Ancient & Byzantine

Melbourne Ancients Feast

Photos taken By Joshua Button of us at the Melbourne Ancients Feast

Clothing - Mens

Greek Exomis

Linen

hand sewn by Indunna ( Jenny Baker )

Statue: Young man wearing the exomis (tunic).

Parian marble, copy after a Greek original of the 4th century BC. From the Horti Lamiani, 1874.

The exomis (Ancient Greek: ἐξωμίς from exo "outside", and omos "shoulder") was a Greek tunic used by workers and light infantry. The tunic largely replaced the older chitoniskos as the main tunic of the hoplites during the later 5th century BC. It was made of two rectangles of linen (other materials were also used), which were stitched together from the sides to form a cylinder, leaving enough space at the top for the arms. An opening at the top was also left for the head. The cylinder was gathered up at the waist with a cloth belt using a reef knot, which made the cloth fall down over the belt, hiding it from view. To allow freedom of movement to the right arm, the seam at the right shoulder was taken apart, and the right hand was passed through the head opening.The color of the tunic varied, but red (especially crimson) was increasingly the standard color preferred by hoplites during and after the Peloponnesian War.

Thracian Peltast Chiton

Linen with printed on inked design

hand sewn bu Indunna ( Jenny Baker )

A chiton (Greek: χιτών, khitōn) was a form of clothing and is a sewn garment, unlike the peplos, a draped garment held on the shoulders by a fibula.

There are two forms of chiton, the Doric chiton and the later Ionic chiton.

The "Doric" style was simpler and had no "sleeves", being simply pinned, sewn, or buttoned at the shoulder. The "Ionic" style was made of a much wider piece of fabric, and was pinned, sewn, or buttoned all the way from the neck to the wrists and the excess fabric gathered by the zone or girdled at the waist. By the late Archaic, Ionic chitons had become more common, especially for men

Byzantine Men's Tunica Outfit

( over and under tunica )

won 3rd place at the 2001 A Medieval Odyssey , Lorrienne Holiday Lodge & Retreat, Bowraville, NSW. 13-16 April, 2001

Over Tunica

Hand woven silk with gold Byzantine flower pattern

hand sewn by Indunna ( jenny Baker )

The tunica was the basic article of clothing in Byzantium.

For the lower classes, it was the everyday working garment.

For the upper classes, it was the underlayment for some of the richest clothing in history.

Coptic tunics were trimmed lavishly. Clavi (stripes) and segmentae (roundels and squares) were done in a tapestry weave and were the most common type of trim. Most examples are in the natural tunic/ purple trim scheme, but there are many examples of more colourful trims.

Under Tunica

Linen with wool embroidery - Segmentae decoration

Hand sewn and embroidery by Indunna ( Jenny Baker )

Tunica Decoration Segmentae & Clavi

Segmentae ~ A roundel or square element at the end of a clavi.

Fragments of a linen tunic woven with a shoulder-square and short band in linen and brown wool.

East Roman period, fourth-fifth

Surviving Tunica Examples

Child's wool tunic woven with tapestry bands and squares in multi coloured wool, depicting birds, animals and human heads. Byzantine period, sixth-seventh century

Linen tunic woven with short tapestry bands in linen and multi coloured wool, with a pattern of rosettes and eels.Byzantine period, sixth-seventh century.

Linen tunic, woven with long tapestry bands and neck-panels, in linen and brown wool, depicting animals and armed men. Byzantine period, fifth-sixth century.

Linen tunic woven with long tapestry bands in linen and purple wool.East Roman period, third-fourth century

Clothing - Womens

Ancient Greek Woman's outfit

Top - wool with inked on design

Hand sewn by Indunna ( Jenny Baker )

Under Tunica - linen under tunic with sivler beads

Hand sewn by Indunna ( Jenny Baker )

Byzantine Women's Stola & palla

won 2nd place at the

2001 A Medieval Odyssey , Lorrienne Holiday Lodge & Retreat, Bowraville, NSW. 13-16 April, 2001

Palla - Hand woven silk with gold byzantine flower pattern with pearls and malachite bead fringe

Stola - Hand sewn and embroidery by Indunna ( Jenny Baker )

- wool on Linen

The stola of Byzantium is a woman's garment, unchanged from the Roman time period. It consists of a large folded rectangle, woven with a neck slit and sewn closed from wrist to hem. The Stola is worn belted high under the bust.

