Roman Military Clothing and Uniformity - DOCUMENTARY
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- čas přidán 24. 07. 2024
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A Roman soldier was identified not just by his armament, but just as well by his style of clothing. Ancient Rome had a strong sense of fashion, not just in civil life but just as well in the military. In this episode we will open up the wardrobe of a Roman soldier; what did a Roman soldier dress like, were there differences between legionnaires and auxiliary troops, did they really all wear red or what about uniformity in their military dress? All these questions and more will be answered in this video!
00:00 Intro
00:37 Wondrium, Signup for your FREE trial to Wondrium here!
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02:09 Channel intro
02:19 Intro part 2
02:45 Production
04:09 Tunic
07:03 Colours
09:22 Cloak
11:32 Long sleeves and pants
15:20 Conclusion
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Music:
Rome Total War 1 Jeff van Dyck
Rome Total War 2 Richard Beddow
Adrian von Ziegler
Graphic motion design:
German Reber
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This channel deserves way more subscribers. The way they actually help visualize the ancient world and their peoples is astonishing. Great set pieces and clothing make the video feel like a candid view of a day as a Roman senator, plebeian, soldier, slave, visitor, etc. Such amazing attention to detail, especially with soldiers uniforms, is unmatched by anyone else on this platform. I hope these guys get the deserved attention they merited one day but until then keep pushing with your passion and soon people will recognize it. Much love ❤️
Thanks Steven, these kind of comments really motivate us to keep doing what we do. Spread the word!
I agree you guys are awesome!
Just discovered it..Really good!!
@@ImperiumRomanumYTWhen we were speaking about ancient climates, I told my relatives that Greeks and Romans mostly wore wool, which was handwoven and therefore pretty thick. That's why it drapes like that on the statues.
They were amazed, because in Russia Greece and Italy are considered really hot places. 😊
I just love how the cloth merchant leans in and tries to sell that particular cloth. "You see this? This is the future of clothing. It's affordable, finely woven and durable!"
Oh man he does seem to know his cloth 🤣
It's true, as soon as the camera stopped filming a fight broke out amongst the people in attendance over who could buy it from him
Now, are you telling me that's not worth twenty shekels?
Look at it. Feel the quality. That's none of your goat.
@@ImperiumRomanumYT 😂👍
turns out its flimsy, not water-proof, and itchy... "Caveat Emptor."
I like the natural behaviour of the background passer-bys and the seemingly unforced dialogs of the actors we can't hear. It gives a very authentic atmosphere!
Great to hear, sometimes it can be hard to act an entire 'natural' conversation, we're no professional actors and those people in the background sure have no script haha
I wanna watcha a behind the scenes of these sets lol, seems like so much fun for everyone involved
Mark Antony definitely strikes me a the Captain Zapp Brannigan of his day.
Next stop: ridiculously elaborate coptic style tunics of Late Antiquity.
Keep it going boyzzz!
Really interesting. The scenario gives "roman outpost in barbarian land, somewhere alongside the Rhine" vibes.
Ngl, my first impression was that legionaires always wore green tunics with white hems, while sharing great receipts and staying as far away as romanly possible from a certain small village in Gaul. The popular idea of marines wearing shades of blue seems natural until you realise sailor clothing through the ages had exactly one main purpose: Stand out from the sea so you can get picked up if you went overboard.
That was great! One of the common mistakes people make is assuming that what Roman frescoes show as far as colours go, reflects the colours of Roman clothing at the time. Not so. The mostly mineral pigments used to create colours in frescoes were, by and large, not suitable for dyeing cloth - thus being able to use bright paints for a fresco didn't translate to being able to achieve the same effect with fabric dyes. Most clothing was dyed using vegetable dyes and the colours were very muted and generally far from permanent. True bright red dyes only arrived in Europe in the 1500's after the Spanish conquest of Mexico and their discovery of the red the Aztecs and Mayans obtained from the cochineal beetles. In Roman times blue was a rare colour as indigo was imported in small quantities at a high price from India and woad wasn't cultivated in southern Europe. Colours easily created tended to be yellows, browns, dark brownish reds and light greens. Because the Romans cleaned their everyday woolen and linen clothes with urine-derived bleach, colours didn't last long, and basic clothing was probably not dyed at all in the first place. Dyeing fabric black was extremely difficult to achieve, purple dye was as expensive ounce per ounce as gold and a bright green dye did not exist. Roman frescoes are about as much a reflection of Roman reality as 'Ben Hur' was. Most Romans preferred (and could afford) bleached white garments or what the Americans use to call 'homespun' shades of beige, off-white or light brown.
