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written by cincinnatus17 | 1295 Views | Rating: (0 rates)
  Civilian Impressions
A wide variety of civilian impressions is available to the member of LEGXXII PR.  For some, a military impression is perfect while others will appreciate the life of the homemaker, merchant, politician, trader or gladiator.  We encourage every male of age to participate as a military soldier and do a civilian impression as an "additional" effort.  However, the choice is yours.  Here are a few impressions on the civilian side:

  • Homemaker/Women - Wives, young women and the elderly were dressed in long, usually sleeveless dresses.  The style indicated your class.  The rich and famous often had dresses of bright colors and wore a lot of jewelry.  The shoes were well made and of intricate styles.  Those who were of lower classes typically wore more muted colors and courser weaves.  Both linen and wool were common.  A married women usually wore a "stola" (the dress to the left below) while unmarried wore a variety of other style dresses, including the peplos (middle photo) and chiton (dress on the right). 

The hair was also very fancy for the rich while the poorer classes usually wore their hair up, but simply done. 

In public, all women pulled their cloaks over their heads.

  • Merchant/Trader - Either a man or a woman, this impression allows the member to choose a "trade" to sell to the general public.  Typical trades include:  pottery, clothing, jewelry, foods - soups, vegetables, meats, bread, grain, olive oil, etc..., woodworker, mason, small farmer, armorer and many others.  These impressions naturally carry with them the tools of that trade along with the clothing of that person.  Thus, if a member wanted to portray a woodworker, he would wear rough tunic and sandals with small cloak and carry woodworking tools and samples of his craft.

  • Politician - Unlike today's society, to be a politician, most had to be born into it.  This meant being in the Patrician order.  For a very few others, it meant being very rich.  Political office was a progression.  That is, if you were a male of good standing and of the appropriate age, eventually you would become a senator.  From there, you could run for specific office such as Aedile (half rich plebians, half patricians - in charge of public buildings and festivals), Censer (in charge of the census), questor (in charge of financial matters), or leadership positions such as pro-counsel or counsel.  For these politicians, the impression includes a fine full length tunic of white with two vertical stripes, a pair of quality sandals and a toga - an 18 foot cloak which was wrapped around the body and over one arm.


  • Gladiator - Doing an impression of a gladiator should always be a secondary impression.  The reason is that gladiators were only brought out at certain times for events.  However, doing a gladiator is an excited, if not a bit challenging impression.  First, you have to choose the type of gladiator to create.  Gladiatorial combats were spectacles.  That is, gladiators were paired together to fight and given certain offensive and defensive tools based on their opponent.  A good example is the Secutor vs. the Retiarius.  The retiarius wears no armor and carries no shield.  Instead, he has a fishing net with lead weights attached and carries a 5' long three pronged trident.  His opponent the secutor wears a helmet with only holes for eyes (to protect against the trident), a small shield and has a very short sword.  There are a number of different types of gladiators and usually we try to have two members create a pair.  Very exciting for the crowd and the gladiators themselves to work up a combat scenario!
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