Roman Slave Research

In preparation for next month's Roman party, a friend of mine has asked for help putting together his Roman garb. Having just lost an impressive amount of weight, my friend is eager to show off his muscular legs, so I've suggested a Roman slave's garb. From what I've seen in researching my own outfit, slaves generally wore short tunics, giving him ample opportunity to show off his gams.

Pro Tip: absolutely DO NOT search for "Roman slave outfit" with safe search off. Yikes.

Though my initial web search was not entirely helpful, I dug up my copy of Peacock's The Chronicle of Western Fashion and nabbed shots of a couple of his illustrations of ancient Roman servants. This text was originally published in America in the early 1990s, at the height of political correctness, and based on my other research, it's fair to assume they wrote "servant" when they meant "slave.":

The examples show fairly similar styles. The garments are white or offwhite, short sleeved, in a single layer. Each garment is a loose tunic-like garment, generally with a belt, falling above the knees (sometimes considerably above the knees). One example I found from period sources shows a sleeveless tunic which, rather than being belted, has been knotted at the crotch. Several examples show trim as with a higher-ranking man, two parallel lines running vertically along the front (and presumably back) at the shoulder. However, freemen are typically shown with red trim, whereas the slaves are shown with black.

I like the style of the tunic shown on the baker in the second example, but I'm not sure my friend wants to show off quite that much leg. Instead I think I'll go with the light brown one-shoulder tunic on the left. Nobody else is wearing an asymmetrical style, so it'll add some variety.

I've already taken my friend's measurements, and I've already made a Roman tunica for myself, so this will be a very easy process. My friend measures 25" across at the shoulders and 50" from shoulder to knee. In order to properly pattern, I'll also need his chest measurement, but he'll be stopping by tomorrow afternoon for that.

Basically the pattern will be two rectangles, each 50 inches long and probably about 40 inches wide. I might even do a 50x50 square. I'll sew the fabric from bottom to top on one side and from bottom to a little more than halfway up on the other. On the open side (the high side), I'll stitch and gather the shoulder from about 1/3 across to about ten inches from the end, leaving the last ten inches or so open to flutter on the shoulder as the illustration shows. The only trick will be belting it in such a way that the hem stays flat. It's obvious the fabric isn't cut at a diagonal because there is draping on the low side, but I may end up needing to engineer a cheat to keep it even as the night wears on.

How to Make a Roman Tunica

In about a month, Hermanos de Sangre is hosting a Roman party at Highland War. Since the pinned-together muslin I'd been using as a makeshift stola has been cut up for a new gomlek, it was clear I actually have to make something that's actually passably Roman.

I've decided to make a 1st century AD tunica that's actually somewhat accurate. If I wanted to pass for an upstanding Patrician woman, I'd need at least two tunicas and a stola (for a matron) or a child's toga (if I decided for some reason to try to pass for a maiden, for which I am laughably too old by Roman standards). It's going to be hot, and wearing three layers does NOT sound like a great solution, so I'm going plebeian. I'm going to make a single tunica of bright red cotton (a color that would only be worn by a low class woman), trim it will cheap brass buttons, and belt it with some woven wool trim that's been lying around anyway. Mine happens to be a cotton duvet cover which I've stashed into my fabric stores for just such an occasion. The alternative would have been using it on a bed, and it's WAY too bright for that nonsense.

The first step is to cut two squares of fabric equal in width to the measurement from shoulder to floor. This should be almost exactly the same as the distance from one wrist to the other at full extension.

Some sources I've found say the sides are sewn, and some say they're open. It seems to depend on the use of the garment: a bride's garments are not stitched, for example. I've had no trouble maintaining a reasonable amount of modesty without sewing the sides of my makeshift tunica, but I went ahead and did side seams this time. Sew each side from the bottom edge to ten inches below the top edge (leaving wide arm holes).

Hem the bottom edge, the sides above the seams, and the top edge. I've used a rolled hem due to the fraying nature of cotton. I'd recommend the same for linen and most silks, both common fabrics for Roman women.

Next, the top closures. Broaches were used in period, but I'm using six brass buttons at the wrist, elbow, and shoulder. The diagram suggests a pretty flat closure, but the front neck opening uses more fabric than the back, so that it hangs in front and not in back. Therefore there is more fabric in the back along the sleeves, causing the bunches to fall open slightly and show the arms.

Now all that's left is to put it on and cinch it with a belt! A simple garment that's perfect for hot weather and takes no time at all to put together.

My tunica came out looking like this (sorry for the amazingly bad cell phone photo):



What's period about it?

• Material: cotton was imported to Rome from Egypt. Other common Roman materials included wool, linen, and silk (for women). My belt is hand-woven wool in a Roman geometric pattern.
• Color: bright red shows up all over Roman art, and was frequently used for the tunics of plebeians like me. Red, orange, and pink dyes were derived from madder, which was cheaply available in ancient Rome, making this color widely available. Richer reds were more expensive, since their dyes were made from fermented insect corpses. The poor WIN. A Plebeian might also be spotted in white, light yellow, medium to light blue, or a range of greens, which were also cheap to produce, mostly derived from local plants mixed with manure.
• Construction: My tunica is made from two squares in a period fashion, with straight seams. The finished edges on the top and arms are hand-stitched.

What's NOT period about it?

• Closure: I used buttons rather than broaches, for stability and ease of wear.
• Dye: This was chemically dyed through modern processes. This makes the color a little bit richer and a LOT more colorsafe than period processes.