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Hello everyone and welcome to this part 2 of "what is wrong with this image."
For context, here is part 1, which will be important to the rest of this: https://twitter.com/EvanSchultheis/status/1326642087480217601
Threadreader for those who want it:
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1326642087480217601.html
For context, here is part 1, which will be important to the rest of this: https://twitter.com/EvanSchultheis/status/1326642087480217601
Threadreader for those who want it:
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1326642087480217601.html
We're gonna start with where we left off with what @mikeaztec28 mentioned: should Aetius even be in standard military attire?
This is the Diptych of Flavius Constantius Felix, 428 AD. Felix held the same title as Aetius: Magister Utriusque Militae, until he was executed.
This is the Diptych of Flavius Constantius Felix, 428 AD. Felix held the same title as Aetius: Magister Utriusque Militae, until he was executed.
Felix's dress is a lot different in this image from Aetius' on the Monza Cathedral Diptych. It's bureaucratic in form, consisting of a Stikharion (a Delmatikion with two vertical clavii) over a Kamision with a consular Trabea worn over it.
It actually took a LOT of research by combined members of the reenactment community (mostly Stilicho and Dr. Dawson, as well as myself and others) to figure out how these over-garments of the Consular and Praetorian Prefect ranks were constructed.
Dr. Dawson outlines the evolution of the pattern here. Fundamentally this is three garments: the "Trabea" or "Lorum/Loros" over a combination of a late antique Paenula and a Pallium.
Dr. Dawson has an outline of the Trabea/Loros and its various later forms into the middle and late Byzantine period, from his book "By the Emperor's Hand":
So now we have to ask, what dress was required of Aetius on this particular day? A solid case can probably be made for either, we don't have the particulars of how dress for functionaries operated in the Roman empire until the Kletoroulogion and De Cerimoniis.
I think the most solid case can probably be made for Consular dress - Aetius was before the Roman senate, allegedly, and meetings of the senate would have dictated such civilian attire. Which now brings the question, what about the others?
I'll get to Valentinian III tomorrow, I need more time for that, but I do want to talk a little bit about Heraclius and Eunuchs' costume. Heraclius held the title of Primicerius Sacri Cubiculi, and most of our evidence for his dress is really middle Byzantine.
The Kletoroulogion tells us that the Primikerios wore a white tunic with gold shoulder panels decorated with stars. The garment was probably then either a Stikharion Delmatikion or a Delmatikion (Dalmatica) in late antiquity, which was replaced by the Divitesion for men.
Stikharia Delmatikia can be seen throughout the contemporary Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore mosaic cycle. Here are angels and what may be a Primicerius sacri cubiculi or a standard cubicularius alongside Galla Placidia (Mary), as evidenced by his gold cloak.
In the Kletoroulogion and the De Cerimoniis, the cloak is called Paragaudion, not to be confused with the late antique tunic. It is described as gold in color. Considering it is a solid color, this probably means it was a rich saffron and not gold thread.
One of the issues that discounts this figure as a cubicularius, however, is the presence of a beard. Beards are... a tricky subject in the empire, as their popularity waxes and wanes frequently. Now throw on top of that, the fact Eunuchs weren't men. They were a third gender.
