A Quick Guide to Byzantine Dress (8th to 12th century)

[TheFlax]

Disclaimer: I thought this could be useful for those who wish to discribe their character's clothing, yet like me, have no clue as to what was worn in the court at Constantinople in the period we are playing. This is by no mean an extensive guide but it is meant more as a tool to include some byzantine clothing into stories. If there is a demand, I can do something similar for imperial men and women, women of the court, the borderland elite and the non-elite. I can also research about military dress, arms and armor.

Courtly Dress

Cloaks

Chlamys: A cloak derived from military dress. Often worn open over the shoulder, leaving the arm free to brandish a sword, even when used for a nonmilitary ceremony. The chlamys could either be full- or knee-length. The garment tended to be longer for ceremonial purposes, and shorter when worn as a military garment.

Sagion: Cloak akin to the chlamys. It was the most often used alternative to the chlamys.

Tunics

Divetesion: Long silk tunic worn by the most important courtiers and the emperor.

Chiton: Tunic worn by mid-ranking courtiers. It could also be worn outside of court.

Himation and Sticharion: General word used for tunic. Sticharion is also a term used for an ecclesiastical long tunic worn by deacons and that sometimes had stripes. The himation and sticharion could also be worn outside of court.

Kondomanikion or Kontomanikion: Short-sleeved tunic worn during dancing.

Kolobion: Sleeveless tunic. Sometimes used as an over-tunic. It could also be worn outside of court.

Insignia

Blattia: Pieces of purple fabric.

Tablia: Embroidered trapezoids of fabric.

Fibulae: Brooches used to secure garments at the shoulder.

Baltadin: Belts of precious stones.

Headgear

Most members of the court wore hats, possibly trapezoidal hats, conical hats and bulbous caps.

[_Tristan_]

If there is a demand, I can do something similar for imperial men and women, women of the court, the borderland elite and the non-elite. I can also research about military dress, arms and armor.

Please do

Very nice guide

Could you provide some illustrations ?

[TheFlax]

Please do

Very nice guide

Could you provide some illustrations ?

Anything I should get to first?

As for illustrations, I think I can scan a few. Should I place them in spoilers for those who don't want to load the whole thing?

[Privateerkev]

Very nice guide.

And yes, pictures in spoilers is very kind. I basicly had to skip the KotR battle report thead because my computer would actually crash when I tried to load it.

As for what to concentrate on now, I imagine military dress. Pretty much everyone is playing minor nobility that are also military commanders.

[TinCow]

For the record, spoilers don't prevent your computer from loading the images. They are still loaded when the thread is opened, but hidden from view until the spoiler is opened. That's why the Battle Reports thread can get sluggish even with spoilers. AFAIK, there is no forum code that prevents image loading until a spoiler of some kind is opened.

[Ferret]

You could always upload them at image shack and post the thumbnail in the thread.

[TheFlax]

Thanks for the suggestion EF.

I included some images that are not part of the court dress but could be relevant.

Images

Eleventh-century tradesman or minor court official, wearing fitting bracca (trousers) decorated with embroided bands and tucked under the tops of his footless hose. His long-skirted juppe (shirt) is decorated with geometric-patterned appliqué made from the selvage edges of the pants fabric. (A common practice that utilised every scrap of costly fabric.)



Twelfth-century Court Dignitary. He wears a white tunica with embroidered trim under his dark brocade mantle, which features a gold-embroidered tablion in the form of a triangle.



Eleventh-century Royal Robes. The empress's dark gown is adorned in the front with a light-colored decorative panel. Multicolored embroidery enhances the ensemble. The emperor is wearing his apparel, consisting of a dark cloak worn over a whit, long-sleeved camisia, a metal lorica, a short tunica with embroidered trim, and cloth stockings. His boots are leather, studded with jewels.



Twelfth-century Princess. She wears a dark embroidered and jewel-trimmed camisia with a light-colored short tunica, also heavily embroidered and jeweled. Her elaborate belt has decorative panels.



Eleventh-century Court Dancer. This performer is dressed in a brightly colored brocaded silk gown with exaggerated bell sleeves. Her hat of brightly colored straw is accented with multicolored brocaded bands. She wears red slippers.



Tenth-century Priest. This Byzantine priest wears a dark pallium decorated with white panels and black crosses over his brocaded tunica and long camisia. The ecclesiastical pallium was cut long in the back so it could be draped over the arms in the front, as shown here.




Now I'll get to military dress, arms and armor. Right after posting a story.

[Ramses II CP]

Honestly, if you do the thumbnail bit about 1% of people are actually going to click them. If I'm on a machine using IE I flat out will not go to image shack, not even for funny pictures.

[BananaBob]

Wicked stuff man, good job.

[Ferret]

You don't really need to click them, the images are large enough to see but small enough to stop load times being too big for some people. Anyway great stuff Flax, gives me a good idea of how to describe people now

[TheFlax]

Their loss, the images are in a pretty high resolution (save for the first one), so I don't want to lag everyone with them. The point is, they are here for those who want to see them.

[Ferret]

Wow they are massive, I'd need a monitor 6 times the size to see all of the third one

[TheFlax]

As promised:

Arms and Armor

Armor

Klibanion: Predominant armor in the Byzantine Empire, it was usually a lamellar armor but could sometimes be a scale armor. Lamellar armor comprised small, basically rectangular plates (either long and narrow or very nearly square) laced together in rows by threading leather tongs through punched holes, the rows then being laced to each other overlapping upwards. (Unlike scale armor, which overlaps downwards) The lamellae were most commonly iron, but leather and horn are also often used. The resulting corselet was usually sleeveless or short-sleeved and went not further than the waist. Some knee-length lamellar corselets with long sleeves have been known to exist, but they are a rarity. Scale corselets, being stiff and somewhat inflexible, tended to cover only the torso and were invariably sleeveless.

