Roman Military Dress Paperback – Illustrated, July 1, 2009

Great book. It has a lot of information in it and a lot of drawn pictures. It would have been nice to have more historical pictures rather than what look like hand drawn replicas of them.

As the author duly notes, in his forward, there are lots and lots of books out there on Roman arms and armor but, when it comes to what the Roman soldier wore underneath that armor, the information rapidly becomes patchy. This book steps in to remedy the oversight and does so in a generally excellent manner. Indeed, I could hardly read a page without either finding out something I did not know (despite some familiarity with the topic) or finding out that something I thought I knew was wrong. Even where the information offered is not new, often the author provides a new insight into it, which is every bit as eye-opening. In short, it is a book which belongs on the shelf of everyone with a more than passing interest in the Roman military.Scholarship and accuracy seem to be fairly high and explanations for the most part are clear and accessible, tho' organization of the material seems, at times, to be a bit idiosyncratic, if not actually haphazard, being neither fully chronological nor temporal nor topical and with the author sometimes seeming to swing, willy-nilly, back and forth (e.g., "Now we're talking paenulae? I thought we were on sagums..., no, wait, Iranian horsemen's cloaks? What the..., how'd that get there and when did we start talking about Aurelian instead of Alexander Severus?"). Let me note that there is some internal logic to the manner in which the author handles his discussion and it does not really detract from the work as a "read", however, it makes the book almost impossible to use as a reference work. Want to know what one of Probus' or Carus' soldiers looked like? Be prepared to have to thumb through pages upon pages of text, armed with a fresh pad of "Post-It" notes, because there is no way that you can simply go to the index and find the information and you will look in vain for anything like a chapter heading offering a discussion, e.g., of the 3rd C. AD.Illustrations (some photographic but mostly line renderings of sculptures and paintings - a real boon to discerning details which simply don't present well photographically) are copious and generally well selected. It is a matter of some irony, however, in a work of over 212 pages, that only 16 of those are in color, even though the author, in his opening comments, complains that prior works touching on the topic invariably fail to recognize the importance of color to the subject (and he specifically complains that black and white illustrations are simply inadequate, especially when their captioning also gives no information on the colors used, a failing he then repeats in virtually every captioned illustration). What's even more frustrating is that, of the pathetically few color plates offered, fully 7 of them are nothing more than monochromatic renderings of antique sculptural details! That really is a head-slapper, especially when there are only two, smallish color renderings of late Roman trims.Unfortunately, and hardly the fault of the author's, the discussion is relatively heavily weighted in favor of late Roman and/or Byzantine styles of dress. Part of that, of course, simply reflects the likely greater variety of clothing in use at the Empire's end than at its beginning and part of that also reflects "archaeological skew". Put simply, we are far more likely to have information on clothing that is 1,000 years old than on clothing which is almost 2,200 years old. The same objection can be applied to virtually any book on topics such as this (e.g., Gayle Crocker Owens' work on Anglo-Saxon clothing). It's a shame, but it's probably unavoidable. Nonetheless, the author might have striven a bit more diligently to balance his presentation and to avoid slighting the early Romans, rather than enthusiastically chasing after their more dramatically (and "dalmatically") clad descendants.There may also be, despite quite commendable scholarship generally, some errors in interpretation and analysis. A quick example presents on Pg. 69 (Illustration #58), in which the author labels what others have called "The Varangian Bra" as trim work "... which perhaps imitates the armour of earlier times." Perhaps my training is showing, but I believe it is incumbent on authors of these kinds of reference works to note when - and if - their interpretations are disputed or disputable and to address alternative explanations, rather than to simply state, as fact, their own interpretation of the data (indeed, the two middle figures in the illustration, tho' it was selected by the author, himself, to make his point, would seem to contradict his interpretation). Ignoring contrary views is never good scholarship and, altho' the author seems, generally, to try to at least acknowledge dissenting opinions, there are a few too many oversights such as the one cited, for one to be entirely comfortable with the book.One further note: Having also purchased, at the same time, another book on the same general topic (i.e., Roman Military Clothing and Armor), which was proofed, set, printed and bound in China (as so many books are nowadays), it was a huge relief to get this one (a product entirely of the UK) in which the English language is generally honored. Granted, there are a few places where the proofreader failed and some sentence is allowed to wander off and segue into a completely different thought, however, for the most part, the kinds of frustrating language and editorial errors to which we are becoming habituated are absent from this work. Put simply, one can actually read it and it is, in fact, a most readable book. Kudos.Bottomline? This is a "MUST HAVE" for anyone interested in Rome and, particularly, its military traditions, equipment, accouterments, and habiliments. It covers an area of Roman military clothing (specifically, the "foundational garments") which is, well, "foundational". Without this book, the reenactor is just putting on armor. With it, he might actually be dressing like a Roman.

Graham Sumner presents a lot of information covering the Roman soldier's dress. It is all packed up with source material like statues and paintings. He makes a great argument and covers a lot of information. The topics covered are tunics, cloaks, the industry that produced the items and also the colors used. There is also information on accessory articles like helmet linings and scarves. It really is a great work.

If you are one of the rare individuals who has a particular interest in the clothing of Rome's soldiers, this book is going to be your Bible. And really, anyone with a particular interest in Roman military history in general - especially those reenactors who strive for great accuracy - need to buy this book.To a point this is a much longer and more thorough version of the three volumes that Graham Sumner published for Osprey's men-at-arms series several years ago. But here in this much larger book he has room to give lengthier discussion and present very nearly all the evidence we have, literary and archaeological, for fabrics, colors, etc.Even on a visual level this book is a gem - in addition to numerous photographs and line drawings the author presents us with sixteen paintings he has done of Roman soldiers, ranging from the days of the Samnite wars all the way down to the era of Justinian, and these are a beauty to look at besides adding clarity to the actual appearance of Rome's fighting men through the centuries.This title does much to destroy the overdone stereotype of all Roman legionaries being clad in loricas and red tunics and cloaks - it reveals the diversity of style, fabric, and color that existed in the Roman Army, and the influence other cultures had on Roman dress. I imagine this title would be especially valuable for an artist, reenactor or wargamer needing to get their depictions of Roman clothing as accuracy as possible.

This is a wonderful work on Roman military clothing. Sumner breaks the subject down into basically six chapters:1. Tunics2. Cloaks3. The Clothing industry (clothing industry and cost)4. The Clothing indsutry (dyeing industry)5. Evidence for the color of military clothing6. Other garmentsSumner ranges from the Republic to the Late Empire, and illustrates the volume copiously with examples of sculpture, painting, artifacts, drawings of artifacts and some reconstructions in color plates.I expect this will become the reference volume on the subject.

Mr. Sumner provides exacting information on what a Roman soldier would wear, covering the periods of the early Republic to the Late Empire. Literally every piece of clothing is covered in detail and backed by references to historical finds or documentation so as to provide the most authentic listings to date on the subject. He even presents evidence for multiple sides of discussion in "The Great Tunic Color Debate".The illustrations and pictures are excellent, with a good portion in the same style as his Osprey series. Everything from tunics and cloaks, to hats, trousers, mittens and boots are covered with the evidence (Or lack thereof) of existence. This book is a must-have for any aficionado of the Roman Empire or for the dedicated re-enactor just getting his kit together.