View source for Calceus

{{Short description|Footwear secured by straps worn in Ancient Rome}}
[[File:Bronze statue of the Roman emperor Tiberius with head veiled (capite velato) preparing to perform a religious rite found in the theater in Herculaneum 37 CE MANN INV 5615 MH (cropped to calcei, boots).jpg|thumb|right|250px|A {{circa|37}} AD statue of the [[list of Roman emperors|emperor]] [[Tiberius]] recovered from a theater at [[Herculaneum]]. Depicted performing a [[ancient Roman religion|religious ritual]] [[capite velato|with his toga pulled over his head]], the emperor is shown wearing the {{lang|la|calceus patricius}} of the [[patrician (ancient Rome)|patrician class]].]]
[[File:Calceus.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Calcei in a [[Ancient Roman painting|Roman fresco]] from [[Paestum]], in southern Italy]]
The '''calceus''' ({{plural form}}: '''calcei''') was the common [[social class in ancient Rome|upper-class]] male footwear of the [[Roman Republic]] and [[Roman Empire|Empire]]. Normally made of [[leather]] and [[hobnail]]ed, it was flat [[sole (shoe)|soled]] and typically reached the lower [[shin (leg)|shin]], entirely covering the foot and [[ankle]]. It was secured with crossed thongs or laces. Equivalent to a short [[boot]] or [[high-top shoe]], it was lighter than the [[Ancient Roman military clothing|military]] [[caliga]] but sturdier than [[slip-on shoe]]s like the [[soccus]] and able to easily handle outdoor use.
{{anchor|Etymology|Names}}
==Name==
The [[Latin language|Latin]] word {{lang|la|calceus}} derives from {{lang|la|calx}} ("[[heel]]") and the usually Grecian suffix {{lang|la|-eus}}, meaning essentially "heely" or "thing for the heel". It is frequently taken loosely as the general Latin word for any laced and covered [[shoe]]{{sfnp|Chrisman|1920|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZK4uA-Eh7x4C&pg=PA235 235]}} distinguished from sandals, slippers, and boots. [[Theodor Mommsen]] even considered it to sometimes intend sandals as well.{{sfnp|Ryan|1998|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=CkAvbQD7E-kC&pg=PA55 55]}} Similarly, [[medieval Latin]] used the adjective {{lang|la|[[discalced|discalceātus]]}} to indicate both [[mendicant orders]] which only used sandals and those which went entirely barefoot.
==Design==
[[File:Périgueux Vesunna Museum - Bronze 1 Calceus.jpg|thumb|right|250px|A bronze calceus at the [[Vesunna Gallo-Roman Museum]]]]
Normally made of [[leather]] and [[hobnail]]ed, the calceus was flat [[sole (shoe)|soled]] and typically reached the lower [[shin (leg)|shin]], entirely covering the foot and [[ankle]]. It was secured with crossed thongs or laces. Equivalent to a short [[boot]] or [[high-top shoe]], it was lighter than the [[Ancient Roman military clothing|military]] [[caliga]] but sturdier than [[slip-on shoe]]s like the [[soccus]] and able to easily handle outdoor use.{{sfnp|Goldman|1994|pp=105-113}}
Calcei were considered a distinctive part of the national dress of male [[Roman citizenship|Roman citizens]], alongside the [[toga]]. The combination of toga and calcei was impressive, but also hot and uncomfortable. The [[Roman poetry|Roman poet]] [[Martial]] claimed that, in their leisure time and in the more relaxed surroundings of rural life, hardly anyone used it by the early imperial period.{{sfnp|Purser|1890}} Even in Rome, some high-ranking citizens preferred to wear light Grecian sandals or [[socci]] rather than calcei to "go with the crowd".{{sfnp|Shumba|2008|p=191}}{{sfnp|Edmondson|2008|pp=45-47 and n. 75}}
==Types==
[[File:Pé co "calceus senatorius". Bronce..jpg|thumb|right|250px|A bronze senatorial calceus discovered in Spain]]