Zabai or Lorikia: These mail corselets were rarest of all Byzantine armors. Usually going to knee-length and having sleeves reaching the elbow or the wrist. Mail hoods were also worn. Klibanion type armor was usually worn over mail corselets.

Epilorikion, Kabadion, Bambakion: A variety of padded and quilton contton, leather, wool and felt body-armor with a minimum of three quarter inches of thickness. They were all sleeved, the epilorikion and bambakion also had hoods. The former was worn over, and the latter under, the klibanion or the lorikia. Epilorikion was usually worn by cavalrymen and kabadion by infantrymen.

Pteruges: Hanging strips protecting arms and legs on sleeveless corselets which also ended at the waist. These were made of leather, quilted cotton or even splint-armor.

Cheiropsella or Manikelia: Vambraces of splint construction protecting the forearms. Usually made out of iron, but leather, wood and felt were sometimes used.

Podopsella or Chalkotouba: Greaves of splint construction protecting the lower legs. Usually made out of iron, but leather, wood and felt were sometimes used.

Boots: Were tall and square-toed.

Hands: Sometimes protected by leather gauntlets, reinforced with mail in the case of extra-heavy cavalry.

Helmets: Usually of a single universal pattern and made of iron. Usually it also had a seperate neckguard.

Shields

Skuta: Heavy infantry shield. Commonly a three by four-foot oval.

Thureos: Sometimes carried by heavy infantry or cavalry. Circular with a thirty inch diameter.

Small shield: Carried by light infantry and most of the heavy cavalry, it usually had a diameter of twelve inches.

Kite-shields: Less than two feet broad at their widest point, in the 11th century it was the predominant shield amongst both the infantry and the cavalry.

Weapons

Kontos or Kontarion: Adopted in earlier centuries from the Sarmatians and the Alans, it was twelve-foot long for the cavalrymen and the same or somewhat longer for infantry.

Rhiptarion or Akoution: Eight- to nine-foot light throwing spear.

Menaulion: Heavy javelin used by a proportion of men (called menaulatoi) in each heavy infantry units.

Marzobarboulon: Lead-weighted darts only used by heavy cavalry. They were carried in a case at the saddle.

Spathion: Sword of thirty-six inches, excluding the hilt. Its scabbard was most often suspended from a baldric and hung at the left hip.

Paramerion: Other main type of sword. One edged sword of the same length as the spathion and was possibly a type of sabre. Unlike the spathion it was girded at the waist.

Tzikourion: Infantry side-arm, it was the only type of axe commonly seen throughout the Byzantine Empire.

Matzoukion or Bardoukion: Mace used mainly by cavalrymen. It was kept in a leather case attached to the saddle.

Bow: Composite weapon measuring forty-five to forty-eight inches long, with short and powerful limbs. It was probably originally adopted from the Huns. Used by both the cavalry and the infantry, though its use by the former was in decline during this period, tha majority of the Byzantine horse-archers being provided by Asiatic mercenaries.

Spendone: Sling, issued to many Byzantine archers.

Solenarion: Type of crossbow firing short arrows called menai. It was used by light troops. It dropped out of used in the middle of the 10th century, only to be reintroduced at the end of the 11th century or the beginning of the 12th through contact with the Normans.

Rhomphaia: Falx-like weapon with a slightly curved blade of about the same length as its handle. Little is known of this weapon, save that many Byzantine guardsmen were apparently armed with it.

---------------------

Images forthcoming.

[TheFlax]

WARNING: Huge resolution images

Images

1. Skutatos, 11th-12th centuries
2. Skutatos, c. 950
3. Peltastos, c. 975
4. Skutatos, 10th century



1. Servant, 10th-11th centuries
2. Pack-mules, 10th century
3. Unarmored infantryman, 11th-12th centuries
4. Psilos, 10th century



1. Kataphractos, 10th century
2. Cavalry standard-bearer, 11th-12th centuries
3. Kataphractos, c. 1050



Klibanophoros, c. 970



1. Guard officer, c. 880
2. Emperor in parade armor, c. 1017
3. Member of the Basilikoi Anthropoi, c. 880



1. Rus mercenary, c. 950
2. Varangian Guardsman, c. 1000
3. Varangian Guardsman in dress uniform, c. 1030



1. Trapezitos, 10th century
2. Patzinak mercenary, 11th century



1. Seljuk mercenary, 11th-12th centuries
2 & 3. Italo-Norman mercenaries, late 11th century



At the beginning of the 10th century



Training



Equipment in the late 10th to 11th centuries



Camp life on campaign in Armenia



Siege Warfare



Medical Treatment



Super heavy infantry of the 12th century

[AussieGiant]

wow, fantastic stuff Flax!!

[Csargo]

Yeah, this is great stuff.

[_Tristan_]

For those of you interested, you may want to check the Osprey books concerning Byzantine warfare of the period...

There are some wonderful color plates by major artist Angus McBride.

I'll try and scan some of them and post them in this tread as well.

Flax : are those you posted from any Osprey book I missed ?

[TheFlax]

For those of you interested, you may want to check the Osprey books concerning Byzantine warfare of the period...

There are some wonderful color plates by major artist Angus McBride.

I'll try and scan some of them and post them in this tread as well.

Flax : are those you posted from any Osprey book I missed ?

Yup, both the images and the arms and armor came from Osprey books. Specifically "Byzantine Armies 886-1118" and "Byzantine Infantryman: Eastern Roman Empire c. 900-1204". I also have "Romano-Byzantine Armies 4th-9th Centuries" and "Byzantine Armies 1118-1461". I figured I'd post some stuff from the latter as the game progressed.

[casino]

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