In the 5th century, the stola was wide and had no separate sleeves.

A sleeved effect was gotten from the excess width of the stola being belted at the waist and bloused over the belt

Stola decoration

The Roundel was found on a Fragment of a woollen cloak woven with a large tapestry roundel in undyed and lavender-blue wool. East Roman period, third-fourth century

Some Surviving Examples of Stolas

Child's sleeveless wool tunic woven with long tapestry bands in linen and multicoloured wool, with a pattern of foliage. Byzantine period, sixth-seventh century.

Part of a linen tunic, woven with long tapestry bands in linen and brown wool, depicting followers of Dionysos. Byzantine period, fifth-sixth century.

based on a minion mosaic showing a different coloured top to under tunic

( cant find the link & details of the fresco again - don't you hate that :-( )

Armour

Amazon Scale Armour

won 1st Prize Arms & Armour Reconstruction -

The 15th Australasian Historical Conference 2009

Amazon Scale Armour

Leather on Linen material

hand made and hand sewn by Indunna ( Jenny Baker )

Underneath Linen Chiton

hand sewn by Indunna ( Jenny baker )

Click here to see my Amazon Scale Armour Construction & Research notes

Amazon Warrior : Attic red-figured cup - now in the Museo Nazionale in Naples, Italy

This picture on the exterior of a cup shows an arming scene of two Amazons.

The left one is dressed like a Greek hoplite (= foot-soldier), but as yet is without shield and helmet.

From the Amazon Research centre

http://www.myrine.at/Amazons/Gallery/gal_fra.html

Pelta shields

Pelta shields -

Hand made by Thatshim ( Gary Baker ) and Indunna (Jenny Baker )

wood and leather

Gary's is in black - traditional Thracian pattern but I think it looks like Mr Big Nose

mine in red - traditional amazon pattern

both patterns taken from Ancient greek pottery

Byzantine Helmet

Byzantine Helmet - Byzantine Concentric Helmet based on Skylitzes Chronicle of Madrid

Made by Thasthim ( Gary Baker )

Historical Source Information

References:

Two Byzantine Helmet Reconstructed - A Byzantine Helmet Reconstructed.

Based on the Skylitzes Chronical of Madrid By Steven Lowe

http://www.oocities.org/egfroth1/ConcentricHelm.html

Varangian Voice Issue 32 - A Byzantine style helmet based on the Skylitzes chronicle of Madrid

http://nvg.org.au/links/portal.php?what=link&item=20070503034008289

Byzantine Lamellar

Hand made by Thatshim ( Gary Baker )

metal on leather

Historical Source Information

References:

Research by Jenny Baker - Looking For the Evidence

A Summary of Extant Scale, Mail & Lamellar Armour Finds

Extant Lamellar Armour Finds

Byzantine Lamellar :

Early Byzantine Lamellar Armour From Carthago Spartaria (Cartagena, Spain)

5th - 6th century - write up has some lovley photos of the lames

http://gladius.revistas.csic.es/index.php/gladius/article/viewFile/196/198

http://www.um.es/prinum/uploaded/files/actividad/EARLY_BYZANTINE_LAMELLAR_ARMOUR_FROM_CARTHAGO_SPARTARIA.pdf

Byzantine Lamellar : Early Byzantine site Svetinja at Viminacium

6th century

http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/0350-0241/2005/0350-02410555161B.pdf

Lombardic / Byzantine Lamellar : Castel Trosino, Italy. Tomb 119, Lombardic,

early 7th century.

Refs. Arena and Paroli, 1993; Thordeman, 1939. Held: Museo dell’Alto Medioevo, Rome.

Note - reconstruction drawing of entire panoply displayed at museum.

– also in War & Society in the Eastern Mediterranean, 7th – 15th centuries By Yaacov Lev – page 70, Fig 201

google book

Byzantine Lamellar Armour : Great Palace, Istanbul, ‘Find No. 292. Found in Ec VI 3 in the debris covering the paved street. A quantity (more than 200 pieces) of fragments of strip armour. Large numbers had been fused together by fire, and in the process of cleaning a coin of Manuel I (A.D. 1143-80) was found sticking to a group of fragments.