“Homespun” refers to the rougher, non-uniform texture of handmade/spun thread and its weaves, as opposed to machine-made fabric. Homespun can be dyed any color. Never seen it refer to color.
@@CourtneySchwartz Thank you for educating me about what homespun is. Let me re-phrase what I said: Homespun coloured clothers referring to the colour that Americans in pre-industrial time could achieve with the kind of vegetable/organic/chemical dyes then available. Of course, homespun in pre-industrial America could be 'dyed any colour' but the depth of the colour, as you say, but the range of colours available and the intensity of the colour and it's ability to last is what I was pointing out. Only American indigo produced an intense colour and un-dyed homespun cotton, linen or wool is almost always - when not dyed - beige, off-white of light brown. So to be even more precise as I always find Americans to be so literal: "American homespun of cotton, linen or wool before the 1870's made by those without access to expensive British or French dyes or the knowledge to use them". So, there, you have seen it referred to as a colour. Presumably you get what I meant?
Didn't romans have access to madder? Or maybe that's what you mean by dark brownish red? Madder red wool doesn't have to be dark, but of course it's not the same as cochineal red.
@@kajsan760 Hi Karin. I'm no expert but yes, I guess Romans with money had access to a lot of things! But from what I have read the 'average' Roman did not have much access to madder. Done correctly, onions can produce a dark brownish to red stain. I've achieved a reddish colour with onions and their skins. But my point was that in any movie or video production since 1930 it was much more exciting cinematographically to show Roman soldiers and officers in bright red and purple and such. Even these loveable Dutch guys are wearing obviously modern fabrics with their deep even tints. But we also forget that until recently - and I mean after the first World War, the wealthy had maids and seamstresses who would remove brightly coloured 'trim' from clothes before washing, then sew it all back on again. But deep, true red - much less crimson - did not exist then, insofar as fabric colouring.
Archeaological finds from Timna in Israel show that they used woad. Since Israel is dryer than Italy it can be assumed woad grows in climates as disparate as Italy, Israel and Ireland
The audio has improved greatly in the last videos, good job!
Always a blast to get notifications for this channel, truly one of the hidden gems of youtube.
Thanks, thats a compliment we love to hear, audio has been quite the challenge as you have witnessed with us haha
@@ImperiumRomanumYT Speaking of audio, I swear I can hear a VERY low volume alarm going off in the background of most of the video. A one second beep followed by a second of silence and then it repeats. I checked by pausing and rewinding multiple times. For example from 5:26 to 6:36. It starts back up around 10:38. Similar to a truck backing up or fire alarm chirping.
Otherwise, AMAZING video as always. This channel will be huge one day.
@@ImperiumRomanumYT I made a comment some time ago about audio and it's much, much improved. Keep up the great work.
Legionary: Salve. I heard that you're a man that can get things.
Sutler: I've been known to locate items of interest from time to time, for the right price.
Legionary: I don't suppose you can get your hands on... *looks around, whispers* long sleeved tunics and trousers.
hahaha nice interpretation of the thumbnail xD
Superb summary of a large topic where we struggle with a lack of source material. The visuals are top notch as always.
I really enjoy your even-handed approach to historical proof, and your thoughtful analyses of the information that is available, coupled with pragmatic logic for what could and should have been done, coupled with the various attitudes of the day. The costuming, action, and presentation are also all very well-done. I would highly recommend this channel to educators!
Thank you in turn for the well thought-out review of us haha! It is especially appreciated to hear such a thing, as it would be so much easier to keep it superficial and be like all the others out there. Thanks!
Never considered the difference that sleeves could make on whether or not armor is comfortable. It's a little strange to me that for all of Rome's engineering and artistry, they decided to dress in what was essentially large squares while the "barbarians" were able to put the necessary time into making effective sleeves and pants.
Yeah it's a weird thing to realize indeed haha
I think it would have been seen as *ahem* profligate to desire innovation in clothing, complex patterns or body-accentuating cuts, as with, say, buddhist monk clothing or quaker plaindress. I like the nonchalant simplicity of loose, folding fabric.
Prissy barbarian femboys were too busy making fashion statements while real Roman MEN were conquering whole civilizations.
Weren’t trousers seen as barbaric or dressing like one of the barbarians ? .
It isn't that strange when you stop viewing history through the Roman lense (which is hard, I admit, since we mostly rely on their accounts), and actually realise that the word "barbarian", a subjective term that the roman used, has no place in modern, objective, historiography.
I found channel via Invicta. I am a natural scientist but love history and your channel is absolutely awsome! I like to learn about everyday life.
Great Job! I was going over this subject with my son not long ago! Like you said, his image of Roman soldiers tended to come from movies or games and videos like this are perfect for highlighting the variety of Romans actually wore. I also love how you mix actual commentary from ancient sources with experience clearly born from wearing these items in real life. Keep up the great work!
