Komnene about her mother suggests that not showing the arm above the wrist was a special focus of Byzantine modesty.Dawson (2006), 61
Although it is sometimes claimed that the veil was invented by the Byzantines,Dawson (2006) 61, gives two examples; Review of Herrin book Byzantine art does not depict women with veiled faces, although it commonly depicts women with veiled hair. It is assumed that Byzantine women outside court circles went well wrapped up in public, and were relatively restricted in their movements outside the house; they are rarely depicted in art.Michael Angold, Church and Society in Byzantium Under the Comneni, 1081-1261, pp. 426-7 & ff;1995, Cambridge University Press, The literary sources are not sufficiently clear to distinguish between a head-veil and a face-veil. In addition, the early 3rd-century Christian writer Tertullian, in his treatise The Veiling of Virgins, Ch. 17, describes Arab polytheism women as veiling the entire face except the eyes, in the manner of a niqab. This shows that some Middle Eastern women veiled their faces long before Islam.
The races in the Hippodrome used four teams: red, white, blue and green; and the supporters of these became political factions, taking sides on the great theological issues—which were also political questions—of Arianism, Nestorianism and Monophysitism, and therefore on the Imperial claimants who also took sides. Huge Nika riots took place, in the 4th to 6th centuries and mostly in Constantinople, with deaths running into the thousands, between these factions, who naturally dressed in their appropriate colours. In medieval France, there were similar colours-wearing political factions, called chaperons.
The Ravenna mosaics show the men wearing what may be sandals with white socks, and soldiers wear sandals tied around the calf or strips of cloth wrapped round the leg to the calf. These probably went all the way to the toes (similar foot-wrappers are still worn by Russian other ranks).
Some soldiers, including later Imperial portraits in military dress, show boots nearly reaching the knee - red for the Emperor. In the Imperial Regalia of the Holy Roman Emperors there are shoes or slippers in Byzantine style made in Palermo before 1220. They are short, only to the ankle, and generously cut to allow many different sizes to be accommodated. They are lavishly decorated with pearls and jewels and gold scrollwork on the sides and over the toe of the shoe.Photo that does not show the gold embroidery very well. [3] Also see Commons images of the Regalia. More practical footwear was no doubt worn on less formal occasions.
Outside labourers would either have sandals or be barefoot. The sandals follow the Roman model of straps over a thick sole. Some examples of the Ancient Rome caligae or military boot are also seen on shepherds.
Dress and equipment changed considerably across the period to have the most efficient and effective accoutrements current economics would allow. Other ranks' clothing was largely identical to that of common working men. The manuals recommend tunics and coats no longer than the knee. As an army marches first of all on its feet, the manual writers were more concerned that troops should have good footwear than anything else. This ranged from low lace up shoes to thigh boots, all to be fitted with "a few (hob) nails".Strategikon. Leo, Taktika A head-cloth ("phakiolion" or "maphorion") which ranged from a simple cloth coming from below the helmet (as still worn by Orthodox clergy) to something more like a turban, was standard military headgear in the Middle and Late Empire for both common troops and for ceremonial wear by some ranks;Dawson (2006), 44-45; Phokas, Composition on Warfare, on common troops, Constantine VII, Treatise on Imperial Military Expeditions they were also worn by women.
The men's version of the loros was a long strip, dropping down straight in front to below the waist, and with the portion behind pulled round to the front and hung gracefully over the left arm. The female loros was similar at the front end, but the back end was wider and tucked under a belt after pulling through to the front again. Both male and female versions changed style and diverged in the middle Byzantine period, the female later reverting to the new male style. Apart from jewels and embroidery, small Vitreous enamel plaques were sewn into the clothes; the dress of Manuel I Comnenus was described as being like a meadow covered with flowers. Generally sleeves were closely fitted to the arm and the outer dress comes to the ankles (although often called a scaramangion), and is also rather closely fitted. The sleeves of empresses became extremely wide in the later period.
The royal daily robe was a simpler and more idealized regalia of the various Hellenistic kings, depicted in various frescoes and miniatures, which featured the emperor in a simple "chiton" robe, a "chlamys" of various sizes, a royal diadem and the imperial boots Tzangion of which elaborated examples are evidenced in imperial works such as the Paris Psalter or the David Plates, idealizing the concept of philanthropy and Euergetism as the main roles of the perfect Hellenistic and Byzantine monarch.
The superhumeral, worn throughout the history of Byzantium, was the imperial decorative collar, often forming part of the loros. It was copied by at least women of the upper class. It was of cloth of gold or similar material, then studded with gems and heavily embroidered. The decoration was generally divided into compartments by vertical lines on the collar. The edges would be done in pearls of varying sizes in up to three rows. There were occasionally drop pearls placed at intervals to add to the richness. The collar came over the collarbone to cover a portion of the upper chest.
