V. BYZANTIUM

Background

The Byzantine Empire was a vast and powerful civilization with origins that can be traced to A D 330, when the Roman emperor Constantine I dedicated a “New Rome” on the site of the ancient Greek colony of Byzantium The term “Byzantine” derives from Byzantium, an ancient Greek colony founded by a man named Byzas. Located on the European side of the Bosporus (the strait linking the Black Sea to the Mediterranean), the site of Byzantium was ideally located to serve as a transit and trade point between Europe and Asia. Though the western half of the Roman Empire crumbled and fell in A.D. 476, the eastern half survived for 1,000 more years, spawning a rich tradition of art, literature and learning and serving as a military buffer between Europe and Asia. The Byzantine Empire finally fell in 1453, after an Ottoman army stormed Constantinople during the reign of Constantine XI.

Byzantium menswear & womenswear

Emperor Justinian and Empress Theodora are wearing paludamentum-semicircular or tradezoidal capes that pinned in place on the right shoulder with an elaborate fibula..

We also are able to see the knee length hem and sleeve of his dalmatic (outer tunic) On his legs he is wearing hose, which is a variation of the “barbaric” bifurcated garments worn by Germanic tribes of the time. He would be wearing a tunic underneath his dalmatic Theodora is wearing a wide jewelled collar with pear drop pearls, reminiscent of those seen in Egyptian clothing.

The two men pictured here are wearing Byzantine liturgical garments. Both wear the tunic and dalmatic (decorated with clavi in both of these cases) The man on the left also wearing a chausable and another version of the pallium/lorum (the scarf-like cloth with the cross and fringe hanging around his neck). This version of the pallium/lorum is a 6 inch band that is believed to also have evolved from the Roman toga. Initially it was quite long, and wrapped around the body in a manner similar to the Roman toga. Later, it simply hung around the neck as pictured here It is possible to see his narrow tunic sleeve and wide dalmatic sleeve on his right arm.The woman standing on the right is wearing a heavily decorated palla, which remains unchanged from the Ancient Roman Empire.

This noble lady has roundels (embroidered circular “patches” applied as decoration on Byzantine dalmatics and tunics) just above her hem. She is also wearing the pallium/lorum (in gold in this drawing) with a wide collar placed on top Some clothing history scholars believe that the Roman toga evolved into this garment.

She has a palla with a star-like segmentae draped over her left arm and also Angustus Clavus We can see just a little bit of her tunic peeking out from underneath the wider sleeve of her dalmatic on her right arm. She wears red pointed shoes. Red shoes were only worn by the Empress.

Grooming & Styling

In 529 AD Emperor Justinian took up laws regulating the wearing and usage of jewelry in a new set of laws, later to be called the Justinian Code. He explicitly writes that sapphires, emeralds, and pearls are reserved for the emperor’s use but every free man is entitled to wear a gold ring.

Men tended to wear their hair short and cut straight across the forehead in what is today known as the Caesar cut. Women wore their hair quite long and tended to braid or pile it on top of their head in a variety of different fashions They might use pins or a ribbon to hold their hair in place. There wasn't one typical Byzantine hairstyle for women, but instead a variety of ways of curling, twisting, and molding hair in pleasing ways.Byzantines did not have a strong preference for specific forms of headwear, though there are several hats and crowns that appear to have been in use Several hats inherited from the Greeks were worn, including the Phrygian cap and the petasos. Both male and female members of the Byzantine court, including the emperor, did wear a variety of crowns, usually heavily laden with jewels.

Muse & Icon

Empress Theodora is undoubtedly one of the most remarkable historical figures and the most powerful woman in Roman history. Born into a humble family, Theodora managed to climb to the top of the social hierarchy, becoming the empress of the Roman Empire (also known as the Byzantine Empire) Theodora wielded immense power, ruling as equal to her husband. She was instrumental in maintaining a fragile balance within the Christian religion, one of the most important pillars of the Roman state Her purple robe with gold embroidery trim detail is a symbol of royalty and wealth, as it was costly to obtain purple dye (the exact color is known as Tyrian purple) She wears a crown of many different jewels emeralds, rubies, sapphires and it is dotted with large pearls and lined with gold. The neck of her robe is similarly adorned with jewels, and she wears matching earrings and a necklace of precious stones

Irene of Hungary was a Byzantine empress by marriage to John II Komnenos. Irene of Athens was the first Roman empress to rule in her own right as regent, between 797 and 802 AD Although she ruled solely for only five years, she left a lasting impact on the foreign policy and religious practices of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire.

She wears a cross-surmounted crown with pendilia (pearl adornments that reach nearly to the shoulders) and a jewel-encrusted loros (a long imperial scarf) and holds in her hands the globus cruciger (cross-topped orb) and cross-topped staff all signs of male imperial power and dominion over the Christian world