Since 1895 elegance, practicality and comfort at Moneglia

HISTORY OF FOOTWEAR

Chapter 6°: footwear of the ancient Romans

(abt. 750 BCE - 476 CE)

     Rome stood as a settlement for shepherds and farmers on the slopes of Palatine from about 750 BCE.
     Its inhabitants were, from the beginning, in contact with the surrounding more developed people like the Etruscans and the Greeks of Magna Graecia, and, under their influence, adopting from them the basis of the technique and the handicrafts, the first Romans devoted themselves to tanning and the making footwear.
     Plutarch reminds us that, even in the royal period, the leather and hides craftsmen were organized in a guild that, like others was regulated by the mythical kings Numa Pompilio and Servio Tullio; these guilds, precursors of the medieval arts, operated throughout the republican period and had new rules from Julius Caesar (100 BCE - 44 BCE) so that, in the forum of Ostia there exists a mosaic illustrating the activities of "Coriarii", that were the craftsmen who attended to workings of leather and hides.
The Roman tanning technique is well-known, not only by literary and epigraphic testimonies, but also by the discoveries of archeological relics which allowed, for instance, to bring to light a tannery covered by cinders and lapilli from Vesuvius during the eruption that buried Pompeii in 79 CE and the findings in Nordic peat bogs and in many dry sites of the Middle East of fragments of hide which it has been possible to analyze.
     The Romans tanned skins with alum, fat matters, and vegetables products containing tannin such as sumach (Rhus coriaria) gall-nuts, oak bark, pine bark and pomegranate rinds imported from Africa.
     The hides could also be preserved for long periods with salting methods learnt from the Gauls and the Germans.
     The first footwear used by the Romans were the "Soleae"; primitive shoes consisting of leather soles laced to the leg with leather straps which, later on, ended up being worn only indoors like the "Socci" which were coloured felt shoes that were also used by comical actors.
     With the evolution of social relations, shoes, also for the Romans, became a characterizing ingredient of status symbol.
     This is why, for going outdoors, citizens of a high rank used the "Calcei" (see picture n.° 26) coupled with a toga or military clothes; they consisted of soles about 5 mm. thick, without a heel, attached to soft skin uppers that covered the entire foot; from each side of the sole came two wide straps which crossed and laced on the back of the foot while other thinner straps started from the heel, wrapped around the ankle for approximately 15 cm. and laced sometimes with the tips left hanging and decorated with crescent-shaped ivory buckles.
     The Calcei worn by senators were black, those of the highest civil charges red and there also existed the Calcei Ripandi (or Calcei Uncinati) with up-turned toe probably of Etruscan origin.
      On the Caio Giulio Elio's funerary stone going back to the 1st century CE and exhibited at the museum of Montemartini power plant in Rome (Capitoline Museums) are carved two specimens of "Calceus" and "Caliga". (see picture n.° 37 ter)
       At the same museum you can see the colossal foot of a "Fortuna huiusce diei" statue, 8 meters high and carved in 101 BCE by Skopas, Greek sculptor working in Rome, that wore a flip-flop sandal, probably a model of a "Krepis" so we presume that also the Roman matrons wore similar shoes. (see picture    n.° 37 quater)
     In the occasion of ceremonies patricians wore the "Mullei" (see picture n.° 27), red " Calcei" with a thicker sole so that the wearers height was increased as testified by Pliny and Suetonius.
     Picture n.° 28, drafted from a statue of Emperor Septimius Severus (146 CE - 211 CE) from Alexandria, exhibited at the British Museum in London, shows a pair of "Mullei" characterized by the lack of the leather straps which, from each side of the sole, crossed on the back of the foot, twined round the ankle and then laced.
      Both the "Calcei" and "Mullei" shoes were expensive, complicated, uncomfortable and difficult to wear, so, every day, they wore sandals (see picture n.°29) with the soles fixed to the feet by various leather strap systems.
     The women's sandals of those pertaining to wealthy classes could be decorated with embroidery, pearls and precious stones and even have gold or silver soles.
     A type of sandal of Greek origin was the "Crepidae" (see picture n.° 30) suitable for marching on uneven lands, those for the women was called "Crepidulae".
     The footwear shown in picture n.° 31 could be a model of "Crepidae"; they are part of a statue of Emperor Adrian (76 CE - 138 CE) taken from Apollo's temple at Cyrene and exhibited at the British Museum in London.