From Byzantine Lamellar Armour: Conjectural Reconstruction of a Find from the Great Palace in Istanbul, Based on Early Medieval Parallels by Peter Beatson - NVG Mikligard

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~chrisandpeter/lamellar/lamellar.html

Byzantine Tunica Gamberson

The idea was to create a gamberson that had the look of Tunica worn by Byzantine Warrior Saints

Byzantine Gamberson

Hand made by Indunna ( Jenny Baker )

Linen , wool with commercial byzantine pattern braid

Icon with Saint Demetrios,

ca. 950–1000

Byzantine

Inscribed in Greek: Saint Demetrios

Ivory

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Other Things

Byzantine Eagle Banner

Hand sewn and Hand Painted by Indunna ( Jenny Baker )

Silk and gold paint

Reference : Textile

Auxerre "Suaire de St Germain" Shroud of St. Germain

Source location: church of St. Eusebius of Auxerre

Dating from: 11th c

Historical Source Information

Byzantine Eagle

Reference : Textile

Auxerre "Suaire de St Germain" Shroud of St. Germain

Piece of silk decorated with eagles frequent motif in Byzantine art but its quality makes it one of the finest fabrics workshops Constantinople around the year 1000.Longtemps considered the shroud provided in 448 by the Empress Galla Placidia to the mortal remains of St. Germain, he would have served in one of the translations of the body in the eleventh siècle.Depuis the Revolution it was kept in the church of St. Eusebius of Auxerre. Currently 2.36 m long. it should be larger originally.

Source location: church of St. Eusebius of Auxerre

Dating from: 11th c

Collection information: Burgundy Museums in Côte d'Or, Nièvre

Link to Museum photos of origin

http://www.musees-bourgogne.org/les_musees/musees_bourgogne_gallerie.php?lg=fr&id=27&theme=&id_ville=&id_gallerie=43685

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27305838@N04/4365152217/in/set-72157623330579483

The Hodegetria Icon

Hodegetria Icon.

hand painted with Gold paint

By Indunna ( Jenny Baker )

Luke Paints the Icon of the Mother of God Hodegetria

Unknown Icon Painter, Russian (early 15th century)

Ref: Triuphal Procession of John I Tsimiskes into Constantinople with the Preslav Icon, in John Skylitzes, Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid ( ms. Vitr. 26-2, fol. 172v ( a) .)

Historical Source Information

The Hodegetria Icon

The Hodegetria Icon was first brought to Constantinople by the Empress Eudokia from Palestine and was reported to have been painted by St. Luke the Envanlgelist. And had it enshrined beside a miraculous well in a monastery (not named) near the Great Palace. Here it gained the reputation of curing the ill and the blind.

The Hodegetria Icon was one of the most traveled Icons in Byzantium and the city's most prized.

It has become one of the most popular copied theme in religious art.

In Lent it would be taken to the Church of the Mother of god in Blachernai, on the Anniversaries of the Emperors Funerals it was taken to their burial Chapel at the Monastery of the Christ Pantokrator. And every Tuesday during the rest of the year it made an excursion into the city. Though the exact route of the procession is unknown but there the participants are mentioned and drawn in Stylitzies.

A cross- bearer led the way, the brothers of the confraternity of the Icon carried the image mounted on a wooden pallet, and deacons waved flabella (ceremonial fans) and swung smoking censers around it. Cantors followed leading the people in song and finally came the laity, men and then women. Icon bearers claimed to feel a force within the Icon directing their way.

But for us the most important aspect with this Icon was it's military connection. It was one of Icons carried by the Byzantine Armies to war and it was this Icon that the Emperor himself saluted when celebrating a military victory, several such triumphs are described by historians. Typically the parade route went from the Golden Gate to Hagia Sophia church and this Icon was carried next to Emperor and the winning General

Ref: Egfroth on Hodegon the Monastery

Ref: Byzantium from Antiquity to the renaissance by Thomas f. Mathews, Perspective, Harry N. Abrams, Inc.,Publishers ISBN 0-8109-2700-4

Historical Source Information

Google Sites

Report abuse