Thread by @EvanSchultheis

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:
threadreaderapp.com/thread/1326642…

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.

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.

Depictions of eunuchs show them always without a beard, but Santa Maria Maggiore shows this figure with one. There might be an explanation here, in that religious conventions are superseding the reality since the Cubicularius is portraying Joseph, and Joseph was a proper man.

Joseph's staff might specifically mark him as an Ostiarios (doorkeeper or usher), first mentioned under Justninian in the 6th century. The Kletoroulogion assigns a gold staff with a gem encrusted head to this position.

The issue of course is back-dating the position to the 400s.

Either way though, Heraclius would not have had such a staff, as it was not the emblem of the Primicerius' rank.

What he does have is a knife, with which to stab Aetius. This begs two questions: what kind of knife, and would he have worn the Cingulum?

Women and Men wore belts in the empire, regardless of whether they actually were in the militia or strateia. We have plenty of finds of womens' belt fittings and civilian mens' belt fittings from the principate and late antiquity. But this wasn't the military cingulum.

There is no source on the wearing of belts for Eunuchs - as far as I have read, neither Lydos, nor Isidore, nor the Kletoroulogion or De Cerimoniis mention it. However, they were in service of the militia/strateia, so it seems likely they had belts for their position.

The San Vitale Basilica mosaics may support this, as the Empress Theodora's chamberlain wears a gold Khlamys with purple Tavlia, probably signifying his position among the ranks of the Cubicularii. And we can just barely see he wears a narrow belt.

Belts of this period had simple fittings with loops to suspend necessary accessories. A small hunting or utility knife would be easy to conceal under the cloak. This 4th century utility knife from Zwentendorf, near Carnuntum, is a great example:

There are other possibilities, but unlikely ones. Simancas-type daggers (left image) were in use but they're almost entirely found in Spain. Short seaxes had made their way into the Roman army such as this mid 5th-century one from Brighthampton, but they also seem unikely.

Whatever knife Heraclius had, it would have been small.

And this is where I'm going to close out tonight. Tomorrow we ask the question, "Why is the singing prince from Monty Python stabbing Aetius?"

@eranudturan Ducks