Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Tunica
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Rich, Anthony (1849). The illustrated companion to the Latin dictionary, and Greek lexicon. p. vi. OCLC 894670115. https://archive.org/details/illustratedcompa00rich.
TUN'ICA (χιτών). A tunic; the principal under-garment of the Greeks and Romans of both sexes; corresponding very nearly in its general form, use, and character, with the shirt, the chemise, the frock, and blouse of modern times. It was made, however, in various fashions, to suit the sex or the habits of different ages and classes of the population; each of which, in the copious language of the Greeks was distinguished by a separate name or epithet descriptive of the peculiar form to which it was referred. But all these varieties, which are severally enumerated in the following paragraphs, preserve the same general characteristics in regard to the use of the garment, its place upon the person, and the manner of adjusting it; so that they are all properly classed under the common name of tunics.
1. (χιτὼν ἀμφιμάσχαλος, Colobium). The ordinary tunic of the male Greek and Roman consisted of a plain woollen shirt, girded round the loins, and reaching to the knees, or thereabout, with two short sleeves, which just covered the deltoid muscle, or upper portion of the arms, as far as the arm-pit (μασχάλη), as exhibited by the first illustration (Tunica/1.1), from one of the figures on Trajan's column. (Jul. Pollux. vii. 47. Aristoph. Eq. 882. Serv. ad Virg. Aen. ix. 616.) The industrious part of the free population, whilst engaged in their daily pursuits, wore it, in the manner there represented, without any other covering; but the upper ranks, and the others likewise upon festivals and holidays, when they were dressed in full attire, had always some loose outside drapery disposed over the tunic, which would of course conceal the greater portion of the under vest, in the manner shown by the annexed figures (Tunica/1.2), representing on the left side the statue of Aristides, with the pallium over his tunic, and on the right, a Roman with his toga outside, from a bas-relief of the Imperial age. These two articles thus constitute the complete attire usually worn by the great mass of the free population in ancient Greece and Italy, and are as intimately connected with each other as the shirt and coat of modern times.
2. (χιτὼν ἑτερομάσχαλος). A tunic made with only one short sleeve covering the deltoid muscle of the left arm as far as the arm-pit, in the manner represented by the next figure (Tunica/2.1), from a small marble statue of the Villa Albani. The Latin language does not afford any distinct name for a tunic of this fashion, which renders it probable that it was not adopted by the Romans; and amongst the Greeks it was esteemed a servile garb (Jul. Pollux. vii. 47.), not befitting the free population, though it is worn by Daedalus in one of the paintings at Pompeii. The example here given is clearly intended to represent a young slave going to market, with a purse in one hand and a basket in the other.
3. (ἐξωμίς, exomis.) A tunic which only covered the left shoulder (ὦμος), leaving the right one entirely exposed, in the manner represented by the annexed figure (Tunica/3.1) from the Vatican Virgil. It is there fastened by a knot on the top of the shoulder; but the exomis was also made with a single sleeve, when it was termed by the Greeks ἐξωμίς ἑτερομάσχαλος (Pollux. vii. 47.), of which the preceding figure affords an example. On works of art it is often made of fur, and is commonly worn on the stage, by the labouring population, slaves, artists, and even females addicted to the chase and war; by Daedalus, Diana, and the Amazons. Aul. Gell. vii. 12. 1. Festus, s. v. Aristoph. Vesp. 444. Schol. Vet. ad l.
4. (ἐπωμίς). A tunic worn by the females of Greece (Jul. Pollux. vii. 49.), which received the name from being fastened with brooches on the top of each shoulder at the point where it joins the collar-bone, as implied by the primary sense of the Greek word, and shown by the annexed figure (Tunica/4.1) of Diana from a statue of the Villa Pamfili. This is the old tunic of the Doric races, which was made of woollen, entirely without sleeves, fastened by a girdle worn low upon the hips, like a man's, never reaching below the knees, and in many examples not much further than midway down the thigh.
5. (σχιστὸς χιτὼν). The slit tunic; which was only sewed close up from the bottom on the left side, leaving a long slit on the right, for the purpose of allowing free action to the limbs, and through which the greater part of the thigh would be seen in active exercise. It was usually fastened by brooches on the shoulder (Jul. Pollux. vii. 54 — 55.), in the same manner as the last figure, one of which may be supposed to have come undone in the present example (Tunica/5.1), or to have been studiously omitted by the Pompeian artist who designed it, in order to indicate the natural restlessness and carelessness of boyhood. It was the characteristic tunic of the young Spartan damsels (Pollux. l. c.); but in works of art it is frequently given to the Amazons and children, and it is also worn by the Dacians on the column of Trajan.