Thanks Tony, we do our best and we are glad it shows:)
Tony, that is so true! And those guys actually dress as Romans all year long - which in Holland must be a bit odd to see. The Big Blond Guy works in a bank in Amsterdam but the management supports his decision!
I remember when your videos had a few thousand views, so glad you all are receiving the recognition you deserve! every video looks like so much effort!
Thanks man! We've come quite a way already, but not quite were we want and need to be though ... thanks for the support :D
Some things are timeless. Modern military berets come with a liner that every single recruit is then secretly told to cut out as to make forming it easier.
Your videos are always so enjoyable; your presentation is well-researched and honest. I am appreciative that you always touch on the historiographical debates without getting bogged down, fairly presenting what we can know with certainty, what was likely, and what is speculation by historians. Well done!
That is exactly the balance we are trying to strike and the fairness we aim to pursue in our story-telling, thanks for the thoughtful compliment!
Great video as always! I really like your channel and you are doing a fantastic job - thanks very much!
I hope you do a documentary on the evolution of the Toga as well. I'm especially interested in seeing late Roman toga styles (like the banded toga) which I never see get covered any toga-related videos. Perhaps covering the trabea triumphalis and its transition into the loros/pallium also.
It is so nice to see roman times in colour, and not in the grey filter they put in the movies.
The content and length of the videos are just right to make them good supplemental information for students studying history. Great work.
Another great video. Production quality and depth of provided informations on given topic is again fantastic. Thank you gents
Thanks for your exceptional work! The combination of well equipped but not cringy play scenes and the mentioning of sources, in order to answer a good question is very enjoyable! Public TV-documentary producers (especially those here in Germany) could learn a lot of you!
Fascinating subject, and absolutely top notch quality documentary.
Grats on sponsors.
Best mini docu-series on youtube!
This is type of content I was looking for: quick and to the point, while informative and with an actual effort put into it.
Good to hear, thanks :D!
this is by far one of my favorite channels :) i really love your stuff!
Likewise!
Dzięki za tak wspaniały materiał, obejrzałem z przyjemnością. Normalny montaż, narracja, fachowość i rzeczowość 👍
Phantastic video as always!
Hence the clothing in your presentation picture! Keep up this beautiful work, I'll be looking forward to seeing more beautiful gear and clothing
Once again, high quality video on an often overlooked subject! You guys rule!!
Thanks Andre!
Enjoyed this video so very much. Wonderful job to the folks in it
I think it would make sense for Roman soldiers to have a spare tunic or two, with red being the traditional color for battle (red being the color of Mars and fairly inexpensive to produce from madder root), while the "fatigues" were whatever was provided by the army or sent from home.
I find myself enjoying these videos even when they’re discussing things I might of read about or known about prior. Keep up the great work, your videos allow your viewers a small glimpse into the past you simply won’t get from any history channel documentary reenactment.
Cheers Eric, great to hear you enjoy our content so much:)
Easy to watch and very educational in detail. Great as always, lads!
Thanks a lot René, quick as always you are :D!
Amazing work guys!
Thank you for the high quality video!
Just wanted to say thank you for your videos!
Very intersesting and informative channel. Excellent level of production.
Great work guys
Amazing Content!
Thank you. You explain and show everything so well that it becomes much easier to picture the day-to-day Roman world in my head.
This was one of the most interesting videos for me! The merchant in the back really added a lot to the overall look & feel! I felt a little bit like being there in roman times haha. I have one constructive criticism tough. At 9:25 you should have moved the title to the sides or somewhere else because it obscures the head of people who are coming out of the house and that breaks the immersion a bit.
Thanks! And you're right about the tablet with the title breaking the immersion a bit, too bad we can't correct it anymore. And the merchant must be one of the best acted roles we've had on our channel for sure, glad you noticed and enjoyed!
Excellent video, guys!
Weird. I didn't get a notification that this had been released even though I clicked the bell icon. Anyways, always happy to see a new video from yall! Keep up the great work :3
This is without a doubt my favorite channel on CZcams. Every single video has been great.
Thanks Jesse, this is just the start!
@@ImperiumRomanumYT That's great to hear.
The whiplash I got from the casual name drop of St Isidore of Seville in a video on Roman army fasion of all things. Goodness. Love it. Thank you so much for the informative video and wonderfully putting it in a visible, easy to understand format. This was a great rainy day watch.
haha thanks a lot man, great to hear!
I love this channel! Hope you grow fast!!
Loved the video ❤ keep up the great work
Thanks Javier!
Watching it again for the 8th time, soaking in the information. Excellent channel guys! Keep doing what you do!!
