Rhodian slinger tunic colour

What (if any) is the most appropriate colour for the tunics of Rhodian slingers?

Thanks

Andrew Ford

Hi Andrew,

I think that you could go with bleached linen, various shades of red, various shades of grey and other natural dye colours. I would steer away from blues and purples as these colours would have been quite expensive.

Andrew I am thinking I have read that they may have worn a black tunic, but can't recall where (may have been one of the Osprey books???), so share this only as a possible lead to further research. Terry

Sekunda has the Cretan mercenary archer potrayed in black in Osprey Ancient Greek book.

He does note the reason that colour was picked was that most modern Cretans prefer to dress in black (so did Johnny Cash for that matter). :confused:

But the Cretans could be lying so we're not sure about that.

As far as the Rhodians go, I think black looks pretty snazzy. Can't go wrong with red or off-white. Other than that, I wouldn't loose sleep over that.

-Sean (who could be lying at this very moment)

Yep Sean, that's the source for the black tunic. I don't ahve it but saw it in a friends copy. I am pretty sure those guys are the guitar playing, country and western siging bowmen .... but since Folsum Prison doesn't exist yet, not sure what they'd sing. Maybe "I form the firing line" or "Arrow of fire" !!!

So basically they had no 'uniform' colour or characteristic colour.

Thanks everyone for your replies.

Andrew Ford