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Byzantine dress

Byzantine dress changed considerably over the thousand years of the Empire, but was essentially conservative. The Byzantines liked color and pattern, and made and exported very richly patterned cloth, especially Byzantine silk, woven and embroidered for the upper classes, and resist-dyed and printed for the low. A different border or trimming across the edges was quite typical, and several single stripes down your body or about the upper arm have emerged, often denoting class or rank. Taste for the center and upper classes followed the most recent fashions at the Imperial Court. As in the West through the DARK AGES, clothing was very costly for the indegent, who most likely wore the same well-worn clothes almost all enough time; this meant specifically that any costume owned by most women had a need to fit through the entire full term of a pregnancy.


On the body In the first stages of the Byzantine Empire the original Roman toga was still used as very formal or official dress. By Justinian's time this have been replaced by the tunica, or lengthy chiton, for both sexes, over that your upper classes wore additional garments, just like a dalmatica (dalmatic), a heavier and shorter kind of tunica, again worn by both sexes, but mainly by men. The hems often curve right down to a sharp point. The scaramangion was a riding-coat of Persian origin, opening down leading and normally arriving at the mid-thigh, although they are recorded to be worn by Emperors, if they seem to become a lot longer. In general, aside from military and presumably riding-dress, men of higher status, and all women, had clothes that came right down to the ankles, or nearly so. Women often wore a high layer of the stola, for the abundant with brocade. Most of these, except the stola, may be belted or not. The terms for dress tend to be confusing, and certain identification of the name a specific pictured item had, or the look that relates to a specific documentary reference, is usually rare, especially beyond your Court. The chlamys, a semicircular cloak fastened to the proper shoulder continued through the entire period. The space fell sometimes and then the hips or so far as the ankles, a lot longer compared to the version commonly worn in Ancient Greece; the longer version can be called a paludamentum. And also his courtiers, Emperor Justinian wears one, with an enormous brooch, in the Ravenna mosaics. On each straight edge men of the senatorial class had a tablion, a lozenge shaped coloured panel over the chest or midriff (at the front end), that was also used showing the further rank of the wearer by the color or kind 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 another decades the tablion is seen to go higher on the Chlamys, for instance in ivories of 413-414. A paragauda or border of thick cloth, usually including gold, was also an indicator of rank. Sometimes an oblong cloak will be worn, especially by the military and ordinary people; it had been not for court events. Cloaks were pinned on the proper shoulder for simple movement, and usage of a sword. Leggings and hose were often worn, but aren't prominent in depictions of the wealthy; these were connected with barbarians, whether European or Persian. Even basic clothes may actually have already been surprisingly expensive for the indegent. Some manual workers, probably slaves, are shown continuing to wear, at least in summer, the essential Roman slip costume that was effectively two rectangles sewn together at the shoulders and below the arm. Others, when involved in activity, are shown with the sides of their tunic tangled up to the waist for simple movement.

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