The calcei of most [[plebs]] were made of undyed but tanned leather. (The version made with untanned [[rawhide (material)|rawhide]] instead was known as the pero.) The "[[patrician (ancient Rome)|patrician]] calceus" {{nowrap|({{lang|la|'''calceus patricius'''}})}} seems to have often been dyed red, [[Tyrian purple]], or some equivalent.{{sfnp|Wilcox|1948|p=32}} [[Roman Senate|Senators]] and higher ranking [[Religion in ancient Rome#Public priesthoods and religious law|priests]] were likewise expected to wear the '''mulleus''' or "red calceus" {{nowrap|({{lang|la|'''calceus mulleus'''}})}} along with their red-edged [[toga praetexta]] while engaged in their public duties. [[Festus (historian)|Festus]] claimed the mulleus was originally used by the kings of [[Alba Longa]] before being adopted by the patricians.<ref name=festivus>[[Festus (historian)|Festus]], {{lang|la|Breviarium Rerum Gestarum Populi Romani}}, §128L.</ref> [[Cassius Dio]] states that the patrician shoes were originally marked with the [[letter R]],<ref>[[Cassius Dio]], {{lang|la|Historia Romana}}, [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/2*.html Book II, §10].</ref> although early forms of Latin used an R closer in shape to the later [[letter P|P]]. Francis X. Ryan has offered that this class distinction in footwear{{mdash}}rather than procedural status{{mdash}}may have been responsible for the name of the [[backbencher]] {{lang|la|senatores pedarii}}.{{sfnp|Ryan|1998|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=CkAvbQD7E-kC&pg=PA55 55]}} [[Cato the Elder]] stated that, by the end of the Republic, plebs who had reached [[curule office]] were entitled to the formerly patrician footwear.<ref name=festivus/> Plebeian generals like [[Marius (general)|Marius]] who celebrated a [[triumph (Rome)|triumph]] were likewise permitted to wear them.{{sfnp|Ryan|1998|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=CkAvbQD7E-kC&pg=PA56 56]}} [[Richard J.A. Talbert|Talbert]] states that by the imperial era there is no conclusive evidence that footwear continued to differ between the classes as a whole,{{sfnp|Talbert|1984|p=219}} possibly because the emperors began to restrict the use of certain status symbols to themselves.{{sfnp|Ryan|1998|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=CkAvbQD7E-kC&pg=PA55 55]}}
Other calcei were distinguished by their ornamentation. The "[[equites|equestrian]] calceus" {{nowrap|({{lang|la|'''calceus equestris'''}}}} or {{lang|la|'''equester'''}}) included distinct crescent-shaped buckles.{{fact|date=June 2023}} The "senatorial calceus" {{nowrap|({{lang|la|'''calceus senatorius'''}})}} was likewise distinguished by a crescent-shaped ornament, an [[ivory]] [[lunula (amulet)|lunula]] attached to the back of the shoe.{{sfnp|Staveley|1983}} By the mid-imperial period, this was probably made of black leather.{{sfnp|Sandys|1910|pp=199–200}}
The "turned calceus" ([[New Latin]] {{lang|la|'''calceus repandus'''}}) was an unrelated pointy-toed unisex [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscan]] form of footwear, which received its name from a passage in [[Cicero]] where he references [[Juno Sospita]]'s {{lang|la|calceoli}}, "little calceus-like shoes".{{sfnp|Bonfante|1975|p=61}}
==See also==
{{Wiktionary}}
{{Wikicommons}}
* [[Clothing in ancient Rome]]
* [[Soccus]], Solea, & [[Caligae]]
* [[Discalced]]
==References==
===Citations===
{{reflist|30em}}
===Bibliography===
{{refbegin}}
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* {{citation |last=Carlson |first=I. Mark |date=2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120520100740/http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/shoe/SHOES/ROME/romshoe1.htm |contribution=Roman Shoes |url=http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/shoe/SHOES/ROME/romshoe1.htm |title=Footwear of the Middle Ages |publisher=University of Tulsa |location=Tulsa |access-date=2023-07-04 |archive-date=2012-05-20 }}. <!--note source overstates some cases and makes some mistakes-->
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* {{citation |last=Wilcox |first=Ruth Turner |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vxez-N1HO5kC |title=The Mode in Footwear... |date=1948 |publisher=Scribner's |location=New York |isbn=978-0-486-46761-0 }}.
{{refend}}
{{Footwear}}
{{Historical clothing}}
[[Category:Roman-era clothing]]
[[Category:Historical footwear]]