     The same goes for the model illustrated in picture n.° 31 bis, finely decorated with acanthus leaves motifs, drawn from a reproduction of a bronze statue of Emperor Septimius Severus (146 CE - 211 CE) exhibited at the Musées Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire in Brussels where there is also a portable bronze Roman inkpot found at Willemeau (Belgium) which faithfully reproduces a "Pero" (see picture n.° 33).
     Women also wore footwear (see picture n.° 32) similar to current flat shoes, but without a heel.
     The common people and peasants wore other types of footwear, the most popular were the "Perones" (see picture n.°33) shoes with a heel-less sole and ankle high skin uppers laced on the back of the foot with buckles or laces which could be worn on a barefoot or interposing a kind of felt sock.
     Soldiers, up until the rank of centurion, peasants and anyone who had to cover long distances on uneven land, wore the "Caligae" (see picture n.° 34); they were shoes with a heavy hobnailed sole (hobnails = clavi caligares), so that, in his satires Juvenal felt pity for anyone who's foot remained under the sole of a soldier's.
     The upper was similar to those of "Perones", but without a buckle opening, like a modern ankle boot. On the upper edge for comfort, there were two crescent shaped slits, one at the front and one at the back and, as they were made from very thick rigid leather, the toe was open so as to avoid friction and pain to the toes.
     For improved fastening and to strengthen them further, the upper was crisscrossed by a set of straps and fitted out with supports, lightened with slits, on the heel.
     The sides of the sole were connected by a strip of leather that crossed over the back of the foot; two other narrower strips joined the upper and the sole towards the toe and were spaced out by a cross-strip placed near the opening of the toe.
    The Emperor Caligula (Caius Caesar Germanicus (12 CE - 41 CE) took his nick-name from this model of footwear.
    The "Carbatinae" (see pictures n.° 35 - 37) made from coarse leather and with uppers made out of a single piece of skin were also suited to walking on uneven land and, therefore, used by soldiers.
    The "Gallicae" were a version of "Carbatinae" coming from Gaul.
    The "Ocreae" (see picture n.°36) were ankle boots laced in front by crisscrossed laces.
    From the excavations of Qasr Ybrim in Egypt, this military ankle boot possibly dated 1st c. BCE - 1st c. CE and exhibited at the British Museum in London where it is defined "Caliga"; was made using a single piece of leather joined to the sole and secured to the foot by leather laces passing through slits connected to the upper by small straps.
    It probably belonged to a soldier, a member of the Roman garrison that was based in that region.
    In Colony (Germany) was found an ankle boot of analogous model that differs from that one over cited in order not to have in vamp the fissures that allowed a some aeration of the foot, that for obvious climatic reasons ! ( see picture n.° 37 bis)
    Slaves and proletarians used wooden clogs called "Sculponeae" and peasants used the "Udones" formed by rectangular soles with long leather straps that fastened them to the calves which were protected by pieces of wool or sheep hides, sub- stantially the ancestors of the "Ciocie" ! (shoes from Ciociaria - Italy)
    In the edict of Diocletian (301 CE) "Edictum de pretiis venalium rerum", an official price-list which also listed the maximum prices of all consumer goods mentions at least 20 types of shoes like: "Calcei patricii", "Calcei senatorii", "Caligae equestres" "Caligae muliebres", "Campagi", "Urinae".
     "Campagi" were military shoes while "Urinae" were cowhide women's sandals.
     In the age of the late empire (5th - 6th c.), Roman ladies wore golden clogs or leather ankle boots which squeaked at every step, as said by Saint Jerome who condemned this fashion as being frivolous.
     In the 14th book, law n.° 2, " de abitu quo uti oportet intra orbem" from the code of Theodosius (435 - 438 CE), issued by Theodosius II junior, emperor of Eastern Empire (401 - 450 CE) it is said that Augusti Arcadius and Onorious forbid the use of the "Zanche" in Rome which, in that time, was a sort of ankle boot or shoe.
     The Roman shoes could be polished with beeswax and have various colors; ferrous salts and/or tannic extracts were used for black, yellow was extracted from saffron, blue from woad (Isatis tinctoria); luxury shoes were dyed red with purpura or orchil (Roccella tinctoria) which was less expensive.
     The uppers were sewn with linen thread and joined to the soles with leather straps, sinews or gut strings.
     The Romans used to take of their shoes during banquets and also before entering in the baths and a mosaic which was in the entrance of one of those shows the auspicious inscription "Benelava" and a pair of thongs to remind the users to remove their shoes and to recover them on leaving.
     In Ovid's "Ars amandi" we discover that Roman aristocratic women attributed a value of great sexuality to tight and close-fitting shoes.