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Headword: *xlamu/s
Adler number: chi,333
Translated headword: chlamys
Vetting Status: high
Translation:
Numa, the first king of the Romans, when he received an embassy of the Isaurians and observed their type of apparel, borrowing from them invented the wearing of the chlamys, uniting royalty with the senate, not putting the purple dye on the outside, but putting it underneath; so that from each of these one body was created and the Roman kappa was marked on the sandals of the senators.[1]
And [there is] a proverb: 'Syloson's chlamys'.[2] [It is used] in reference to those being pretentious in their apparel; for this man had very rich clothing, which he gave as a gift to Darius when [Darius] was still a private citizen; and after this, when Darius had become king, he made a return.[3]
Greek Original:
*xlamu/s: *nouma=s o( prw=tos *(rwmai/wn basileu\s presbei/an *)isau/rwn deca/menos kai\ to\ sxh=ma th=s foresi/as au)tw=n katamaqw/n, e)c au)tw=n labw\n e)feu=re th=s xlamu/dos stolh/n, e(nw/sas th\n basi/leion th=| sugklh/tw|, ou)k e)/cwqen e)piqei/s, a)ll' e)/swqen e)mbalw\n th\n th=s porfu/ras bafh/n: w(/ste e)c e(kate/rou tou/twn e(\n a)potelesqh=nai sw=ma kai\ e)n toi=s tw=n bouleutw=n u(podh/masin a)poshmai/nesqai to\ *(rwmai+ko\n ka/ppa. kai\ paroimi/a: h( *sulosw=ntos xlamu/s. e)pi\ tw=n a)lazoneuome/nwn e)p' e)sqh=ti: ou(=tos ga\r ei)=xe polutelh= e)sqh=ta, h(\n e)dwrh/sato *darei/w| i)diwteu/onti e)/ti: kai\ e)/tuxe meta\ tau=ta kaqo/dou, basileu/santos *darei/ou.
Notes:
The chlamys was a short cloak made from a single piece of cloth, with a straight side fastened about the neck, clasped at the shoulder, and having a rounded lower side; cf. Tarbell (284).
[1] For this material cf. (e.g.) John of Antioch fr.33 FHG (now 61.1 Roberto), John Malalas Chronographia II.8 Thurn (24). On Numa see nu 456, nu 515; on the Isaurians, iota 616.
The Suda evidently garbles the historians' account. Traditionally, Numa Pompilius (cf. OCD4 s.v. Pompilius, Numa), the second king of Rome, ruled from 715 to 673 BCE. The Romans would not encounter the Isaurians, a people of the mountainous interior of southern Asia Minor, until after the conquest of Greece (ca. 215-146 BCE), probably in early C1 BCE.
Malalas explains (ibid.) that Numa became acquainted with the chlamys upon his reception of an embassy from the Pelasgians (cf. pi 934), the aboriginal people of the Aegean region; this timeline makes sense. Moreover, Malalas (ca. 491-573 CE) only observes by way of example that his contemporary Isaurians also wear this short cloak; cf. Jeffreys et al. (16).
The ornament on a Roman senator's shoe did not at all resemble the letter 'kappa', but was rather a moon-shaped clasp, the lunula; cf. Staveley (32).
[2] cf. Diogenianus 5.14 and other paroemiographers.
[3] This is Syloson II, tyrant of Samos in the last quarter of the 6th. century BCE; see also sigma 1349 and sigma 1351. For Dareios (I) of Persia, see delta 72, delta 73.
References:
F.B. Tarbell, "The form of the chlamys", Classical Philology vol. 1 no. 3 (July 1906) 283-289
J. Thurn, ed., Ioannis Malalae Chronographia, (Berlin 2000)
E. Jeffreys, M. Jeffreys, and R. Scott, trans., The Chronicle of John Malalas, (Leiden 1986)
E.S. Staveley, "The nature and aims of the patriciate", Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte, vol. 32, no. 1 (1983) 24-57
Keywords: biography; chronology; clothing; constitution; daily life; economics; ethics; geography; historiography; history; military affairs; politics; proverbs
Translated by: Jennifer Benedict on 30 March 2008@16:16:29.
Vetted by:
Catharine Roth (modified translation, added cross-references) on 30 March 2008@20:25:52.
David Whitehead (augmented notes and keywords; tweaks and cosmetics) on 31 March 2008@03:21:39.
David Whitehead (another keyword; tweaking) on 12 November 2013@04:43:48.
David Whitehead (updated a ref) on 29 January 2015@04:41:11.
David Whitehead (tweaks) on 26 March 2021@04:36:25.
Ronald Allen (tweaked n.1) on 25 April 2026@13:10:47.
Ronald Allen (added primary note, tweaked n.1, added bibliography) on 9 May 2026@12:41:58.
Ronald Allen (expanded n.1, added to bibliography, added cross-reference and keyword) on 9 May 2026@15:48:59.
Ronald Allen (further expanded n.1, added to bibliography) on 11 May 2026@12:46:09.

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