6. Tunica manicata or manuleata (χιτὼν χειριδωτός or καρπωτός). A tunic with long sleeves reaching down to the hands or wrists, like the French blouse. In the early ages long sleeves were not worn by the male population, either of Greece or Italy, nor generally by females; but they were afterwards adopted as a luxury from from the foreigner, and during the Imperial ages became very common amongst both sexes, as may be seen by many specimens in the course of these pages. The present example (Tunica/6.1) is taken from one of the figures belonging to the celebrated group of Niobe, and is supposed to represent the children's tutor or attendant (paedagogus); consequently, a slave and foreigner. Cic. Cat. ii. 10. Plaut. Pseud. ii. 4. 48. Aul. Gell. vii. 12. 1. Virg. Aen. ix. 616.
7. Tunica talaris (χιτὼν ποδήρης). A tunic with long skirts reaching down to the ankle joints; commonly worn in early times by both sexes of the Ionian colonies, whence it was introduced at Athens, where it continued in use until the age of Pericles. It was made of linen and fastened by a girdle, and always had sleeves, sometimes very full and hanging loose over the arms, as shown by the female figure (Tunica/7.1), from a statue of Euterpe, and sometimes reaching down to the wrists, as shown by the example on the right, representing a tragic actor in the character of Hercules, from a marble bas-relief. The Romans esteemed such a dress as unmanly in the extreme, and never adopted it as part of their male national costume. Cic. Verr. ii. 5. 13. Id. Cat. ii. 10.
8. Tunica muliebris. A woman's tunic (Aul. Gell. vi. 10. 2.); generally made longer and looser than those worn by men, and fastened by a girdle immediately under the bosom, instead of round the loins. The tunic of the Dorian females, which forms an exception to the usual style, is shown by the figure No. 4.; that of the Ionian women, with long sleeves, by the left-hand figure in the last illustration; and the annexed example (Tunica/8.1), from a marble bas-relief, exhibits the same article of female attire, with a half sleeve, reaching nearly to the elbow, and having a long slit on the outside, the edges of which are connected at intervals by a set of studs or brooches, so as to leave a series of open loops between them. This style appears from numerous works of art to have been one of those most generally adopted by females of the better classes both in Italy and Greece. The principal tunic of the Roman matron and lady of rank is exhibited under the article STOLA, by which name it was specially designated.
9. Tunica interior and intima. The under and undermost tunic. Both sexes were in the habit of wearing two tunics (Aul. Gell. x. 15. 3. Calpurn. Ecl. iii. 29.); and persons of delicate constitutions would sometimes put on as many as four, one over the other (Suet. Aug. 82.), in which case the outer one is the tunic, tunica, and the under one tunica interior or intima. The annexed illustration (Tunica/9.1) from a marble bas-relief exhibits a figure in two tunics, very distinctly marked, the under one with long sleeves, and a skirt which reaches half-way between the knee and ankle; the outer one with short sleeves, and a skirt which terminates at the middle of the thigh, and a girdle round the waist which compresses both. But the ordinary kind of tunic worn next the skin by women was made with short sleeves, and rather loose round the neck, very much like a modern chemise, as shown by the annexed example (Tunica/9.2), from a Roman bas-relief, which may be compared with the figure introduced s. INDUTUS, representing a Greek female taking off her chemise, from a fictile vase.
10. Tunica recta. See RECTA.
11. Tunica angusticlavia. See CLAVUS, 9.
12. Tunica laticlavia. See CLAVUS, 8.
13. Tunica patagiata. See PATAGIUM.
14. Tunica palmata. A flowered tunic worn with the toga picta (Liv. x. 7. xxx. 15.); supposed to have been ornamented with embroidery representing palm branches, as it was the one worn by a general a this triumph.
15. Tunica picta. An embroidered tunic worn by the Salii. Liv. i. 20.
16. Tunica asema. A plain tunic without any ornament upon it (Lamprid. Alex. Sev. 33.); like any of those shown from Nos. 1. to 10.; all the rest, from 11. to 15., receiving their designations not from any peculiarity of form, but of the ornaments interwoven, embroidered, or sewed upon them.
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