The footwear of the ancient Romans

Even if it concerns only a marginal aspect of life of ancient Romans, the argument that take into account and quite fascinating: in fact give a brief description of footwear in use at the Roman Empire focusing more detail on those used by soldiers.

All types of footwear of ancient Roman population can be summarised as follows:

1.The slippers (socci). A simple implementation with leather soles and that the Romans used in the home but was also used by stakeholders in the theater.

2.The hooves (sculponea). This word comes from the verb sculpere (carving, sculpting wood). The soles were made of cork or wood. This type of shoe was used by peasants and slaves. Son received from Etruscan tombs of wooden clogs opened at the center of the plant through a hinge.

3.The sandals (solae or sandalia). This type of shoe was not suitable during winter and having enough economic was used by people who could not afford other types of more expensive shoes. For persons belonging to a certain rank, in fact, was not prestigious out in public with sandals. These shoes held firm at the foot by strips of leather that went directly from the sole and, placing themselves between the fingers, neck climbed on foot, while in the back or on the sides of these strips (amenta - habenae - obstragula) put in rings which started from leather soles and continued upward where stops were the other strips in a leather collar that descended from the ankle. By pulling these strips and attaching the strings as if they were close and approaching the collar with the sole of the sandal, collecting and taking firm foot.

4. The pero. This is a type of shoe used by poor people. It 'a rough footwear consists of non-tanned skin and wrapped around the foot.

5. calcei. They represent the true shoes of a citizen of Rome that accompanied the toga in all its diversity until wedding dress.

This type of shoe was red for patricians and black for senators. It was made up of five strips of leather (corrigiae) sewn between them, which, starting from the soles (two rear, two side and a front by way of language that was often adorned with a buckle ivory) and brought up to the ankles. In Roman costume there were substantial differences between male and female shoes with exceptions for more soft leathers, for them and sometimes for lively color (gold and red) and the wealth of precious ornaments or (like pearls, gold, silver, etc. ..). It was considered unseemly to bring home the same shoes they went out and the calcei were replaced with sandals that were brought with them, for example, when it was invited to the house of others.

6. The caliga, a very robust military sandal with very thick soles with a large nails at the base that was worn by Roman legionnaires, until able to centurion, throughout the history of the Roman Empire. The officers wore the caliga not. It should be noted that Roman soldiers were subjected to long daily marches, which made it easier to wear shoes. The upper part of this caliga had a realization almost similar to the common sandal: the strips of leather were for the larger and more robust.

There caligae of who had the top closed, similar to a boot and suitable for winter periods or for those soldiers who operated in areas not temperate (Northern Europe). From sculptures, drawings, mosaics and writings, we are accustomed to seeing the Roman soldier with caligae type sandal, with strips of leather and, rarely with their feet divided by type footwear boots, because normally the Roman soldier operated in Mediterranean climates and periods of winter. The war hostilities began in March (the month dedicated to Mars god of war) and ending in autumn forwarded.

A curiosity regarding the caliga refers to the emperor Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus better known by the nickname Caligula. It is said that a boy Emperor accompanied their parents in military expeditions in Germany and wore the shoes in the fields of legionaries (Caliga) to make glad the father and soldiers. From this fact which earned the affectionate nickname "Caligula", given by soldiers.

To manufacture the Caliga is not very difficult. If you are curious and want to try to make yourself u pair of these shoes here are three sites where you can find all the explanations:

http://www.larp.com/legioxx/caligae.html

http://www.romanarmy.com/cms/content/view/136/85/

http://www.geocities.com/legio_tricesima_cohors_tres/

campusMartis/MakingCaligae/MakingAuthenticCaligae.html

Here another site that explains how to manufacture a pair of Caliga, this site is in Italian but it is worth visiting because there are excellent illustration of the various stages of processing:

http://www.gatc.it/ritagli/calzaturedeiromani.htm