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

[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.

[BananaBob]

Wicked stuff man, good job.

[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.

[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.

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Images forthcoming.