The Imperial Regalia of the Holy Roman Emperors, kept in the Schatzkammer (Vienna), contains a full set of outer garments made in the 12th century in essentially Byzantine style at the Byzantine-founded workshops in Palermo. These are among the best surviving Byzantine garments and give a good idea of the lavishness of Imperial ceremonial clothing. There is a cloak (worn by the Emperors with the gap at the front), "alb", dalmatic, stockings, slippers and gloves. The loros is Italian and later. Each element of the design on the cloak (see Textiles below) is outlined in pearls and embroidered in gold.
Especially in the early and later periods (approximately before 600 and after 1,000) Emperors may be shown in military dress, with gold breastplates, red boots, and a crown. Crowns had pendilia and became closed on top during the 12th century.
Various tactica, treatises on administrative structure, court protocol and precedence, give details of the costumes worn by different office-holders. According to pseudo-Kodinos, the distinctive colour of the Sebastokrator was blue; his ceremonial costume included blue shoes embroidered with eagles on a red field, a red tunic ( chlamys), and a diadem ( stephanos) in red and gold. As in the Versailles of Louis XIV, elaborate dress and court ritual probably were at least partly an attempt to smother and distract from political tensions.
However this ceremonial way of life came under stress as the military crisis deepened, and never revived after the interlude of the Western Emperors following the capture of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade in 1204; in the late period a French visitor was shocked to see the Empress riding in the street with fewer attendants and less ceremony than a Queen of France would have had.
Most surviving examples were not used for clothes and feature very large woven or embroidered designs. Before the Byzantine Iconoclasm these often contained religious scenes such as Annunciations, often in a number of panels over a large piece of cloth. This naturally stopped during the periods of Iconoclasm and with the exception of church vestments [5] for the most part figural scenes did not reappear afterwards, being replaced by patterns and animal designs. Some examples show very large designs being used for clothing by the great - two enormous embroidered lions killing camels occupy the whole of the Coronation cloak of Roger II in Vienna, produced in Palermo about 1134 in the workshops the Byzantines had established there. [6] A sermon by Saint Asterius of Amasia, from the end of the 5th century, gives details of imagery on the clothes of the rich (which he strongly condemns): Asterius of Amasia Online English translation - near the start
When, therefore, they dress themselves and appear in public, they look like pictured walls in the eyes of those that meet them. And perhaps even the children surround them, smiling to one another and pointing out with the finger the picture on the garment; and walk along after them, following them for a long time. On these garments are lions and leopards; bears and bulls and dogs; woods and rocks and hunters; and all attempts to imitate nature by painting.... But such rich men and women as are more pious, have gathered up the gospel history and turned it over to the weavers.... You may see the wedding of Galilee, and the water-pots; the paralytic carrying his bed on his shoulders; the blind man being healed with the clay; the woman with the bloody issue, taking hold of the border of the garment; the sinful woman falling at the feet of Jesus; Lazarus returning to life from the grave....
Both Christian and pagan examples, mostly embroidered panels sewn into plainer cloth, have been preserved in the exceptional conditions of graves in Egypt, although mostly iconic portrait-style images rather than the narrative scenes Asterius describes in his diocese of Amasya in northern Anatolia. The portrait of the Caesar Constantius Gallus in the Chronography of 354 shows several figurative panels on his clothes, mostly round or oval (see gallery).
Early decorated cloth is mostly embroidered in wool on a linen base, and linen is generally more common than cotton throughout the period. Raw Silk yarn was initially imported from China, and the timing and place of the first weaving of it in the Near Eastern world is a matter of controversy, with Egypt, Persia, Syria and Constantinople all being proposed, for dates in the 4th and 5th centuries. Certainly Byzantine textile decoration shows great Persian influence, and very little direct from China. According to legend agents of Justinian I bribed two Buddhist monks from Khotan in about 552 to discover the secret of cultivating silk, although much continued to be imported from China.
Resist dyeing was common from the late Roman period for those outside the Court, and woodblock printing dates to at least the 6th century, and possibly earlier - again this would function as a cheaper alternative to the woven and embroidered materials of the rich. Apart from Egyptian burial-cloths, rather fewer cheap fabrics have survived than expensive ones. It should also be remembered that depicting a patterned fabric in paint or mosaic is a very difficult task, often impossible in a small miniature, so the artistic record, which often shows patterned fabrics in large-scale figures in the best quality works, probably under-records the use of patterned cloth overall.
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