"Legio XXI Rapax and the colour of roman tunics" Topic

A few old pictures (2017) of the Roman days in Trier and what thoughts came to me when I saw them again….
English translation at the end of the german text.
Please click for more pictures.

link

The shields look great, but why are the uniforms so mismatched?

Look at the link

I'm so glad I know for sure that Roman troops always wore lorica and red. I wish people would stop mucking things up with facts and logic!

"Arms and Armour of the Imperial Roman Soldier" by Raffaelle D'Amato and Graham Sumner has several sections discussing tunic colours. In general, red and white seem to be the main colours suggested, with officers in "red-pink". There is also a reference to the use of yellow wool from Spain, senior officers wearing blue and an illustration from Pompeii showing a dark green tunic.
The colour suggestions are usually backed up by references to remains of pigments on statues, contemporary illustrations and some surviving examples.
This paragraph sums it up:
"…Different colours and patterns of tunics and cloaks were employed even in the same unit and depending very often on the local availability of supplies. We cannot, however, exclude the possibility that some units wore distinctively coloured garments, and of course special colours and fabrics distinguished different orders of dress".

I've always suspected that something like uniform colors gets influenced by where, when and low-bid government contracting.

If you have to replace a tunic in a locale other than where your unit mustered likely different materials and dyes.

You can a soldier straight from boot camp by the fresh colors of his uniform even today. A couple years of laundry, wear and tear and sun-bleach and the difference is notable.