Another great movie! I love how you highlight the details in old images so it’s clear what you’re talking about. Keep up the good work!
je moet gewoon kijke hoe de baas het highlight hé
BIIIIIIJJJJJGOOCHEM!
amazing video. well written, structured
Great work, as always
Once again, great video!
Your videos are always so damn comfy! Just like your tunics!
Great video! Always thorough
Mooi gemaakte video's. Top gedaan.
Another great video! Thanks lads!
a great video, we have many Roman era fabrics and clothing from Roman Egypt exhibited in the Egyptian museum of Cairo and the Egyptian textile museum.
What an interesting episode. Well done.
Another great video!
Amazing channel, you guys deserve and will get much more subscribers
Praise be! Another Imperium Romanum video
I love this channel
Excellent info as always!!!
You guys are amazing
One of the best channels on CZcams.
Your comment is much appreciated! Spread the word;)
finally, an immersive, hands on approach to Roman History.
Can't spread the word enough about yall. Best history Channel period.
love your documentaries. Cheers from Estonia
hehehehe, SIMPLY GREAT, another amazing history lesson, your videos can be used in a classrom easily, dude, congrats again for your great work, greetings to your colaborators too :D
This is the BEST channel!!
I just love it this channel.
Great work 🥳🥳🥳 Thank you 💜💜💜
Damn, your stuff is really well done. Glad I found you guys.
Best content on this platform by far
Cheers!
Brilliant documentary - thank you
fascinating stuff!
Great video, very informative. Such a difficult and vast subject to cover.
Thanks legionary! This was a tough one indeed but we are glad you enjoyed it:)
Prachtig kanaal luitjes! En een erg goede video, ze worden steeds beter. Dit kan ik ook mooi gebruiken voor mijn leerlingen als ze weer eens vragen "gaan we vandaag film kijken?".
Bedankt meester :P! Goed te horen dat we de jeugd ook weten te bereiken :D!
Really nice vidoe once again lads! Thank you!
Thank you good sir!
You deserve millions of subscribers
Great work!
First time catching your channel, subscribed and liked!! I wish for the Pax Romana to bless us once more.
My favourite Channel
Salve from LEGIO II AVG COH V based in California. We have our túnicas as off white, blue and some Red (for dress occasion). We portray year 50 AD “Liberation” of Britannia and supporting friend southern tribes. We also portray 4th century (364 AD) just before Britannia was invaded by multiple enemies.
We just got some scale maille but mostly chain maile, 6 mm riveted.
Thanks for your postings.
It is also possible that an undyed tunic or sagum could be dyed by the legionaries themselves. Madder (red/orange), walnuts and acorns (yellowish/brown) and indigo (green/green blue) would all have been available
Very very good work! You have great videos 👍🏻
Gracias Carlita! Cómo te gusta Australia? Saludos a Didier!
My friends, this video was incredible, as always. Again thank you for the time and effort you put into making such high quality content.
Heads up, though! I wasn't notified when this video was released, which sucks considering I'm always waiting for it lol. I'm sure it's just CZcams's algorithm/recommendations being terrible again, and I'm not sure what can be done on your end, but I thought it might help you to know. I figure if I didn't get the notification, how many others didn't as well? And dammit, you guys deserve the attention.
Thanks Ayparillo! We have no idea how that is possible, probably CZcams indeed...
Love you guys!
Epic video again lads.
thanks!
excelent video. thank you
I kinda binge watched the videos of you guys now and I have to say, they are really great. maybe you have to work on your sound a little bit. But overall really great work, resembles me a bit of my own style of videos, well only I do not have that man power and my are a bit more nooby. ;) I might have gotten some Ideas for my future videos.
Great to watch, everything source based with adequate pictures and reconstructions. Keep up the great work.
JUST found this channel, this video was recommended…it didn’t even take me two minutes to subscribe!
Great to hear we're still finding new people, which like us too haha. Welcome!
wederom een interessante en goed geproduceerde video! ga zo door!
Bedankt Harm!
Excellent video! Well done, explained and sourced :) fantastic! Love that you mentioned the cold..Once you've been outside for a few nights up near Scotland in winter, it can be a bit nippy in just a tunic! Big 🫡 from a 20yr Vet Legio IX Hispana society. You've earned a new subscriber
Haha nippy for sure! Thanks and welcome, new video coming in november again :)
@ImperiumRomanumYT you are very welcome! Super! I'm looking forward to watching more of these. I stand by that we never stop learning and it's excellent to see these and the effort you all put in. 🫡 thank you, we appreciate!
Thank you! I love all details about the daily lives of common people in any period of history.
Top video again!
This is excellent!