Sandals
Sandals are open footwear in which straps or ties hold a sole to the foot. Ancient examples differ in strap arrangement, heel construction and sole material. A fastening between the big toe and its neighbour is not present in every design.
Such footwear is known in Greece, Egypt, Italy and other regions. Similar construction does not establish a single place of invention or justify calling Roman sandals an independent invention. Mediterranean footwear reflects both local traditions and exchanges of forms.
It is useful to distinguish ancient names from modern construction-based groups. Open footwear on a sculpture does not always correspond to one Latin term.
Types of sandals
Roman bronze sandal. Bought Sotheby's London 1987. 2nd century ADEtruscan finds include soles with metal components. The Bisenzio example shows a complex construction, not a model for every Etruscan sandal. Lost leather parts must be reconstructed from attachment points and comparable finds. A burial object may differ from ordinary footwear.
Etruscan sandals,VII-century BC,Villa Giulia,RomePaintings, mosaics and sculptures show different combinations of straps and soles. At Pompeii, footwear in the Villa of the Mysteries paintings can be compared with images of musicians. A painting does not always establish material, sole thickness or how its layers were joined.
The footwear of a god or mythological figure may reflect artistic convention. It should not automatically be treated as an everyday design contemporary with the statue.
Mosaic from the House of Cicero,Naples
Fresco from the Villa of the Mysteries,Pompeii
Statue of Apollo, Naples; a museum image of the god of music, prophecy, purification and arrows.Finds from Roman London and the northern provinces show varied leather footwear: sandals, strap shoes and closed designs. Soles could contain several layers, with traces of stitching, fastenings and repairs. A sole without its upper cannot always be identified securely as a sandal.
Names in written sources should not be assigned to modern patterns from the wording alone. “Gallic” footwear, for example, does not necessarily imply a wooden sole. Prices in Diocletian’s Edict of 301 CE were ceilings for named categories, not constant market prices for every pair throughout Roman history.
Sandal sole with an inscription interpreted as “follow me”. Mainz. Its attribution to a sex worker is a hypothesis, not an identification of the actual wearer.Sole size and outline help investigate fashion and the distribution of footwear. A broad or narrow toe alone does not identify the wearer’s sex. Interpretation requires size, find context and comparison with other shoes.
Changes discussed by Carol van Driel-Murray for the north-western provinces should not be extended into one empire-wide timetable of fashion. Soles may preserve stamps, decoration and repairs, providing evidence for the manufacture and use of a particular pair.
Sandal-shaped lamp,1st century AD,Getty Museum.A shod foot also appears as the shape of vessels and lamps. Glass bottles in the form of a sandal from Cologne reproduce a recognisable footwear design, but are containers. They help investigate imagery and decorative details rather than replace surviving leather shoes.
Two glass flasks in the shape of sandals,late 2nd to early 3rd century AD,found in Cologne,Romisch-Germanisches Museum,Cologne.Sandals occur in domestic, bathing and dining contexts. Quality and decoration varied, but open footwear was not exclusively a sign of poverty. Certain forms of calcei had status associations; this does not mean that all closed footwear was forbidden to people without high rank.
Shoes could be removed when reclining at dinner. In literature, asking for one’s sandals could signal an intention to leave. Such a scene illustrates a dining custom, not a rule governing every meal.
Related topics
Caligae · Calcei · Roman clothing
Literature and sources
- Norma Goldman. Roman Footwear, in Judith Lynn Sebesta and Larissa Bonfante, eds. The World of Roman Costume. University of Wisconsin Press, 1994.
- Katherine Dohan Morrow. Greek Footwear and the Dating of Sculpture. University of Wisconsin Press, 1985.
- Roman footwear in the London Museum collection.
- London’s shoemaking history.
Sitting Agrippina,1st century AD,Naples Museum.
Aphrodite punishing Eros; a Hellenistic or early Roman image, 2nd-1st centuries BC.
Mosaic with sandals,I-II centuries AD,Villa Rio Verde.
Sandal from the Sunken Ship Museum,1st century AD Museo della Nave Romana.
Sandals from the Sunken Ship Museum,1st century AD Museo della Nave Romana.
Bronze Roman left foot in sandals. 1-2 century AD
Named sandal of Sulpicia Lepidina,I-II centuries AD,Vindolanda,Britain.
Palm-fibre sandal from Karanis, Roman Egypt, first–fourth century CE.
Iron Sandal,31 BC-14 AD,Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Sandal,I-III centuries AD,Bardo Museum,Tunis.
Sandal from Masada, first century CE.
Sandal from Masada, first century CE.
Sandal,I-II centuries AD,Nahal Hever.
Sandal from Masada, first century CE.
Sandal from the Cave of Horror, Judaean Desert, first–second century CE.
Sandal,I-III centuries AD,Nahal Hever.
Sandal,I-III centuries AD,Nahal Hever.
Sandal,I-II centuries AD,Nahal Hever.
Sandal from the Cave of Horror, Judaean Desert, first–third century CE.
A sketch of a sandal found in Judea dates back to the 1st century AD.Interested in Ancient Rome beyond reading? Join Legio X Fretensis or explore our reenactment directions.
