Carthaginian unbelted tunics? Help please!

[Adrian Nayler]

I'm trying to track down the source reference(s) to Carthaginians not belting their tunics.

I'm aware of the following reference, though it may not necessarily be true of a general tradition of dress as it comes from a passage concerning the performance of religious rites.

Silius Italicus, Punica, III 24
"The dress worn before the altars is the same for all: linen covers their limbs, and their foreheads are adorned with a head-band of Pelusian flax. It is their custom to offer incense with robes ungirt; and, following their fathers' rule, they adorn the garment of sacrifice with a broad stripe."

I'm also aware of Strabo's comment about Libyans not belting their tunics (Geography, 17.3.7).

Is anyone aware of any other references to this please?

[DBS]

Well, Plautus has Hanno, the eponymous character in Poenulus (The Little Carthaginian) mocked for having an unbelted tunic flapping around like a bird's wings.  And Plautus did of course live through the Second Punic War and the early second century overseas adventures, so would have had veterans in his audience who would appreciate a a spot of racist and emasculating humour at the old enemy's expense.

[Duncan Head]

Yes, I think David's right, it's Plautus's Poenulus that's the main source for this idea. I have a note suggesting line 975?

[DBS]

Have just double checked; line 975 is where his tunic is said to be flapping like wings, with opinion split as to whether a reference to a lack of belt or to voluminous long sleeves; and line 1008 where he is specifically described as "unbelted" or "ungirdled", which may not only highlight his ethnicity but also a dig at where Hanno keeps his purse as an ostensible merchant.

[Duncan Head]

Excellent, David.

Anyone attempting to model Carthaginians should be aware of Polybios (12.26a) quoting Timaios about the fact that, unlike the Greeks, the Carthaginians wore underpants underneath those floaty unbelted tunics:

"In general," he says, "how can we be afraid of men who having received from nature in distinction from other animals the gift of hands, hold them for the whole of their life idle inside their tunics, and above all wear drawers under their tunics that they may not even when killed in battle be exposed to the view of their enemies?⁠

[DBS]

I thought there was a Polybian reference but could not for the life of me remember the context!

[DBS]

I am reminded of our production of Ajax at KCL in 1987.  Ajax dies in Act 1, spends rest of the play lying there as a corpse whilst his widow grieves over him.  Problem was that on the first performance, Ajax dropped dead with his legs orientated towards the audience and I, as stage manager, slowly became aware of the giggling from a group of convent school girls in the front row who had a nice view up his skirt.... I had to ask Juliet Aubrey, a now respected television and stage actress but then an archaeology undergrad, to try to shift Ajax's body around when next she went out for another bout of grieving.

[Adrian Nayler]

Thank you both, David and Duncan, for your very helpful comments on this. They surely point me in the right direction, and somewhere that I have yet to venture.

I like the Polybios quote of Timaios: It seems that he very much didn't like Carthaginians standing around with hands in their pockets! He also seems to suggest Greeks felt somewhat cheated of the chance to humiliate them after death. No genitals exposed - no humiliation (and, presumably, no sniggering)!

Thank you again.

[Sharur]

Meanwhile, I suspect some of us may be reminded of "Carry On Up The Khyber", with all this talk of "exposure"...