Hellenistic soldiers in tunic, 100 BCE, detail of the Nile mosaic of Palestrina. The Nile mosaic of Palestrina is a late Hellenistic Mosaic depicting the Nile from Ethiopia to the Mediterranean.

A tunic is any of several types of clothing for the body, with or without sleeves, and of various lengths reaching from the hips to the ankles. Clothing (also called clothes, accoutrements, accouterments, or habiliments) protects the Human body from extreme Weather Sleeve ( O Eng ''slieve'' or ''slyf'', a word allied to slip, cf The name derives from the Latin tunica commonly worn by both men and women in Ancient Rome, which in turn is based on earlier Greek garments. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Ancient Rome was a Civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC The term ancient Greece refers to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca

The Roman tunica was worn by citizens and non-citizens alike; citizens, though, would wear it under the toga, especially at formal occasions. This article is about the aviation term for the Roman garment see Toga. The length of the garment, the presence or lack of stripes, as well as their width and ornamentation, would indicate the wearer's status in Roman society. Soldiers, slaves and manual workers generally had tunics to a little above the knee; those in more sedentary occupations to about the ankle (unless they were expecting to ride a horse, when a shorter one would be worn).

Greek tunic

The tunic was also worn by the ancient and Byzantine Greeks and is very similar to the chiton, which looked like a jacket. Byzantine dress changed considerably over the thousand years of the Empire but was essentially conservative A chiton ( Ancient Greek khitōn (χιτών was a form of clothing in Ancient Greece, worn by both women and men A jacket is a type of sleeved hip - or Waist -length garment for the upper body In Ancient Greece, a person's tunic was decorated at the hem-line to represent the city-state in which he lived. The term ancient Greece refers to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca A city-state is a Region controlled exclusively by a City, usually having Sovereignty. The tunics were either dyed with bright colors or bleached white.

Roman legionary tunic

Roman worker dressed in a tunic

Underneath his armor, the Roman legionary wore a (usually woollen) tunic. The Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial The Roman legionary was a professional soldier of the Roman army after the Marian reforms of 107 BC. Wool is the fiber derived from the specialized skin cells called follicles of animals in the Caprinae family principally sheep, but the hair of certain species There is considerable debate today as to whether the typical Roman legionary's tunic was undyed or dyed red using madder dye; a number of works of art and written descriptions contemporary to the Roman Empire contradict each other on this point. Madder is the common name of the Plant genus Rubia, the type genus of the madder family Rubiaceae. Alternately, it is possible that Roman legionary officers wore red tunics, while rank-and-file soldiers wore undyed tunics.

The tunic originally worn by the Roman legionary consisted simply of a long piece of rectangular cloth sewed to an identical piece, with holes for the arms and head simply left unsewn. Later, it became fashionable for tunics to be produced with sleeves and worn with braccae. Sleeve ( O Eng ''slieve'' or ''slyf'', a word allied to slip, cf Braccae is the Latin term for trousers, and in this context is today used to refer to a style of pants, made from Wool. This was especially the case in relatively cold northern territories such as Britain and Germany where similar clothes were already in existence among the native populations. Roman Britain refers to those parts of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire between AD 43 and 410 Germania was the Latin Exonym for ^[1]

Medieval tunic

Main article: Early medieval European dress

Germanic tunic of the 4th century found at the Thorsberg moor

Following the fall of the Roman empire, the tunic continued to be worn with varying sleeve and hem lengths throughout Europe during the Middle Ages. Early medieval European dress, from about 400 to 1100 changed very gradually The Thorsberg moor ( Thorsberger Moor, Tosbarch, Tåsbjerre " Thor 's hill" near Süderbrarup in Anglia, Schleswig-Holstein The Decline of the Roman Empire, leading to the Fall of the Roman Empire, or the Fall of Rome, was the end of the Western Roman Empire. Often reaching the knees or ankles, it was usually worn over underclothes consisting of a shirt (usually hip-length or longer) and drawers (usually knee- or ankle-length pants related to braccae). It may be accompanied by hose. For contemporary styles see Pantyhose, Hosiery WalterRaleighandson ^[2]

Tunics worn during the Early Middle Ages often featured decorative embroidery or tablet-woven braids along the neck, hem and wrists. The Early Middle Ages is a period in the History of Europe following the fall of the Western Roman Empire spanning roughly five centuries from AD 500 Embroidery is the Art or Handicraft of decorating fabric or other Materials with designs stitched in strands of thread or Tablet Weaving (often card weaving in the United States is a Weaving technique where tablets also called 'cards' are used to create the shed the ^[3][4] This was the case, for instance, with tunics worn by both rich and poor Anglo-Saxons before the Norman Conquest. For their language see Anglo-Saxon language. Anglo-Saxon is the term usually used to describe the invading Tribes in the south ^[5][4]

Young boy in tunic and trousers, 1830.

19th century

Around 1830, small boys began to be dressed in sashed or belted tunics over trousers, a fashion which replaced the earlier skeleton suit. 1830s fashion in European and European-influenced Clothing is characterized by an emphasis on breadth, initially at the shoulder and later in the hips in contrast A skeleton suit is an outfit of Clothing for small boys popular from about 1790 to 1830 consisting of a tight short- or long- Sleeved coat or jacket

Modern tunic

In Western culture, its use continues primarily in a religious and uniform context. A religion is a set of Tenets and practices often centered upon specific Supernatural and moral claims about Reality, the Cosmos A uniform is a set of standard Clothing worn by members of an organization while participating in that organization's activity It is the primary garment worn by the clergy, and members of religious orders. Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given Religion. A religious order is a lineage of communities and organizations of people who live in some way set apart from society in accordance with their specific religious devotion usually The religious tunic reaches to the feet. It is also the name often given to the coat worn by military and police personnel, usually close-fitting. A coat is a long garment worn by both men and women for warmth or Fashion. A military is an Organization authorized by its Nation to use force usually including use of Weapons in defending its Country (or by attacking Police are agents or agencies usually of the executive, empowered to enforce the law and to effect public and social order through the legitimatized use of force

See also

• Clothing in the ancient world
• Clothing in ancient Rome
• Early medieval European dress
• Anglo-Saxon dress
• 1830s children's fashion
• 1840s children's fashion
• 1850s children's fashion

Notes

References

• Bradfield, Nancy. Historical Costumes of England: 1066-1968. 3rd Edition. 1970.
• "Dress and Adornment. " The New Encyclopedia Britannica. 15th edition. Volume 17. 1994.
• Owen-Crocker, Gale R. , Dress in Anglo-Saxon England, revised edition, Boydell Press, 2004, ISBN 1-8438-3081-7
• Payne, Blanche: History of Costume from the Ancient Egyptians to the Twentieth Century, Harper & Row, 1965. No ISBN for this edition; ASIN B0006BMNFS