Hello!

Please, could anyone tell me the meaning (if existed) of the colour used by Roman Centurion?

Frequently, the figures presents red covers and helmet (Galea) crest red too.
There's some meaning in this colour? Other colours possibles? What?
Thank you in advance,
Fabrício

The general consensus seems to be that the most likely colour for the Roman military tunic was 'natural' colour, i.e. off-white (unbleached wool), at least during the first two centuries AD. Thereafter there is some evidence that the colour shifted to red, before going back to white again in the 'late Roman Empire' period (when the tunics were decorated with coloured and embroidered patches). If they wore any particular colour, it seems likely that a centurion would have worn white as well - but this time of much finer material that may well have been bleached white. Centurions were paid a great deal more than ordinary soldiers (around 15 times as much) and could afford better clothing. This was a question of 'display' - you showed your social status by spending money on your gear and clothing.

There are no descriptions as to the colours of the plumes that centurions would have worn on their helmets. We do know from a small number of tomb carvings that (a) for centurions the crest was worn from side-to-side, rather than fore-and-aft, and (b) that they were certainly (at least sometimes) made from feathers. If the latter, then the feather would have been in natural colours (white, black, etc.) Experiments have shown that it is extremely difficult to dye feathers without causing them to (literally) decompose. With horse-hair it's a different matter. This can be died very effectively using madder as the red dye. The hair colour from a horse's tail, of course, can be white, black, brown or grey!

The answer to your question seems to be that there is no particular significance to the colour of a centurion's clothing, other than to establish his social standing. The main object of the helmet crest would seem to be to make the centurion easily visible on the field of battle, and this could be accomplished with just about any colour. However, it is very dangerous to be dogmatic about such things as this. We can 'infer', possibly 'extrapolate', but we can rarely be sure! This whole question is discussed very completely in Graham Sumner's book "Roman Military Dress. He gives al the evidence that he has gathered, and then leaves the reader to make up his/her own mind as to what it tells us.

Mike Thomas

Hi Mike,

I have to say I found your information a great help as I hope to model some Roman figures.
Fabricio I hope you don't mind me replying too Mike only I found his knowledge useful.

Thanks
Griff

Fabricio if this is Doctor Mike ,then you can take what he says as gospel as far as Romans are concerned .
Just about everyone paints Romans in Red ,re dying feathers in colours does them no harm with modern Dyes so the ancient ones should have been ok ,the fly tying fraternity uses all sorts of dyes even down to Picric acid with no adverse effects , got to think that red would be the best choice for tunics as it does not show blood too much like white

Ron

Dr Mike Thomas is just about the best possible expert on matters of Roman military history and uniforms, and he has dedicated a significant chunk of his life to the study of this subject. I would certainly defer to him in these matters. I've asked the same question of Mike on a number of different occasions and he's been consistent in his response and always helpful in sharing his knowledge and passion for the subject.

The Hollywood version of Imperial Rome is hard to shake, particularly when red tunics do actually make some sense on the battlefield - ask the British Army why they wore red uniforms up until the late 1890's. I don't think its a matter of making a choice between historical accuracy and making your figure look good - you can do both.

Dr. Mike also happens to be a most excellent resource for questions dealing with Raj & Indian Army subjects.

Thats interesting

Ron